The history of the icon of Virgin Mary \"Rose Amaranth\" begins around the year 1890 AD, according to the testimonies of the old inhabitants of Piraeus. Specifically, a fisherman discovered an old image among the rocks of the beach of Piraeus, which portrayed Virgin Mary to hold Jesus Christ, while she is holding a rose in her hand at the same time.
This fact was immediately reported to the region. A devotional family, called Katsarou, had the desire to house the icon of the Virgin Mary and, on their own will, they built a private chapel to which they gave the name Virgin Mary \"Rose Amaranth\", which means the rose that does not wither. This old image was housed and was worshiped by the locals.
Rose the amaranth, or the Rose of Jericho, or the Rose of the Virgin Mary, or the Immortal Rose of resurrection, is a plant that symbolizes the eternity and the indestructible, immortality of the soul. The Apostle Paul says, \"Christ flower-scent is God’s salvation\" (2 Corinthians 2:15), that is, Christ is \"The Rose the amaranth\" and those approaching Christ feel a heavenly fragrance.
Jesus is the Rose of salvation that sprouted in the sterile land. The most beautiful flowers of the earth are contaminated by the infection of sin, but one particular flower is absolutely uncontaminated: Jesus Christ. Because it was born by Virgin Mary, without the hereditary taint of the Original sin, Adam and Eve\'s rebellion in Eden.
However, Virgin Mother is also \"Rose Amaranth\", which reveals the untainted and purity of the Virgin. God was looking to find fragrance in the world and found it in Virgin Mary, the only human being in the world, who was crystal clear, pure. When God saw her, He smelled the perfume of her virtue, and that is why she is called “the scent of the Kingdom of the Heaven”. The flower of the Virgin Mary will remain alive and will not wither for eternity, because neither time nor the blasphemy of the wicked can wither it. The Synaxis of the Virgin of Amaranthus Rose celebrates each year on April 3rd.
