The Healing of a Hernia by Saint Artemios

 

By Demetrios Panagopoulos, Preacher 

(1916 - 1982)

For 25 years I suffered from a hernia. This year I couldn't take the pain anymore and had to go for surgery.

One day after one of my talks, I spoke to a monk and said to him:

"Next Thursday I will not be here to speak. I will go to operate and I will ask Father Marino to come in my place."

"I will tell you something," the monk told me. "I also had a hernia. I was suffering and had to go to surgery. But I was ashamed as a monk to go and operate. I then went and begged Saint Artemios to make me well. And he made me well! And now I'm without a bandage, without anything and I'm going around with the sack in my hand, I'm "plowing through" Attica and I'm fine. Glory to His name! Why don't you go there too?"

The Appearance of Saint Kosmas Aitolos to a Woman in Arnaia on July 23, 1943

Saint Kosmas Aitolos visited Arnaia and Halkidiki in 1775. The memory of this visit is still alive today in the consciousness of the local Christians. Monuments to the passage of the Saint are the shrine under the Mathitiki Estia and the icon which records the prophecy of the Saint for the liberation of Arnaia. Since then, the Saint placed the area of ​​Holomontos under his blessing. 

 

"The aprons of Holomontos will be without blood. They will go to sleep as slaves and in the morning they will wake up free." 

 

The prophecy was fulfilled, and in 1912 Arnaia was freed "without blood", according to the prophecy of the Saint.

 

The Visit of Saint Kosmas Aitolos to the Village of Rapsani

In the year 1765, Saint Kosmas Aitolos arrived in Rapsani of Thessaly because Rapsani was one of the most famous villages of Larissa during the Turkish occupation. 

 

High up, at the edge of today's village, there still stands the old plane tree where the Saint stood and taught in the year 1765 when he passed through the village. 

 

The people of Rapsani honored Saint Kosmas for his teaching and they still do. 

 

Photos of the Home and Parish Church of the Holy Neomartyr Michael Paknanas the Gardner

The first photo above is the residence of the Holy Neomartyr Michael Paknanas in the old quarter of Vlassaros (Vrisaki) in the ancient Agora near the Church of Saint Philip and the adjacent Church of Panagia Vlassaros (first photo below), which ware also located in the archaeological site of the ancient Agora and where the Neomartyr worshiped. All the original buildings have now been demolished.

 

An Icon of the Virgin Mary That Has Been Continuously Weeping and Flowing With Myrrh for Nearly Two Years

The parish priest, Archimanrite Christodoulos Katsifis, explains what has been taking place at the Church of Saint Demetrios in Nea Elvetia of Vyronas, a suburb of Athens, for nearly two years regarding the weeping and myrrhgushing icon of the Panagia.
 

Ceaseless Weeping

"From September 8, 2020, during the Divine Liturgy for the Nativity of the Theotokos, the sexton Mrs. Eleni discovered that while cleaning the icon, it started to weep. She came to the Sanctuary in awe and told us that tears were flowing from the eyes of the Panagia. I went with the other priests present together with the Metropolitan in front of the icon and we confirmed that tears were flowing from the eyes of the Panagia of Consolation. Indeed! For 17 months, our Panagia continues to make her presence felt, with the myrrh, with her tears, with the miracles performed for so many pilgrims, who turn to her Grace."

The Miraculous History of the Chapel of the Life-Giving Spring in the Village of Garefi

The following written testimony comes to us from the good shepherd Binos Traianos, as handed down to us from his grandson Andrew Binos. It is regarding a divine visitation in the middle of the 20th century to the good shepherd from the village of Garefi in the prefecture of Pella, which led to the construction of a chapel and a local annual celebration on Bright Friday.

Since then, every year on the feast of the Life-Giving Spring, at the spot of the first vision, on the mountain of Garefi at the fountain of Koupriva, a big festival takes place in honor of the Panagia, headed by the family of Binos Traianos and attended by crowds not only from the village, but from neighboring communities as well.

