In a recent interview with Maria Yiachnaki for the radio program "Epikairotita", Elder Gabriel, the current Abbot of the Monastery of Venerable David in Evia, reported two of the most recent miracles of Venerable David and Saint Iakovos Tsalikes, which took place within the past few weeks of 2021.
The first miracle concerns a 23 year old young man named John. On January 6, 2021 John participated in the Cross retrieval competition which followed the Sanctification of the Waters ceremony at the coastal town of Amarynthos. His goal was to capture the Cross then go to the Monastery of the Venerable David in Evia to venerate the relics of Venerable David and Saint Iakovos. As John rushed to dive into the water to retrieve the Cross first, he somehow injured his head and neck really bad, landing him in the hospital with critical injuries and in a coma. John's young friends and fellow competitors decided to put their faith in God to deliver and heal their friend, so on Saturday the 9th of January they drove two hours to the Monastery of the Venerable David, as John had hoped to have done, to venerate the relics of Saint Iakovos Tsalikes and Venerable David and seek their intercessions and aid. When they arrived, they found the Monastery to be closed due to Covid-19 restrictions, so they knocked on the door. They explained to the Abbot their situation and asked to venerate the relics of the Saints. The Abbot allowed them in, then he brought out the skull of Venerable David, and blessed a shirt that belonged to John which the boys had brought with them, then they all venerated the relic. The Abbot then gave them holy oil, which they brought to the mother of John, who rubbed the head and neck of her son with it, then they placed the blessed shirt of John on him. Immediately John began to recover from that moment. As of January 15th, John is still recovering from his injury, but he is no longer in critical condition, and many people all over Greece are praying for him.
The second miracle was reported to the Monastery last week. It is a custom of the Monastery of the Venerable David to do a Supplicatory Canon either to the Mother of God or some Saint after Vespers, and last week Dr. Haralambos Boussias, the Great Hymnographer of the Church of Alexandria, sent to Abbot Gabriel a newly-composed Supplicatory Canon of his dedicated to Saint Iakovos Tsalikes. This Supplicatory Canon was chanted in the Monastery once it was received. Dr. Boussias explained the reason why he composed this new Supplicatory Canon as follows: A woman not known to him wrote him and commissioned him to do it, in gratitude on behalf of her husband Vasilios Anagnos, an officer of the Greek police, who had suffered for seven years from leukemia. One day he was in extreme pain, and nobody or nothing was able to help him and give him some relief. That day, a friend of his came over the house and brought him an icon of Saint Iakovos he had purchased at the Monastery. Immediately when the husband took the icon in his hands and kissed it, all the pain that made him suffer unbearably disappeared. Since that day the husband began to get better and better, and his wife out of gratitude commissioned from Dr. Boussias the Supplicatory Canon.
The first miracle concerns a 23 year old young man named John. On January 6, 2021 John participated in the Cross retrieval competition which followed the Sanctification of the Waters ceremony at the coastal town of Amarynthos. His goal was to capture the Cross then go to the Monastery of the Venerable David in Evia to venerate the relics of Venerable David and Saint Iakovos. As John rushed to dive into the water to retrieve the Cross first, he somehow injured his head and neck really bad, landing him in the hospital with critical injuries and in a coma. John's young friends and fellow competitors decided to put their faith in God to deliver and heal their friend, so on Saturday the 9th of January they drove two hours to the Monastery of the Venerable David, as John had hoped to have done, to venerate the relics of Saint Iakovos Tsalikes and Venerable David and seek their intercessions and aid. When they arrived, they found the Monastery to be closed due to Covid-19 restrictions, so they knocked on the door. They explained to the Abbot their situation and asked to venerate the relics of the Saints. The Abbot allowed them in, then he brought out the skull of Venerable David, and blessed a shirt that belonged to John which the boys had brought with them, then they all venerated the relic. The Abbot then gave them holy oil, which they brought to the mother of John, who rubbed the head and neck of her son with it, then they placed the blessed shirt of John on him. Immediately John began to recover from that moment. As of January 15th, John is still recovering from his injury, but he is no longer in critical condition, and many people all over Greece are praying for him.
The second miracle was reported to the Monastery last week. It is a custom of the Monastery of the Venerable David to do a Supplicatory Canon either to the Mother of God or some Saint after Vespers, and last week Dr. Haralambos Boussias, the Great Hymnographer of the Church of Alexandria, sent to Abbot Gabriel a newly-composed Supplicatory Canon of his dedicated to Saint Iakovos Tsalikes. This Supplicatory Canon was chanted in the Monastery once it was received. Dr. Boussias explained the reason why he composed this new Supplicatory Canon as follows: A woman not known to him wrote him and commissioned him to do it, in gratitude on behalf of her husband Vasilios Anagnos, an officer of the Greek police, who had suffered for seven years from leukemia. One day he was in extreme pain, and nobody or nothing was able to help him and give him some relief. That day, a friend of his came over the house and brought him an icon of Saint Iakovos he had purchased at the Monastery. Immediately when the husband took the icon in his hands and kissed it, all the pain that made him suffer unbearably disappeared. Since that day the husband began to get better and better, and his wife out of gratitude commissioned from Dr. Boussias the Supplicatory Canon.
