Contemporary Miracles of the Holy Cross: "The District Attorney's Cross"

 

During an adjournment in the session of a recent major court case, the District Attorney, Mr. Liberis Papandreou, recounted the following story to me, when he noticed that I had a Cross around my neck. He showed me a Cross that he was wearing around his neck, and told me: 

“This Cross saved my life. Without it I would have died in the winter of 1943. This was a period when anyone who fell into the hands of the Germans, and was hauled off to their torture chamber on Merlin Street, did not leave unless he was on his way to the graveyard.

“At that time I, too, was arrested. I had been accused by a highranking official of the Municipality of Piraeus—a lackey of the Germans—and by a mayor of one of the municipal districts of Piraeus as the General Prosecutor for the Communists, because I had arrested both of these two men for misappropriating provisions that were set aside for the starving. The denial of any guilt that I put forth in response to every ‘accusation’ enraged my interrogators.

“Thus it was that I was handed over for torture. On the third day of my ordeal, I was led off to a huge room, where I suffered hell on earth. I was passed around between five enormous torturers, each of whom expended all of his energies on me. Gradually I began to feel that I would soon be left for dead in that place. 

“After these enormous torturers, the interrogator himself took over. At one point, he went berserk and grabbed me by the throat with both of his hands, and began to strangle me. I realized that I would die of suffocation. I mustered whatever reserves I had and freed myself from his hands. I immediately tore open my shirt, exposing my chest. I wanted to breathe. I had no idea what I had done. 

“At that very moment, however, I perceived that my tormentor had grown pale. Later he turned white—whiter than the wall of the room, which was as white as snow. He was trying to lift up his hands, but could not succeed in doing so.

“He then started to weep.... Yes, he wept in terror, and like a small child! He then came up to me, bowed to my chest and...kissed this very Cross! I confess that I could not believe what I saw with my own eyes. 

“Shortly after this, he called out and he was brought a glass of water. With it he washed my wounds himself, with his hands, which he could now move. He then sat me on a chair, so that I could recover, and left, only to return with several of his confrères, in whose presence he related the following: ‘As soon as this man exposed his chest, this tiny Cross shined in my eyes like lightning. The lightning flash formed a flaming “Nein” (German for “no”). I then realized that my hands were paralyzed. I was terrified, as you can understand. Now that I have come to, gentlemen, I can say that God is close to the Faithful.’ 

“He then addressed me, saying: ‘I would ask you to present me with this Cross, so that it might protect me from unjust judgment. Not from death, since I am not afraid of it. But I am not worthy.... I do not believe in God as you do. For if I did believe....’ And he abruptly stopped speaking. 

“In this way, my dear fellow, I was saved from certain death, thanks to my faith,” the District Attorney, Mr. Liberis Papandreou, concluded.

Orthodox Parables and Stories
Orthodox Tradition, Vol. XVI, No. 2 (1999), pp. 4-5.