What places of pilgrimage, what spiritual objectives could we visit in Greece? Watch Father Pimen who recommends some such places, while also recounting a few miracles from some of those spiritual settlements.
Enjoy!
Look, my dear ones, we see each other again. You see, I came somewhere to the seashore. Because what I want to tell you in a way has to do with the sea. Because it’s summertime and many schedule their holidays, they go to different places, especially the seaside. And then, I thought, I would come with an idea. Since you want to go, to rejoice somewhere with your family… Of course, for those who want to, we have a beautiful sea in Romania too, but for those who want to go to Greece, the sea is very beautiful. As it is known, [Greece has] the most beautiful and cleanest seas in the world. But this vacation can be combined as they say…
A few days can be spent at the seaside, and at the same time you can make a pilgrimage through Greece, where there are so many wonderful and beautiful places. As you know, since families are all together, we could start here at Ouranoupoli and cruise around Athos. There are several ships at Ouranoupoli that cruise around Athos. And from Ouranoupoli onwards there are also beaches. So you can do the cruise, you can sit a little bit in the sun, at the sea, for those who want to swim a little bit in the sea. So you can do that.
After that we can go on to Thessaloniki, to the relics of the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius, of St. Gregory Palamas, and likewise, if we keep going, there are those of St. Dionysius of Olympus. Speeding along, so I don’t go on for too long, to St. Paraskevi, the Holy Great Martyr from the Vale of Tempe where the spring of the Great Martyr who is a healer of eyes is.
And after that, we have on the island of Evia, a very wonderful place, at St. John the Russian, where his relics are located.
[Boat goes by] You see, the fast boat, as it is called, passed by behind me, it can fit about 40 people and goes around Athos. It’s not a cruising boat, it just takes people from the monasteries, brings in the worshippers and takes them out when they leave.
Yes, and… As I was telling you, in Evia there are the relics of St. John the Russian. A saint who works many miracles. And also in Evia, an hour away, is the monastery of the Venerable David, where the tomb of St. Iakovos Tsalikis is also located. I also translated a book about the life of the saint, which is now back at the printing press, and within two weeks, I think it will be out and you will be able to find it. A wonderful life of Venerable Iakovos Tsalikis! So you can also get to the monastery there, in Evia.
After that, going towards Athens, in Oropos, at Milesi is the monastery of the Venerable Porphyrios the Kavsokalivite. I think you’ve read books about him. I also made a video about him. A wonderful saint who lived in our days and who went to the Lord I think in ‘91, or ‘92.
After that, if you go towards Athens, from Piraeus, you can pass by ship to Aegina, to St. Nectarios. An hour by ship and on the island you reach the monastery of St. Nectarios where the relics of the saint are also located. You’ve all heard of him.
And then you can go to the other side towards the Peloponnese. There are many places to visit. Of course, there is also the sea there (for swimming) in a lot of places, as well as in the places I told you about, in Evia, at Chalkida there is a beautiful beach close to St. John the Russian. So these things can be combined so to speak. And then in the Peloponnese, you cross the Corinth canal, you can reach St. Patapios, from Loutraki higher up. I have once talked about the monastery of St. Patapios, who is a great miracle-worker. Also located there is the head of St. Ipomoni who works many miracles.
And after that, also in the Peloponnese area, there is also the church of Saint Theodora of Vasta, which was also built through miracles, we can say. When Saint Theodora was killed, she prayed, somehow, that from her blood would spring a stream to feed the plains there. And indeed, when she was killed, a large spring sprang up that flows downhill and has turned into a stream. And she said,
“From my body a church, from the hair of my head – trees.”
Somehow like that. And indeed the Christians, shortly after, built a church on the place where she was killed, and on the roof of the church grew trees. I don’t know how many there are, 7 or 10 trees; big trees on the roof of the church and nothing happens, they’ve lasted for so many years and the trees are on the roof.
And a little further on, continuing to Megalopolis, there is the monastery of Malevi, of the Mother of God. And there is the “Icon of the Mother of God – the Myrrh-Streamer”.
[Another ship goes by] You see, here is another ship, also bringing people, this larger one is called “St. Anne” and the other rapid one that passed before was “Little St. Anne”. This one comes in the morning from Ouranoupoli, brings people up to St. Anne to Kavsokalivia, returns back to Dafni, picks up the others at noon, and now goes by the monasteries again and brings the worshipers.
