During the Ottoman Empire, there was a Turkish butcher who had a board on which he cut meat for his customers. One day, a Christian customer saw that the board was the back of an icon of the Virgin Mary!
He then said to the butcher:
- If I bring you a nice trunk to cut the meat on, will you give me that board?
The Turk agreed to the Greek's proposal and in a few days the Turk took the butcher and the Christian took the board, on which was beautifully painted an icon of the Virgin Mary. The Christian took the icon, cleaned it and put it in his living room.
One day he invited some friends to his house. His friends, like him, were smokers and they were smoking one cigarette after another.
At one point, one of his friends raised his head and said:
- What a masterpiece this is! Where did he find this most beautiful icon of the Virgin Mary!
And he began to tell how and where he acquired it.
- His friend said, what a great blessing!
And at that very moment, the icon speaks and says:
- If you brought me here to incense me with the devil's incense, I prefer that you take me to the Turk's butcher shop!
He and his friends were shocked by this miracle of the Virgin Mary and they "knocked down" their smoking...
Dimitrios Panagopoulos
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