Constantine Matikas in his work Historical Remembrances from Goura, writes:
"In 1815 a plague epidemic struck this happy and lively village, to which was transported, as they claimed at the time, caravans carrying wool from Macedonia (Naousa, Beroia). The epidemic did a great deal of damage, scattering death over entire families. A certain priest wrote this year on the cover of a certain ecclesiastical book, an Horologion I think, located at Saint Demetrios, which I saw together with the late priest Eustathios Lytras, to whom it was given to guard:
When Argyris Zacharis in the year 1950–51, made his house in Lagoutsi, he would collect the stones from the foundations of earlier houses. In one of these homes he saw a lot of human bones and skulls, which means they had been shut in their homes and left to die together.
Oral tradition adds: 'At the time of the procession, certain elders observed something like a shadow, and an old woman shrieking on her way to Anavra, with a priest chasing her from behind with his cane. This was Saint Seraphim chasing the sickness away.'
The residents of Goura held on to an icon of Saint Seraphim, and later, in order to honor the Saint, they transferred his feast from the day of his commemoration on December 4th, to the 29th of May, the day of the procession and the miracle. From then on the residents of Goura, wherever they are on that day, honor the day. Those from Goura who moved and settled in Lamia, and in particular the area below the Castle, they built a small church to Saint Seraphim, and regularly celebrate him until today on May 29th, the day of the miracle."
"In 1815 a plague epidemic struck this happy and lively village, to which was transported, as they claimed at the time, caravans carrying wool from Macedonia (Naousa, Beroia). The epidemic did a great deal of damage, scattering death over entire families. A certain priest wrote this year on the cover of a certain ecclesiastical book, an Horologion I think, located at Saint Demetrios, which I saw together with the late priest Eustathios Lytras, to whom it was given to guard:
'In 1815 the deadly plague came, when they could not bury everyone, and small children remained close to their dead mothers... Many times so that they and their relatives would not be infected from the epidemic, when death became a family affair, they would be shut in their homes and the priests read the funeral service from outside... The next year they brought from Koroni Monastery in Karditsa the head of Saint Seraphim and the icon of the Saint, and after a procession was done the deadly plague stopped.'
When Argyris Zacharis in the year 1950–51, made his house in Lagoutsi, he would collect the stones from the foundations of earlier houses. In one of these homes he saw a lot of human bones and skulls, which means they had been shut in their homes and left to die together.
Oral tradition adds: 'At the time of the procession, certain elders observed something like a shadow, and an old woman shrieking on her way to Anavra, with a priest chasing her from behind with his cane. This was Saint Seraphim chasing the sickness away.'
The residents of Goura held on to an icon of Saint Seraphim, and later, in order to honor the Saint, they transferred his feast from the day of his commemoration on December 4th, to the 29th of May, the day of the procession and the miracle. From then on the residents of Goura, wherever they are on that day, honor the day. Those from Goura who moved and settled in Lamia, and in particular the area below the Castle, they built a small church to Saint Seraphim, and regularly celebrate him until today on May 29th, the day of the miracle."
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
