Virgin Mary Economissa - Holy Monastery of Great Lavra

Δέσποτα Κύριε ο Θεός ημών, Εσύ είσαι ο πλούσιος σε έλεος και ευσπλαχνία και συγκαταβαίνεις να εισακούεις τις προσευχές μας, προσευχές και κραυγές ικεσίας αμαρτωλών δούλων σου. Συ με τη σοφή φιλάνθρωπη πρόνοιά σου διευθύνεις και κυβερνάς τη ζωή όλων μας, τη ζωή όλων των ανθρώπων. Και όταν μας παιδαγωγείς με τα διάφορα δυσάρεστα για μας γεγονότα και θλίψεις, επιδιώκεις να μας επαναφέρεις στο αρχαίο κάλλος και την πρώτη ευγένεια που χάσαμε με τη συμβουλή του εχθρού της σωτηρίας μας διαβόλου. «Θέλεις πάντας ανθρώπους σωθήναι και εις επίγνωσιν αληθείας ελθείν» (Α´ Τιμ. β´ 4).

Mount Athos is already known from Greek mythology. It is said that in the area where the peninsula of Mount Athos is located, a great titanic battle took place between the giants and the gods of Olympus. In this battle, the leader of the giants was Athos, son of Uranus and Gaia. According to mythology, the giant Athos grabbed a huge rock and hurled it with great force against the Olympian gods. In this way, the area of Halkidiki and the homonymous peninsula were created.

At the time that Leo the Great (A.D. 457-474) was king, saint Andrew the Fool-for-Christ lived in Constantinople. A night οf vigil in the temple of Our Lady of Blachernae, Saint Andreas, together with his student Epiphanius, who later became a patriarch of Constantinople (520-536 AD), saw the Holy Mother of God clearly visible, coming from the central gate of the temple. On the side of Holy Mother of God was a multitude of angels, and the virgins John the Forerunner and John the Theologian.