Tsikno Pempti (Grilling Thursday)

Last night (Thursday), we went down to the center with our friends and neighbors, the Harpers (John, Marina and baby Emilia), and a new couple we met -- an American man who teaches at a local American-style university and his Greek wife and just recently became our car insurance agent.

Anyway, Thursday was Tsikno Pempti, which is the last Thursday (and one of the last days) to eat meat before Lent. This Sunday is Meatfare Sunday, which is the last day for meat. The following Sunday is Cheesefare Sunday, which is the last day before the beginning of Lent proper.

Psito Pempti has sort of a Carnivale atmosphere. The tradition is to dress up (Arab sheik seemed to be a popular costume) and party. Individuals and businesses set up grills out on the sidewalk and roast meat which they sell or even give away. In Aristotle Square, the main pedestrian area in Thessaloniki, they usually have a concert. Last year, the Scorpions played. This year, though (at least while we were there), it was a performance via video.

The weather has been very spring-like the past few days, so we found a little restaurant tucked away in an alley and sat outside, eating meat and Greek salad. Afterwards, we walked around the chaos in Aristotle Square briefly. It's quite an experience. I think once in a lifetime will probably be enough for me. :)

In addition to Arab sheiks, Orthodox monk/clergyman was also a popular costume. We could tell that some people were trying to figure out if I just had a really good costume! One reveller even asked me.

Anyway, the top photo has St. Sophia in the background. This is a landmark right in the middle of Thessaloniki, and it is where St Gregory Palamas preached his famous sermons on the uncreated energies of God. Nothing quite like that was happening last night. In this photo, some sort of band was parading by.

The second photo is of Pelagia, Marina and baby Emilia eating cotton candy in Aristotle Square. Our Greek friend, Fotinie, insisted that they wear the jester's hats. She tried to convince me to wear a cowboy hat or a zorro hat, but I demurred.

The third photo is of our group (including our friend Philip) in Aristotle Square. The final photo is of one of the many people grilling outside.

For a few more photos, click here.

Zizioulas in Volos

On Saturday afternoon, I drove down to Volos (about 2.5 hours south, in between Thessaloniki and Athens) with some friends to attend a lecture by Metropolitan of Pergamon John (Zizioulas), one of the most famous living Orthodox theologians. It was the second in a series of open lectures sponsored by the Academy for Theological Studies of the Metropolis in Volos on the theme of "Eucharist, Church, and the World." I work for the Academy doing some English translations—one of the Academy’s goals is to make theology more accessible to the laity. Metropolitan John’s talk was entitled “Eucharist and the World.” He was followed by another paper by a French Catholic priest, Fr. Herve Legrand, who is involved in the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue with Metropolitan John. I was able to briefly introduce myself to Metropolitan John and deliver a present from my bishop, Bishop Maxim.

The talks and the discussion went from about 6:30 PM on Saturday evening until 10:00 or 10:30. Afterwards, I was invited to dinner (yes, this is quite a normal time for dinner in Greece!) with Fr. Legrand, my professor, Dr. Petros Vassileiadis, and others, including many of the people I work with (mainly via the internet) in Volos. I finally got to bed at 1:00 AM! They put me up in a nice hotel right on the waterfront in Volos.

Early the next morning, I walked over to the Metropolitan Cathedral for the Divine Liturgy with Metropolitan Ignatios, the bishop of Volos. He is a very humble, loving and pastoral bishop—I have been very impressed with him. Afterwards, we had “coffee hour” with the bishop and then I went on a walk along the waterfront with some people from the Academy. The weather was absolutely beautiful – sunny and warm. It was a taste of spring, and everyone was out walking or riding their bikes. I worked with the director of the Academy on a book I’m translating for them for about an hour at an outdoor café.

Afterwards, we all drove up to a little village called Makrinitsa at the top of the mountain, Mt. Pileo, which overlooks Volos. There, we met Metropolitan Ignatios who treated us to lunch at a little traditional Greek restaurant.

Here, I was fortunate to be able to sit next to my professor and pick his brain about my research during lunch. He is VERY busy, so getting this amount of time with him is a blessing.

All of the photos are from that little village of Makrinitsa. In the top photo, from left to right, we have my professor, Dr. Petros Vassileiadis; me; Dr Vassileiadis’ daughter Anastasia, who works at the Academy in Volos; Fr Legrand; and my Serbian friend Sasha, who is also a student here in Thessaloniki. Behind us, and in the third photograph, is the village’s old church. The second photo is a view of a typical restaurant, like the one we ate at, which has a view of Volos and the bay (see also the bottom photo).

After lunch, we went somewhere else for coffee—this is practically required in Greece. ( ;

Finally, at around 5:30 or 6:00, Sasha and I headed back to Thessaloniki. It was an exhausting weekend, especially as I am still recovering from a bad cold and laryngitis which I have had since returning from Serbia, but it was also very rewarding and productive.

