Appearance of the Venerable Cross in 1925

According to accurate reports by eye-witnesses, including a large number of police officers, the Venerable Cross appeared above the chapel of Saint John the Theologian in Athens, at about midnight on September 13–14, 1925, according to the Old Calendar.

The “Association of the Orthodox,” a recognized group following the Old Ecclesiastical Calendar, in which it remains steadfast since it regards the introduction of the Gregorian calendar as anti-religious and anti-canonical, celebrated today, September 14 according to the traditional ecclesiastical calendar, the feast of the Exaltation of the Venerable Cross. Because of this feast, more than two thousand members of the association had gathered since 9 o’clock yesterday evening at the country chapel of Saint John the Theologian, where a vigil was celebrated. Naturally, this gathering of the faithful did not escape the attention of the police authorities, who came to observe the service at 11 p.m., “for the sake of order,” as they affirmed.

However, whatever their mission was, a few minutes after their arrival, for reasons which are superior to every human order of authority, they were involuntarily forced to be numbered among the multitudes of the faithful, who were already so numerous they could not fit even in the courtyard of the church.

It was 11:30 before midnight when, directly above the church and in a direction from east to west, there appeared a bright white cross; its illumination fell only on the area of the church and on the multitude of the faithful attending the service. It completely overpowered the shining of the stars, while at the same time it illuminated the church and courtyard as though an electrical spotlight were directed toward them. The horizontal line of this Heavenly Cross inclined toward the right, and on the lower part of its perpendicular line a smaller cross was formed by another smaller horizontal bar. This heavenly sign was visible continuously for a half an hour and it then began to fade away little by little.

What followed the appearance of this Heavenly sign cannot be described by human speech. With one mouth and one heart, all the people at the Vigil fell to their knees and cried out with emotion and began to chant and glorify the Lord. The police authorities forgot their original mission and found again in the depth of their hearts the faith of their childhood years. That entire place was transformed into a corner of some other world that is beyond this earth. Everyone was overcome by an ineffable and sacred emotion; everyone wept. The Vigil continued and finished around 4 a.m., at which time that whole torrent of people began coming back to the city, and everywhere narrated this miracle which had taken place in the night, and which overwhelmed everyone with emotion.

Perhaps there will be some who will not believe, who will doubt the event; perhaps there will be people who, thinking themselves wise, will seek to explain the phenomenon as an illusion, or who will strive to dismiss it by some other contrived arguments. However, both lines of reasoning are overturned, if we take into consideration that that which appeared was not a momentary bright fleeting vision, but a phenomenon which was visible continuously for a half-an-hour and longer, which more than two thousand people saw and marvelled at. It is fortunate also that among those who saw and were awestruck by this Heavenly and radiant cross there were included members of the police authorities. Therefore both the Church and the State have an obligation to examine and verify the event on an official level.

However, aside from this, we believe that the appearance of this Heavenly Cross on the day of the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross according to the old calendar, constitutes yet another confirmation from God concerning the rightness of the beliefs of those who follow this calendar; it also provides from Heaven a helpful admonition to those directing ecclesiastical matters today, so that they might reconsider their anti-canonical decision concerning the unilateral introduction of the Gregorian calendar; for by this decision, they have separated themselves from the greater part of Orthodoxy.

The Administrative Committee of the Association of the Orthodox:

Pericles Getouris, Secretary
Constantine Berlis
Andrew Vaporidis
Alexander Simionidis
John Sideris
Constantine Kotsiaftopoulos
Haralambos Mavroyiannis