Hope in Prison
 St. Nicholas Center Collection |
The constable Polydoros Georgiadis is not a person that bends easily. He lives life with a cool and unique serenity. When he remembers, however, his 100 days of captivity, in the dungeons of Adana and Amasa, it is impossible though he tries to hide his tears, and even more tears run from his eyes when he recounts the appearance of St. Nicholas in his cell on September 5th. Let him tell us what he saw:
"While I slept at 10pm, St. Nicholas appeared, holding in one hand my wife, who wore the same clothes as on the last day that I saw her when I was captured, and in the other arm a baby. 'Here is your wife and the male baby she gave birth to' he said. 'Yes, but we dedicated him to the Apostle Andrew,' I replied. 'I know, but you should baptize him in my church,' said St. Nicholas, and he disappeared. At the same time I saw the Church of St. Nicholas in my village, in Nata of Paphos.
"A few days later the Red Cross came to the prison, and I wrote down what I saw on the night of September 5 when St. Nicholas appeared.
"My letter reached, through the Red Cross, the hands of my wife, who later told me she was moved and informed all my neighbors of the appearance of St. Nicholas.
"On October 28, when released, I went straight to Nata. It was 1:30 in the morning and all my fellow villagers, who were informed, were on foot, while the bell of the Church of St. Nicholas rang joyfully."
Told by John Sanidopoulos, Mystagogy. Used by permission.