Saranti, Cyprus, June 4, 2021
Photo: tsurganov.info Thanks to the miraculous intervention of the Equal-to-the-Apostles St. Helen, a church that had stood unconsecrated in a Cypriot village for centuries was finally consecrated.
His Eminence Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou spoke about the miracle in a sermon delivered at the consecration of a church, reports Vima Orthodoxias.
The miracle took lace in the village of Saranti, within the territory of the Morphou Metropolis, where there is a church in honor of Sts. Constantine and Helen.
One local woman was very sick, and one day St. Helen appeared to her, promising to make her well. “But I also have a problem that I need your help with,” the great saint told the woman. “In your village, the church was never consecrated. I want you to tell the priest so he can make sure that the consecration takes place.”
When the feast of Sts. Constantine and Helen came around, the woman went to tell Fr. Stylianos about the appearance of St. Helen, but the priest was not persuaded. “Our church is 400 years old. How can it be unconsecrated? Look at these old frescoes. If you dreamed of a saint, now we should believe in dreams?” he said.
“Indeed, we must be wary of dreams,” Met. Neofit commented.
So the woman humbly obeyed and left. A year passed, and when the feast of Sts. Constantine and Helen was again approaching, St. Helen again appeared to her, though this time not in a dream. With a stern look, she told the woman to tell the bishop that the church is unconsecrated.
While serving the Vigil for the feast, Met. Neophytos noticed the woman crying. When he inquired of her, she told him about the miraculous appearances of St. Helen. So, after the service, His Eminence went into the altar to inspect the altar table with the priest. To their surprise, they found that there were no holy relics placed in the altar, and there were no signs that it had ever been consecrated, so a date was set to rectify the situation.
On the day of the consecration, at the moment of the washing and anointing of the holy altar table, the whole church was filled with a Heavenly fragrance, showing “that St. Helen was pleased with the consecration.”
“How alive our saints are in our lives! How much they take care of their churches and how much they take care that everything be done according to the order set by the Fathers of our Church!” Met. Neophytos exclaimed.
And emphasizing the great importance of consecrating churches, His Eminence concluded:
Let us not forget that we consecrate churches for the sake of our sanctification. Churches themselves are made of stone and clay. But from the moment these stones and clay participate in the energy of the Holy Spirit and the created is united with the Uncreated, and the creation with the Creator, you and I can also change, be renewed and be transformed. All this happens gradually. The grace of the Holy Spirit transforms us discreetly and imperceptibly. And we are transformed when we participate in the Sacraments of the Church, especially in the Sacrament of the Divine Eucharist. Let this be the meaning of our life, so that we may inherit eternal life. Amen!
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