There are a few more photos from Makrinitsa here.

Belgrade

Sorry for the long lapse in blogging! Not much exciting has been happening, plus even with the things that are slightly “blog-worthy” I haven’t managed to get a photo.

I’ll give an update since the last post, then. On Friday, January 25, I celebrated my saint’s day by serving at a Liturgy downtown at Panagia Ahiropoiitos (actually, in the side chapel) with our spiritual father, Fr. Spyridon.

On Sunday, January 27, we went to the only Serbian church in Thessaloniki, a little dependency of Hilandar (the Serbian monastery on Mt Athos). January 27 was the feast of St Sava (O.S.), the founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Obviously, this is a major feast in the Serbian Church. So we celebrated the feast with the local Serbian community here in Thessaloniki, which was very nice.

On Wednesday, January 30, I celebrated my saint again with the feast of the Three Hierarchs. This time, I served at the Liturgy here in Panorama.

Fast forward until Saturday, February 9, when we left for Belgrade, Serbia, to visit with our bishop, His Grace Bishop Maxim of Western America.

Most of the day Saturday was spent driving. The trip was very smooth—in fact, we made it in about 7 hours flat (as opposed to about 8 in the past, when we were more worried about getting pulled over and asked for bribes in Skopje).

Again we stayed with Darko’s family—Nebojsa, Lepa, and Natasa. Of course, Lepa prepared an extravagant Serbian feast for us when we arrived Saturday evening.

Sunday morning went to the Theology School (where I was ordained) and I served the Liturgy with Bishop Maxim, Abbot Sava (from Tvrdos Monastery in Herzegovina), several other priests and two other deacons. (Unfortunately, we didn’t get any good photos.)

Afterwards, we had trapeza (coffee hour) and got to visit with Bishop Maxim and others.

On Sunday afternoon, we met with some Serbian friends, Darko and Gina, for coffee and, later, traditional Serbian boiled wine (see top photo).

On Monday, Gina helped us do some shopping, as we stocked up on items which are cheaper in Serbia. She also showed us a wonderful little Church store, which carries all sorts of products that are produced by the Serbian monasteries. We stocked up on Serbian monastery raki (traditional hard alcohol), which make great presents and also supports the monasteries.

We met Gina at the local parish in New Belgrade, St. Dimitrios (see second photo). It’s a new church which is not quite finished, but I think it’s a lovely Byzantine-style architecture.

On Tuesday, we met Bishop Maxim for the feast of the Three Hierarchs (O.S.) at the little Moscow Patriarchate church which is in the shadow of the enormous St. Mark’s cathedral. See the third photo down in this old post for a photo of this pretty little church. Watch the video at the bottom of this post for a sample of the Russian style music at the Liturgy. Afterwards, we had trapeza (coffee hour) with Bishop Maxim and the Russian priests and deacon, as well as the church’s choir director, a professor of Church Music at the university.

Our friend Ivana met us at the Liturgy, and afterwards we went out into Belgrade with her. We are interested in spending more time in Belgrade to learn some Serbian, so she took us to the university to make some inquiries about the Serbian language classes for foreigners. The woman in the office was VERY surprised and thrilled that two Americans would convert to Orthodoxy and then come to Belgrade and want to learn Serbian.

On Tuesday evening, we met again with Gina, another Serbian friend Tijana, and Fr. Dimitrios, a Greek priest who lives and serves in Serbia. Fr. Dimitrios took us to see the progress at the enormous St Sava Cathedral, and then took us to a traditional Serbian taverna.

On Wednesday morning, we packed up and met the bishop one more time at the Theology School (see third photo). We talked for about an hour and then made the trip back to Thessaloniki. Again, we had a smooth trip and made it in just over 7 hours.

Now it’s back to work!

Our First Greek Wedding

Well, Thursday evening, I served Vespers for St Athanasios at the saint’s church in downtown Thessaloniki with His Eminence Metropolitan Anthimos, Archbishop of Thessaloniki. Of course, there were many priests and deacons there, including our spiritual father and the two priests of our parish here in Panorama. They introduced me to the bishop after the service and I spoke with him briefly. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos, but you may have seen me on Greek TV, if you get the Church’s TV station on your satellite dish. ( ;

(Yes, seriously, the Church has its own regular TV channel devoted solely to broadcasting services and related programs.)

On Saturday morning, we had liturgy as usual at our parish here in Panorama and then on Saturday evening we were blessed to go to our friends’ wedding downtown. They are Justin, an American, and Kalliopi, a Greek girl. They met while she studied in the States and now they’ve moved back here to start their life together.

I was asked to serve along with our spiritual father and three other priests. They asked me to say all the deacon’s parts in English, as well as the Epistle and the Gospel, for the benefit of Justin’s friends and family. It was a beautiful and joyous wedding.

The reception following the wedding was held at perhaps the most famous hotels in northern Greece, the 5-star Makedonia Palace. All of our friends were invited to the wedding, so it was really fun.

