In the year 1908, Kastoria suffered from a severe smallpox epidemic, resulting in the death of many young children.
At that time, a request was sent from the city to the Monastery of Zavorda, that the relics of Saint Nikanor (+ August 7, 1549) be sent to Kastoria. The fathers granted the request. They sent the relics accompanied by the brother of the Monastery, then the young Deacon Nikephoros (Papasideris), who came from Dispilio, and later became Metropolitan of Kastoria. As soon as the relics reached the city, the deadly epidemic immediately stopped and, in the expression of the then Kastorians, "the disease was cut with a knife".
Since then, Saint Nikanor the Wonderworker is the protector and guardian of the children of Kastoria.