ISRAEL: Christian faithful flock to Israeli church to get glimpse of painting of Saint George dripping oil.

Record ID: 395385

  • Title: ISRAEL: Christian faithful flock to Israeli church to get glimpse of painting of Saint George dripping oil.
  • Date: 16th June 2009
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) AIDA, WORSHIPPER, SAYING "On Sunday morning at eight o'clock, when the vicar get inside the church he smelt this special kind of smell, and he wiped with a cotton, and after an hour it come back again, and again for the whole day. And people heard about it and they came here." WORSHIPPERS STANDING IN LINE TO KISS PAINTING
  • Embargoed: 1st July 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA1SY23QVFMB1JN5K0WX1GLQACA
  • Story Text: Hundreds of Christian worshippers have flocked to the Greek Orthodox Saint George church in the central Israeli city of Ramle, after rumours of a miracle spread throughout the country.
    According to the local congregation, one of the paintings describing the battle of Saint George with the dragon has started to drip scented oil just before Sunday mass marking Pentecost, the decent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other believers of Jesus.
    "On Sunday morning at eight o'clock, when the vicar get inside the church he smelt this special kind of smell, and he wiped with a cotton, and after an hour it come back again, and again for the whole day. And people heard about it and they came here," Aida, a member of the congregation, told Reuters television.
    "Its a miracle, I think God want to tell us something, that we are getting away of him, and he wants to tell us 'come back to me, to my arms, because you are very tired of your material life," Aida added.
    The oil, according to worshippers, smells like myrrh.
    On regular days, only 20-30 faithful visit the church, but since the discovery, hundreds have been arriving to see the painting until the late hours of the night, including curious Jewish tourists from all over the country.
    "I came to see the picture, I heard that something amazing happened and I came with my two girls to see it," Albert, a Jewish traveller, said in the church.
    According to Christian tradition, Saint George was a Christian Roman soldier who was born in the town of Lydda, today's Lod, very close to Ramle. After the then pagan emperor ordered all Christian soldiers in the army to be arrested, Saint george refused to convert his religion and was executed. After his death, his body was returned to Lydda and he was worshipped as a martyr.
    Ramle is one of the only Israeli cities to have survived since the middle ages, and today a mixed city inhibiting Muslims and Jews. Ramle's Christians are mostly Arab Christians, about 4% of the population, but their historic influence is obvious from massive churches still used.
    When the Crusaders first swept down from the north in 1099, their first encampment was in the near by town Lod. When Ramle's people heard rumours of cruelty, they picked up and ran, leaving everything behind, a boon for the Crusaders. They found a town nearly empty of people, but stocked with plenty of food for the army. Once fortified, the Christians moved on to capture Jerusalem, naming it their capital.
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