Friday, January 06, 2012

New Year's in Zagora

On Dec. 31, I drove back down to the mountain village of Zagora in Pelion, this time by myself, in order to serve Liturgy there the next morning, January 1. Above is a photo of the alley on which the bed & breakfast I stayed at is located.

A young guy named Kivis helps out at the parish a lot and also helps me when I'm there. This is his store, where he makes traditional pastas. It's located in the old part of town, on the other side of the alley from my B&B.

I did Vespers with Fr. Nicholas at St. George's in the old part of town on Saturday evening. Above is an icon there of of Saint Triantafyllos, who was born in Zagora in the mid-17th century. He worked as a fisherman and at the age of 15 was arrested by the Turks, who pressured him to renounce his faith in Christ. He was martyred in Constantinople in 1680.

The churches in this area, mainly built around 1800, are most famous for their hand-carved wooden iconostases, such as this one in the parish of St. Paraskevi, which I have been serving.

Also at St. Paraskevi, we have a small chapel dedicated to St. Triantafyllos. Above is his icon, located inside the chapel.

Above, the chapel lies just to the south of the main church.

Another shot of the south side of St. Paraskevi's.

On the way back, I stopped to take some photos from the road. On one side, you have a view of the Aegean (above). On the other side of the road, at the same point, you have beautiful snow-capped mountains (below).

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