Churches, churches and more churches!

We have made it to Greece where we will be most of the next of the next six weeks.  We have settled into Thessaloniki and began exploring churches yesterday on Pentecost.  I know you’ll think I’m confused as Pentecost was two weeks ago, but in the Greek Orthodox Church, which follows a slightly different calendar, Pentecost was yesterday.  We got to celebrate twice this year.

So we began our exploration of churches in Thessaloniki in worship yesterday morning, May 27th at the Metamorphosis Greek Orthodox Church of Kalamaria around the corner from where we are staying.  It was packed - standing room only.

Mike and I stayed near the back of the crowd being very aware that we did not know what we were doing and understood very little of what was being said because it was all in Greek. (We later learned from an Orthodox friend that many parishioners don’t understand what it being said because the language is Byzantine Greek and most of it is chanted or sung.) Mike and I didn’t actually feel like we needed to understand every word to be able to worship God.  The low melodious chanting combined with the incense, bells and the symbolic actions of the priest and the worshipers is mesmerizing and fills one with a sense other worldliness.  I found the music, in particular, to be very moving.  It is called Byzantine chanting and sounds almost like it is in the Aeolean mode which differs from our major and minor scales.  For the musicians reading this blog, you can take a look at this link for more information:  http://www.apostoliki-diakonia.gr/byzantine_music/en/ymnografoi/ymnografoi.asp?main=hxoi.him.  For those of you who would just like to hear what the chanting sounds like, try this link:  https://youtu.be/VcK26_mYD4Q.

Traditionally worshipers in the Orthodox Church stand for the entire service and the worship service is long!  Fortunately churches now have seats and the congregation is invited to use them for some of the service.  A few of the faithful, however, refuse to sit although they periodically fall to their knees on the hard stone.  Mike and I could not find any information either at the church building or online  as to when the service began so we just showed up at 9:00 AM.  The sanctuary was full and we learned later that they probably began around 7:00 AM.  We left around 10:00, and they were still going strong.  Interestingly people came and went while we were there and somewhere in the middle one of the priests clearly stepped forward and did announcements.  Then they began the chanting again.  They did celebrate the Eucharist (communion). Surprisingly, only a small portion of the congregation came forward to receive, and afterwards people around us in the back seemed to be carrying several large chucks of bread they were munching on.  I don’t think this was communion bread, but perhaps bread for the poor.  We found the same large portions of bread at the entrance of another church we visited this morning.  There are a lot of poor people in Greece these days.  All in all worship was a strange and lovely experience.  We will go again, perhaps to a different congregation next Sunday.

This morning we ventured into the heart of the city to visit some of the oldest churches in Greece.

They are all in Thessaloniki.  I lit a candle to pray for the Presbyterians in La Porte in the Hagia Sophia - the church of Holy Wisdom.  Christ is revered to as the “Word” in John’s gospel which in Greek is interchangeable with the word Wisdom.  The church dates back to 795, but was built on an existing church built in the 5th century mostly destroyed in an earthquake in 620 AD.  The church is beautiful and inspires a sense of awe in it’s ancient construction.  The Fresco in the dome dates back to the 9th century and some of the columns to the 5th century!

Just when it seemed it couldn’t get any more amazing than Hagia Sophia we stepped off the bus at St. Demetrios. The church of St. Demetrios appears to be a newer church until you step inside.  The church was severely damaged in the 1917 great fire of Thessaloniki - something like the great Chicago fire!  So the exterior was largely rebuilt in the first half the 20th century.  But inside the church is an amazing tribute to the early church of Thessaloniki.  The church was built in 413 AD

over the site of the Martyrdom of St, Demetrios.  Demetrios was a Christian in Thessaloniki during the reign of three different Roman emperors - all of whom persecuted Christians.  Demetrios was also endowed with leadership skills that were recognized by the Emperor Galerius who made him a member of the senate and General of Thessaloniki.  When it was discovered, however, that he was a Christian Demetrios was imprisoned in the Roman baths, tortured and eventually martyred for his faith.

One of the extraordinary features of the St. Demetrios church is that the crypt is the old Roman baths from the 3rd century where Demetrios died!  This part of the church has ancient mosaics dating from the 4th century.  In the church proper we found additional frescoes and mosaics from the 5th, 6th and 7th century.  It was astounding to sit in this church and pray where Christians have prayed for over 1500 years.




 We rounded out the day with a visit to the Rotunda, built in 306 AD for the Emperor Galerius, either as a temple to Zeus or as a mausoleum for the Emperor.  In the fifth century, however, the Rotunda was reconstructed by Christians to become a Christian cathedral.  What impressed me most in this place was the mosaics high up in the dome.  They are possibly as early as fourth century.  The mosaics are of the saints of the church.  All of them are in long robes with their hand stretched out to each side in the ancient pose for prayer.  They surround the dome.  I counted 15, which means there were probably at least 20 originally. (Some are missing).  They are beautiful and give the worshiper the impression one is surrounded by the Great Cloud of Witnesses praying for the perseverance of the Christians of this day.

We have had a blessed beginning in Thessoloniki.  I had the sense today that the church has marched faithfully through many centuries and now it is our turn to carry Christ’s message of grace.