The "Sweat" of Saint Haralambos and Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyva

Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyva said:

“Listen, Dimitri. I go down, I grab the child and say to her, ‘Get things ready so we can do a sanctification of the waters.’

She spread a towel on a table, put down a plate, and I read the Service of Sanctification. Her son, Yiannis G., well, he was mute — he couldn’t speak. I read the prayer with all my heart, with all my soul, and at the end, when I sprinkled him, as I said, ‘having the Holy Unmercenaries as a fountain of healings,’ Yiannis spoke.

Overjoyed, he kissed me, and I kissed him too; his mother kissed me as well — the wife of Hadji-G., you know, the one who had the coppersmith’s shop. Yiannis was healed, and afterward he came up to Saint Haralambos. Little Yiannakis wanted to stay with me - Yiannis G.

Listen, Dimitri! In those very days when this miracle happened, he came here to Achladeri and baptized a child and named him Porphyrios.”

Holy Hieromartyr Haralambos in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Haralambos lived during the reign of Severus, when Lucian was governor in the city of Magnesia. Because he was a priest of the Christians and taught the way of truth, the tyrants ordered that he be stripped of his priestly vestments and then that the skin of his entire body be flayed. As the governor saw him patiently enduring the tortures, he became enraged and attempted to scrape the Saint with his own hands; immediately his hands were severed and remained suspended upon the body of the Martyr. The Saint, however, prayed and restored him to health. When the executioners, who were named Porphyrios and Baptos, saw this miracle, they renounced the idols and believed in Christ. The same also did three women from among those who were present there. The governor arrested all of these, and after subjecting them to tortures, mercilessly beheaded them. For although he was healed, he nevertheless remained in unbelief.

Saint Haralambis, more popularly known as Haralambos, is regarded, according to the hymnography of our Church, as the pride of Greece — of that Greece which bears the name of Christ; which is Christian and acknowledges and honors the saints; which considers the existence of their relics, such as the skull of the Holy Hieromartyr, as the greatest blessing and a most precious treasure; which hastens with faith and longing to the churches to celebrate their memory.

February: Day 10: Holy Hieromartyr Haralambos

February: Day 10:
Holy Hieromartyr Haralambos
 
(The Abundance of the Fruits of the Earth is the Work of God's Blessing)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Hieromartyr Haralambos, whose memory is celebrated today, was the bishop of the city of Magnesia (in Thessaly). He lived and suffered for the name of Christ in the 2nd century A.D. during the reign of the pagan Roman Emperor Septimius Severus. As a true shepherd of the flock of Christ, Saint Haralambos supported his spiritual children in the faith and firmness of their Christian hopes during the cruel persecution of Christians by the pagans that broke out at that time. For this he was seized by the pagan authorities and brought to trial before the head of the region, Lucian. After Saint Haralambos resolutely refused to deny the Christian faith, the judges ordered that the sacred garments be removed from the valiant shepherd and that his body be torn with iron claws. At the same time, the iron claws straightened, and the body of the righteous man remained unharmed. Struck by this miracle, two servants, Porphyrios and Baptos, believed in Christ and before the ruler glorified the almighty power of Christ, strengthening those who suffered for His name, for which they were both beheaded with a sword. After this, many of the pagans came to the holy bishop and received baptism from him, confessing their sins before him. Those who were ill with various ailments received healing from him. The head of the Thessalian region, Lucian, not knowing what to do, went to the emperor himself and told him about everything that had happened in Magnesia.

"Hands up. Knives down. Tonight there was a miracle of Saint Haralambos at the Polyclinic!"

Nikolaos and Andreas Alivizatos, founders of the Athens Polyclinic in 1903

A miracle of Saint Haralambos for Konstantinos Livadas, an employee of the Hellenic Court of Audit, when he was young. Here's how he describes it:

"In January 1931 I was hospitalized at the Athens Polyclinic with an abscess in the liver. For four weeks I was tormented by fever. I had a temperature between 38-40 °C (100-104 °F) at night and terrible pain. It was decided to do an operation.

It was the eve of Saint Haralambos, February 9, 1931. In the evening and while I was in a lethargic and exhausted state due to the high fever, I saw a priestly man with a long beard enter my room. He approached me and not the patient across from me who was suffering from peritonitis.

He caressed my head and said:

"Don't be afraid... Tomorrow you will be perfectly fine. You're a good kid."

The Metropolitan Who Was Granted an Extension of Life from Saint Haralambos

Metropolitan Dionysios of Trikki and Stagon (1905-1/4/1970)

Since the feast of Saint Haralambos is approaching, we will share with you a story that Father Gerasimos Fokas of Mytilene used to tell us and is related to Saint Haralambos:

During the Second World War 1940-1942, Metropolitan Dionysios of Trikki and Stagon served as a preacher of the Holy Metropolis of Mithymna and in August 1942 he was arrested by the German occupiers on the charge of helping and treating British soldiers. The Germans tortured him severely and sentenced him to a ten-year prison term.

In the first phase, he was sent to Thessaloniki to the Pavlos Melas Camp, and then he was for three years in the German camps Stone and Bernau, where he was horribly tortured and was on the verge of death several times. With the intervention of the Panagia, he survived.