In the last photo, you can see a shot of our table. At left is Herman Middleton grabbing something to eat as he got up from the table. Obscured behind him is Fr Spyridon. Continuing clockwise, we have our neighbor, James Lilly, our Greek friends Efrosini and Christos, Justin’s friend Vincent, Ann Lilly, and Pelagia.

The top photo, naturally, is of Justin and Kalliopi as they entered the church. The second and third photos are from the service.

At the very bottom is a short video of some of the dancing from the reception. Greek dancing is really fun – Pelagia and I are both trying to learn it. It seems relatively simple, but it’s not. At the end, one very kind Greek woman gave us lessons off to the side. She explained that the basic Greek dance is a 12-step count, but that the leader (the first in line) sets the particular step, and everyone else is supposed to follow. Usually, then, they change leaders every few minutes, so the dance changes, too. It’s very fun.

The wedding was great and we were very glad to be invited, so that we could experience a real Greek wedding.

Divine Liturgy and Baptism at a 1500-Year-Old Church

On Saturday, the Forefeast of Theophany, I was blessed to serve at the Divine Liturgy with our spiritual father, Fr Spyridon, at his church in the center of Thessaloniki—Panagia Acheiropoiitos. This church was completed by the year 470 at the latest, and was built in honor of the Mother of God after the Fourth Ecumenical Council declared her to be Theotokos in Ephesus in 431. It is one of the three oldest churches (all 5^th century) in Greece. Unlike St Demetrios (one of the other 5^th century basilicas), Panagia Acheiropoiitos has remained basically intact for the last 1500+ years. The name, incidentally, means “the Mother of God, made without hands.” It refers to an icon which miraculously appeared in the 12^th century and which seems to have been divinely made. The icon, unfortunately, was lost during the period of Ottoman occupation.

First it must be said that this church is absolutely enormous. Unfortunately, therefore, photos of the inside don’t usually come out. It was really a great blessing to serve in such a church, where so many millions of faithful have prayed for so many years. The size of the church is also awe-inspiring. It seemed to take forever to cense!

After the Liturgy and the Blessing of the Waters, there was a short break before the baptism of the youngest child of our friends here in Thessaloniki, another American couple, Mark and Laura Montague. Their newest baby, Sophia, was baptized in the small side chapel. (All the photos are from this service, and were taken by another American friend, Peter Chido. For more photos, click here.)

Since there was such a large American presence at the baptism, I got to read the petitions in English, and Fr Spyridon even read a couple prayers in English, which was cute.

In the top photo, Pelagia is talking with our friend Angela, and English woman who converted to Orthodoxy many years ago and moved to Greece. She is now married to a Greek man and has three children.

The second photo shows a line-up of Americans who are studying here in Greece. From left: me, Mark Montague, John Harper, someone I don’t know, and Joseph (whose last name I can’t remember right now).

The third and fourth photos are, obviously, of the baptism. The priest is Fr Spyridon. In the last photo, you can see the baby’s sponsor, Stavroula, and the baby.

Tomorrow, for the Feast of Theophany, and on Monday for St John the Baptist, we will be at our parish church here in Panorama, St George’s.

Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware)

Well, in my first week as a deacon, I got to serve with Bishop Atanasije (Jevtic). In the second week, I served with Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware)—in short, two of the most influential living theologians. What’s up for next week? ( :

As I’ve mentioned before, our beloved neighbors, the Lillies, moved here from England about 35 years ago. The priest who brought them into Orthodoxy at Oxford was (then) Archimandrite Kallistos (Ware). They’ve been friends ever since.

On Saturday, His Eminence came to visit Greece again, and because we have a car (thanks to you all!), I had the opportunity to offer him a service and pick him up at the airport. He then wanted to stop at a small exhibit in Thessaloniki featuring artists who have painted the Holy Mountain. The exhibit was deserted on Saturday afternoon, but there were some very nice pieces, including some by Kontoglou and Pentzikis.

Afterwards, we came back to Panorama. He stayed at a friend’s place here in Panorama, just about a block from our apartment. He had dinner with the Lillies, and then Pelagia and I joined them for coffee and desert. It was a delightful time—he was full of humorous stories about his early days as an Orthodox convert in Greece and the island of Patmos.

On Sunday morning, I drove His Eminence downtown to St Haralambos, which is a dependency (metohi) of the Holy Monastery of Simonas Petras on the Holy Mountain. This is a very popular church, especially among the international community. I was privileged to serve at the Liturgy there with him (see photo). I even did one litany in English.

After the Liturgy, he headed off to visit the women’s monastery of Ormylia and, after that, to Simonas Petras and the Holy Mountain.

On another note, here are some more photos from the ordination in Belgrade, taken by our friend Brendan who went with us. Most of the photos are from the ordination. A few are from the celebration that followed, and the last couple are from visiting with our friends around Belgrade the next day.