Argokoili - new acrylic painting by @mariandavp

Just Finished! Tomorrow I will be exhibiting among other painters from Naxos, so I thought of painting a purely Naxian subject; Argokoili.

Argokoili is an area on top of the Naxian mountains, where Naxians go to pray as the Church Panagia Argokoiliotissa is home of a very old icon that is considered miraculous.
I have experienced a miracle of faith and love myself so I cherish this place in my heart.

In fact, many years ago I and my dad used to be closer to the left not very religious (my dad was actually an atheist). But one day he got sick. He got an unbearable stomach pain, we went to the hospital and the doctors said he had cancer in pancreas. In fact the MRIs showed a dramatic state, and the doctors estimated 2 weeks of life left. We cross checked, we went everywhere.

We found a top fame doctor that agreed to operate him, but at the time the outlook of the operation itself was 30% survival rate. For the sake of his family my father agreed.

You can imagine how we all felt. All I remember was crying. Somewhere between the tears and the despair, we were told about Argokoili. My mother is from Naxos so she knew about it but in serious times like that it's hard to think about those things. On the other hand when there is no hope there comes prayer.

The tradition says that you pray for what you wish for and when the prayer is answered you walk or run to the Church on the first Friday after Easter. You think this easy? It's 30 km far from Naxos Town and uphill. 800 meters from sea level uphill. But it is nothing compared to losing someone you love.

One night before the operation and while my dad is suffering, we ask him to do the same. Ex communist friendly and atheist it's a hard thing to ask for but we explain and I think he is desperate enough to dive into hope. Of course we agree that it is the children that will do the running. So he prays.

There are many ways to explain a miracle scientifically. Maybe its hormonal, maybe its neural, maybe its energy but maybe its just faith. The fact is that the pain and the symptoms stopped.

The fact is that we left the hospital hours before the operation with news scans and MRIs and the cancer had dissapeared completely.

So I ran to the Church, and after I ran my dad said "if you can run THIS you could definately run a marathon! And there is noting greater than being a marathoner". And that how I became a marathoner! (Ha TWO stories in One).

Anyways, tomorrow we'll be all Naxians so I hope they recognize and understand this energy up there and inside them.

Thanks for reading!!

And some progress photos