Saint Milos and the Miracle of the Paschal Egg (Two Testimonies)

Saints reveal themselves in marvelous ways, and in the Fall of 2004, while in Patras, Greece, researching an interview on St. Andrew’s journeys, Road to Emmaus staff had coffee with Mrs. Smaragda Pavlou, a Patras native, whose surprising Pascha story was a highlight of their visit. Hesitant at first to have the story recorded, at the urging of her spiritual father, Smaragda agreed:

It was Great Thursday, 1939, and my sister Photini and I were young girls. Great Thursday was the day we dyed our Pascha eggs, and we had saved many eggs during the fast. Patras was not crowded in those days; we had land behind our house for chickens, and that year we had a new young hen among our brood. On the morning of Great Thursday, she laid her first egg and immediately died. We were very surprised and felt great pity for her, so we took the egg and included it with the others we were dying red for Pascha. On Great Saturday, the eggs were blessed in church, the parish of St. Dionysios on Astings Street, and after the Pascha liturgy, one egg was selected to be put into the icon corner as a blessing for the year. That Pascha we chose the egg from the little hen that had died, and set it in the icon case. A few months later, on the morning of November 10, for no obvious reason, the egg fell from the icon case and broke with a loud crack. Amidst the fragments of the shell, we found a tiny black wax-like oval medallion, with a figure in a phelonion and omophorion with the Holy Gospel in his hand [typical of an icon of a Bishop], and the name “Agios Milos” [Saint Milos] etched around the figure in capital letters. On the opposite side, without words, was the familiar image of St. Stylianos, holding an infant [feast day on November 26]. It seemed to us that the dried up contents of the egg had shaped themselves into an Icon-Not-Made-By-Hands. I asked everyone I knew who St. Milos was, but no one had ever heard of him, not even the priest. Everyone in our family saw this wonderful icon from the egg. We knew that St. Milos had come to us, and we all prayed to him. For a whole year afterwards, people came to our home to venerate the tiny icon; our house became like a public shrine. Then, Greece was invaded.

Image of Christ Appears to Weep and Open Its Shut Eyes

On April 19, 2021 a video recording of a fresco of the face of Christ in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem seems to capture a shocking image. According to eyewitnesses, Christ opens and closes his eyes and weeps, and the video appears to capture the moment. Whether this is true or some sort of an optical illusion, it is an interesting phenomenon to say the least. The image specifically is the Holy Mandylion, which is based on the tale of when Christ sent by request His miraculously imprinted image on a handkerchief to King Abgar of Edessa to heal him of his leprosy. I find this to be a bit of an oxymoron - a image of a miraculous handkerchief weeping when handkerchiefs are often used to wipe away tears. Many believe that since the Holy Mandylion was used to cure the leprosy of the king, perhaps this sign has something to do with the current pandemic.

 

What Happened to the Letter of Christ to King Abgar of Edessa?

George Maniakes sends the letter of Christ to Emperor Romanos Argyros.

In 1032 Emperor Romanos III Argyros (1028-1034) received Christ's famous letter to King Abgar of Edessa from George Maniakes after he captured Edessa. It had been previously kept in Edessa for many centuries as its most precious relic that wondrously kept the city from harm and invasions, with eye-witness testimonies of its presence there as early as the fourth century. In Constantinople it was placed in the imperial palace, until it was stolen on September 12, 1185.

The reign of Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos was characterized by his harsh measures, which included massacring all the Latin inhabitants of the city, allowing the Roman Empire to descend into a terror state. In September 1185, he ordered the execution of all prisoners, exiles, and their families for collusion with the Norman invaders. The aristocrats in turn were infuriated against him, and there were several revolts. He resolved therefore to exterminate the aristocracy, and his plans were nearly successful. While absent from Constantinople, Isaac Angelos was proclaimed his successor, and Andronikos himself was deposed.

Saint Anton the Stylite of Martqopi, Founder of Monasticism in Georgia

St. Anton of Martqopi (Feast Day - January 19 and August 16)

By Archpriest Zakaria Machitadze

Our holy father Anton (Anthony) was from Edessa and lived in the 6th century. After the unsuccessful siege of the city by the Iranian Shah Khosrov I Anushirvan, Anton left the city, taking from the Nestorian church a copy of the Not-Made-By-Hands Icon of the Savior, imprinted on a clay tablet, and went to Georgia with his teacher John of Zedazni. He arrived in Georgia with the rest of the Thirteen Syrian Fathers and settled in Kakheti to preach the gospel of Christ. He always carried with him the icon of the Savior “Not-Made-By-Hands.” 

