Saint Dimitrija: Changing Frescos At Macedonia Orthodox Church Mystify Christian Worshippers

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Thousands of Orthodox Christian worshippers from across Macedonia are lining up to visit a church where a cleric says frescoes of saints have begun to appear brighter in color without any obvious explanation.

Father Zoran of Saint Dimitrija church in Skopje, the capital, said Monday that the murals, long obscured by the residue of candle smoke, began to appear clearer over the weekend, with red and gold colors becoming more noticeable.

That has prompted worshippers to flock to the church ahead of Orthodox Easter next Sunday.

About two-thirds of Macedonia's 2.1 million people have been baptized Orthodox Christian.

Comments

[MikeTheMonk]

09:20 PM on 07/11/2012

Orthodox and Christian are separate religions. Here are nine videos explaining why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpWDUt89t2g

[Dr Mephisto]

11:51 PM on 05/02/2012

You mean to tell me that the all mighty and powerful supernatural entity known as the "Christian god" has to resort to these petty illusions in order to manifest his presence, in order to get our attention. Not a very impress display of power.

[VinZenTexaN]

03:28 PM on 04/28/2012

Even it there was a god, why would he be so bored as to create a universe just to look at? Bored enough to play games with the human race? I cannot belive in a god, because if he were real, I would have to hate him for his evil.

Just remember that there is a big difference between knealing down and bending over.

I will feel irresponsible as a human being, if I become a believer.

[LeFlaneur]

10:43 AM on 04/26/2012

Either there is a natural cause for this or a supernatural one. We could just examine the evidence, apply it to possible scenarios, and determine the most likely cause.

[owlafaye]

07:58 PM on 04/30/2012

Supernatural by definition is not possible. Natural is just that, all over, and nothing more.

[LeFlaneur]

08:20 PM on 04/30/2012

well then, case closed.

[MattJensen]

07:45 PM on 04/21/2012

Has anyone asked the evening janitor if he's cleaning them? Just waiting for someone to say, "Oh hey, there's an empty bottle of Windex over here!"

[blizzard man robot voice]

05:51 PM on 04/24/2012

You can't use cleansers on Orthodox paintings because the gold portions are made with sheets of gold or gold paint that would flake off.

[madsandmonkey]

04:49 AM on 04/27/2012

Funny. My thoughts exactly.

[Albert Jenkin]

11:34 AM on 04/17/2012

As an unabashed agnositic, i am appalled by the meanness of some of these posts. Disagreemant is one thing, meanness and h8fullness another. Table-pounding atheists can be just as closed-minded as Bible-thumping Christians. Absolutism is their common currency.

[blizzard man robot voice]

05:52 PM on 04/24/2012

Totally agree. I'm glad some of us are reasonable.

[owlafaye]

08:02 PM on 04/30/2012

Absolutely, atheists and non-believers rebel against Christian meanness and hatefulness with whatever comes to hand. The relentless attack of Christian proselytizing on every street corner has got to come to a halt.

[brooklyncitizen]

10:57 PM on 04/16/2012

Seems a little too convenient.

[Hellova Stoner]

08:49 AM on 04/15/2012

God loves windex - hates facts though........

[sowlow8]

09:54 AM on 04/16/2012

God is fact! therefore He loves facts.

[ThinkCreeps]

06:14 PM on 04/16/2012

... and photographs. She seems to abhor photographs.

[SalesmanForLife]

12:29 AM on 04/15/2012

I was just as mesmerized when a man I know what saying hello to me and I could not, for the life of me, recognize him. He finally came clean and said "hey, I am that homeless man you give your change to". I realized the guy had taken a bath..........but I am not giving him any more money just because he cleaned up his fascade.

[Remendado]

10:51 PM on 04/14/2012

Huge blunder in that clip on learning about Greek Orthodox Easter: "That's why Orthodox Easter and Christian Easter rarely occur on the same day.
Since when is Orthodoxy not Christian?

[Albert Jenkin]

11:20 AM on 04/17/2012

Should have said Eastern and Western.

[slimdave420]

10:22 AM on 04/14/2012

Damn you James Cameron, first the Titanic 3d, now this!

[Hillbilly49]

09:27 AM on 04/14/2012

As Voltaire said; "Religion was created when the first scoundrel found the first fool."

[sowlow8]

09:58 AM on 04/16/2012

Here is a third parties opinion; "Atheism is a disease of the soul before it is an error of the mind." Plato

[Hillbilly49]

01:53 PM on 04/16/2012

Organized religion is responsible for the brainwashing of millions of young children too young to know the difference between reality and the fantasies of millions. Save Yourself. Drop Christianity.

[Toutlaguerre]

11:43 PM on 05/30/2012

That awkward moment when you scroll read a quote and correctly guessed that the poster was Hillbilly49 :|. I spend too much time on Huffpost, and you think in quotable quotes. :)

[Constantine Palaiologos]

08:26 AM on 04/14/2012

It is strange that in an "enlightened" age that supposedly values toleration, how rude, vile and patronizing some of these comments are. Of course everyone is free to believe or not believe; it is just a shame that in civil society we seem to have lost our capacity for civility. I am an Orthodox Christian, and therefore have faith in things that are a mystery to others. But I would never mock or sneer at my Muslim, Mormon, Agnostic or Atheist brothers and sisters.

[crydespite]

09:55 AM on 04/14/2012

I understand this comment, Constantine.

What do you think about this story?

[Constantine Palaiologos]

12:48 PM on 04/14/2012

Thank you for your response, crydespite. I believe in the possibility of the seemingly inexplicable, which we call the "miraculous." If I did not, I would not be a Christian, since Christianity holds at its core the seemingly unfathomable idea that God took on human form and endured humiliation, suffering, and death out of love for humankind. As to the specific miracle in Macedonia, I cannot speak to its veracity; but I certainly respect and admire the faith of those whom others have denigrated as mere "peasants." We should all remember that we witness the miraculous everyday -- the very existence of love. Hate and conflict are perfectly logical in a universe that is materialistic, where everyone and everything is in constant competition to survive (the world of Hobbes and Darwin). What makes no sense at all is love--the willingness to sacrifice onself for the benefit of others. Yet we witness love every day and we are therefore all witnesses to miracles, whether we acknowledge them or not.

[seektruefaith]

07:26 AM on 04/14/2012

It's simple...it was cleaned. If it was painted with gold - it won't tarnish and it can be cleaned. Very good idea to get new flock;)

[Hellova Stoner]

08:48 AM on 04/15/2012

Windex, the amazing cleaner.

[sowlow8]

10:00 AM on 04/16/2012

It can only clean on the outside, thats why you have mold on your inside!

[blizzard man robot voice]

05:57 PM on 04/24/2012

No, the sheets used are very thin. They would tear.

[owlafaye]

08:09 PM on 04/30/2012

No, they don't tear....the very thin foil is GOLD folks, soft and quite pliable. It can be washed and no, it doesn't fold back or slough off. I know, I have rubbed it onto Buddist statues in Thailand....it is sold right there in the temples.

[KrautMan]

07:06 AM on 04/14/2012

What happened to the mile high fiery words in the sky, the resurrections, the booming voices, the talking snakes, the worldwide floods? Those where the days.