«In the year 1910 an accursed disease once again befell Constantinople and its environs: cholera. People were dying by the hundreds every day, making it impossible to bury such large numbers – regardless of their race and religion: Christians, Armenians, Muslims and Jews. The population especially of Constantinople, in dread and helplessness desperately sought its salvation. The Temples of the Orthodox and the Armenians, the Mosques and the Synagogues were full to bursting every day, with their congregants begging with tears and desperation for divine intervention to put an end to the evil. And yet, the accursed pestilence continued its destructive opus...
Constantinople was a horrible sight to see; all
activity and liveliness had died within it. Then, all of a sudden the
Christian population in its state of desperation recalled the previous
occurrence of 1871 in the days of Patriarch Anthimos VI Koutalianos, and in one
voice asked that the Precious Cincture (waistband) of the Theotokos be brought
back, from its safekeeping in the Holy Mountain.
The Holy Synod convened an emergency Meeting,
and with the proposal of the blessed Patriarch Joachim III, it was decided to
dispatch a committee to the Holy Mountain, to bring back to the City (which was
paralysed by death and fear) the holiest treasure of our piety.
Taking into account the relative Patriarchal Letters, the Sacred Synaxis of the
Holy Mountain immediately ordered two of its most prominent Fathers to
accompany the Precious Cincture to the suffering City.
Relief and joyful shouts of hope resounded
throughout the City, when the people heard from the Patriarchy that very soon
their salvation would be arriving.
On the day of arrival of the Patriarchal
representatives together with the Hagiorite Fathers who were accompanying the
Precious Cincture, from before daybreak a host of people regardless of their
race and religion – Orthodox, Armenians, Muslims and Jews – had already flooded
the main square outside the Railway Station of Serkitzi.
Per the scheduled time, the Ecumenical
Patriarch Joachim III, encircled by Hierarchs of the Patriarchal Court and a
host of priests, had arrived there, in order to receive the Precious Cincture
of the Theotokos, which the populace was so desperately awaiting, to rid them
of the pestilence.
The importance that both the Sultan Hamit and
the Turkish Government had acknowledged for the transportation of the Precious
Cincture was made evident by the reception that the Turkish Government had
provided, on the instruction of the Sultan. A military company with
double rows of officers at the head had arrayed themselves in front of the
Serkitzi Station, to pay their respects to the precious relic of Orthodoxy,
whose power the peoples of Constantinople were well familiar with, during the
year 1871.
The elderly Ecumenical Patriarch Joachim III
was the first to approach and greet the Precious Cincture. On receiving
it in his hands from the hands of the Holy Mountain Fathers, he proceeded on
foot, ahead of the Hierarchs, the Priests, the Cantors, between the double rows
of soldiers and the Christians, Armenians, Muslims and Jews following after
them, and walked all the long road from Serkitzi Station to the Phanar, where
he deposited the sacred treasure inside the Patriarchal temple, for veneration
by the public.
Night vigils and Liturgies were served
constantly; infinite crowds flooded the Patriarchal temple every day, with
tearful supplications for their survival.
The accursed disease began to subside, its
victims greatly lessened, until – within a very few days – the City of
Constantine was completely rid of the pestilence.
The Precious Cincture was asked for by other
Provinces fraught with cholera, such as Proussa and others; upon the presence
of the holy relic, the disease disappeared, given that all the peoples –
regardless of their race and religion – had been saved from the everyday threat
of death».
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