Helen of Pontus

Description

This Icon is a copy of the Hagiography (Holy Card Printing) that we have made in our Laboratory and we reserve the exclusive rights to reproduce these images, which are protected by copyright.

It is celebrated on November 1 of each year.
The holy virgin Martyr Helen came from Sinope, the metropolis of the cities of Pontus. She was the daughter of the pious Bekiari family. Her parents raised her in the fear of God. Her upbringing was also influenced by her uncle, her father’s brother, who taught in a hidden Greek school in Sinop.
The saint was fifteen years old, very beautiful, and her purity gave a special grace to her face.
One day her mother sent her to buy threads for embroidery from Kryona’s shop. On that street was the house of Ukuzoglu Pasha of Sinop. As Eleni passed by, the pasha saw her from the window and her beauty attracted his promiscuous soul.He immediately ordered and she was brought before him. After he found out who she was, he tried two or three times to join her but an invisible force pushed him away. An invisible wall protected the daughter. It was the wall of prayer. Eleni prayed mentally, constantly saying the six psalms.The agarine did not despair, he ordered his soldiers to guard her. He believed that sooner or later he would achieve his vile purpose.
But at some point the saint, by God’s will, escaped the attention of the soldiers and ran home, where she told her parents what happened to her.When the pasha realized the daughter’s escape, he became frantic. He called the elders and asked them to bring the girl to him immediately, otherwise he would order a general massacre of the Greeks in the city.The elders, after holding a meeting at the Greek School, called the father and asked him to hand over his daughter to the pasha for the common good. The father with sobs was forced to accept so that no great harm would be done.He went to his house and, after properly strengthening his daughter, took her and led her to the pasha, to offer herself not to the intemperate appetites of the Turk but fragrant incense to Christ.
The pasha accepted her with unspeakable joy, hoping that she would satisfy his desire. He tried many times to infect her, but in vain, the invisible force, an invisible wall around the daughter, prevented and pushed him away. The saint prayed fervently, secretly saying the hexapsalm, which she knew by heart, as well as other prayers she had learned at school from her uncle.The next day the pasha tried again but nothing. Enraged, irritated, he ordered her to be locked up in the terrible damp prisons of Sinope. His heart was constantly hardened, he did not see the miracle. His insatiable lust flared more.He visited her in prison hoping to achieve his purpose there but in vain, and there the Bridegroom Christ protected his bride. So he was extremely angry and ordered her to be tortured and killed.They tortured her by driving nails into her head. And they decapitated her. Her body and head were put in a sack and thrown into the sea. But this, instead of sinking, floated while light descended from heaven and illuminated the holy relic. The Turks lost it, they started shouting “Gyaurisa is burning, Gyaurisa is burning”.The holy relic continued to float until it reached the site of Gai, where the waters are black due to its depth, and there it sank.After a few days a Greek ship anchored nearby. On the third night the night watchman saw at the bottom something shining like gold. He notified the captain and divers retrieved the treasure. But it was not a perishable treasure. Opening the sack, they found themselves in front of the holy relic of the holy virgin and neo-martyr Helen. A nail was driven into her head and there was another nail hole.The captain was afraid of the Turks and handed over the saint’s body to a passing ship that was leaving with Greeks for Russia, while he secretly carried her holy cart to the temple of Panagia in Sinop.
At the place where the saint sank into the sea, fresh water came out like a jet, agiasma, and since then the area was called Agiasmata.The venerable cara of the saint performed many miracles in Sinope. Especially when they suffered from headaches, they called the priest, who brought the holy cart, chanted a prayer and holy water, and the headache was cured.