Saint John Kaloktenes and Metropolitan Church of Thebes

By Demetrios I. Vafeiadis

The city of Thebes was renowned already from antiquity for its importance.

A significant center of commerce, it flourished during the Byzantine period and indeed became the capital of the Theme of Hellas and the seat of its strategos, being the most populous city.

In this region, as is known, the Evangelist Luke was active, who preached the gospel to the people of God and fell asleep in the Lord in this city.

From the early Byzantine period, it appears that in Thebes there existed a church dedicated to the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos in the area called “Lontza.”

Indeed, it held a prominent place in the ecclesiastical life of the city and possessed the status of the cathedral and metropolitan church of the city.

Thebes has always been the seat of a bishopric, with its first bishop being the Holy Martyr Rufus, whom the Apostle of the Nations, Paul, also mentions.

At times as an Archbishopric and at times as the Metropolis of Thebes or Boeotia or even of Livadeia, it served as the seat of the local bishop, having at periods also other bishoprics subject to it; it is certain that there existed a metropolitan church, and this was that of the Panagia.

The Hermitage of Saint Christodoulos in Evia

Limni is a town and a community in the northwestern part of the island of Evia (Euboea), Greece. At the end of the beach of Limni is the Hermitage of Saint Christodoulos. It is the location where Saint Christodoulos lived the last years of his ascetic life at the end of the 11th century.

Saint Christodoulos was the founder of the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian on Patmos. After pirate raids on Patmos, he fled to Limni in the year 1092, together with Patmos monks and residents. He resided in this cave of Limni until the end of his life in 1093. After his death, monks from Patmos took his relics and transferred them to the island of the Apocalypse.

 

The stay of Saint Christodoulos in Evia was, according to scholarly research, of short duration. There is information that a pious and wealthy resident of Euripos offered his luxurious residence to the Saint, who transformed it into a monastery, although the concerns of the Saint—due to the large property of the monastery on Patmos—required his presence not in the desert but near the world. Moreover, in Evia there has always existed a tradition according to which Saint Christodoulos remained practicing asceticism in a cave at the western edge of the town of Limni (Elymnion).

 

During his stay in Euripos, the Saint composed his “Testament” and his “Codicil” (March 1093). In order for this Testament to have legal force, it was signed by seven officials of the episcopal authority and of the city of Euripos (Halkidos), namely: Leon, presbyter and sakellarios of the city of Euripos; John, presbyter and notary of the see of Euripos; Michael … of the see of Euripos; Basil, the humble deacon … and notary of Euripos; and others.

 

More specifically, Metropolitan John of Rhodes, in his work “Life and Conduct of Our Venerable Father Christodoulos,” recounts the stay and repose of Saint Christodoulos in Euripos, which occurred in the year 1093 A.D., as well as the translation of his holy relic and its transfer to Patmos, writing the following:

 

“And the Venerable One arrives there together with the brotherhood, to that place where the water of the sea flows outward and then recedes again, forming a certain narrow strait of the sea, which the ancients called the Euripos strait.

There, having become the object of admiration for all and having been deemed worthy of the proper honor—as though he were an Angel in a mortal body—he exhorted his flock not to grow weary at the frequent relocations, nor to resist foolishly the will of God, who orders all things in wisdom.

But one of the monks, because he could not endure the hardships nor the harshness and toil of virtue, like Judas among the Twelve he departed from the company of the brethren and replaced that spiritual gathering with a garden, which he rented. And just as the devil entered into Judas and drove him to betrayal, in the same way an evil demon tormented the monk who had separated himself from the brotherhood, and the illness of the faint-hearted brother was reported to the Father.

He, being gentle and without malice, giving way to anger, took the holy Gospel and came in the evening to the one who was raging and beside himself. He read the words of the Holy Spirit for the sick, and immediately the condition of the sufferer improved. The sick man no longer desired to occupy himself with planting trees and watering gardens, but became eager instead for cultivating the soil of virtue, thus returning once again to the flock from which he had wrongly been cut off.

