The
icon above, which was painted by the reputable iconographer
Konstantinos Lytrides in October 2024 according to the instructions of
His Eminence Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou, depicts in an
exceptional manner a relatively modern great miracle of our Holy and
God-bearing Father Iakovos of Evia, who was known for often saying
"forgive me", which occurred in the year 2002. This miracle was narrated
by the current abbot of the Sacred Monastery of Venerable David of
Evia, His Most Venerable Archimandrite Gabriel Emmanuelides, at a
Conference of the Sacred Metropolis of Thessaloniki on November 8, 2017
(see on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icGGG3e5xYA).
An eyewitness to this great miracle, whose fervent prayer was immediately answered by Venerable Iakovos, is the pious Christian Demetrios Dragatsikas from Kozani, a Greek emigrant in America, who reported it to the aforementioned Elder Gabriel, who made it public to the glory of God at the above-mentioned Conference in the presence of Mr. Dragatsikas (se his testimony in the video below). What exactly happened? We quote the relevant account of Elder Gabriel:
An eyewitness to this great miracle, whose fervent prayer was immediately answered by Venerable Iakovos, is the pious Christian Demetrios Dragatsikas from Kozani, a Greek emigrant in America, who reported it to the aforementioned Elder Gabriel, who made it public to the glory of God at the above-mentioned Conference in the presence of Mr. Dragatsikas (se his testimony in the video below). What exactly happened? We quote the relevant account of Elder Gabriel:
"Demetrios
Dragatsikas travels back and forth between America and Greece at least
four times a year. In 2002, on an Olympic flight, going from Greece to
America and passing through France, over the Atlantic, the plane fell
into a storm. Lightning struck it. And the cockpit windshield cracked.
Immediately, decompression began to occur and the plane, while it was at
35,000 feet and traveling at 950 kilometers per hour, began to lose
altitude and reached 15,000 feet, while the speed was reduced by half.
The signs said 'fasten your seatbelts.' They began to blink. There was a
commotion. The plane's crew tried to put some cardboard in the crack,
but the plane continued to lose altitude.
Demetrios had in his pocket an icon of Father Iakovos and one of Venerable David of Evia. He took them in his hands. He squeezed them. He pleaded with them. And as he sat in the left seat of the plane, next to the window, looking outside, he saw, he says, the Elder Iakovos, alive, with his cassock billowing like an umbrella and his right hand stretched out with his palm outstretched, he saw him go under the plane and stop its fall. And then, he saw him in the same way leave and disappear into the clouds. The plane returned to normal. And when it landed, the people in charge said to them: 'You must have had a Saint that two hundred and fifty passengers were not lost.' Demetrios says: 'I know which Saint we had, because God allowed it and I saw him!'"
Indeed, “God is wondrous in His saints”!
Demetrios had in his pocket an icon of Father Iakovos and one of Venerable David of Evia. He took them in his hands. He squeezed them. He pleaded with them. And as he sat in the left seat of the plane, next to the window, looking outside, he saw, he says, the Elder Iakovos, alive, with his cassock billowing like an umbrella and his right hand stretched out with his palm outstretched, he saw him go under the plane and stop its fall. And then, he saw him in the same way leave and disappear into the clouds. The plane returned to normal. And when it landed, the people in charge said to them: 'You must have had a Saint that two hundred and fifty passengers were not lost.' Demetrios says: 'I know which Saint we had, because God allowed it and I saw him!'"
Indeed, “God is wondrous in His saints”!
* * *
This most beautiful new icon will be exhibited for the first time for the veneration of the faithful during the vigil in honor of Saint Iakovos in the Church of Panagia Eleousis in the village of Akaki from Thursday to Friday, November 21-22 of this year, and on Friday it will be transferred to the Chapel of Venerable Iakovos in the area of the currently under construction pilgrimage church of the venerables Iakovos, David and John the Russian.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
