On 9 December 1943, the Nazis burned Kalavryta and killed 667 male
inhabitants. They then headed east, conducting operations against the Greek
guerrillas in the northern Peloponnese. Around mid-December they reached
Trikala. The panicked inhabitants had abandoned all three villages and had
taken refuge in the monastery of Agios Vlasios. The then Reverend Abbess
Thekla and the sisters found themselves in a precarious position. Where to
house and how to feed so many dozens of people? Fortunately, that year the
monastery had a large production of onions. So, they gave the people… dried
onions! Strange and unthinkable for the man of the 21st century affluence and
consumerism, but onions, powerful caloric agents, saved the lives of the
fugitives. At that time, the monastery was inhabited by a holy soul, the blind
Nun Magdalene, who was familiar with the place and could move about
comfortably. Guided by inner information, she left the monastery and went to
a point from which the village could be seen. Then she turned back smiling
and said to her Elder: “My little mother, don’t be afraid, the Germans will not
come.” “How do you know that my little Magdalena” the Mother Superior
asked her with wonder. “Well, over there on the bridge,” replied the blind
woman, “there is an old man building a fence”! Understanding, the Elder said
to her: “Go, my child, and ask him who he is and what he is doing” The blind
nun went again, and with the bright eyes of her soul, she saw through the
Holy Spirit the miracle of the Saint. When she returned, she said to the Mother
Superior, “He told me that is St. Vlasios, and he is building a fence, so that the
foreign flock may not enter his own”! The Germans got as far as the bridge,
stopped the convoy, consulted some maps, turned around and left! And in
Trikala nothing happened!
Testimony by Mr. Markos Antoniou
Translated by Dr. Nick Stergiou
Miracle of St. Vlasios
