Edessa, Greece, April 1, 2025
Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr
St. Kallinikos of Edessa, a 20th-century Holy Hierarch of the Church of Greece who was canonized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 
New saint: Metropolitan Kallinikos of Edessa (1918-1984) canonized by ConstantinopleThe bells of the Holy Metropolis of Edessa and Pella of the Greek Orthodox Church rung out joyfully yesterday with the news that a 20th-century hierarch of the Metropolis is now officially numbered among the saints of the holy Orthodox Church.
“>June 2020, is known as a great wonderworker.
Many of his miracles involve healings from demon possession and interventions in various health problems. The Holy Metropolis of Edessa published a book in 2021 containing various testimonies to St. Kallinikos’ miracles, and there are plans to publish another book with even more miracles.
Yesterday, the Orthodoxia News Agency published one such account, which was submitted by Metropolitan Joel of Edessa, who met with the family involved.
He writes:
I am hereby publishing, with permission, an account of a miraculous event experienced by a married couple (whose details are known to the Metropolis) that occurred recently. The couple and their two children visited me at my office in the Holy Metropolis to relate everything to me and give me this note. The pregnant woman has already given birth to their third child, and soon the Baptism will take place in the chapel of St. Kallinikos at the Church of St. Paraskevi in Nafpaktos. The child will be given the name Kallinikos to thank St. Kallinikos for his help.
The text is presented exactly as it was sent to me, for the glory of God who grants such boldness and power to His saints and friends.
The miracle story, in which St. Kallinikos saved a dangerously ill infant, is as follows:
The summer of 2024 was one of the most difficult in our lives, because my wife and I faced a very great trial. Our second son, Panagiotis, at the age of about seven months, presented a serious health problem.
More specifically, from the month of May 2024, he began to gradually show insufficient weight gain, which continued and intensified over the next two months, resulting in his weight falling quite low and outside the curves of normal weight gain for his age, which suggested the existence of a serious illness. On the recommendation of the pediatrician, at the beginning of July 2024, little Panagiotis underwent a series of medical tests to determine the exact state of his health.
Initially, the blood tests that were performed weren’t very good, however, they didn’t point to any specific disease, and the pediatrician recommended that we have a heart ultrasound performed, start a diet with a special formula, and reassess the child’s condition in about a month. However, our child continued not to gain any weight, was lethargic, unwell, and eating very little. So, at the beginning of August 2024, when we visited the pediatrician again, he informed us that the whole situation was particularly serious and suggested some form of congenital heart disease or other rare metabolic disease that required immediate admission to a tertiary pediatric health unit for further examination by various medical specialties.
However, because towards the end of July our son became ill with COVID-19, the pediatrician advised us to temporarily suspend his admission to the hospital until he fully recovered, as the infection he had would affect the reliability of the medical tests. Following this, we determined that after August 15, we would go to the doctor’s office in Agrinio to receive referrals for our child’s admission to the University General Hospital of Patras or to the AGIA SOFIA Children’s Hospital. At this point, it should be noted that my wife was going through the 3rd to 4th month of pregnancy with our third child at that time, and our older son was less than 2.5 years old. Consequently, the whole situation in which we found ourselves as a family was particularly dire, and we were in a very bad state psychologically.
Moreover, in these difficult moments, we didn’t have support from any of our own people, while at the same time our parents were also facing various health problems, and so we didn’t expect any kind of help from there either.
So we placed all our hope in God, waiting with faith only for some miracle.
On the evening of August 7, the eve of the feast of St. Kallinikos, I prayed fervently and with tears to the saint, asking him to intercede with the Lord Jesus Christ for the health of our child, and also to give me strength to be able to support the other members of my family and especially my pregnant wife.
That night when I fell asleep, I saw in my dream that I was holding our Panagiotis in my arms, and we were in the Church of the Holy Monastery of the Entrance of the Theotokos in Myrtia, Aetoloacarnania.
Entering the Church to give Communion to our child, which he needed due to his illness, I found that there were no people and everything around me was dark. Then I was very sad that we missed the Divine Liturgy and he would not receive Communion. While I was standing with my child in my arms, I perceived a human presence in the holy altar. This made me particularly happy as I assumed that the priest hadn’t yet finished the service, and so I decided to enter the holy altar to ask him to commune my son. Opening the right door of the holy altar, I saw a metropolitan, unknown to me, who was standing near the holy prothesis, dressed in full hierarchical vestments of purple color, and for a moment I was confused.
