Athens, May 12, 2021
The wonderworking icon of the Archangel Michael at the church in Mantamados, Lesvos. Photo: lesvos.com
In 1994, Fr. Daniel Sapikas, an archimandrite of the Greek Orthodox Church and medical doctor was in the hospital. Doctors gave him the slimmest chance of survival, but then the Archangel Michael miraculously intervened.
The story of Fr. Daniel, a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, was told in the latest quarterly bulletin from the Holy Pilgrimage Church of Taxiarches (the Archangel Michael) Mantamados of Lesvos, reports Vima Orthodoxias.
Fr. Daniel was ordained to the diaconate in 1972, graduated from the Theological School of Athens in 1976, and was ordained as a priest in 1978. He graduated from the Medical School of the University of Athens in 1990 and in 1992 he became a member of the New York Academy of Sciences the same year.
On April 22, 1994, he was admitted to the Eugenides Hospital in Athens with a 10-pound empyema of the right hemithorax, symptoms of complete apnea, an inability to walk, a 106.5° fever, and suffering diabetic shock.
As a doctor himself, he well knew how critical his condition was. Through a haze, he could hear the doctors talking, who gave him only a 2% chance of survival.
“I felt so alone,” Fr. Daniel recalls. “I made the Cross with difficulty and prayed to my protector, the Archangel Michael… Don’t leave me, don’t abandon me. I have no one but you now. I trust you with my life!”
Fr. Daniel then heard a noise that interrupted his prayer, and turning his head towards the noise, he was shocked to see the Archangel Michael in the room with me, with his armor and his sword in his right hand.
“Daniel, I am here. I didn’t abandon you. I protect you. I will operate on you, and you will be fine. Don’t be afraid!” the holy messenger of God told the suffering priest. As he spoke, he touched his sword to Fr. Daniel’s chest.
Soon the doctor came in and said: “Let’s pray together, Fr. Daniel, and with God’s help, everything will be fine.”
The operation was successful. “The hand of the doctor, led by the Archangel—I’m sure of that—gave me back the life that had begun to leave me.”
Thus, Fr. Daniel has several times visited the pilgrimage church in Lesvos “to thank the Archangel of God Michael for saving me…”
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