 

In Georgia, Anton settled on Mount Akriani (east of Tbilisi, later on this place a temple was built in the name of the Image of the Savior Not Made By Hands) and converted to Christianity the inhabitants of the vicinity of the Zedazen and Ikaltoi mountains, the villages of Akhmety and Lopotiskhevi (north-east of Tbilisi). Anton made his home in the wilderness, and deer visited him every evening to nourish him with their milk.

One day the deer arrived earlier than expected, and they were followed by a wounded fawn. Clearly something had frightened them. When Anton retraced the animals’ path, he discovered a nobleman, the head of a nearby village, hunting in the fields. Astonished to see the old monk with his icon, standing amidst a gathering of deer, the nobleman, being a pagan, became convinced that he was dangerous and ordered his servants to take him to a smith and chop off his hands.

Anton was led at once to the smith, but when the craftsman heated his sword and drew it above the monk’s hands in preparation, he fell down suddenly and his arms became like wood. The daunted smith fell mute, but blessed Anton made the sign of the Cross over him and he was immediately healed.

Having heard about this miracle, the nobleman perceived that Abba Anton was truly holy, and he began to hold him in reverence. “Tell me what you need, and I will provide it for you,” he told Elder Anton. The monk requested a single piece of salt, and they brought him two large blocks. He broke off a small piece and placed it near his cell for the deer.

After the incident at the smith’s, many people began to visit Anton, and the holy father constructed a monastery for the faithful. But before long their attention became burdensome, and Elder Anton fled from the world to the peak of a mountain. There he began to preach from the top of a pillar, where he would remain the last fifteen years of his life. Because he lived most of his life alone, he was nicknamed "Martomkofeli", which means secluded, from which the area of the of the Monastery was named Martqopi.

 

 

When God revealed to Fr. Anton the day of his repose, the monk-stylite gathered his pupils, imparted to them a few last words of wisdom, blessed them, and died on his knees in front of his beloved icon.

St. Anton’s body was taken down from the pillar and buried in the monastery that he had founded, before the icon of the Theotokos. Healings were performed at his tomb, and miraculously, no female creature could penetrate the place where his ashes rested. 

 

Saint Eulalios of Lambousa

St. Eulalios of Lambousa (Feast Day - October 22)

South of the Acheiropoiitos Monastery, near Lambousa, survives an undecorated chamber carved into a rock to which the locals have attributed the name "Saint Eulambios". This Saint found martyrdom in 296 AD at Nicodemea and is not connected with Cypriot tradition. However, a short distance east of the Acheiropoiitos Monastery survives a church built in the 16th century in the place of an older church and is dedicated to Saint Eulalios. According to Leontios Machairas, Saint Eulalios was the "most holy bishop Lapithos." Perhaps this was the hermitage of this Saint, and the name was changed by local tradition due to confusion with the name of the nearby city of Lambousa (Eulalios - Lambousa - Eulambios). Besides, even today the refugee inhabitants of Lambousa (ancient Lapithos) identify Saint Eulalios with Saint Eulambios.

A Weeping Icon of the Holy Mandylion in Patmos

On the island of Patmos, in the main church of the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian, is a western-style image of the Holy Mandylion dating to the end of the 18th or beginning of the 19th century. It seems almost out of place inside the old temple filled with Byzantine-styled frescoes. Artistically it is less interesting than anything around it, being a simple image on wood with a wood-carved frame, but it has a fascinating history in and of itself, especially how it came to be displayed in the most sacred church on the island.

A Canticle of Mar Jacob of Serugh on Edessa

By Mar Jacob of Serugh

Edessa sent to Christ by an epistle to come to her and enlighten her. On behalf of all the peoples did she make intercession to Him that He would leave Zion, which hated Him, and come to the peoples, who loved Him.

She dispatched a messenger to Him, and begged of Him to enter into friendship with her. By the righteous king she made intercession to Him, that He would depart from the Jewish people, and towards the other peoples direct His burden.

Images of Christ Not Made With Hands Resource Page

Traditional Images of Christ Not Made With Hands

 

1. Holy Mandylion of Edessa (Feast Day - August 16) 

 

Synaxarion for the Holy Mandylion and Holy Keramion of Edessa 

 

August: Day 16: Teaching 1: The Transfer From Edessa of the Icon Not Made By Hands of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, Known as the Holy Mandylion

 

The Apostolic Tradition of the Holy Mandylion 

 

A Canticle of Mar Jacob of Serugh on Edessa 

 

A Tenth Century Icon of the Holy Mandylion from Sinai 

 

A Weeping Icon of the Holy Mandylion in Patmos

 

Image of Christ Appears to Weep and Open Its Shut Eyes 

 

What Happened to the Letter of Christ to King Abgar of Edessa?

