medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Paul Chandler wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Diana Wright wrote:
>
>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
>> culture
>>
>> Again, this is a practice still done at particular churches in Greece.
>>
>> DW
>>
> Could you tell us more? Is the ideal to remain awake or to sleep? If
> to sleep, is there any association with dreams or visions? Is the
> practice associated with a church as such, or with particular shrines
> or tombs or icons of particular saints?
I don't really know. The particular incident I have in mind was a
vigil. It's a lovely story & you can see immediately why healing would
happen. I am pasting here the narrative I wrote for another purpose.
This was in October 1978:
****************
On each visit the nuns have told us stories of miracles, in the
matter-of-fact way in which children discuss Christmas presents: one
feels a certain confidence in their reports. On this visit they
introduced us to a woman who had experienced a miracle in the convent
three years earlier. She was a thin woman with large tranquil eyes,
though pain had clawed deep lines in her face. She spoke with a
quietness unusual for a Greek woman, and people stood quietly and
listened to her without interruption, unusual for Greeks.
Some years ago, we were told, this woman had been depressed to
the point of anorexia and aphasia. Her family was in despair. They came
to the convent for help, and with exceptional sensitivity, her whole
village came with them. They came to the chapel with its great double
doors, a dark sweet church smelling of incense and lemon oil and fresh
flowers and bread, and they knelt and prayed together all night long.
In the night, Agios Demetrios rode into the church on his red
horse, and pointed his spear at her and said, "Speak."
She said, "I can't speak."
He said again, "Speak."
She said, "I can't speak."
He said, "Speak."
She said, "I don't have anything to say." And then Panagia, the
Mother Holy above All, came and put her arms around her and patted her
as one would a child, saying to her over and over again, "Everything
will be all right."
Together, she and her family and her village prayed in the
chapel for three nights. Each night Agios Demetrios rode in and
commanded her, "Speak," and each night Panagia came and held her and
said, "Everything will be all right."
And everything was all right. She was able to speak, and at
the convent she was helped to eat again. For the first year after that,
she wore black; in part to honour the miracle, but also to bury the
sickness, and because even in healing, there is a certain loss that must
be acknowledged.
The nuns are delighted with this miracle, but not boastful, for
the roses are blooming exceptionally well for the end of October, and a
child is playing in the courtyard who was expected to die. These women
all assume that miracles are reasonable happenings in a world of the
creations of God. They radiate good health, bodily and mentally, all of
them moving not as women who have made sacrifices, but as women who are
constantly receiving abundance.
****************
DW
>
> The cathedral at Chartres, so I heard on a tour, has side aisles
> slightly sloped for easy cleaning after groups of pilgrims had been
> accomodated there for great feasts. Is that true, does anyone know,
> and was this purely pragmatic overflow accomodation when the Holiday
> Inn was full, or was there particular spiritual significance in
> spending the night inside the church?
> ============
> Paul Chandler, O.Carm. | Carmelite Library
> 214 Richardson Street | Middle Park Vic 3206 | Australia
> tel:: (03) 9682 8553 | fax: (03) 9699 1944 | email:
> [log in to unmask]
>
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