www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Greek Police Hunt for Stolen Icon

Here is a story from the BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5266494.stm

Very sad when there is no longer any reverence for things holy, just a way of trying to make money however ill-gotten. May god have mercy of these perpetrators, and that the icon may soon be returned to its place of veneration.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

Lord have mercy on the souls of these people. Send your holy angels Lord to bring it home. May their hearts and mind burn with such conviction that they cannot withstand the suffering they are going through for what they have done. Return HER to the people that love her without thought, but with pure love of the heart, soul, and mind.

I was just watching the report on this on the BBC. How sad! May Our Lady find her way back home to her people!

Gordo

<The loss of the Panagiahas has disturbed a> <profoundly superstitious, rural community.>

I am disgusted that the above sentence was part of the published story. It denigrates all Eastern Christians!

The offending comments are more about the ignorance of the man who made them.

Going to private dealers etc are no guarantee of anything. The only OSB Abbey of men in Australia have just ahd returned to them after many years of painstaking work by the State Art Gallery, all the stolen art works that were stolen to order. They had slashed them out of their frames and when the police were on to them had kicked one of the paintings to pieces (it was on a a solid backing)and put it in a rubbish bin. It has taken 20 years to restore the stolen works. The silly thing is that if they had been rolled up and sent by air to the crooks in the Philipines who had ordered the theft, the paint on the canvases would have separated at high altitude and all would have been destroyed for ever. So dont assume crooks know what they are doing.

At one time, all churches in Greece were open to the public, but ever since the theft of icons began, (about 30 years ago) they are closed...or so I think! Of course, things might have changed now.

The pity is that the nuns in the church kept the miraculous icon hidden and placed it in the church only because of the holiday. I wouldn't be surprised if the idiots that stole it, only wanted the jewelry. (In Greece, people sometimes give and place their jewelry and valuables on an icon). Well, at least I wish it is so, that way maybe the icon will be found. Then again, maybe someone that's terminally ill wanted the icon to be brought to him. As if a miracle would occur under those conditions. Hey, then again, one never knows? :rolleyes:

Aristotle Onassis had the miraculous icon of our Theotokos from the island of Tinos brought to him when his son was in an airplane accident. His son died before the icon came. The Will of God I guess, but Onassis never recovered from his grief. In his superstitious mind, his wife Jackeline, (I know the spellings off), Kennedy was bad luck, and decided to divorce her. He died though, before he was able to carry it through.

I recall when in Israel, that there was a store with Russian icons...loads of them. I went inside, and was taken to a back room. The man wanted to sell me an icon of St. George, but I liked one of Jesus. He refused to sell it to me though at the price I was willing to pay.

Well, to make a long story short, he kept insisting, and I kept insisting, as my priest and tour went on their way... never realizing I was missing. After counting the group, my priest realized I was gone and they all assumed I was kidnapped. They still laugh about it.

Zenovia

This is probably a better worded article from CNN. In it has some quotes from the the local hierarch and clergy.

CNN Article [edition.cnn.com]

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

Prayers for the safe return of the miraculous icon of the Theotokos to her home.

Very sad, I offer my communion each Sunday for a special intention. I will offer it this am for the blessed return of the icon to its proper place.

Dear Father Anthony,

I read the article on CNN, and I know that it is very difficult to take antiquities out of Greece. I can't help but feel, that the thieves will hide the icon until things cool down. Yet I do know that anything of archialogical value, which so many people have, (Greece is full of them), are not allowed even to be moved from one area to another...nevertheless, out of the country.

Who in the world would steal a miraculous icon? Did they do it purely for material value, or do they expect special protection...in the way relics were stolen in the past? Strange?

I feel bad for the Church, and personally can't help but feel that maybe it is a bad omen...but then again I'm superstitious. I know if an icon falls, I immediately pick it up and put it back in it's place. This came from the time an icon fell down in my car, and I forgot about it. Well I had a terrible accident.

I think prayers are needed.

Zenovia