The holy altar, in contrast to the rest of the church, was flooded with intense light, and the metropolitan, as he stood before me, was flooded with light and appeared as if he was hiding the sun behind him, which prevented me from seeing his face, except momentarily. I looked at him briefly with awe. He smiled at me affectionately, telling me that he had been waiting for us and making a gesture for me to give him the child. From that moment, I felt all the psychological burden I had been carrying inside me for so long leave, and I was overwhelmed with feelings of indescribable inner euphoria. So I took the courage to explain our situation to him, regarding the health problem we were facing, expecting that his words would strengthen me spiritually. To my great surprise, however, he interrupted me, telling me that he knows everything that has happened to us. He also told me not to worry and that now that he would take the child to Christ, everything would end.
Without any hesitation, I gave him the child, and he embraced him with his right hand, because with the other he was holding his pastoral staff. I worried for a moment that the little one might cry because he didn’t accept being held by strangers, but to my great surprise, I saw him in a state of cheerfulness, smiling while looking at the metropolitan, and he, for his part, was also smiling. Then, with my head bowed, as I was almost blinded by the light, I turned my gaze to the right because I heard a voice. Then I saw that near the holy table was His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agios Vlasios, who was dressed as a simple monk and asked the metropolitan if he wanted help with the child, saying, “Elder, shall I help you?” and responding, he said, “Alright, Fr. Hierotheos,” to which the Metropolitan of Nafpaktos replied, “May it be blessed,” while simultaneously making a slight bow with his head. The Metropolitan of Nafpaktos was looking at him continuously with attention, awe, admiration, and smiling.
Subsequently, I exited the holy altar without my son, and in the church, whereas previously there was no one, there was a young man. So I thought that he must be some novice monk, and so I asked him who the metropolitan who was serving was. I also told him that I was impressed by the fact that Metropolitan Hierotheos was serving him and speaking to him with great respect as if he were a patriarch. Then that young man, smiling, told me that he was not a patriarch but Kallinikos, and I asked him in bewilderment, “Which Kallinikos?” and immediately I woke up.
Waking up that morning of August 8, it was the first time after months that I felt an inexplicable peace; I had an incredible inner euphoria and had the mental strength to support my wife and give her courage. An indescribable change had taken place in my mind.
Until that moment, apart from some hagiographies, I had never seen a photograph of St. Kallinikos. I immediately searched for images through the internet to ascertain whether the metropolitan I saw in my dream was the saint. After a brief search, I saw a photograph of the saint, and I was speechless as he was identical to the metropolitan I saw in my dream.
I woke up my wife and urged her to go and venerate the relics of St. Kallinikos, assuring her that everything would be fine, without, however, relating the dream to her. My wife agreed, without a second thought, to attend church in Nafpaktos, at the chapel of the saint, in the holy Church of St. Paraskevi.
Placing all our hopes for the healing of our child in the saint, we venerated the holy relics and took oil from his lamp as a blessing, with which we made the sign of the cross over our child.
Since then, we observed a radical change in his behavior gradually taking place from that day, as his appetite, mood, and generally his entire clinical picture began to improve.
After about 18 days, we visited the pediatrician to receive referrals for admission to the hospital. Then I told the doctor to weigh little Panagiotis, to see if something had happened with his weight, and to the surprise of the pediatrician and ourselves, the little one had gained about a pound, which made the doctor wonder, characteristically saying: “This is inexplicable, I have no words, a child who hadn’t gained weight for so many months, even became ill with Covid, to have gained this weight in such a short period of time.”
After this hopeful development, the pediatrician told us that while he had prepared us for admission to the hospital, we should wait about 15 days for a reassessment of the situation. Indeed, after 15 days, when we visited the pediatrician again, little Panagiotis had gained another 10 ounces or so, and at the same time, the blood tests he gave were very good.
My wife, after all these wonderful things that happened, asked me what happened to me that morning in August when I assured her that everything would be fine with our son’s health. She wondered how I was so sure that Panagiotis would get well, and so I related to her what had happened. My wife felt overwhelmed by the miracle, and we decided together, as a small token of gratitude to St. Kallinikos for what we experienced, to give our third child, whom we’re expecting, the name of the saint.
However, the whole situation our son had gone through required a cardiological examination, given that babies who don’t gain adequate weight may possibly exhibit a cardiological problem. We continued to pray to St. Kallinikos, having faith and certainty now that everything would be fine with this examination as well. Indeed, after the thorough cardiological examination that little Panagiotis underwent, to our great relief, we heard the pediatric cardiologist tell us that he has completely normal cardiac function and that he has nothing of note.
Since then, our little Panagiotis has been in excellent health, has returned to a normal growth pattern, and is generally a healthy, lively, and normal child.
Since then, we as parents glorify God and St. Kallinikos daily, who interceded for our child’s health.
For any clarification, we are at your disposal.
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Source: Orthodox Christianity
