The most characteristic case of tree worship, which has been preserved for centuries in Crete, concerns the Sacred Myrtle of Paliani.
By Eleni Vasilaki
Although as a plant the Myrtle is classified as a shrub in the Monastery of Paliani, the perennial myrtle is an entire tree, which even has its own separate celebration, on September 24, and not on August 15, when the Katholikon of the Monastery, in the courtyard of which it is located, celebrates.
Its celebration was established on this date as, it is said, September 24 was when the miraculous icon of the Panagia Myrtidiotissa was found.
In fact, the icon of the Panagia, in the case of the Holy Myrtle of Paliani, according to religious tradition, is still embedded in the trunk of the Myrtle tree today, invisible to those who do not have the power and faith to see it.
Legend has it that the area where the Monastery is located was, in the past, forested. Some people set fire to burn the trees and suddenly they heard a voice, the voice of the Panagia, asking them to stop.
They did indeed put out the fire and among the bushes they found her icon decorated with painted myrtle branches.
At that point they made a pilgrimage and often little girls would go there to burn incense to her until one day the children found themselves before a miracle. The painted myrtle branches became real.
The children planted them and the villagers built a church next to it to place the icon within.
It is said that three times they locked her in the church and she would leave and go back to her myrtle tree where they finally left her.
In fact, this story has been composed in 14 verses which are as follows:
“The story of the myrtle, the divine tree of Paliani, is briefly told in verse for the pilgrim.
Before the monastery was built, this entire slope, as they say, was a forest and they set it on fire.
When the flame reached a bush, an old woman cried out incessantly.
They extinguished the fire with fear, curiously discerning what they found to be an icon, they bent down and venerated it.
The villagers made a shrine on the spot, and the icon that had graced them, they placed it there.
Among the myrtle branches, the figure of the Panagia was clearly discernible, as it had been painted.
The girls of the school often incensed the holy icon heavily to give them good light.
A miracle was wrought by the sinless children and the painted branches were truly born.
Then the girls planted them in bunches with joy, the branches intertwined and blossomed brightly.
A little further on, the villagers built a church and moved the icon, but from there it would leave.
They locked it three times, they say, inside the church, and the next day it was in the branches of the myrtle tree.
This made them understand that they should not separate the icon from its own branches again.
So it is here inside the multi-branched trunk that sprouted from it and is a sacred tree.
It has received divine grace, and for this reason every believer takes leaves or branches to keep as a talisman."
Its huge trunk and branches are today full of votive offerings from believers, while in its small caves one can observe folded papers with prayers and supplications and even small-sized photographs of people who may have needed the help of the Panagia to deal with some health problem.
It is indicative of the sanctity attributed to the myrtle of Paliani that all its branches, as far as a human hand can reach, are bare of leaves, as the believers, coming to venerate its grace, cut and take with them leaves, which they turn into amulets or burn them and receive their blessing through their smoke.
At the base of the tree there is an iconostasis and a space for someone to light a candle with the lamp of the Holy Myrtle remaining unextinguished.
Right next to it we see a remnant of the early Christian basilica of the temple, part of an ancient capital which was even used for the laying down and blessing of bread.
The Myrtle in Antiquity
For the sake of history, let us say that the Greeks considered the myrtle sacred since ancient times. They called it Myrtos and had dedicated it to Aphrodite of Paphos after she covered her naked body with myrtle leaves when she was "born" from the sea.
Its modern name comes from the names given to the plant by the ancient writers Theophrastus (myrrh, myrtle), Dioscorides (myrcene) and Pindar (myrtini).
For them it was a symbol of virginity and that is why during the wedding ceremony the newlyweds wore a wreath of myrtle.
It is noteworthy that if one holds the Myrtle leaf up to the light, one will see small, numerous, transparent spots inside it. These are the glands that contain the aromatic essential oil.
For the ancient Greeks, however, these holes were nothing more than the pricks that Phaedra, the wife of the king of Athens Theseus, made with her needle out of embarrassment and anxiety on the leaf of the plant. She secretly watched her stepson Hippolytus exercising, and fell in love with him, but he did not respond to her love.
Then Aphrodite punished the unloved Hippolytus, while the Athenians classified the myrtle as a plant of love and wove wreaths from its branches, which they sold in an area of ancient Athens that had been named, for this reason, "Myrrinae".
