Panegyri at Our Chapel of Sts. Constantine and Helen

One of our "chapels" was originally the central church of a men's monastery in Portaria. The main church, built in 1860, is dedicated to Sts. Constantine and Helen, so it parish tradition to celebrate their feast day, as well as the Elevation of the Holy Cross (Sept. 14), at this chapel.

Given that a large number of Greeks celebrate their name day on the feast of Sts. Constantine and Helen, we had a particularly large crowd, especially for the festal vespers on Monday evening. Our friends Babi and Popi take care of the chapel, and so it was, of course, clean and ready for the feast. You can see the altar above.

Another woman, Anastasia, has many people in her family who have their name day on this feast, so she also takes it upon herself to help with preparations, provide the bread, wine, and oil for the artoklasia, etc. In fact, many people brought bread and wine for the artoklasia, such that this large table in the middle of the church was overflowing.



Here are some of the local women sitting outside the church before the service began on Monday evening.

To the north side of the church are the remain of the monks' cells (seen to the left in the photo above). From what I can gather, monks occupied the monastery until about World War II.

My chant teacher, Constantine, (who is also the teacher of our chanter) was able to attend, along with another fellow student, so we had an excellent choir.

Here is the front of the church, taken from down the bank.

Here we are processing around the church during the Litia, just before the Artoklasia.



Here we are at the artoklasia, reading many, many names.

Our chanters.

A photo of the church from the northwest.

From the northeast corner. You can see that there are also two side chapels. The one to the north is dedicated to St. Minas, and the one to the south to St. Anthony.



After the service, Anastasia treated everyone to pitas, sweets, juice, etc.

On Tuesday morning, after the Liturgy, we had good news that a friend of ours who works with the Archaeological Service had managed to find some timber for us from an old church being restored in nearby Makrinitsa. This was a big help, because the roof of the side chapel to St. Minas is badly in need of repair, as is the southern section of the overhang of the exo-narthex. The Archaeological Service requires repairs be done with original materials, so getting the right material was a great help, as our funds for the chapels are quite limited. As my friend noted when he brought the materials: "See, the saints provided for their church on their feast day!"

For a few more photos, click here.

Cousin Comes to Visit

The kids' cousin -- and Phoebe's godmother -- Anastasia arrived last week for her fourth visit to us in Greece, but first in our new home in Portaria. She graciously came to help us as we prepare for the new baby.

Above is a photo of the kids on the stairs in the church courtyard, with our bell tower in the background. The flower and white runners were for a wedding on Sunday afternoon, and the kids were wearing their Pascha clothes, which they generally like to wear every Sunday.

Here are Anastasia and the kids at the playground. The Monastery of Panagia Odigitria can be discerned in the background, just to the right and below Ana's hands.

For a few more photos, click here.

Catching Up

Here are just some photos from around town. Above is a photo of a snake we saw alongside the main road in Portaria. We stopped so the kids could check it out. It's some kind of constrictor snake wrapped around a rather large lizard, which was still trying (unsuccessfully) to wriggle his way out. The kids thought it was pretty neat.

The kids and I walked to the park a few days ago. Everyone is glad that spring is here.

We had the first wedding of the season on Bright Monday. Here the groom is arriving accompanied by traditional Greek instruments and dancing.

Phoebe loved the bride's dress. Here she is staring at it as people congratulate the bride and groom outside the church after the wedding.

American convert tonsured a nun in our Metropolis

His Eminence Metropolitan of Demetrias Ignatius characterized the tonsuring of the new nun from America as "A joyful Resurrection event."  He stated "Love dares... just like the Myrrbearing women who out of great love put their own lives in danger so they could reach the burial place of our Lord.  A love that is wholehearted, real and authentic.Just like the Myrrbearers silently followed the Lord, from then on, thousands of souls follow the Loved One."

Referring to the new Nun His Eminence said "She was born in the Western world which has its own experiences and its own culture, but there are many things that it can give, and proof of this is her presence here with us.  She was baptized into the Orthodox Christian Church with the name Fotini and has now been integrated with her second and "irrevocable baptism", with the name Theokliti, into this most beautiful spiritual family.  Our Monasteries are a huge wreath which surrounds our local Church, our faithful, each of the Monasteries with its own aroma of incense..."

At the end of His speech He said "Let us pray, that she follows the steps of the Myrrhbearers, that she is always faithful to the Bridegroom Christ, obedient to the Abbess and to the rest of the nuns in the name of our Resurrected Christ, and that she brings the Gospel of Joy, the Gospel of Truth, the Gospel of Righteousness, the Gospel of Peace, and finally the Gospel of Love with her vibrant prayers to the souls of the people."

He thanked the Abbess, Theodekti and the spiritual father of the Monastery, Fr. Athanasios for all the sacrificial work they do.

The new nun took on the name Theokliti ("chosen by God") and has already completed the five year trial period at the Monastery, during which she was able to learn quite well the Greek language.

See photos here.

(This took place at the monastery our parish visited back in December.)

Repairing the Church Courtyard

Before Pascha, we were busy trying to do as much work at the church as possible. One of the things that needed to be done for some time was to fix the church's courtyard, which is covered with traditional stone, but had begun to settle in some areas. In the photo above, you can see the flat stones piled up on the raised platform used to announce "Christ is Risen!" on the night of Pascha. To the left is the area where the ground had settled.

Another view of the settled area around the tree. The railing behind the tree marks a 10-foot stone wall down the mountain side. The whole courtyard, in other words, is starting to settle, and we'll eventually need to replace or at least reinforce the old wall. Technically, this is the work of the municipality, but in Greece now they are all broke, so the likelihood of it happening is slim. In this case, we managed to find a partnership between the municipality and the church to get it done in time for Pascha, when this whole courtyard is jam packed full of people. The church supplied the labor and the municipality the materials and managed to get it done by the beginning of Holy Week.

Here's a picture of the work in progress.

And, finally, here's a photo of it all done.

Panagia Goritsa

On top of a hill called "Goritsa" just outside Volos is perched a chapel, dating to around 1800, dedicated to the Life-Receiving Spring, the feast day of which was Friday. This is actually a chapel belonging to the parish just down the mountain from us. Every year on the eve of the feast, the icon of the Life-Receiving Spring is taken in procession by horseback from the parish's main church, along horse paths, to the chapel. I've heard the ride takes about 1.5 hours. The icon is then returned by the same means on the eve of the next day, after the feast.

In the morning, of course, they celebrate the Liturgy, and the two natural springs under the church begin to emit water, which is considered holy water.

It is a true "panegyri," which is one of the words for "feast," but means more literally "all around." This refers to the fact that festivities occur "all around" the church that is celebrating, with the church as the focal point.

This is the case with this church. All around there are vendors selling foods, games, icons, etc., and many pilgrims come. After our own Liturgy here at the parish, we went with some friends to this church around 1:00 PM. After venerating inside the church and getting some holy water to take home, we had some souvlaki and Greek donuts next to the church, with a view out over the ocean and Volos.

Here at the kids eating loukoumades (Greek donut holes), covered with chocolate syrup.

Here the kids went down to get holy water from the spring.

Here is the old icon of the Life-Receiving Spring, surrounded by fresh flowers.

Here's a photo of the west entrance of the church. 

You can see the vendors' booths (and the water) on either side.

I think the panegyri is a nice tradition, as the Greek people seem to inherently yearn to always draw close to the church, with the church as the "spring" for all festivities.

For a few more photos, click here.