 

 

2. Holy Keramion of Edessa (Feast Day - August 16)

Synaxarion for the Holy Mandylion and Holy Keramion of Edessa


3. Kamouliana Icon of Christ (Feast Day - August 9)

The Finding of the Acheiropoieton Icon of Christ in Kamouliana (St. Gregory of Nyssa)

The Acheiropoieton Icon of Christ in Kamouliana


4. Maria the Patrician and the Icon of Our Lord Made Without Hands (Feast Day - August 11)

Narration Concerning the Icon of Our Lord Made Without Hands and Maria the Patrician

The Fourth Image of Christ Not Made By Hands (August 11)


5. Saint Senouphios and the Wondrous Icon of Christ of Latomos (Feast Day - March 25)

Saint Senouphios and the Wondrous Icon of Christ of Latomos

Questionable Images of Christ Not Made With Hands

1. Shroud of Turin

On the Possible Whereabouts of the Shroud in Post-Resurrection Times (1 of 3)

On the Possible Whereabouts of the Shroud in Post-Resurrection Times (2 of 3)

On the Possible Whereabouts of the Shroud in Post-Resurrection Times (3 of 3)

Researcher Says Text Proves Shroud of Turin Real

Knights Templar Hid The Shroud of Turin, says Vatican

Moscow Patriarchate's Position on Shroud of Turin

Turin Shroud One of Forty Fakes, Claims Historian

Why the Shroud of Turin is a Forgery

Why the Shroud of Turin is Fake

Shroud of Turin Mystery May Never Be Solved

2. Veil of Veronica, or Sudarium

Saint Veronica the Bleeder

The Finding of the Acheiropoieton Icon of Christ in Kamouliana (St. Gregory of Nyssa)

Finding of the Not Made With Hands Icon in Kamouliana (Feast Day - August 9)

The Finding of the Acheiropoieton and Revered Icon 
of Kamouliana, which was written about by our 
Holy Father Gregory the Bishop of Nyssa.*

Verses

What great thing happened to you Akylina,
For you saw the great condescension of Christ?

Our Lord Jesus Christ, our righteous and only true God, inasmuch as He is invisible according to the essence of His Divinity, and invincible according to His authority, and ineffable according to His power; He, Who is according to His nature is a lover of mankind and good; the unchangeable image of the Father; Who does not repent for giving out His graces; pre-eternally and invisibly begotten of the Father, and in the latter days born seedlessly from a Virgin Mother; He once again allowed to show Himself in a holy icon by His own goodness and immeasurable compassion. While at one time through His birth and presence in the flesh He led the Magi by means of a star, now through the finding of His icon He attracted those who were infants in their minds towards perfect knowledge. O unspeakable philanthropy! O immeasurable solicitude! O ineffable gift! O incomprehensible mystery! This is an astonishing and awesome thing, brethren. That the Creator of all things can be seen by us who are made of clay with an all-revered character, and there where He arrived in the flesh, He appeared young by His birth. Now He has accepted today to be venerated with a physical icon. O great wonder! Again the Master has descended to the servants. Come therefore brethren and listen fathers, and I will narrate to all of you, who fear the Lord, what wondrous things took place in Kamouliana, the new Bethlehem, and through words will present before your eyes, I the humble Gregory, concerning the honorable and blessed woman Vassa, who was renamed Akylina, which was revealed to me the unworthy one by the Holy Spirit.

How an Unknown Fourth Century Persian Saint Became Famous in 1939 Greece

By Archimandrite Vasilios Bakogiannis

The Saints of our Church number in the millions. However, few are celebrated by name. The vast majority are unknown to our faithful. But even these unknown Saints offered their lives to Christ, either through martyrdom or a venerable life, or even both. These also are worthy of honor and commemoration by name from our Church.

The Holy Martyr Milos was the Bishop of the historic city of Susa in Persia. He had a big name in his time (4th cent.), but it wasn't until recently that this unknown Saint became known in the city of Patras, and throughout Greece. He himself took the initiative to become known in Patras, and to be honored by name in a glorious manner by the people of Patras. His commemoration is on November 10th.

Synaxarion for the Holy Mandylion and Holy Keramion of Edessa

SYNAXARION

On the sixteenth of this month [August], we commemorate the entrance of the acheiropoiton (made without hands) image of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, brought from the city of Edessa to the God-protected Queen of cities (Constantinople).