After a short time had passed, he prophesied to those who followed him that he would depart to the Lord; that the Hagarenes would not dwell to the end on the islands; and that his close friend would not neglect them, but that as soon as the turbulence of the sea ceased, they would return again to the spiritual fold.

He therefore asked them to take his dead body with them from that foreign land and to place it in the church for which he had labored greatly.

Having foretold these things to those with whom he associated, and having sanctified them all with farewell words, he delivered his spirit to God on the 16th of March.

At the same time, with the fulfillment of the prophecy and the disappearance of the pirates from the sea by the power of the ruler, his good disciples remembered the prophecy of the virtuous shepherd and prepared to set sail.

But when those who inhabited that land heard that they would be deprived of that precious body, they gathered from the surrounding areas and openly declared that under no circumstances would they allow it. For they thought it foolish and utterly senseless to permit others to carry it away wherever they wished, since he had been for them a savior, a physician, and a healer of every illness. For this reason, they guarded the body strictly.

But the prophecy of the blessed one was not to be proven false. Therefore, when night had advanced, escaping the attention of the guards, they lifted the body onto their shoulders, placed it on a ship, and, having obtained calm seas, arrived at the island. There they disembarked the sacred relic with a solemn procession, praising God and filling the air with fragrance.

And now, whole and incorrupt, the relic lies in the church of the Apostle, and it pours forth streams of miracles; and those who touch it with faith perceive a fragrance of myrrh, and by the touch alone are sanctified and delivered from every bodily affliction.”

 

 

The World War 2 Miracle That Made Saint Gregory the Theologian the Patron Saint of Delvinaki in Ioannina

It was dawning on January 25, 1944, during the period of the German occupation. The village was asleep, though not without anxiety. The occupiers, enraged by the Resistance which they saw constantly growing stronger, were roaming towns and villages, carrying out searches and arrests of suspects, and spreading death without mercy. Delvinaki too was awaiting its turn… And it was that morning, at daybreak on January 25, when the news arrived that set the village on alert:

“Germans! The Germans are coming!”

Within a few minutes all the villagers gathered in the central square. There, near the large plane tree of the village opposite the community office, was a café where the resistance groups had brought munitions — arms, hand grenades, and whatever else they had in order to strike the enemy. They had intended to hide them in a safer place, but they did not have time. And now? Now that the Germans would soon arrive there? What were they to do?

The Incorrupt Relics of Saint Eleutherios in Nea Ionia

Saint Eleutherios of Illyricum, the early Christian martyr and bishop, is especially venerated in the Orthodox Church not only for his apostolic life and courageous martyrdom, but also for the incorrupt relics that God has granted as a sign of His grace resting upon the Saint.

According to Orthodox ecclesiastical tradition, the holy relics of Saint Eleutherios were preserved intact after his martyrdom in Rome and became a source of blessing and miracles for the faithful. From the earliest centuries, Christians gathered at his martyrion near the Xerolophos in Constantinople, where his synaxis was celebrated, venerating his body as a tangible witness to the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit.

In Orthodox theology, the incorruption of a saint’s relics is not understood as an automatic or universal mark of sanctity, but as a particular gift of God. In the case of Saint Eleutherios, whose life was marked from youth by purity, ascetic struggle, and fullness of the Spirit, the incorruption of his relics was perceived by the Church as a confirmation of the holiness already manifest in his life and miracles. As the Apostle teaches, “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 6:19), and in the saints this truth is revealed even beyond death.

The Sacred Skull of Saint Menas the Kallikelados

1734 reliquary

The silver reliquary for the Sacred Skull of Saint Menas the Athenian, also known as Kallikelados, has a dated inscription from 1734, and is from the Monastery of Dryanou in Zervati of Northern Epirus. It was kept at the Benaki Museum in Athens, where today only the outer casing remains. 

