The Grave and the Skull of Alexandros Papadiamantis

The grave of Alexandros Papadiamantis (+ January 3, 1911) is located on his home island of Skiathos. It is specifically located to the left of the entrance of the cemetery, opposite the small, improvised church.  In reality, the grave is a cenotaph, an almost empty monument that stands in the place he was once buried. Only a very small portion of his bones is found in this grave. It was only by local testimonies that we are informed his bones were translated to a nearby church, though with no other details. Thus, over the years, the location of the bones of Papadiamantis were lost, having been transferred to one of the churches of the island.

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Magic Johnson Visits Saint Dionysios in Zakynthos

On June 28, 2021, former professional basketball player Magic Johnson visited the island of Zakynthos with his family. Previously he had visited Kerkyra and Ithica, sailing Greece’s Ionian Sea aboard his $150 million luxury yacht. His travels can be seen on video and through photos on his social media.

 

When visiting Zakynthos, he had the chance to pay his respects at the Church of Saint Dionysios. This is what he wrote on Instagram:

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"An Honest Thief" by Fyodor Dostoevsky and Photios Kontoglou

An Honest Thief is an 1848 short story by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The story recounts the tale of the tragic drunkard, Emelyan Ilyitch. This story is here accompanied by a little-known sketch drawn by Photios Kontoglou, who drew it specifically to depict the character in the story by Dostoevsky. On the back of the original drawing there is a handwritten note by his daughter, Despos Kontoglou-Martinou: "The Honest Thief" by Dostoevsky, 1924, watercolor and ink on paper, 11 X 9.5 cm., Eleni Voila.

Read the complete short story here.  

Alfred Hitchcock Presents - "The Ikon of Elijah" (1960)

"The Ikon of Elijah" was originally broadcast on 10 January 1960 as part of the fifth season (ep. 16) of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

The episode is based on the 1956 short story contained in the collection The Investigations of Avram Davidson. Davidson is best known for his work in the sci-fi and fantasy genres, but his 200+ published short stories included many mysteries. This volume collects thirteen of his best, most of which appeared in the pages of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine between 1956-86. Two of his crime fiction stories, “The Ikon of Elijah” (in which an antique dealer goes to extreme lengths to obtain a valuable antique) and “Thou Still Unravished Bride” (in which a woman goes missing on her wedding day) were adapted for episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. "The Ikon of Elijah" had also previously been the source of a 1958 episode of the CBC-TV anthology The Unforeseen.

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Official Trailer: Saint Chryse (2021)

The film takes place in 1795, in the village of Slatena, near the border of Serbia and Bulgaria, when it was under Ottoman rule. The young Chryse (Zlata), who is a Christian, goes to gather wood, because it is winter. A Muslim in the area, who had been possessed by carnal love for Chryse, kidnaps her. For the next nine months the young girl suffers terrible abuse. She is systematically tortured, mentally and physically, because she refuses to convert to Islam and marry her abductor. She was horribly killed on October 13, 1795, refusing to betray her faith.

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