Verses

For the Mandylion.

While alive your depiction was imprinted onto a cloth,

A final cloth before you entered death.

For the Keramion.

Maker of all, my Christ, a tile once made

By hand now bears your form not made by hand.

Narration Concerning the Icon of Our Lord Made Without Hands and Maria the Patrician

Fourth Acheiropoieton Image of the Lord (Feast Day - August 11)

Verses

A strange wonder gushes forth numerous wonders,

Indeed the divine form of the wonderworking Logos.

During the reign of the pious Emperor Tiberius (574-582), in the year 576, a great and amazing miracle took place. A woman named Maria, who was from a senatorial family and who loved Christ, and was a patrician according to office, as well as a widow, suffered with a difficult and incurable disease. Despairing therefore of all human help, she dedicated herself to our Lord Jesus Christ, who placed within her heart the following good reasoning: This woman decided to have the Priests that minister to the holy despotic icon of the Lord made without hands called,* pleading for them to come to her. When they arrived, the woman fell at their feet, saying: "I beg you, my masters, because God has forgiven me to be chastised for my many sins, and by this dreadful suffering and incurable disease, for this reason I the miserable one would love, although I am unworthy, to receive into my frugal home through your holy prayers, the despotic and made without hands image of our Lord for forty days, so that perhaps it would incline the Lord's mercy towards me." Knowing the good life and spiritual state of the woman, the Priests brought the holy image to her home, and as soon as they opened the case in which it was contained, the woman fell down and venerated it. She then took a thin fabric of cotton and measured the holy icon, and then placed the fabric over the holy icon, putting it in a clean chest which she fettered, and placed it in the chapel which was in her home. Lighting a bright lamp before the icon, she ministered to it for forty days.

Saint Germanos, Patriarch of Constantinople, and the Wonderworking Icon of Lydda

St. Germanos of Constantinople (Feast Day - May 12)

Saint Germanos was born in Constantinople around 640 and was the son of the patrician Justinian. At the age of twenty he was orphaned, when his father was executed by Emperor Constantine IV the Pogonatos (668–685), because he was considered to be involved in the murder of his father Constans II.

Germanos, after being castrated, was placed among the clergy of the Great Church. He served with zeal in the study of the sacred letters, became deeply knowledgeable of them, and was distinguished for his holiness of life and his virtue. After visiting Jerusalem and worshipping at the sacred sites of the Holy Land, he returned to Constantinople and was ordained a priest. In 709 he was elected by Patriarch Cyrus to be the Bishop of Kyzikos. From this high position he fought strongly against the heresy of the Monothelites. When Patriarch Cyrus was deposed and his successor John VI died, he was chosen with the praise of Emperor Anastasios to be the Patriarch of Constantinople on August 9, 715.

Saint Senouphios and the Wondrous Icon of Christ of Latomos

The Wondrous Icon of Christ at Latomos

The following information comes down to us from the Narration of Ignatius of Smolensk, concerning the wondrous icon of Christ in Latomos Monastery of Thessaloniki, known today as the Monastery of Hosios David.

About St. Theodora and the Origins of the Icon of Christ at Latomos

St. Theodora was the Christian daughter of Maximian (286-305), co-emperor with Diocletian (284-305). She was baptized a Christian by the Bishop of Thessaloniki, St. Alexander (May 28), who was later a participant in the First Ecumenical Synod. Taking on her new Christian responsibilities, she was troubled by her idolatrous parents, so she told them that she suffered from some sickness, and she as a result sought (for health reasons) to build a house and a bathhouse for herself in the northern part of the city. The place was named Latomia because there were stones there that were used for building. Immediately after the workers finished the buildings, she converted the bathhouse into a church, under the guidance of the Bishop of Thessaloniki, St. Alexander. She ordered an iconographer to create a mosaic in the eastern apse depicting the Most-Holy Theotokos. When he was finishing the icon, he was struck with amazement, for the next day, the face of the Theotokos no longer appeared, but that of Christ on a light-bearing cloud, surrounded by the four symbols of the Evangelists, and the Prophets Ezekiel and Habbakuk.

A Tenth Century Icon of the Holy Mandylion from Sinai

By Hierodeacon Silouan Peponakis

In the Old Testament, in the books of 1 and 2 Deuteronomy, there is clear reference to the prohibition of the worship of other gods, as well as a prohibition against the depiction of divine images as a prerequisite to the realization of this divine commandment given to the chosen people for their entrance into the Land of Promise. The Promised Land is a prefigurement, an image of the Kingdom of God (Leonid Ouspensky, The Theology of the Icon in the Orthodox Church).