Yes. And…
There at the Monastery of the Mother of God, at Malevi, is, as I told you, the icon of the Mother of God which streams myrrh. Many miracles were worked there. I know that when I first got there 20 years ago, the icon has a glass on top and on the glass there was myrrh from top to bottom. Like how it is when you wipe with something, that’s how it was with myrrh. That’s when I spoke with the nuns and they told me wonderful things.
The myrrh first sprang up in 1964. So there was a fragrance of myrrh felt in the whole monastery, the nuns did not know what was going on. And when they went to the church, from the icon of the Mother of God…
So somehow the Mother of God appeared to be alive in the icon and she was opening her mouth. The moment the Mother of God opened her mouth, the myrrh would flow as if from a tap. The myrrh passed through the glass as if it was not stopped by the glass, and it flowed down. And it flowed so much it was flowing on the ground so then the nuns placed a big jar down there and that jar was almost filled with myrrh. After that they put down a large tray with cotton wool. The next day when they looked in the jar there was nothing left of the myrrh. So in a way the Mother of God did not allow it to be gathered like that, in the jar. But the myrrh that was flowing was soaking in the cotton wool.
And people started to come, they were given cotton wool with myrrh from there, and a lot of people were cured: of diseases, of cancer. Those who came with faith. And it is said that at that time people from the state actually came, the police came, they all came:
“Wait a minute, something is wrong here! What do you say of miracles?”
Like how those we are least faithful are… [they came] to investigate, lest there be a hose through the back. They locked themselves in the church, sent everyone out, the policeman remained with a few others, and they started investigating. And he was wiping down the icon well to make sure that there was nothing left on it, for him to see afterwards what was going to happen, from where would the myrrh still appear. He looked at the back and saw there was nothing, and he looked at the Mother of God:
“Let’s see now where the myrrh will come from!”
And at that moment the Mother of God opened her mouth, and like I said about how the myrrh was streaming, it passed through the glass straight onto the face of the policeman, it sprayed him. And then the poor man, began to shout:
“I believe, Mother of God! I believe! Forgive me!”
He went outside and said it was a miracle and he believes. He who was unfaithful! And a lot of miracles were still happening.
And the nuns gathered the myrrh, gave it to the believers and many times the Mother of God would show herself in the guise of a nun around the monastery. Or believers would come through the monastery and be greeted by a woman in the guise of a nun. She would smile at them and disappear.
Once, a bus actually came with people to the monastery and got lost, being night. And they went through a place that was deserted, there was a road that ended somewhere in a precipice and suddenly a nun appeared in front of the bus and said,
“Stop! This is not where the road is.”
And she showed them the way to the monastery, to turn back. And when they arrived at the monastery they saw the icon of the Mother of God at the entrance and they recognized that the nun was the Mother of God who stopped them from getting hurt.
Someone said that once a family came with a sick little child, – father, mother, child and mother-in-law,
(meaning the husband’s mother) – they came and were accommodated at the guesthouse outside the monastery, where the pilgrims are accommodated.
And at night they were told – since it was the Saturday night before Sunday – that the service starts at 5 a.m. At about 2 a.m., the woman was not sleeping because you know, as a mother, the suffering is always greater, the child was very sick, he was seriously ill, that is, the doctors did not give him much time to live. And she was there praying, and at one point she sees a sort of light. The door opens and a nun comes in with a censer, a hand censer like this, with bells, but no noise could be heard.
And she began to cense the room and all the people that were sleeping. She sat up made a prostration, made the sign of the cross towards the nun, somehow thanked her and she [the nun] left. And it smelled like the fragrance of myrrh, just like the fragrance of myrrh in the church, that’s how the incense from the censer smelled. The woman thought:
“How much myrrh they have here that they even put it in incense. Look, what a gift they have here!”
Of course, the nun went out, left, and after that she [the woman] saw a great light outside. And she said to her mother-in-law, whom she awakened:
“Come mother-in-law, look, I think the nuns have started the service. There was a nun and she incensed in here and, look, there’s a great light outside above the monastery, I think they lit some lights.” It was a wonderful light. And they went outside and marveled. After that she said to the husband:
“Come, wake up, the nuns have begun the service!”
He looked at the clock:
“What service? It is 2 o’clock! The nuns said that the service starts at 5.”
“Well there was a nun who incensed.”
“But the nuns don’t incense at night through people’s rooms!”
