‘I can walk’
A mother is determined to see that her disabled daughter gets the help she needs.
before 1944
The Kingdom of Greece 1832-1973
A mother is determined to see that her disabled daughter gets the help she needs.
before 1944
The Kingdom of Greece 1832-1973
Fr George Skaramangás (1867-1944) was an energetic and popular figure on the Greek island of Paros, both as priest at the Ekatontapyliani (Church of the Hundred Doors) and as founder of the island’s Byzantine Museum. His adopted daughter married Spiros Mavris, a local hero of the Resistance. The following events took place in his time.
And the blind and the lame
came to him in the temple;
and he healed them.
Matthew 21:14
IT was August, the Feast of the Dormition of Mary,* and among the crowds was a mother and her seriously disabled daughter, aged twenty. After the services were over, with the priest’s blessing she tearfully laid her daughter on the marble paving right beneath the icon of Mary, and there day after day they remained, from morning service until late, in unbroken prayer.
At some stage, it occurred to the priest to cense the icon and sing the Marian hymn beginning ‘It is truly right’.* As he did so, he felt some inner force almost knock him off his feet. At the same time, he saw that the girl was standing up unaided, and whispering hoarsely, ‘I’m fine. I can walk. The Panagia told me so.’*
Soon the church bells were ringing joyously, and the clergy were chanting hymns of thanksgiving. The girl later married, and every August she and her husband brought her mother back to the place where her faith had been so richly rewarded.
On August 15th each year, the Church keeps the Feast of the Dormition of the Birthgiver of God, her ‘falling asleep’. According to Christian tradition, the Virgin Mary died surrounded by the Apostles and was buried, only for her body to have disappeared by the the third day. The feast is also known as the Easter of Summertime. See all posts tagged The Falling Asleep of the Theotokos, and for another miracle from Paros at this time, see The Miracle of Piso Livadi.
On the origin of this hymn, see The Voice of an Angel.
‘Panagia’ means ‘all-holy (lady)’, and is a popular address for the Virgin Mary.