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ST. ATHANASIOS (297 - 373 AD)- OUR PATRON
SAINT |
St. Athanasios was
born in Alexandria of Egypt in 297 AD After a good education,
he was ordained a deacon in Alexandria. At the time, some
people were beginning to teach the wrong things about Jesus.
One such person was a priest from Alexandria, whose name was
Arius. Even though Athanasios was younger, he helped the Patriarch
of Alexandria understand that Arius' teachings about Jesus
were wrong.
Soon Arius' teachings spread to Constantinople and other parts
of the Christian world.
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King
Constantine the Great called the First Ecumenical Council
in 325 AD for the Church to decide once and for all, what
the correct teachings were about Jesus. The Christians
were beginning to divide themselves into two sides. Since
Athanasios had written so much about the subject, he too,
was invited to attend. The Council accepted the way Athanasios
defined and explained the teachings about Jesus.
Athanasios became Patriarch of Alexandria in 326 A. D.
But he was to find many troubles and heartaches. Even
though the First Ecumenical Council declared what were
the true teachings about Jesus, it took quite awhile for
the Christians in Egypt and elsewhere to accept the decisions.
For forty-five years St. Athanasios continued to fight
for his beliefs and he was sent into exile ten times. |
St.
Athanasios finally died in exile in 373 AD The Church finally
won out with the teachings the way St. Athanasios defined
them. We find those definitions in the first seven articles
of the Creed we recite at each Divine Liturgy every Sunday.
THE MIRACLE
In 1924 Markos Botsaris died
at HELIDONA a location close to Karpenisi. The Turkish Army
went towards Messologi. The Turkish army passed through the
village of Perista and all the villagers left Perista and
began hiding at the caves of a close mountain called Anninos.
From the mountain the villagers could see the Turkish army
at the side of a hill called Stavroulis and happy because
they escaped the danger they yelled : Tourkoi Tourkoi sto
Stavrouli pezoi, kavalarei.
This
phrase is alive today. Another relative lore with their escape
to the caves is this one. While they were at the caves an
old man appeared with wavy gray hair, a long bear and shinny
clothes. The old man let the Peristians understand that they
had to leave the caves because something very bad was about
to happen. The women and the children immediately evacuated
the biggest cave. The cave broke down to pieces a few minutes
later. The villagers survived and Saint Athanasios (AGIOS
THANASIS) did the miracle. According to the lore that old
man was Saint Athanasios
