A true story
Helena was living in Karpenisi and had a very tough husband. He hit her for the most insignificant thing, as the children hit the ball on the playground.
The hardships of life made her serve in the monastery of Theotokos, Prusiotissa on each Fast of Dormition.
There was a time – she relates – when I was also working as a cleaning woman at a gynecologist, who paid me very well but was just as tough as my husband. One day I took the dustbin to empty it and I suddenly heard a whimper. Reaching the place where I had to empty the bin, I opened the lid and I saw inside a small baby full of blood.
Holy Mother of God, what am I going to do? I cannot go back to the doctor with him because he threw him. If I take him home, my husband will stab him as if he were an Easter lamb.
But I took him, I kissed him, I wiped off all the blood and held him tight to my breast, cause it was a very cold winter. When I got home, there was nobody.
God is with me, I thought. After I washed him, I wrapped him in one of my old gowns. Then I made the sign of the cross over him, praying with these words: Holy Mother of God, Prusiotissa, please, help him not to cry! And the miracle happened.
The baby did not cry for two years. I fed him stealthily and hid him to sleep under our bed. When my husband came home my heart was beating very fast. The time went by and the child started to crawl. Thus one day at noon when we were eating, the child showed up and came under the table where we were sitting. When my husband saw him, his eyes glittered as if he were a wild lion.
What is this? he asked me. Then I made the sign of the cross and told him the secret.
He was deeply touched when he heard the story and treated him as if he were his own child. This boy has married now and he works in Karpenisi. He is the only one who brings me a glass of water, while my own children don’t bring me anything.
