On
8 September 1943, the day of the feast of the Nativity of the
Theotokos, the Italians capitulated and in the beginning refused to
surrender their weapons to their German allies. In Orchomenos of Boetia
the regional organization E.A.M. felt they could capitalize on this and
accept the Italian arms. The Italians refused this and went with their
weapons to Livadia. On the way the Germans surrounded them and
disarmed them, and the Italians betrayed the people of Orchomenos by
stating their intentions. When the Germans learned of the intentions of
the people of Orchomenos they sent against them the next day,
September 9th, armored vehicles. When the people of Orchomenos heard
this they left and arrived at the crossroads of Agios Andreas,
unprepared and disorganized as they were, and scattered throughout the
surrounding area to the most remote Dionysus (Tsamaliou). The Germans
continued the chase, to retaliate against Orchomenos, as was their
usual tactic.
When
the Germans entered Orchomenos they took 600 hostages, left a section
in the village, and sent three tanks against the rest to Dionysus. On
the night of the 9th towards the 10th of September, at around midnight,
about 550 meters away from the Byzantine Church of the Panagia Skripou
(874 AD), the three German tanks were immobilized for no apparent
reason. As the German commander known as Hoffman later recounted, the
form of a woman had appeared in the night sky with her hand raised in a
prohibitive stance. Commander Hoffman then requested a tractor to pull
the tanks, and he beheld another miracle when the tractor was able to
easily pull the heavy tanks like an empty matchbox. He then proclaimed
"miracle! miracle!" and asked the residents to take him into the church.
From the icon in the church the commander recognized the woman to be
the Virgin Mary. He fell down on his knees and said: "This woman saved
you! You must honor her and glorify her!"
Orchomenos
was indeed saved by the Panagia and the 600 hostages were freed with a
vow by the commander that the village would not be harmed. Following
the war, Commander Hoffman returned to the Church of Panagia Skripou,
donating an icon of the vision he saw along with an large oil lamp. Just
about every year he returned on September 10th to commemorate the
event and light a candle in the church. For this reason the Panagia
Skripou celebrates a feast on September 10th every year. A procession
takes place with the icon on this day to the spot where the tanks were
immobilized.
See also:
Saint Charalambos of Magnesia (vs Nazi)
The Miracle of Saint Menas in El Alamein in 1942
Orthodox New Martyrs in France vs Nazi
Not often you see a Nazi serpent in an icon
Holy New Martyrs of Jasenovac Concentration Camp
Orthodox Holiness - The New Martyrs of Bosnia
Orthodox Pascha (Easter) in Dachau
The miraculous icon of Panagia Myrtidiotissa ("of the Myrtle Tree"), Kythera 
The
Elevation of the Venerable and Life-Creating Cross of the Lord: The
pagan Roman emperors tried to completely eradicate from human memory the
holy places where our Lord Jesus Christ suffered and was resurrected
for mankind. The Emperor Hadrian (117-138) gave orders to cover over the
ground of Golgotha and the Sepulchre of the Lord, and to build a temple
of the pagan goddess Venus and a statue of Jupiter. 
Twenty-one years ago the Patriarch of Constantinople, Dimitrios,
urged Orthodox Christians to make 1 September a day of prayer for God’s
creation and for the environment. You can read his message here. His successor as Patriarch, Bartholomew, has continued to encourage the practice, and as a result has been named the first among the top 15 “green” religious leaders.
The day has since been adopted by other Christian bodies as well, and
the first day of spring seems like an appropriate time for it.
According to Holy Tradition, Christ entered
the synagogue [icon] on September 1 to announce His mission to mankind (Luke
4:16-22. Quoting Isaiah 61:1-2), the Savior proclaimed, “The spirit of
the Lord is upon me; because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to
the poor; He has sent me to proclaim release to captives, and recovering
of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord...” This scene is depicted in a
Vatican manuscript (Vatican, Biblioteca. Cod. Gr. 1613, p.1).
Tradition says that the Hebrews entered the Promised Land in September. 
