It was October 26, 1987. It was past 10:00 PM. Thessalonica was celebrating its patron saint, Saint Demetrius, as well as its liberation from slavery for about 500 years (1430–1912) under Ottoman rule.
The Church of Saint Demetrius, with its doors open, received the night worshipers who knelt before the silver casket with the Holy Relics of the Fountain of Myrrh.
At that time there would not have been more than 30-40 people in the church. A congregation of about 10 women sang the Saint’s Prayer in front of the reliquary.
Suddenly, the women singing the Sermon began to scream! The deacon ran close to them and they, with conflicting feelings, showed him the casket! She was literally bathed in a pool of myrrh…
For a moment the deacon was stunned. Saint Demetrius springs myrrh! Not at all doubting the miracle, and being in a state of joy, wonder, and excitement, he ran to fetch cotton from a closet of the holy church. He ran back and began to wipe the myrrh from the outer walls of the reliquary with cotton and to give pieces of this myrrh-bearing cotton to the pilgrims.
The deacon wiped the reliquary and the myrrh did not end, but continued to flow mysteriously, without any visible source…
They opened the lid of the casket and found that the Holy Relics of the patron of Thessalonica were emanating a fragrance, but it was the fragrance of the Holy Relics. The smell of myrrh was different and characteristic.
The Metropolitan of Thessalonica, Pantelimon II, attributed the miracle of the myrrh spring of Saint Demetrius to the following incident: That evening, in the celebration ceremony of the University for the liberation of Thessalonica, the main speaker in his speech completely ignored Saint Demetrius and made no reference to him at all.
Saint Demetrius made it known through the fountain of myrrh that he never abandoned the city of Thessalonica, saving the city from slavery and earthquakes. On this occasion, however, the Saint drew attention to every time the Thessalonians showed ingratitude and turned away from Christ and His Saints.
… I am that deacon of the church of St. Demetrius who then witnessed the miracle of the myrrh pouring out, now I am a priest in Thessalonica and I am writing you the events as I remember them. I can’t describe how I felt! … I can’t even now accurately define that state.
In any case, it is one of the events that strengthen faith, fill us with joy, hope and the feeling of the presence of Christ and the Saints. Our faith is “alive”!
(Father Christos Kotios, parish priest of the “Assumption of the Virgin Mary” church, Saranta Ekklisies, Thessaloniki)
Source: doxologia.ro
Source: www.cotidianul.ro
