The chapel of Agia Korona / Stefanida was built in a small forest in the town of Arget, a few kilometers outside Munich, in 1648, at a time when cholera was sweeping Europe and many people have died since then. pandemic. Even today at the entrance of the city stands a memorial column that refers to the event with the inscription: “Cholera column in Arget. Monument from the middle of the 17th century. In memory of the victims of the cholera era around 1635 “.
The connection of the plague of cholera in the 17th century with the miraculous intervention of Agia Korona (1599) and the construction of its chapel (1648) prompted the faithful to flock to the church to pray to Agia Korona / Stefanida to rid them of the coronavirus pandemic.
Greek hagiographer in Munich painted the icon of St. Koronida which was placed with all formality in the homonymous catholic chapel on the outskirts of the Bavarian capital, as a perpetual companion in the prayers of the faithful for the salvation of humanity by coronavirus.
The eternal companion of the prayers of the faithful
Thus, when the coronavirus pandemic invaded Bavaria and Munich in 2020, the Greek Orthodox priests of the Parish of All Saints in Munich, the first elders Apostolos Malamousis and George Vletsis, visited the chapel of St. Korona and prayed for the healing of coronavirus patients and the support of doctors and nursing staff.
Following this, the Greek priests expressed the desire for the Greek Orthodox Church to donate an Orthodox picture of Agia Korona / Stefanida reports the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency.
The elder Malamousis instructed the cantor of the Holy Temple of All Saints in Munich and hagiographer Paschalis Dougalis to paint a picture based on the Orthodox Byzantine tradition of an icon of Agia Korona / Stefanida with the aim of permanently placing it as its attendant.
At the same time, president of the Ecumenical Council of the Christian Churches of Germany, first elder Konstantinos Myron, hierarchical head of the Parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin in Cologne, composed an apology of St. Korona.
Delivered on October 10
On October 10, the icon was officially handed over to the chapel where a eulogy was performed.
THE Metropolitan of Germany Augustine He blessed the initiative, emphasizing, among other things, in his relevant greeting: “I am particularly pleased that this is taking place together, with ecclesiastical harmony and harmony. In our time there is a lot of talk about a return to normalcy. For us Orthodox Christians, the presence of God and His Saints in our daily lives is a lived and mature regularity of experience “.
For his part Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, referred to the fact that the pandemic turned the attention of the faithful to Agia Korona and its chapel in Arget, expressed his joy for the ecclesiastical honor in Agia, and thanked the Parish of All Saints for the donation of the icon and wished the faithful who visit the chapel of the Saint to have the blessing of God in all their troubles.
In his greeting, the inspirer of the initiative Mr. Malamousis stated that the donation of the icon to the chapel of Agia Korona took place with the triple reasoning: a) the chapel is located in the forest, where the person meets with prayer God through the natural environment, with the rustling of the trees, with the aromatic plants and flowers, with the tweeting of the birds and with the animals of the field (ecology and prayer), b) the chapel celebrates its 200th jubilee, with the re- rebuilt in 1820, and has a parallel history with the 200th jubilee of the Greek Revolution (1821-2021) and c) testifies to the common of the two brothers Churches, Orthodox and Roman Catholic, honor of the Saints of the Church of the first millennium AD.
The handover ceremony was attended, among others, by the Greek Consul General in Munich Vassilios Goulousis and the mayor of Sauerlach Barbara Bogne.
On November 11, 2021, on the day of the feast of Agia Korona / Stefanida, according to the Orthodox Synaxarium, the first elder Apostolos Malamousis went to the chapel of the Saint in the village of Arget and performed the sacred supplication and prayers for the treatment of the sick from the coronary artery, for the doctors and the nursing staff.
*The photos were provided to APE-MPE by the first elder Apostolos Malamousis
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