In Kypseli, the former art district, which was the most beautiful and expensive suburb of Athens, where to buy a house it would cost you a fortune, in March 1992, between Meatfare Sunday and Cheesefare Sunday, a miracle happened in the Church of Saint Euthymios (the parish priest at that time was the late Father Demetrios Kloutsos, spiritual child of Metropolitan Augoustinos Kantiotis).
Blood and myrrh appeared on an icon of Christ the Savior.
Chemists came from all over the world to examine whether the blood was paint or some human trick, but they were surprised to find that it was natural human blood.
The church was open day and night, with people coming from as far as Sydney and Jerusalem, as news of the miracle had immediately spread; they made a stop in Athens to venerate the Miraculous Icon of Jesus Christ on their knees with tears in their eyes.
We quote an excerpt from the moving homily of the late Theologian, Nikolaos Sotiropoulos, titled "Like Drops of Blood", which he preached about a month after the event, on April 12th 1992:
"In our times, brethren, we can say that Christ is again suffering to a supreme degree.
He enters Gethsemane again into supreme agony!
A sign, a miracle happened at this time, about a month ago.
It did not happen far from us, it did not happen on the Moon or Mars, so that it would be difficult to research and ascertain. It happened near us, here in a church in Athens, in Saint Euthymios of Kypseli.
It is a church where two distinguished priests, theologians, serve God with reverence. The hieromonk Father Nikolaos Fotopoulos and the priest Father Demetrios Kloutsos. Both are devout, most devout clergy.
But the congregation of this church is also devout. I have preached in many churches in the Attica basin. If you ask me in which church I see the warmest congregation, without hesitation I will tell you 'in Saint Euthymios of Kypseli.'
In this temple, the sign, the miracle, happened. It happened on one of the icons of the sacred temple. Which icon? This is of particular importance. It did not happen on other icons, but on the icon that presents the Lord praying in Gethsemane, at the time of His supreme agony.
The Face of Christ was filled with red spots, it was not entirely red. The spots are both red and white. You may recall the “like drops of blood” that the Evangelist Luke speaks of, blood mixed with sweat. Red mixed with white. Many spots, red and white on the Face, around the Face, the Head, but also on the rest of the Body of Christ. The icon is dotted with blood spots. Red, the color of blood prevails.
The day before yesterday at the time of the Salutations, I went to Saint Euthymios to preach, or rather first to venerate the icon and then to preach.
The icon inspires awe. There are too many blood stains. It causes a terror in the soul, a shock!
And as the fathers told me, thousands of people passed through the temple and confessed and venerated the icon.
They went and continue to go, to venerate the icon and confess their sins.
Why is the icon stained with blood stains? Why does the Lord, depicted in Gethsemane, at the time of prayer, again produce drops of blood? Why is the Lord again in agony, my brethren?
Why is the Lord in agony? For many sad things that are happening in the world."
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
Blood and myrrh appeared on an icon of Christ the Savior.
Chemists came from all over the world to examine whether the blood was paint or some human trick, but they were surprised to find that it was natural human blood.
The church was open day and night, with people coming from as far as Sydney and Jerusalem, as news of the miracle had immediately spread; they made a stop in Athens to venerate the Miraculous Icon of Jesus Christ on their knees with tears in their eyes.
We quote an excerpt from the moving homily of the late Theologian, Nikolaos Sotiropoulos, titled "Like Drops of Blood", which he preached about a month after the event, on April 12th 1992:
"In our times, brethren, we can say that Christ is again suffering to a supreme degree.
He enters Gethsemane again into supreme agony!
A sign, a miracle happened at this time, about a month ago.
It did not happen far from us, it did not happen on the Moon or Mars, so that it would be difficult to research and ascertain. It happened near us, here in a church in Athens, in Saint Euthymios of Kypseli.
It is a church where two distinguished priests, theologians, serve God with reverence. The hieromonk Father Nikolaos Fotopoulos and the priest Father Demetrios Kloutsos. Both are devout, most devout clergy.
But the congregation of this church is also devout. I have preached in many churches in the Attica basin. If you ask me in which church I see the warmest congregation, without hesitation I will tell you 'in Saint Euthymios of Kypseli.'
In this temple, the sign, the miracle, happened. It happened on one of the icons of the sacred temple. Which icon? This is of particular importance. It did not happen on other icons, but on the icon that presents the Lord praying in Gethsemane, at the time of His supreme agony.
The Face of Christ was filled with red spots, it was not entirely red. The spots are both red and white. You may recall the “like drops of blood” that the Evangelist Luke speaks of, blood mixed with sweat. Red mixed with white. Many spots, red and white on the Face, around the Face, the Head, but also on the rest of the Body of Christ. The icon is dotted with blood spots. Red, the color of blood prevails.
