"He Walked Having Venerated the Tomb of the Apostle Barnabas
A paraplegic lived the miracle
The man himself, the Church and also his doctor attribute the cure to a miracle.
The hopes had been extinguished from the person of the paraplegic Marios and his doctors in Cyprus and Germany said the worst: that he would not be able to walk again. However, the "resurrection" came a few months earlier for this forty-year-old man, who lives after the miracle yesterday. He rose from his wheelchair and walked after venerating the tomb of the Apostle Barnabas, the founder of the Church of Cyprus.
Marios Stylianos, forty years old, from the occupied Ammochosto and who currently lives in Levkosias, was left a paraplegic after surgery on his neck, for which he traveled abroad. He related himself that he had seen in a dream the Apostle Barnabas, who told him to write a book about his life and as soon as it was finished, to go to his tomb and he would walk. Marios, following his dream, went to the tomb of the Apostle Barnabas in the occupied Monastery of the same name near Ammochosto, and after the liturgy was finished at the tomb, said that he saw the Apostle Barnabas approach him holding the Gospel and extending him his right hand. Then he made a cry and felt something like an electric current flowing through him, and he continued to get up from his wheelchair and walked, supported.
The neurologist Michael Protopapas, who was watching the paraplegic, related that both he and the German doctors who referred him to surgery, believed with certainty the clinical picture which Marios Stylianos presented, and that he would not walk again. To the question if Marios Stylianos' paralysis could be attributed to psychosomatic causes, he said that all of the specific tests had showed that the spiral cord did not send any "signal" to Marios' foot. Having been asked whether he believes that his is a mirace, he replied: "Above everything is God. This I believe personally."
Moreover, the Church spokesman related that there was great concern whether the event should be disclosed. Eventually, he said, the view prevailed that this fact should be the property of the people."
However, the Church is being cautious about proclaiming the case a miracle. The Bishop of Arsinoe said the Church did not rule out miracles but would not jump to any immediate conclusions. Echoing his comments, Bishop Chrysostomos of Paphos, who is acting head of the Church, told the Cyprus Mail yesterday he would prefer not to make any judgments, saying it had not happened on his “territory”. If he had, he said he would be more than willing to give a lengthy statement. “I believe in miracles but we should not accept them at a glance,” he said. “It needs analysis.”
While always maintaining caution, it is perfecly clear that the continuous blessings and miracles of God continue to flow to us sinners in these latter days. And as the Apostles and all the Saints worked great miracles in life by the Grace of the Holy Spirit, they continue to do so after their earthly deaths. May St. Barnabas the Apostle intercede for all of us and help us
