Next to the katholikon of the Koudoumas Monastery in Crete is a chapel dedicated to the Reception of Christ the Savior, named this due to the miraculous icon of the same name kept there which was shot with bullets, and which in 1940 saved the Monastery from the German invaders. Before this it was known as the Church of the Panagia.
A battalion of German soldiers invaded the Monastery in 1940, establishing there a military outpost with the aim of stopping the escape of many Cretan guerrillas from southern Crete to the Middle East, but also preventing the Monastery from protecting them. The German general, wanting to desecrate the Church of the Panagia, sat on the Holy Altar. Then he heard the voice of the Theotokos urging him three times to get up and leave Her house, and when he insisted and refused, the Panagia slapped him. He then, in anger, shot his gun at the sacred icon of the Reception of Christ, however, the bullets did not penetrate it, but left holes on it, as undeniable signs of the miracle, and this entire event became the reason for the Germans to flee from the Monastery.
A battalion of German soldiers invaded the Monastery in 1940, establishing there a military outpost with the aim of stopping the escape of many Cretan guerrillas from southern Crete to the Middle East, but also preventing the Monastery from protecting them. The German general, wanting to desecrate the Church of the Panagia, sat on the Holy Altar. Then he heard the voice of the Theotokos urging him three times to get up and leave Her house, and when he insisted and refused, the Panagia slapped him. He then, in anger, shot his gun at the sacred icon of the Reception of Christ, however, the bullets did not penetrate it, but left holes on it, as undeniable signs of the miracle, and this entire event became the reason for the Germans to flee from the Monastery.