Holy New Hieromartyr Deacon Who Is Anonymous

Holy New Hieromartyr Deacon Who Is Anonymous (Feast Day - February 16)

 

Verses

You mocked the Immaculate Mysteries, Deacon of Vitsa,
As a Martyr you entered the heavens.

The glorious, new hieromartyr of Christ, and anonymous Deacon, was a teacher of sacred letters, who came from Vitsa of Zagori. He served as a Deacon in the Church of Saint Marina in Ioannina, in the neighborhood of Kalou Cesme (Kaloutsiani). Having been deceived by the devil, he apostatized from the Orthodox faith and embraced Islam.

The Story Behind the Church of Saint Haralambos in Ilision

Church of Saint George in Kochylos

In the village of Kochylos on the island of Andros stands the Church of Saint George, where for many years they celebrate a miracle of Saint Haralambos.

Years ago, sometime in the 1960s, on the eve of the feast of Saint Haralambos, a poor old man appeared to a woman on a rainy evening and asked for hospitality. She put him in her kitchenette, sat him in a chair, served him food to eat and kept him overnight. In the morning the old man was gone. The incident was repeated one or two more times.

The 10th Century Church of Saint Stephen the Protomartyr in Ramovouni of Messenia

The Church of Saint Stephen is located in Ramovouni, near Vasiliko of Messenia, and dates back to the 10th-11th century.

Initially it was a single-aisled wooden roof structure, with internal dimensions of 2.67x5.35 meters. From the tiled decoration of the monument nothing else was saved, except for 2 small sections of serrated strips.

The Underground Chapel of Saint Anna in Rhodope

There is a small underground chapel dedicated to Saint Anna between Xylagani and Maroneia in Rhodope of Northern Greece, in the middle of nowhere. Eugenia Katrani has given her own testimony about how she located the chapel:

"25-30 years ago, I worked at the Forest Service on the mountain. While I was sleeping I had a dream that I was entering a chapel, but it was like an furnace, because I was going down some stairs and the oil lamp was extinguished and I lit it. I saw the icon and I saw that it was of Saint Anna. I remembered in the dream that it was in the area of Maroneia; I saw nothing else.

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.

"O My Sanctified Athens" (Elder Eumenios Saridakis)

On October 12th is the Synaxis of All Saints of Athens, so I thought I would share what Elder Eumenios Saridakis spoke when he was being transferred from the Hospital for Infectious Diseases to Evangelismos Hospital for his last hospitalization, and on the way he was blessing Athens. He blessed the streets, Omonia Square, the Agora, the Metropolis, the Parliament, the whole city! He said:

"How beautiful Athens is!

Blessed Athens!

O my sanctified Athens!

O very noisy wilderness of Athens!

Monastery of the Panagia Kyparissiotissa and Saint Hierotheos in Megara

The Monastery of the Panagia Kyparissiotissa and Saint Hierotheos is located 8km northweest of the city of Megara in West Attica, in the area of Derveni. According to tradition, Saint Meletios built this monastery in the 11th century in honor of Saint Hierotheos, the first Bishop of Athens, because it was in this location he lived in asceticism and was buried.

The tomb of Saint Hierotheos is located in the katholikon of the monastery, and its most treasured relic is the sacred head of Saint Hierotheos.

Next to the tomb of Saint Hierotheos is the icon of Panagia Kyparissiotissa.

Synaxis of Panagia Smyrniotissa in Nemea

This icon was brought by a soldier from Smyrna in 1920 to Nemea in the Peloponnese. A woman, Katsiabouraina, kept it in a hut that looked like a chapel in the yard of her house. Many would go there and pray, and because it had the grace to work miracles, the faithful would bring offerings. The icon would either be brought to those who were sick or when someone sick was about to pass away, and when this took place the icon would become heavier than normal. Eventually it was dedicated to the Church of the Evangelistria in Nemea where it is majestically celebrated together with the Panagia Myrtidiotissa on September 24th every year.

