THE OLIVE OIL FOR HER HUNGRY CHILDREN WAS USED FOR THE VOTIVE LIGHT BEFORE THE ICON OF THE HOLY MOTHER

 It was the eve of the Feast of the Annunciation of the Holy Mother of God, March 24, 1942 in the city of Drama, Greece.  The people of Drama were under the occupation of the Bulgarians who were allies of the Nazis.  The deprivations, the sickness and hunger had taken their fearful toll on the population of Drama and death was everywhere.  Every day the young and the old were dying. The children especially were dying in greater numbers than the adults.  Amongst my relatives, I had a distant aunt, a widow who had five children. Her husband had been killed by the occupiers six months before during the slaughter of many Greeks on September 29, 1941.  The food supplies of this aunt were down to a little olive oil and a handful of flour.  During that particular afternoon on March 24th, this aunt thought that she had enough food to feed her hungry children the following day on the Feast of the Annunciation; she had a hundred grams of flour and some olive oil.  As she was thinking about this her eyes suddenly focused on the burned out votive light that was hanging in front of the icon of the Holy Mother.  Because of her profound faith in Jesus Christ and His Holy Mother, this created a huge dilemma for her. Would she now use the little olive oil she had left to feed her children or would she use it to light the votive light before the icon of the Annunciation? 

Her profound faith in Jesus Christ and His Holy Mother won out in making her decision. With great determination and faith, she made the sign of the Cross and then proceeded to request the following things from the Holy Mother; “Dearest Holy Mother, I will use the olive oil to keep your votive light lit because the Feast Day that is upon us is very important in our faith.  But in doing this, I ask you to take upon yourself the responsibility of feeding my children.”   She then took her last remaining olive oil and lit the votive light before the Holy Mother.  Its dancing light lit up the poor home that night and her heart was filled with a sense of peace.  The light of the votive light accompanied the widow and her children during their evening prayers and throughout that unforgettable night.  The next day, on the Feast of the Annunciation, after the Divine Liturgy, my aunt opened the cupboard door to retrieve the little flour that she had left.  She could not believe her eyes at what she saw.  She saw the olive oil container filled to the brim along with two full bags of flour and a supply of macaroni.  

In her amazement, my aunt made the sign of Cross many times glorifying and thanking God and the Holy Mother for this great miracle that she was seeing before her very eyes.  But my dear people, the astounding thing about this miracle is that for two whole years after the miracle the olive oil container and the bags of flour were never depleted even though they were being used every day to feed the family.  It continued to feed the six people that lived in that house and also it was used to feed other people who were in need.   It is also amazing to note that the votive light in front of the icon of the Holy Mother continued to burn day and night witnessing by its undying light the living faith of this blessed woman.  


GLORIFIED IS GOD AMONGST HIS HOLY PEOPLE
ΔΟΞΑ ΤΩ ΘΕΩ ΕΝ ΤΟΙΣ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΑΥΤΟΥ

Translated from the Greek by:
+Fr. Constantine (Charles) J. Simones, Waterford, CT, USA, 860-460-9089, cjsimones300@gmail.com