-Saint Demetrios and the olives-

-Saint Demetrios and the olives-

"This is the reason, we have the Saints in our house, for the difficult times …”

“Once there was a man without faith who had a faithful wife, nonetheless. His wife was talking to him about faith, but he would not listen. One day they were gathering olives in the fields but the night came and they had not taken them back home yet, so they had to leave them outside. The husband said:

-We should not leave them outside, they will get stolen. 

-“God will protect them”. His wife told him

-“What are you talking about… If we do not take care of them…no God will…how can you believe in God…?”

-“God will protect them since we cannot carry them now…”

In the end, they left the olives there and during the night someone went and stole them. His poor wife … how would she confront her husband now, what would she do before this beast? He was a savage and you realize what would happen…

In their home, they had an icon of Theotokos, Saint Demetrios and St. Nikolaos. The husband goes and stands before the icons and he says to Saint Dimitrios who was riding a horse in his holy icon:

“You, what is your purpose inside the house? And why does this woman (his wife) thinks you can protect us? 

She has a child in her arms [referring to (the icon of) Theotokos], she cannot go out and find them. He is an old man, (referring to Saint Nikolaos), he cannot outrun them. But you, a young man on horseback, will you let them take our olives? You will go and get them back, otherwise, I am going to burn these…

Before he finished his threatening words to the holy icons, he listens to voices coming from outside the house. Three animals were carrying the olives. With them, the two guys that had stolen them. They arrive and say to him:

“We were wrong, we committed a sin to steal your olives. But did you have to send this young man to beat us up? Why did you send this army officer?

The husband was shocked!”

We have icons of the Saints in our houses and we burn incense to them, we light candles to them but we do not believe that they are ready and willing to help us. 

Some people have 200 Saints in their houses and if something bad happens they will run immediately to seek help somewhere else, instead of turning to their Saints and say

“Please, help me!”

This is the reason, we have the Saints in our house, for the difficult times …”

Part of a homily of Demetrios Panagopoulos, (1916 - 1982)

How Panagia Prousiotissa stopped the spreading of the Spanish flu miraculously.

How Panagia Prousiotissa stopped the spreading of the Spanish flu miraculously.

On the 9th day following the Dormition of our Most Holy Theotokos, we celebrate the feast of a spectacular miracle working icon, Panagia Prousiotissa. 

The vast miracles which have been attributed to this icon have brought healing and salvation to the millions of faithful who beseech our Panagia with faith and reverence. While Her countless miracles are all awe inspiring, there is one miracle in particular which is directly relevant to the trying and difficult times we are living today.

The beatitudes of Saint Paisios the Athonite

The beatitudes of Saint Paisios the Athonite

Saint Paisios wrote these beatitudes "as does the madman who writes his outbursts on the wall with charcoal." The reason for the initial craziness was five letters, one after the other, from various parts of Greece on a variety of subjects. While the events described were great blessings of God, those who wrote to St Paisios had fallen into despair because they dealt with them in a worldly way. "After replying accordingly to their letters, I took the pencil like a madman, as I have said, and wrote this epistle."

The Song of Hagia Sophia

The  Song of Hagia Sophia 

(The lament of the Hellenic people, which is full of hope, after the Fall of Constantinople 1453)

God sounds out, the earth sounds out, the heavens sound out.

And the Hagia Sophia also sounds out, the great monastery,

With four hundred sounding-boards and sixty-two bells,

For each bell a priest, for each priest a deacon.

A prophecy of St Paisios