Saint George of Capadocia Miraculous Icons

Miraculous Icons

The icon at Ayio Oros,Greece:
This icon was transported from the Monastery Fanouil.
In the reign of Leonda the Wise (886-912) there lived three brothers-Moses,Aaron and Basileos.They decided to abandon the cares of the world and seek the glory that only God can give.
They reached Ayio Oros, and, finding a quiet,secluded place built their shelters.They stayed there for some time meeting only on Sundays.
Their fame spread and many people came to them and stayed in their company.

They built a monastery and a church.They could not agree on what name to give to the church and so decided to seek guidance from God in prayer. Whilst they were praying a strange,blinding light filled the church.Fearful, they continued in their prayers.The next day, they saw the wood on which they had been debating which saints icon to draw, had an icon of St George on it.Hence, the church was dedicated to St George, and the monastery was called the "artist" (zwgrafou).

The icon found its way to Syria at the monastery Fanouil.Stories were told that when God wanted to punish Syria, the icon vanished from the wood.The monks prayed for help and St George appeared to them.He told them he was at a monastery dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Athos,Greece.He told the monks to head there as God was going to punish Palestine and the whole area as the Christians had fallen into sin.When the monks reached Greece they were amazed. The icon of St George was painted on new wood-the very same icon from Syria.In tears they praised God.

Many miracles have been performed by this icon.It was visited by many kings including John the Bulgarian, and Leonida the Wise.The monastery itself was captured by barbarians and pirates.The present Monastery was built by the Prince Stefanos.

The edge of the icon still has a fingerprint of an unbelieving bishop on it who doubted the icons power.His finger became stuck to it and he eventually allowed the monks to cut his finger off, theat being the only way he could break free.

The icon came over to Greece from Arabia, and all the monasteries wanted it.The monks could not agree where it should go, so they agreed they would put the icon on a donkey and let the animal go for a walk. The icon would stay at the monastery where the donkey would rest.The donkey stopped at the monastery zwgrafou - the "artist."

Prince Stefanos
Prince Stefanos had frequent skirmishes with the Turks.One day a vast army gathered against him to destroy him.He was scared and prayed for help.St George appeared to him in a dream,shining like a light.He told Stefanos to have courage and not to fear the hordes gathered against him.He would see the power of God the next day.St George assured the prince that he would win and that he, St George, would be fighting with him.This is what happened.Stefanos struck the Turks and won a famous victory.He rebuilt the monastery and put another icon of St George next to the icon of the zwgrafou.

The icon wars
During the wars against the holy icons, the tried to burn an icon of St George.To the dismay of the enemies of God , the icon would not burn.Someone stuck a knife into the icon and to his dismay blood poured out.One good man picked the icon up and prayed to God to end the wars against the icons.He threw the icon into the sea and asked St George to take the icon where he wished.St George took the icon to Ayio Oros near a monastery dedicated to St Demetrios.The small monastery still exists.The monks joyously took the icon in, and later built another monastery near the small one dedicated to St George.

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