Myrrh miracle at St. Demetrios' relics witnessed by deacon in 1987

Fr. Christos Kotios, then a newly ordained deacon at the Church of St. Demetrios in Thessaloniki, recounts a miracle he witnessed on the evening of October 26, 1987. The city was celebrating its liberation from Ottoman rule (1430-1912) on the feast of the martyrdom of its protector, St. Demetrios. Around 10:00 p.m., about thirty to forty pilgrims were in the church.

A group of ten women chanted the Paraklesis before the silver reliquary holding the saint's relics. The only cleric present was the deacon, instructed to stay by the proistamenos, the future Metropolitan Panteleimon of Boeria, Naousa and Kampania. During the chant, the women shouted; the deacon ran to them and saw the reliquary bathed in an oily, yellowish-green myrrh.

The quantity was so great he likened it to at least two buckets poured down the sides. The fragrance was indescribable and filled the church and the street outside. The deacon fetched cotton from the altar and soaked up the myrrh, but it continued to flow mystically without a visible source.

He noticed that after he cleaned a smooth area of the reliquary, a woman's touch immediately caused fresh myrrh to appear on her hand. Meanwhile, pilgrims discovered that all the icons in the church, on stands and on the iconostasis, were also streaming myrrh; handkerchiefs wiped on the icon frames turned yellow. Soon a line formed to venerate the reliquary. The proistamenos and other priests arrived, unlocked the reliquary, and found the relics fragrant, though the myrrh's scent was distinct.

Metropolitan Panteleimon II Chrysaphakes of Thessaloniki attributed the miracle to a university celebration that evening where the keynote speaker omitted any mention of the saint. He said St. Demetrios showed he would never abandon the city, having saved it from slavery and earthquakes, while some proved ungrateful and distant from Christ.

Twenty-four years later, Fr. Christos writes as a priest in Thessaloniki, recalling the joy, astonishment, and sense of living a mystery. He says such events strengthen faith and confirm that the faith is alive.