The day before yesterday at the time of the Salutations, I went to Saint Euthymios to preach, or rather first to venerate the icon and then to preach.
The icon inspires awe. There are too many blood stains. It causes a terror in the soul, a shock!
And as the fathers told me, thousands of people passed through the temple and confessed and venerated the icon.
They went and continue to go, to venerate the icon and confess their sins.
Why is the icon stained with blood stains? Why does the Lord, depicted in Gethsemane, at the time of prayer, again produce drops of blood? Why is the Lord again in agony, my brethren?
Why is the Lord in agony? For many sad things that are happening in the world."
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
The priests and parish council of the Church of Saint Euthymios in Kypseli at that time also issued the following statement for the pilgrims coming to the church:
Christian pilgrims!
You are witnesses to a wondrous sign, a miracle without hands, which occurred in the Church of Saint Euthymios of Kypseli this year between between Meatfare Sunday and Cheesefare Sunday.
We, on behalf of the parish, responsibly confirm that this icon of the Lord was in our church for many years, framed in a frame with glass, so that it was not possible for a human hand to touch its surface. During the week of Cheesefare, the icon through the glass presented something like mold or soot.
When the sexton of the temple opened it and dusted it, the shocking sight that you are now seeing appeared before his astonished eyes. The icon, that is, was filled with bright red spots on the face of the Lord and on the background around him, which even at first glance immediately give the impression that these are drops of blood.
This is the undeniable fact. But since this is a sign from God, it must mean something. The Lord is sending us a message that we must pay attention to and decipher. For God does not perform His miracles in vain. Various questions arise, therefore.
Why should blood appear around and on the Face of the Lord, not in some other icon of His, but in this one, which represents Him praying in Gethsemane, when the sweat of His agony ran from His forehead “like drops of blood”?
What does blood mean?
Is this a good or a bad sign?
And why did this sign appear at this time? (During the days of Carnival, as is well known, the irreverence and shamelessness of the world reaches its peak, with the masquerades and other orgies that take place).
How can this miracle be explained?
Are our sins about to exhaust the long-suffering of God, and should our insensitivity now be changed into anguish in view of coming sufferings?
Are we guilty of innocent blood, and are we threatened with some punitive bloodshed?
Since the Lord's philanthropy and tolerance have not benefited us so far, but we, rulers and people, continue unrepentantly on our wild path, is it possible that the time is approaching for God to use other means to correct us? Has the time come for the Lord to unbind His iron rod?
These thoughts, with the fear of God and without claiming infallibility, we want to entrust to you and in these feelings we wish to make you sharers. And we let the miracle speak in the heart of each of us. One thing, however, we can say with certainty.
Brethren, let us repent! Let us repent and confess our sins, so that the wrath of the just God may be averted.
You are witnesses to a wondrous sign, a miracle without hands, which occurred in the Church of Saint Euthymios of Kypseli this year between between Meatfare Sunday and Cheesefare Sunday.
We, on behalf of the parish, responsibly confirm that this icon of the Lord was in our church for many years, framed in a frame with glass, so that it was not possible for a human hand to touch its surface. During the week of Cheesefare, the icon through the glass presented something like mold or soot.
When the sexton of the temple opened it and dusted it, the shocking sight that you are now seeing appeared before his astonished eyes. The icon, that is, was filled with bright red spots on the face of the Lord and on the background around him, which even at first glance immediately give the impression that these are drops of blood.
This is the undeniable fact. But since this is a sign from God, it must mean something. The Lord is sending us a message that we must pay attention to and decipher. For God does not perform His miracles in vain. Various questions arise, therefore.
Why should blood appear around and on the Face of the Lord, not in some other icon of His, but in this one, which represents Him praying in Gethsemane, when the sweat of His agony ran from His forehead “like drops of blood”?
What does blood mean?
Is this a good or a bad sign?
And why did this sign appear at this time? (During the days of Carnival, as is well known, the irreverence and shamelessness of the world reaches its peak, with the masquerades and other orgies that take place).
How can this miracle be explained?
Are our sins about to exhaust the long-suffering of God, and should our insensitivity now be changed into anguish in view of coming sufferings?
Are we guilty of innocent blood, and are we threatened with some punitive bloodshed?
Since the Lord's philanthropy and tolerance have not benefited us so far, but we, rulers and people, continue unrepentantly on our wild path, is it possible that the time is approaching for God to use other means to correct us? Has the time come for the Lord to unbind His iron rod?
These thoughts, with the fear of God and without claiming infallibility, we want to entrust to you and in these feelings we wish to make you sharers. And we let the miracle speak in the heart of each of us. One thing, however, we can say with certainty.
Brethren, let us repent! Let us repent and confess our sins, so that the wrath of the just God may be averted.
THE PRIESTS OF THE TEMPLE & THE CHURCH COUNCIL
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