And when they went outside, the lights we gone! And the next day when she told the nuns that she recognized the nun in the icon of the Mother of God, they said:
“You have seen the Mother of God. It means she’s going to heal your child.”
And indeed the child was healed. So, many miracles have been done and are being done at the icon of the Mother of God from Malevi. It has been many years since I was there, I don’t know what the situation is there anymore, I know I was talking to Abbess Victoria who was telling us of many miracles. But the years have passed! I’ve forgotten a lot of them myself. I know there is another miracle… Because at that time the abbess gave me a tape where she was talking about several miracles, she was telling them so that people could have them.
There was a man who came with his paralyzed wife to the monastery. She was in great pain and the doctors told him:
“She won’t last long. That’s it!”
And then, when he saw that she had no chance, after having gone to all the doctors, he said:
“We are going to Malevi, to the monastery!”
But they had to drive about 5 hours with the car and his wife told him,
“I can’t last that long in the car.”
“I don’t know, you have to resist!” He took her in his arms, put her in the car, got behind the wheel and went to the monastery. She went to the monastery and began to pray there.
And she prayed and prayed, and… at one point she saw a nun coming to her. I don’t remember exactly anymore, but something like that. A nun came to her, she felt the fragrance of the myrrh, something happened and the woman was healed. She stood up, she who could not walk, and began to walk around the monastery. And then she saw the Mother of God in the guise of a nun and was completely healed!
And I’m just going to add one more thing. There was a nun who had great pain throughout her body. She went to the doctors, and she was also paralyzed. And the doctors told her that the marrow of her bones had melted. So there was no way she was ever going to walk again. She was going to suffer for a while, and after some time she will die. Her whole body was destroyed. But she was suffering great pains. It was very hard for her. And the nuns prayed for her!
She was, so to speak, a beginner. She had been a few years in the monastery, but she had not yet received the Great Schema. She had a few years at the monastery. And the nuns prayed.
And once, as she was praying, she sees their former abbess from the monastery coming together with a Lady, who was luminous, and they talked to each other:
“What should we do with her?”
“Well, we have to heal her because she’s suffering a lot.” And then she turned towards her and said to her:
“Look, tell the mother abbess that what she has in mind to do, to do it faster.”
Because the mother abbess had decided to make her a nun, but she had not yet told her, being sick as she was. And then she disappeared. After a few days, being in pain, a nun gave her an injection to put her to sleep for a bit, so that she could overcome the pains.
And she hears someone knocking on the door, and thought,
“Again, the nuns are bothering me. Don’t they know how much I am suffering?”
And at that moment, the door opened by itself and the Mother of God entered, with the former abbess, and with a saint, who subsequently presented himself as St. Nectarios and with the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John. And the Mother of God said to her,
“Look I came with them. Because tomorrow you will get the Great Schema… the Savior had decided to leave you in this illness for a few more years. But my motherly heart could no longer endure it. And that’s why I came to heal you today, so that you may have this joy of being healed before getting the Great Schema! Do you know who I am?”
And she took from where the nun kept some icons, the icon with the Mother of God from Malevi,
“I am the Mother of God.” And then she disappeared. But somehow she [the nun] asked her,
“But why didn’t you heal me two days ago when you were here?”
“If I had healed you then not many would have understood the healing, but now they will understand it and they will glorify God more.” And then she disappeared.
And then she saw that the vigil lamp was not lit and she jumped up quickly to light the vigil lamp. Without realizing that she cannot move. And she saw that suddenly she was healed, she could stand on her feet, move. And when she realized this, she quickly went out to the window, where a nun was passing by, and she shouted to her,
“Mother, come quickly!” and herself walked out the door.
And when the nun saw her she started crying. She took her in her arms because she knew her to be paralyzed in bed, and now she was walking on her own feet. She quickly ran to the church, found the nuns there, and cried out,
“Come, the nun has been healed!”
And when they all came, they saw the miracle which… according to the doctors, there was nothing to be done and she did not have much time left to live. And the Mother of God healed her!
So I told you, in a few minutes, a little bit from Malevi, because there are a lot of miracles there. Just to arouse, as they say, your desire to get there; for those who can and will get to Greece.
As I said, there is a saying: “Combine the useful with the beautiful.” That is, come and enjoy the sea of Greece, but also go to the holy places, so that you can rejoice and nourish spiritually. Because there are wonderful places here in Greece.
Yes, my dear ones, may the Mother of God help you, enlighten you and protect you always.
Lord help us!
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May the Lord help us!
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