Virgin Mary of Consolation - Great Byzantine Church in Arta

The miraculous icon of the Virgin Eleousa was hidden, at a depth of one and a half meters under the ground over centuries and found in a miraculous way. The Holy Mother of God appeared to the eight-year-old Athanasius Syros, while he was playing with other children on a hillside. She appeared to him as an unknown woman, who was dressed in black and barefoot, to make repentance. Despite the fact that the place was dry, it became soft and sank like the dough, because of the repentance of the unknown woman. At the three spots, where the woman worshiped, the ground started producing a sweet sense. However, no one believed what the little Athanasius experienced.

The name of the Virgin Mary, ‘Immaculate’, in Greek ‘Amolyntos’, originates from the hymn of the Compline "Spotless, undefiled, immaculate, unstained, pure Virgin, Lady..." composed by Monk Paul of the Holy Monastery of Evergetis in Constantinople. The Virgin Mary is also called "Our Lady of Passion" as she holds Jesus Christ in her arms and the Archangels, Gabriel and Michael, stand on both sides bearing the symbols of the Passion: the Cross, the Lance and the Sponge.

As we know from the writings in the Old Testament, wine acquired distinctive symbolism. After the flood, Noah planted and managed to create his own vineyard. In Exodus, God gave a promise to bless three significant goods for human life: bread, water and wine. The lands and climate in the regions of Hebron and Palestine were conducive for the cultivation of vineyards. Viticulture flourished in a short time and gained great demand, as people cultivated their vines to produce the blessed wine. David hymns wine through his psalms, saying: "And wine that makes glad the heart of man..." (Psalm 104:15) and "You have put gladness in my heart, More than in the season that their grain and wine increased" (Psalm 4:7).