Testimony of a Miracle of the Panagia Prousiotissa During the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918

Retired teacher Lambros Moutsos, who once served in the village of Demi of Agrinio, narrates for us the following miracle from October 25, 1918 (one of many such testimonies):

"In 1918 my wife Spyridoula had contracted a severe form of the flu. My friends who are doctors, Selimas and Sakkas, had assured me that my wife was in the last moments of her life. My wife's brother Nikos Panouklias, from Messolonghi, had arrived at my house that morning to see his sister for the last time. Everyone in my house was discussing the funeral. After a few hours, the sacred procession of the Holy Icon of Panagia Prousiotissa passed outside my house. My nearly-departed wife begged us to take her to the window, which we did. As soon as the sick woman saw the Icon and prayed, she fell asleep, but after an hour we noticed in amazement that the wreck of a human began to move, to come to life and after a few days to become completely well. My wife is still alive and in excellent health, thanks to the miracle of Panagia Prousiotissa."

 

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

 

Interview With Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol on Issues Concerning the Pandemic, Vaccination, His Personal Battle With the Coronavirus, and his Stance on Ukraine

The following interview was conducted by philenews.com with Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol. Having recently suffered with the coronavirus, the interviewer asks him a series of controversial questions regarding this issue, and being one of the Hierarchs of Cyprus who disagreed with how the Archbishop of Cyprus handled the issue of Ukraine, he clarifies his stance.  

You got sick in March 2021 with the coronavirus. How did you experience the adventure?

Thank God, it was an adventure that passed. At the moment I was walking in the unknown, I did not know what would happen because I also have some underlying diseases. I was scared but then I left it in the hands of God. I said my prayer and asked God to do His will.

You were also hospitalized for a few days.

The doctors told me to do that when I was informed that I was infected with the virus. I was told you have to go to the hospital. Their order was imperative because I might not have gone since I was not feeling bad at the time. Fortunately I went early.

Elder Ephraim of Vatopaidi Returns to his Monastery after a Three and a Half Month Battle With the Coronavirus

The return of Elder Ephraim to Vatopaidi Monastery on the Holy Mountain was an event that everyone was looking forward to. The fathers of the Monastery say that it was not accidental that he came exactly one day before the feast of the Monastery for the Holy Zoni of the Panagia. After being tested for the coronavirus in late May and for an absence of about three and a half months at Evangelismos Hospital and Animus Rehabilitation Center, he returned on September 11th healthy to his spiritual children.

The reception was modest and moving. He arrived around 7:30 p.m. at the port of the Monastery where all the Heads of the Monastery were waiting for him, while the whole brotherhood was waiting for him outside the gate of the Monastery, where the fathers, with obvious joy on their faces, lined up to receive his blessing and kiss his hand.

The Syndrome of Archpriest Avvakum in the Church Today

By Metropolitan Nektarios of Argolidos

Recently I received the book "The Life of the Archpriest Avvakum", published by Kedros. I had read it years ago, when it was first published, and I wanted to read it again. I had the feeling that there are some elements in common with the situation we are experiencing within the Church and especially with the upheaval brought by COVID 19.

Archpriest Avvakum was born in 1620 and died in 1682. He was sentenced to death by fire. He was a descendant of a levite/priestly family. His father was a priest, but addicted to the passion of alcoholism.

The first thing we can easily note is the trauma he suffered from his drunken priest-father, which later led him to an extreme ascetic practice. He was ordained a 19-year-old deacon and a 21-year-old presbyter, despite the canons which are very strict in terms of age. It is no coincidence that he will soon become the strict observer of the canons. And we have seen the same thing many times. The violators of the sacred canons become "canonists" and use the sacred canons as "cannons", as Saint Paisios used to say.

The Holy Zoni of the Theotokos and the Cholera Epidemic of 1864 in Constantinople

In 1864 the Holy Zoni (Girdle) of the Mother of God was brought to Constantinople by monks from Vatopaidi Monastery on the Holy Mountain, due to a cholera epidemic that ravaged its inhabitants. As soon as the ship arrived at the port, the cholera ceased and there were no longer any reports of death even by those infected.

When Kapodistrias Closed the Churches and Defeated an Epidemic

 

By Aristeidis Hatzes,

Professor of the Philosophy of Law & Institutional Theory at the

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Ioannis Kapodistrias (1776-1831) was the first governor or head of state of independent Greece (1827–31) and is considered the founder of the modern Greek state, and the architect of Greek independence. He was very much beloved by the people of Greece, and one reason for this was because he based almost everything he did on Christian principals. He was a very faithful Christian and a defender of the Orthodox Church, clashing with anyone he considered to threaten it.

But Kapodistrias was also a responsible leader who was ready to make difficult decisions, even from the first moment he arrived in Greece. During the first months of his rule, a plague epidemic occurred in the Argosaronic islands, in Hydra first and then in Spetses. One of the first decisions he made in April 1828 was to close the churches in areas where incidents had occurred or were likely to occur (eg., in Aegina where he himself had settled). The churches were closed for an indefinite period and the reactions were minimal. The Greeks respected him, admired him and mainly trusted him. This was because Kapodistrias was also a very good doctor and indeed with considerable practical experience he acquired long before he became fully involved in politics. So he knew what he was doing very well - it wasn't a hasty decision of the moment. The opposite is true.

Recommended Reading While in Quarantine

I was asked a few times to recommend something to read during these times when many are quarantined during the coronavirus. So I will recommend two books, one spiritually beneficial and the other secular and entertaining, which have to do with both aspects of what the world is going through, namely quarantine and the virus. I will recommend two books that are immediately available online.

When Saint Cuthbert Fell Victim to an Epidemic and Miraculously Recovered

St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne (+ c. 634), and Anglo-Saxon England's most revered saint, where he was a very active missionary, is celebrated by the Church on March 20th. In the Life of Saint Cuthbert written by Venerable Bede in the early 8th century, we read how the Saint fell victim to an epidemic that befell Britain, though miraculously recovered, unlike his teacher in the spiritual life Boisil. Venerable Bede writes (ch. 8):

Meanwhile, as every thing in this world is frail and fluctuating, like the sea when a storm comes on, the above-named Abbot Eata, with Cuthbert and the other brethren, were expelled from their residence, and the monastery given to others. But our worthy champion of Christ did not by reason of his change of place relax his zeal in carrying on the spiritual conflict which he had undertaken; but he attended, as he had ever done, to the precepts and example of the blessed Boisil.

A Prayer in Light of the Coronavirus Epidemic

A Prayer in Light of the Coronavirus Epidemic

By Metropolitan Joel of Edessa

Lord Jesus Christ our God, the chief physician of our souls and bodies, Who became man for us to cure the great wound of humanity; Who did not reject the ten lepers who suffered from an incurable disease, but purified them by Your salvific grace; Who, being God-man, passed Your days on this earth serving and healing all who were sick and those who are ill; Who served and restored to health the paralytics, the blind, those who had committed grave sins, the demonized as well as those who suffered both in the flesh and in the mind, now amiably accept our supplication and by Your power expel this deadly virus that bears the shape of a crown, which has brought fear and even death to those who are sick and wrongfully suffering.

Are Churches Allowed to Close?

By Archimandrite Vasilios Bakoyiannis

Ecumenical Patriarch Dionysios V (1887-1891) was in a heated confrontation with the Sultan, because the Sultan "diminished" the privileges of the Patriarchate, among many other things.

And the Sultan was intransigent! How did the Patriarch react? He ordered (1890) to close all the churches!

That is, by his order (!) it was not permitted to perform the Divine Liturgy or any divine service!

This was an act of mourning for the prevailing situation!*