 

The Metropolis of Fthiotida, through the coordinated efforts of the late Metropolitan Nikolaos towards the administration of the Benaki Museum and the Holy Synod, received in 2006 a fragment of the Sacred Skull of the Holy Martyr Menas Kallikelados. It is kept in the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Theotokos in Lamia.

The Chapel of Saint Nestor at the National Sports Center of Larissa

Kaftanzoglio National Stadium in Thessaloniki, one of the highest quality sports stadiums in the Balkans, opened its doors on October 27, 1960. The reason it opened on that date is because it was the feast of Saint Nestor, who was proclaimed the patron saint of athletes after he appeared in the dreams of a man responsible for the building of the stadium, which is why there is a chapel to Saint Nestor there.

On October 27, 2000, at the National Sports Center of Larissa, a chapel dedicated to Saint Nestor was consecrated by Metropolitan Hieronymos of Larissa and Tyrnavos, in the presence of the Deputy Minister of Sports, Eleftherios Avgenakis, and the city's officials.

Saint Oikoumenios the Wonderworker, Bishop of Trikki

St. Oikoumenios of Trikki (Feast Day - May 3)

Verses

Although dead I honor the discourses of Oikoumenios,
You were successful in producing great discourses.
On the third of May the body of Oikoumenios was hidden under the earth.

There is a long debate among researchers about Saint Oikoumenios, both about his identity and about when exactly he lived.

According to the prevailing view, Saint Oikoumenios lived at the end of the 10th century. He studied all the Fathers of the Church and emerged as an excellent interpreter of the Holy Scriptures. At the same time, he is said to have wrote Commentaries on the Acts of the Apostles, on the 14 Epistles of Paul, on the 7 Catholic Epistles, and a Commentary on the Apocalypse, though these are disputed to have been the work of another author from Asia Minor from the seventh century. After being appreciated by his contemporaries for his impeccable ethics and his great external education, he qualified for the episcopal throne of Trikki (in Thessaly), which he adorned as a good shepherd and disciple of the Chief Shepherd Christ, and he reposed peacefully around 995 AD.

Churches Dedicated to Saint Donatos the Wonderworker

Saint Donatos the Wonderworker is the Patron Saint of Paramythia. He lived during the reign of Emperor Theodosius the Great and was Bishop of the city of Euroea, which was one of the 12 cities of Epirus and was built on the site where the village of Choika is today. It is reported by the ecclesiastical historian of late antiquity Sozomen, that Saint Donatos performed many miracles, such as the successful battle with a dragon, the purification of the waters of a well, the rescue of the daughter of Emperor Theodosius, as well as the resurrection of the dead. He reposed in 387.

The Cave of Saint George in Kainourgio of Fthiotida

Along the Athens-Lamia National Road, in the charming village of Kainourgio, located in Fthiotida of Central Greece, deep in the mountains, on a small expanse of land cleared of beech trees and weeds, is the Chapel of Saint George.

Behind the lower chapel, almost hidden from the eyes of the world, there is a serpentine path which begins towards the mountain, leading to the sacred cave where the "finding of Ai-Giorgis" took place, namely the finding of the icon of Saint George.

Until 1901, the year the Chapel of Saint George was built, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the small cave. Only the priest and the chanter could fit inside, while the faithful would listen gathered outside.

 

"Like Drops of Blood": The Shocking 1992 Miracle on an Icon of Christ in the Church of Saint Euthymios of Kypseli

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.

The House Where Saint Paisios Grew Up in Konitsa of Ioannina

Saint Paisios was born in Farasa of Cappadocia in Asia Minor on July 25th 1924.

On August 7, 1924, a week before the people of Farasa left for Greece during the population exchange, the Elder was baptized by Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian, who insisted on giving the child his own name "to leave a monk at his feet," as he had characteristically said.

Five weeks after the baptism of the then little Arsenios Eznepides, on September 14th 1924, the Eznepides family, along with the refugee caravans, arrived at Agios Georgios in Piraeus and then went to Kerkyra, where they temporarily settled in Kastro. His family stayed in Kerkyra for a year and a half. Then they moved to Igoumenitsa and ended up in Konitsa.

