On August 23, 1694, the Panagia brought “on the wings of the wind,” from the dungeons of the Barbary Coast to Kechriona in Kefallonia three Kefalonians - Iakovos, George and John - who had been captured at sea by Barbary pirates and were being held in chains.
The desperate Kefalonians, on the eve of the celebration of the Leavetaking of the Dormition of the Theotokos, were nostalgic for their native Kechriona. They wished they could venerate the Panagia of Kechriona.
The desperate Kefalonians, on the eve of the celebration of the Leavetaking of the Dormition of the Theotokos, were nostalgic for their native Kechriona. They wished they could venerate the Panagia of Kechriona.
They fell asleep from the exertion and woke up hearing the crowing of a rooster. To their surprise, they saw that they were on a small bridge near the church, in Kechriona. The Panagia not only granted them their freedom, but also brought them to their homeland. Shedding tears of gratitude, they exclaimed:
“O Most Holy Theotokos, you have heard our prayer and performed your great and amazing miracle, saving us from our bonds. Behold, we are free!”
“O Most Holy Theotokos, you have heard our prayer and performed your great and amazing miracle, saving us from our bonds. Behold, we are free!”
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| Metropolitan Gerasimos Fokas of Kefallonia |
And the voice of Father Gerasimos Fokas echoes on such a night, when we followed him to the Panagia Kechriniotissa:
“Here are the chains that they left in her temple to testify to future generations of the great miracle that she performed. And it explains why all this love for the Panagia: although we are all sinners, although we are unworthy of the name of Christian, although we are attracted by the passions of the world, although we all have our own little things and weaknesses, we humans feel that our Panagia is the one who translocated to Life, we know that one of us, from our own DNA, made it and is in Paradise, entered Paradise and indeed in the body and we too are comforted. The Panagia opened the way, she is the Gate, she is the Bridge, she is the Ladder and she opens the way for all of us. The Panagia is the one who breaks the chains of our slavery."
“Here are the chains that they left in her temple to testify to future generations of the great miracle that she performed. And it explains why all this love for the Panagia: although we are all sinners, although we are unworthy of the name of Christian, although we are attracted by the passions of the world, although we all have our own little things and weaknesses, we humans feel that our Panagia is the one who translocated to Life, we know that one of us, from our own DNA, made it and is in Paradise, entered Paradise and indeed in the body and we too are comforted. The Panagia opened the way, she is the Gate, she is the Bridge, she is the Ladder and she opens the way for all of us. The Panagia is the one who breaks the chains of our slavery."
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| Panagia Kechriniotissa with the chains |
"The limits of nature are overcome, O immaculate Virgin; for childbirth makes you a virgin, and death anticipates life. The Virgin after childbirth, and living one after death, may you always save, O Theotokos, your inheritance."
