Three Thousand Years of Mental Healing — John Shaqi
Three Thousand Years of Mental HealingCutten, George Barton
History
Three Thousand Years of Mental Healing
Cutten, George Barton
Mental healing
Among the churches of Greece and southern Italy incubation is still
common. The climate may have some effect in limiting the area of this
practice. Miss M. Hamilton furnishes us with some modern examples. In
speaking of a new picture of St. George in the church at Arachova, she
says: "It is a votive offering of a Russian, who came a paralytic to
Arachova in July, 1905. He spent several weeks praying and sleeping in
the church, and departed completely cured. The festival of St. George
is held on April 23rd. They have three days of dancing and feasting,
and at night all suppliants bring their rugs and sleep round the
shrines in the church. Every year many of the sick are found to be
cured when morning comes."
The Church of the Evangelestria, our Lady of the Annunciation, is
visited by about forty-five thousand pilgrims every year. It is
situated at Tenos, and Miss Hamilton tells us what she saw during her
visit there in 1906:
"On the morning before Annunciation Day this year, the
pilgrims could be seen making their way to the church.
Among them were cripples, armless, and legless,
half-rolling up the street; blind people groping their
way along; men and women with deformities of every kind;
one or two showing the pallor of death on their faces
were being carried up on litters. These evidently were
coming to Tenos as a last resource, when doctors were of
no avail. Other pilgrims were ascending after their own
fashion, according to vows they had made. One woman
toiled laboriously along on her knees, kissing the
stones of the way, and clasping a silver Madonna and
Child. Last year her daughter had been seized with
epilepsy, and she vowed to carry in this way this
offering to the Madonna of Tenos if she would cure her
daughter. The girl recovered and the other now with
thankful heart was fulfilling her part of the bargain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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