Our holy father John Kalaides - His holy life before becoming a priest and the miracle of Saint Athanasius the Great.

Our holy father John Kalaides - His holy life before becoming a priest and the miracle of Saint Athanasius the Great.

Our holy father John came from a refugee family. His parents, after the destruction of Asia Minor, came and settled in Kamaroto, Serres. At first, their life was very difficult and they lived in tents. As the years passed, he started a family and was engaged in agricultural work. Once, two cars had stopped in the village square. In one there were cabbages from a producer and in the other there was hay. Because most days of the year in the villages of this area there are strong winds, the wind took the hay from one car and carried it onto the cabbages of the other car. The two people began to argue and there was a danger of them hitting each other. Then John, the man of God, bought all the cabbages and the commotion stopped! 

Once, in the same village, he was spraying the smoke with a sprinkler and due to some fault in the machine, this powerful medicine went to his back and the rest of his body without him realizing it. The medicine began to act inside him and he became seriously ill! He lay down in bed, did not eat anything and was fading away. His wife Polyxeni notified his brother who was in Piraeus to come because they were expecting him to die. They could now see that he had no life! It was the eve of the transfer of the holy relics of Saint Athanasius the Great and at the time of vespers, the Saint appeared before him, crucified him and said to him: 

"Live"! From then on he became completely well and had undivided reverence for Saint Athanasius! He had told us about this miracle many times. 

May we always have his holy wish! Amen! 

 Tsesmetzis Miltiadis - teacher