Saint Panagis Basias (Feast Day - June 7)1. One cold winter's night, the saint heard that a local priest's wife was ready to give birth but that her husband had no money to make the house ready or even to buy coal to warm the room for her labor. St. Panagis went out to gather alms for the family and took them to the young priest. When the priest went to buy the coal, the shop-keeper was astonished the coins that the priest put as his own. When the priest told him how he had come by the money, the coal-man shook his head and said: "Our Father Panagis! He has second sight. I had the money so well-hidden, I don't know how he could have known where to find it."
2. Andreas Megaloyennis, a Kefallonian whose daughter later became the abbess of the Lixouri women's monastery, was very nervous and irritable in his youth. One day he quarreled with his mother, and in his rage, struck her. Angered and in pain, his mother shouted at him: "I curse you!" Andrew gathered his clothes and jumping on his horse, rode to Lixouri. On the way he saw St. Panagis and dismounted to ask his blessing. The saint began to bless him, but then pulled back, saying: "This is a cursed hand - go back to your mother, beg her forgiveness and then you can come back." The young man shamefacedly went back to ask his mother's forgiveness, but she replied angrily: "It's fine for Fr. Panagis to tell you to return, but I won't forgive you." After three days, however, she relented, and when Andreas went back to Lixouri, St. Panagis, without being told what had transpired, said: "Praise God and don't ever touch your mother in anger again."
3. During Fr. Panagis' life there was a woman in Lixouri who had four daughters. Her husband was a hard man who treated her badly, always berating her for not having given him a son. One day, she decided that as a consolation she would take her daughters to get a blessing from Father Panagis. She dressed them in their best clothes and put a beautiful ribbon in the hair of the youngest. When they arrived at the house they found a crowd of villagers waiting to see the priest. Their turn finally came, and the mother said: "Father Panagis, I've brought my daughters for a blessing". As he blessed the first girl, he said, "Welcome, Dionysina", to the second, "Welcome Georgina", and to the third, "Welcome, Spyrina", thus prophesying the names of their future husbands. But he didn't want to bless the youngest one, and the mother became frightened. She asked, trembling: "Father, is my daughter going to die? Why won't you bless her?" Then the saint stood up and said to the child: "Bless me, Ama" [an old formal term for "Mother"]. The child's mother was troubled by these strange words, but Fr. Panagis took the ribbon from the girl's hair and said: "You don't need this, Igoumeni [Abbess] of Lepethon". And truly, the three older daughters were married to husbands with the very names the saint had foretold, while the youngest daughter became a nun, and later an abbess at the Monastery of Lepethon with the name Evgenia.
2. Andreas Megaloyennis, a Kefallonian whose daughter later became the abbess of the Lixouri women's monastery, was very nervous and irritable in his youth. One day he quarreled with his mother, and in his rage, struck her. Angered and in pain, his mother shouted at him: "I curse you!" Andrew gathered his clothes and jumping on his horse, rode to Lixouri. On the way he saw St. Panagis and dismounted to ask his blessing. The saint began to bless him, but then pulled back, saying: "This is a cursed hand - go back to your mother, beg her forgiveness and then you can come back." The young man shamefacedly went back to ask his mother's forgiveness, but she replied angrily: "It's fine for Fr. Panagis to tell you to return, but I won't forgive you." After three days, however, she relented, and when Andreas went back to Lixouri, St. Panagis, without being told what had transpired, said: "Praise God and don't ever touch your mother in anger again."
3. During Fr. Panagis' life there was a woman in Lixouri who had four daughters. Her husband was a hard man who treated her badly, always berating her for not having given him a son. One day, she decided that as a consolation she would take her daughters to get a blessing from Father Panagis. She dressed them in their best clothes and put a beautiful ribbon in the hair of the youngest. When they arrived at the house they found a crowd of villagers waiting to see the priest. Their turn finally came, and the mother said: "Father Panagis, I've brought my daughters for a blessing". As he blessed the first girl, he said, "Welcome, Dionysina", to the second, "Welcome Georgina", and to the third, "Welcome, Spyrina", thus prophesying the names of their future husbands. But he didn't want to bless the youngest one, and the mother became frightened. She asked, trembling: "Father, is my daughter going to die? Why won't you bless her?" Then the saint stood up and said to the child: "Bless me, Ama" [an old formal term for "Mother"]. The child's mother was troubled by these strange words, but Fr. Panagis took the ribbon from the girl's hair and said: "You don't need this, Igoumeni [Abbess] of Lepethon". And truly, the three older daughters were married to husbands with the very names the saint had foretold, while the youngest daughter became a nun, and later an abbess at the Monastery of Lepethon with the name Evgenia.
For more on the life and miracles of Saint Panagis, see here and here.
Ἀπολυτίκιον Ἦχος α’. Τῆς ἐρήμου πολίτης.
Ληξουρίου τὸν γόνον, Ἱερέων τὸ καύχημα, τῆς Κεφαλληνίας φωστῆρα νεοφανῶς ἀνατείλαντα, ὑψήσωμεν ἐν ὕμνοις Παναγήν, τὸν μύστην τῆς Τριάδος τῆς σεπτῆς, ἐμφανῶς κεκοσμημένον προφητικῶ τοῦ Πνεύματος χαρίσματι, διὸ τὸν δοξάσαντα αὐτὸν λαμπρῶς ἀντιδοξάσωμεν, ἶνα εὔρωμεν χάριν καὶ πταισμάτων τὴν συγχώρησιν.