The Martyrdom Site of Saint Michael Paknanas in Athens

On July 9, 1771, an 18 year old gardner named Michael Paknanas was brought to the ancient Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens to be beheaded on the site of its ruins for his refusal to deny his Christian faith and embrace Islam. His last words to the executioner who taunted him were, "Strike for the Faith!"

On the pillar where he was beheaded, faithful Christians left this inscription: "1771 Ιουλίου 9 απεκεφαλίσθη ο Πακνανάς Μιχάλης" (July 9th 1771 Michael Paknanas was beheaded).

In 2010 it was established that a Divine Liturgy would be celebrated next to this spot annually on the Saint's feast day, which is the same as the date he was martyred. Entrance to the historic site is free on this day only for those who participate in the Divine Liturgy.

The Miracle of Panagia Vlochaitissa and the Drought of 1893

By Spyros Symeon

On the mountain where the ancient acropolis of Thestia is located in the region of Aitoloakarnania, just a few kilometers from Agrinio, is the Monastery of Panagia Vlochaitissa with its miraculous icon.

The icon shows the Panagia enthroned and holding Christ in her arms, flanked by four prophets and two angels who place a precious crown on her head.

In this icon of the Panagia we see something very rare: the Panagia is smiling!

Numerous are the miracles she has performed for the sick, those in pain, and everyone who hastens with supplications before her icon and begs her to intercede with our Lord and God.

Women who could not bear children finally through her intercessions succeeded, those sick even with incurable diseases made doctors confess to her miraculous intervention.

Testimony of a Miraculous Appearance of Saint Spyridon to a Couple in Athens in 1994

Church of Saint Spyridon in Aigaleo

The incident I will describe, and my husband also agrees, was the beginning for us to open our hearts and really believe in God, because until then, we only criticized God's ministers negatively. And my husband even defended the opinion that God does not exist. It was an event that confirmed to us how unjustified we were, how wrong we were and opened our eyes so that we could see the true way, God's way.

Our son Sotiris was born on September 19, 1994. I had decided when my child was forty days old to take him to a church to receive the blessing, as is customary, after the advice of our immediate relatives.

I didn't take him on the day he turned forty days old, but the day after, which was Sunday, October 30, 1994. But, like the careless and naive people that we are, that day I got up at 7:00 in the morning to feed him, but then I lay down again and we fell asleep. So my husband and I got up later and got ready to go to church at our leisure. When we went to the first church, the Divine Liturgy was over and there was no Priest to give the blessing to the child. We left and went to another church. We visited the churches we knew in the municipalities of Peristeri, Haidari and Aigaleo. Some churches were closed and others that were open, the Priests had left. But I insisted and told my husband that "Today, Sunday, he should receive the blessing." We ended up around 2:00 in the afternoon outside the Sacred Church of Saint Spyridon in Aigaleo. My husband told me to give up the effort and go the next day to get a blessing, but I insisted. I saw the church door ajar and told him that "this would be our last attempt." So we entered the Sacred Temple, me with my child in my arms and my husband.

Thousands Venerate the Skull of Saint John Chrysostom in Athens for the First Time

On Saturday evening, November 11, 2023, a multitude of people welcomed the Honorable Skull of Saint John Chrysostom, which for the first time in history has been brought to Athens from its permanent home at Vatopaidi Monastery. Saint John Chrysostom had received much of his secular education in Athens in the fourth century, and this reception of his skull marks its first return to the capital of Greece in over 1600 years.

The sacred head had been brought by Archimandrite Ephraim of Vatopaidi and was received by Metropolitan Philotheos of Thessaloniki and Bishop Philotheos of Rogoi, assistant bishop of the Archdiocese of Athens who represented the Archbishop of Athens Hieronymos. It was brought to the Church of Saint Eleutherios, where a Doxology took place. It will remain in this church until November 16th, where there will be a daily Divine Liturgy and Services and the doors will remain open 24 hours a day. 