The Fourth Image of Christ Not Made By Hands (August 11)

By Archimandrite Nikodemos Pavlopoulos,

Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Saint Ignatius in Lesvos

Today, my beloved brethren, our holy Church honors, praises and venerates the fourth image of our Lord Jesus Christ not made by hands (acheiropoieton).

These images of the Lord are called "not made by hands" because they were not formed by human hands, but in a miraculous manner they were given by the Lord Himself.

The first image not made by hands was sent by our Lord to the local ruler of Edessa named Abgar, on a handkerchief that He had wiped His face on, in order to heal him of the leprosy of his body, which left him isolated in his palace. The miracle took place, it is celebrated on August 16th, and the image is known as the Holy Mandylion.

The second image is a wondrous imprint of the first onto tile, and is celebrated on August 16th.

The third is an imprint of the exquisite face of Christ, which was found miraculously on a white cloth by condescension for the sake of St. Akylina, and is celebrated on August 9th.

The fourth image not made by hands, which is celebrated today, is also an imprint of the form of our Lord presented by our holy Church.

In Constantinople, where the Holy Mandylion was treasured, during the reign of Tiberius (576), a pious woman named Maria, who was a rich official of senatorial rank and a Patrician, was sick with a difficult and incurable disease. The art of medicine could not cure her, nor were her wealth and many servants in a position to relieve her of her pain. But her piety stood capable of providing her treatment.

She sent news to the most-pious priests who served the holy icon not made by hands to bring it to her house in order for her to honor it for forty days and receive grace and mercy from its grace and power.

The priest, knowing the piety of the Patrician, carried in procession the icon not made by hands in its case to the house of Maria, and they deposited it in the chapel of her palace.

With tears and contrition and honor and abundant reverence the Patrician received the immaculate image of the Lord. She even opened the case and on top of the original icon not made by hands she placed a thin square cotton fabric and again closed it. For forty days she continued the censing, the prostrating, the venerating, the prayers and the chanting before the wondrous icon.

On the fortieth day however the pain of her body strengthened and she suffered by being unable to stand on her feet, thus falling onto a bed of pain being unable to honor the icon not made by hands.

From her bed she sent her purest and most pious servant to bring the Holy Mandylion to feel some consolation and forget about the pain in her body.

But what was it that the servant saw! A huge flame came out of the case of the icon not made by hands and it rose up to the ceiling of the chapel and it circled down touching the floor without anything burning inside the church. The miracle was immediately announced to the Patrician and she immediately sent for the priests to be called, who along with many pious people ran to see the miracle. And they saw it and they marveled.

A service was done before the holy icon, and after the prayer the flame became smaller and extinguished. The priests opened the sacred case and lifted the cotton cloth of the Patrician, and what did they see? It was another icon not made by hands, an identical imprint of the original was on Maria's fabric, which with faith was placed on her much-suffering body. And oh the wonder! Immediately her pain left and the health of the Patrician was fully restored.

Then all the people led by all the priests of the City embraced the fourth icon of the Lord not made by hands, which afterwards performed innumerable miracles healing the sufferings of the soul and the body.

After a few years that pious woman Maria the Patrician knew that her death was imminent, and in order to protect her Holy Mandylion and keep it safe forever, she gave it to the noble Constantinopolitan nuns who lived in asceticism in the Monastery of the Ascension in Melitene of Armenia, where again numerous miracles took place.

In fact, Patriarch Sergius took the icon from the nuns against their will when they returned to Constantinople for fear of the Persians and had been given a new monastery from the Patriarch. At that time the Patriarch suffered many woes in his life, whether it was from the emperor, or the death of relatives, or troubles in the Church, and he wanted to know why he suffered so much. He thus saw in his sleep a fearful looking man, who told the Patriarch to return the icon quickly which he unjustly took from the nuns. And so Sergius returned the icon on November 29th, and he ceased to be afflicted.

Do you see brethren the miracles surrounding the icons of the Lord not made by hands? Many icons not made by hands have been given to us Orthodox Christians throughout the centuries, as well as some of the Theotokos and the saints and friends of the household of Christ.

Even in our days there are icons of saints old and new not made by hands, as a reward of the piety of those Christians who dedicate their lives to prayer and philanthropy, as an invitational to all who are indifferent and cold to the holy faith of Christ and His blameless religion.

Source: From the book Εορτοδρόμιον. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.