When archaeologists excavate ancient tombs and find Myrtle inside, they know they belong to women because in ancient times, Greek women used the aromatic leaves of Myrtle just like we use deodorant today. On the contrary, in men's tombs they find oak leaves or branches.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
By Eleni Vasilaki
Although as a plant the Myrtle is classified as a shrub in the Monastery of Paliani, the perennial myrtle is an entire tree, which even has its own separate celebration, on September 24, and not on August 15, when the Katholikon of the Monastery, in the courtyard of which it is located, celebrates.
Its celebration was established on this date as, it is said, September 24 was when the miraculous icon of the Panagia Myrtidiotissa was found.
In fact, the icon of the Panagia, in the case of the Holy Myrtle of Paliani, according to religious tradition, is still embedded in the trunk of the Myrtle tree today, invisible to those who do not have the power and faith to see it.
Legend has it that the area where the Monastery is located was, in the past, forested. Some people set fire to burn the trees and suddenly they heard a voice, the voice of the Panagia, asking them to stop.
They did indeed put out the fire and among the bushes they found her icon decorated with painted myrtle branches.
At that point they made a pilgrimage and often little girls would go there to burn incense to her until one day the children found themselves before a miracle. The painted myrtle branches became real.
The children planted them and the villagers built a church next to it to place the icon within.
It is said that three times they locked her in the church and she would leave and go back to her myrtle tree where they finally left her.
In fact, this story has been composed in 14 verses which are as follows:
“The story of the myrtle, the divine tree of Paliani, is briefly told in verse for the pilgrim.
Before the monastery was built, this entire slope, as they say, was a forest and they set it on fire.
When the flame reached a bush, an old woman cried out incessantly.
They extinguished the fire with fear, curiously discerning what they found to be an icon, they bent down and venerated it.
The villagers made a shrine on the spot, and the icon that had graced them, they placed it there.
Among the myrtle branches, the figure of the Panagia was clearly discernible, as it had been painted.
The girls of the school often incensed the holy icon heavily to give them good light.
A miracle was wrought by the sinless children and the painted branches were truly born.
Then the girls planted them in bunches with joy, the branches intertwined and blossomed brightly.
A little further on, the villagers built a church and moved the icon, but from there it would leave.
They locked it three times, they say, inside the church, and the next day it was in the branches of the myrtle tree.
This made them understand that they should not separate the icon from its own branches again.
So it is here inside the multi-branched trunk that sprouted from it and is a sacred tree.
It has received divine grace, and for this reason every believer takes leaves or branches to keep as a talisman."
Its huge trunk and branches are today full of votive offerings from believers, while in its small caves one can observe folded papers with prayers and supplications and even small-sized photographs of people who may have needed the help of the Panagia to deal with some health problem.
It is indicative of the sanctity attributed to the myrtle of Paliani that all its branches, as far as a human hand can reach, are bare of leaves, as the believers, coming to venerate its grace, cut and take with them leaves, which they turn into amulets or burn them and receive their blessing through their smoke.
At the base of the tree there is an iconostasis and a space for someone to light a candle with the lamp of the Holy Myrtle remaining unextinguished.
Right next to it we see a remnant of the early Christian basilica of the temple, part of an ancient capital which was even used for the laying down and blessing of bread.
The Myrtle in Antiquity
For the sake of history, let us say that the Greeks considered the myrtle sacred since ancient times. They called it Myrtos and had dedicated it to Aphrodite of Paphos after she covered her naked body with myrtle leaves when she was "born" from the sea.
Its modern name comes from the names given to the plant by the ancient writers Theophrastus (myrrh, myrtle), Dioscorides (myrcene) and Pindar (myrtini).
For them it was a symbol of virginity and that is why during the wedding ceremony the newlyweds wore a wreath of myrtle.
It is noteworthy that if one holds the Myrtle leaf up to the light, one will see small, numerous, transparent spots inside it. These are the glands that contain the aromatic essential oil.
For the ancient Greeks, however, these holes were nothing more than the pricks that Phaedra, the wife of the king of Athens Theseus, made with her needle out of embarrassment and anxiety on the leaf of the plant. She secretly watched her stepson Hippolytus exercising, and fell in love with him, but he did not respond to her love.
Then Aphrodite punished the unloved Hippolytus, while the Athenians classified the myrtle as a plant of love and wove wreaths from its branches, which they sold in an area of ancient Athens that had been named, for this reason, "Myrrinae".
When archaeologists excavate ancient tombs and find Myrtle inside, they know they belong to women because in ancient times, Greek women used the aromatic leaves of Myrtle just like we use deodorant today. On the contrary, in men's tombs they find oak leaves or branches.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
