According to the exclusive information of ope.gr and the journalist Demetrios Stroumbakos, Metropolitan Kyrillos of Kifissia, Amarousi, Oropou and Marathon submitted a file to the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece which contains the information regarding the Canonization of Eldress Makaria Desypris, who was the one who discovered the Sacred Relic of Saint Ephraim of Nea Makri in January 1950.
This morning (May 30, 2024) the Metropolitan officiated at the Monastery of Saint Ephraim, on the occasion of the joyous event of the deposit of the file for the canonization of Eldress Makaria, which will then be transferred from the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
This morning (May 30, 2024) the Metropolitan officiated at the Monastery of Saint Ephraim, on the occasion of the joyous event of the deposit of the file for the canonization of Eldress Makaria, which will then be transferred from the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Eldress Makaria of Mount Amomon (1911-1999)
Eldress Makaria (in the world known as Margarita Desypris) was born on March 12, 1911 in the village of Falatados in Tinos. When she turned nineteen she made the decision to become a nun. During the German Occupation, she went to the Averof women's prison in Athens and there she lovingly cared for the prisoners' children. In 1945, she visited the then stavropegic men's monastery on Mount Amomon, where she lived amidst its ruins for several years under difficult conditions. There her health was tested many times. She slept in the ruins of the monastery, without windows or coverings and endured every ordeal.
By divine impulse, she built a cell there and began to clear the ruins of the old temple to rebuild it. Many times she contemplated how monks had lived in that place over the centuries and she prayed that one of them would appear to her. A voice, at first silent but with time growing louder in her soul, told her: "Dig and you will find what you desire," until the moment a spot was revealed to her in the courtyard of the monastery.
By divine impulse, she built a cell there and began to clear the ruins of the old temple to rebuild it. Many times she contemplated how monks had lived in that place over the centuries and she prayed that one of them would appear to her. A voice, at first silent but with time growing louder in her soul, told her: "Dig and you will find what you desire," until the moment a spot was revealed to her in the courtyard of the monastery.
On January 3, 1950 she commissioned a laborer to dig the specific spot that her own soul indicated to her. Although the laborer was negative and wanted to dig anywhere but at this spot, finally, after pleas and prayers, the laborer was convinced and began to dig. The site had a half-demolished fireplace, wall and things that indicated that there had once been a monk's cell there. The first find was a skull. In fact, the place emanated with a wonderful fragrance.
"I knelt with reverence and embraced the Saint's relic and deeply felt the extent of his martyrdom. My soul was filled with joy, I acquired a great treasure, and taking the soil with care I saw the harmony of its setting, which, despite so many centuries in the earth, had not changed," wrote Eldress Makaria, describing the shocking things that happened to her.
Carefully, the Abbess Makaria took out the whole relic and placed it in a box that was above the grave. It was obvious that he was a clergyman as his cassock had remained intact.
In the evening, while reading Vespers, Eldress Makaria heard footsteps. The sound came from the grave, echoing to the church door. That's where she first saw him. He was tall with small round eyes, with a long black beard that reached his neck, dressed in the monastic garb. In one hand he had a flame and with the other he was blessing. He asked to be taken out of the box they had him in. The very next day the Abbess cleaned the bones and placed them in a box in the Sanctuary of the temple.
That same night, the Saint appeared in her sleep, thanked her and revealed his name: Ephraim. The relic of Saint Ephraim has been kept there since then and every day hundreds of believers visit it asking the Saint for his blessing and help. The Saint, by the grace of God, has performed thousands of miracles. In the vicinity of the Monastery, and protected by a building built around it, there is the mulberry tree on which Saint Ephraim breathed his last.
"I knelt with reverence and embraced the Saint's relic and deeply felt the extent of his martyrdom. My soul was filled with joy, I acquired a great treasure, and taking the soil with care I saw the harmony of its setting, which, despite so many centuries in the earth, had not changed," wrote Eldress Makaria, describing the shocking things that happened to her.
Carefully, the Abbess Makaria took out the whole relic and placed it in a box that was above the grave. It was obvious that he was a clergyman as his cassock had remained intact.
In the evening, while reading Vespers, Eldress Makaria heard footsteps. The sound came from the grave, echoing to the church door. That's where she first saw him. He was tall with small round eyes, with a long black beard that reached his neck, dressed in the monastic garb. In one hand he had a flame and with the other he was blessing. He asked to be taken out of the box they had him in. The very next day the Abbess cleaned the bones and placed them in a box in the Sanctuary of the temple.
That same night, the Saint appeared in her sleep, thanked her and revealed his name: Ephraim. The relic of Saint Ephraim has been kept there since then and every day hundreds of believers visit it asking the Saint for his blessing and help. The Saint, by the grace of God, has performed thousands of miracles. In the vicinity of the Monastery, and protected by a building built around it, there is the mulberry tree on which Saint Ephraim breathed his last.
Without financial resources, until 1980 Abbess Makaria maintained an orphanage with approximately 70 school-age children, to whom she provided shelter, food, clothing and an elementary level education, from which some went on to Higher Educational Institutions.
Although she did not have a University education, she published Patristic texts, "Ascetic Discourses of Basil the Great" and compiled a Supplicatory Canon and Akathist to Saint Ephraim, whom she loved very much. She also recorded and gradually published in sixteen volumes the miracles of Saint Ephraim for the support and encouragement of the faithful.
After partaking of the Immaculate Mysteries her soul ascended to the Heavens. It was Friday, the feast of Saint George the Trophy-Bearer, April 23rd 1999.
Today, her sacred relic lies in the secluded tomb that she herself had dug years ago in the forecourt of the Monastery of which, by the grace of God, she was Founder and Abbess for half a century.
Although she did not have a University education, she published Patristic texts, "Ascetic Discourses of Basil the Great" and compiled a Supplicatory Canon and Akathist to Saint Ephraim, whom she loved very much. She also recorded and gradually published in sixteen volumes the miracles of Saint Ephraim for the support and encouragement of the faithful.
After partaking of the Immaculate Mysteries her soul ascended to the Heavens. It was Friday, the feast of Saint George the Trophy-Bearer, April 23rd 1999.
Today, her sacred relic lies in the secluded tomb that she herself had dug years ago in the forecourt of the Monastery of which, by the grace of God, she was Founder and Abbess for half a century.