 

Saint Agathon, Founder of Agathonos Monastery

Venerable Agathon (Feast Day - August 7)

 Verses

With fervent faith you founded Agathonos Monastery,
You who now worthily dwell in the Monasteries on high.
On the seventh the bones of Agathon appeared in the earth.

Agathonos Monastery is a male monastery in Phthiotis of Central Greece, located on the northern slopes of Mount Oeta, some 3 km west of the town of Ypati.

As for the builder of the Monastery of Agathonos, which honors the Dormition of the Theotokos because of the miraculous icon of the Panagia there, and the Transfiguration of the Savior, many biographical details are missing.

After the decline of a nearby monastery and the discovery of the icon of the Theotokos by Saint Agathon, he built the present monastery, which received the name of its founder and first abbot from the disciples of the Saint after his repose.

The Hermitage of Saint Paraskevi in Larissa and It's Mysterious Coffin

In Larissa, on the borders of the ancient city of Omolio and at the end of an impassable path, a branch of which the road leads to the Tempe Theater, is the unknown Hermitage of Saint Paraskevi, where it has been located for several centuries.

It is a temple naturally formed in a rock cavity, surrounded by a wall of stones and blocks of bricks and probably dating back to the time of the Palaiologoi (1261–1400). Unfortunately, today it is partially destroyed, as a result of which it is preserved in low ruins.

An elderly woman who currently cares for this sacred site makes mention of an old macabre story about a coffin that can be found in this hermitage and the contents that it contains.

The Athenian Festival of Saint Marina of Thiseio and the Shocking Miracle That Took Place in 1911

The old Church of Saint Marina below the Observatory at the end of the 19th cent.

By Eleutherios Skiadas

We have written a lot about the "Lady of Thiseio", the temple that stands proudly below the Observatory.*

At one time on the day of its celebration, that is July 17th, the biggest festival of Athens took place there. By various means, believers arrived from the surrounding villages, Mesogeia and Katadema, to light a candle for the Saint and pray for the health of their children, because Saint Marina is considered the protector of children. They called her and still call her a "wonderworker".

There are many folk traditions, legends and recorded cases of miracles that have occurred. Such a miracle also happened in 1911 that shocked the faithful.

The Chapel of the Prophet Elisha in Athens: A Monument of True and Unadulterated Orthodoxy

A Monument of Orthodox Spirituality

By Kostis Bastias

The Church of the Prophet Elisha (Elissaios) was built on the way towards Aerides near the old Stratona, on a private plot of land. It is a small chapel. A few years ago there were many small private churches both in Athens and in the rest of Greece. Simple and pious people lived at that time, who turned their excess and more often their deficiency into praise and glorification to their Creator, honoring one of His saints. Today, however, even if a pious person wants to build a chapel and honor a saint, he cannot. A thousand laws prevent him. They need special permits that no one gives them, they need approval of plans and a bunch of other difficulties that frustrate even the most zealous. Quite a few of the restrictions, to be fair, had as an occasion the private exploitation they made with these private chapels. Some of them had turned it into businesses that didn't pay much, and that once made for a dangerous retaliation to the parish churches. However, this is one thing, for which there are a thousand ways to deal with it, and the abolition of memory is another.

The Hermitage of Saint Damian on Mount Kissavos

The holy new martyr Damian was born around 1500 in the village of Myrichovos to rayah parents. His village Richovos or Myrichovos, in the district of Karditsa, was a poor village with mostly farmers. From a young age he desired to dedicate himself to God and become a monk. So he went to Mount Athos at a young age and presented himself to the Holy Monastery of Philotheou where he became a monk. While there he was called by God to go to his homeland in Thessaly to rekindle their spiritual life.

The enslaved Greeks listened attentively to the divinely inspired words of Saint Damian and their conscience was awakened and they corrected their way of life. These fiery sermons quickly created dislikes and thus began the first persecution of the Saint. The Hagarenes slandered the Saint as an impostor and set in motion an assassination plan.