 

The Remarkable Byzantine Church of Saint Sozontos in Orchomenos

 

In the central square of Orchomenos, near the Church of Panagia Skripou, is the magnificent Church of Saint Sozontos (or Sozon, locally known as Saint Sostis), which for many years, while the Monastery of Panagia Skripou operated, was the parish church of the settlement.

The small church dates back to either the 11th or the 12th century, but there is no evidence of its history. According to tradition, it was built by the late 10th century Roman Emperor Basil II the Bulgar-Slayer after a victorious battle that took place in the region of Boeotia.

It is a small one-room church with a dome and three niches, which are three-sided on the outside. Its walls are built of various materials, mainly of ancient stones and ceramic elements in second use, while the dome has more careful masonry. The dome is twelve-sided, and is considered unique in its kind, as its configuration is found mainly in churches of Constantinople.

Stylite Monks: The Unknown Column-Dwelling Holy Men of Athens

Twenty meters above the ground, the tops of the columns of the Temple of Olympian Zeus once served as an elevated, isolated shelter for stylite monks.

By John Leonard

The written entry in the works diary was brief but momentous, indicating the end of an era in Athens: “July 7, 1870 – Hut of the stylites on the columns of the Olympieion demolished. Cost of demolition 160 drachmas.” Thus wrote archaeologist Panagiotes Eustratiades, Greece’s general ephor of antiquities between 1854 and 1884.

The “hut” (kaliva) referred to in Eustratiades’ diary was the dilapidated ruin of a possible Byzantine structure of brick and/or stone that had long appeared in numerous drawings, paintings and photographs by early modern artists and photographers in Athens.

The Holy Spring of Saint Kosmas the Aitolos in Dryovouno of Kozani

An event that was experienced by the Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior in Dryovouno of Kozani that is well known to all in the area is the visit of Saint Kosmas the Aitolos some time between 1775 and 1777 during his Third Missionary Journey.

In this particular Monastery, Saint Kosmas, in addition to preaching the divine word, also took care of the monks who had become seriously ill due to an epidemic of dysentery that prevailed in the area.

According to testimonies, after bringing water from a nearby spring that had little water, he performed a Sanctification of the Waters, gave the monks a drink and they were healed. Since then, the water from this spring has been considered holy water and has been constantly gushing forth, though there was a brief interruption.

Saint Euplos, an Important Saint for the People of Eastern Thrace

Church of Saint Euplos in Ainos in 1908

To most of the Orthodox Christian world, Saint Euplos, who is commemorated on August 11th, is completely unknown. But to the Greek people of Ainos (Enez) in Thrace, Saint Euplos has historically been very important and well known.

His significance mainly stems from his name - Euplos - which in Greek essentially means "good voyage" or "good sea voyage". To the port city of Ainos, they celebrated and loved this Saint in his church to ensure a good voyage by sea through his intercessions.

When the Panagia Portaitissa Saved the Monastery of the Panagia Pantanassa in Mystras from a Devastating Fire

Monastery of the Panagia Pantanassa at Mystras

In August 1960, a fire broke out at the archaeological site of Mystras in Sparta near the Holy Monastery of Panagia Pantanassa.

This great fire threatened with utter destruction the historic Monastery of the area.

Regarding the extinguishing of the fire and the rescue of the Monastery, there was no possibility for human help at that time.

Thus, both the Abbess and the Nuns of the Monastery fell into a state of despair and frenzy, since they themselves could not do anything to save their Monastery.

The Church That Saint Eugenios the Aitolos Built in his Home Village

Saint Eugnios the Aitolos was born around 1595 in the village of Mega Dendro in Trichonida to poor parents. He was a forerunner to Saint Kosmas the Aitolos, who was born in the same village, and like him was a bright star during Ottoman slavery. He had as his disciple and biographer the newly-canonized Saint Anastasios Gordios (+ 1729). Saint Eugenios was canonized on July 1, 1982.