The Lilies of Kefalonia
Religious Fables, Folklore, Legends, and Stories
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Submitted by: Yuri Klitsenko

On the island of Kefalonia also known as Cephalonia at a different church (see: The Miracle of Snakes in Greece), another peculiar thing happens, on May of each year, women of the island pick lilies and place them on an icon of the Virgin Mary.

Any botanist would have to say that once a flower is cut and its stem is completely dry can't bud again, but these flowers do, on the 15th of August the lilies are fully blossomed again, they don't begin the blossoming on the previous days, but they begin and reach the full blossom on the 15th.

On this day one can see on the icon a fully flowered lily with its stem completely dry**. Exactly on the 15th of August the flowers are in full blossom after having being cut for three or so months, this again happens year after year.

Yuri Klitsenko is a Russian living in Moscow.  He works for the Russian Orthodox Church.

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