Greek Customs and the Feast of Saint Andrew

Well of Saint Andrew in Patras, 1819

Saint Andrew the First-Called Apostle was martyred in the Greek city of Patras, where the largest cathedral in Greece honors his name over the place he was martyred. He is celebrated annually on November 30, which coincides with the last day of autumn. For this reason, his celebration includes beliefs, fears, hopes and perceptions, customs and habits, with a magical, superstitious character. Saint Andrew is considered the patron saint of Nafplio as well, since the liberation of the city of Nafplio from the Turks took place on November 30, 1822.

The villagers of the mountains and plains fear the month of November, which is why they give it the name of Saint Andrew. The people in the Peloponnese and Epirus called the month of November "Aindria". In Kozani, Thessaly, Thrace and Sinope in Pontus, November is called "Andrias". In traditional Greek culture, it is customary for months to be named after a saint, as for example October is also called "Aidemitriatis".

Picturesque Churches Dedicated to Saint Kyriaki

 

Nydri, Lefkada

The Veneration of Saint Hypatios of Gangra in Greece and Cyprus

Icon from 1817 in the current Chapel of Saint Hypatios in the Church of Panagia Dexia in Thessaloniki

Numerous miracles took place both during and after the burial of the Holy Bishop Hypatios of Gangra, a fact that proves that he received richly from God the gift of performing miracles uninterruptedly. That is why it was established for him to be honored from the fourth century as a miraculous protector and patron saint of the city of Gangra of Paphlagonia, while the oldest iconographic representations of the Saint are preserved in temples of Cappadocia and monasteries in Serbia. It is noteworthy that in his honor a majestic sacred temple was erected in Gangra, which until the Asia Minor Catastrophe of 1922 was the central point reference for his veneration and the center of the worship life of the pious inhabitants. This historic Church of Saint Hypatios in Gangra was adorned with a magnificent iconostasis that attracted the interest of visitors, while the miraculous icon of Saint Hypatios, which was saved from destruction by the late Ypatia Patmanoglou, was kept as a valuable spiritual treasure. This icon is now kept in the new beautiful Church of Saint Hypatios, founded in 1973 and consecrated in 1976, in the village of Antigonos in Florina, where many of the inhabitants of Gangra settled after 1922.

The Recently Reposed Metropolitan Kosmas of Aetolia and Acarnania (+ January 3, 2022)

 

By Ioannis Hatzidigenis, Theologian

Metropolitan Kosmas of Aetolia and Acarnania did not in any case remind us of being a Bishop of our day as his spiritual endowment was observed as being in the footsteps of the Holy Hierarchs and his ecclesiastical phronema rested in the consciousness of the Orthodox faith.

As a Liturgist of the sacred Altar he had proverbial reverence. I will never forget the testimony of the same Bishop Kosmas of Aetolia, when as a hieromonk he co-liturgized with Saint Iakovos of Evia: "At one point during the Divine Liturgy with Saint Iakovos, the wings of Angels could be heard participating in the dread Mystery! For Saint Iakovos, of course, such experiences were considered a daily phenomenon."

The Church of Greece is Considering the Canonization of Metropolitan Theologos of Larissa

The Metropolis of Larissa issued the following statement:

His Eminence the Metropolitan of Larissa and Tyrnavos Hieronymos feels the need to thank his beloved brother and co-liturgist, His Eminence the Metropolitan of Drama Pavlos for his publicly expressed intention that the Church of Greece should study the issue of the canonization of his renowned predecessor the late Theologos, a man of known virtue and peace.

Concrete steps have already been taken in this direction, despite the existing obstacles.

The desire of all of us is the success of the project, so that despite the mistakes and the malaise of that time, to recognize that in every period of time there are people of God who give evidence to the testimony of the Faith.

Saint Aristides and His Veneration in Greece

St. Aristides in a fresco from the Church of Panagia Phaneromeni in Aigio

 

 By Aristides G. Theodoropoulos

On September 13, the Orthodox Church honors and celebrates the memory of Saint Aristides, this eminent and eloquent Athenian philosopher and famous martyr of Christ, who became better known in Ecclesiastical History and Patrology by his famous Apology, which is also the oldest surviving apologetic text.

This eminent Christian philosopher, ardent apologist and glorious martyr of the 2nd century AD was born in Athens and studied classical philosophy at the famous Philosophical School of Athens.

George Cochrane Describes Easter Among the Greeks of Athens in 1835

Lithograph of King Otto I by George Cochrane. Otto I, Duke of Bavaria, became first King of Greece in 1832, under the London Convention, whereby Greece became a new independent monarchy under the protection of the great powers (United Kingdom, France and Russia).

George Cochrane arrived in Greece in January 1827 together with his uncle, admiral Thomas Cochrane, who was in command of two British steamships destined to reinforce the Greek fleet in the War of Independence. The first part of his two-volume account includes descriptions of the social, political and war situation in Greece in the last year of the war, together with Cochrane's meetings and conversations with Kolokotronis, Mavrokordatos, Tombazis, Kanaris and Kapodistrias, and his visits to Hydra, Poros, Nafplio, Argos and Athens. Cochrane returned to the Greek state twice, in 1834, and in 1835-36, with the project of setting up a steamship line which would connect Piraeus, Marseille, Malta, Naples, Istanbul, Syros, Izmir and Alexandria.

His two-volume book Wanderings in Greece was published in London in 1837. The edition is enriched with lithographs based on the author's drawings. The text remains one of the most interesting in its kind. Without being a profound political analysis, it paints a very precise picture of the public life of several personalities, mainly politicians, and offers penetrating insight into Greek society in the first years of the foundation of the Greek State.

The first volume of Wanderings in Greece ends with Greeks celebrating festively on the night before Great Lent, after which they returned to their homes to eat nothing but bread and olives for the next forty days. In the second volume Cochrane describes his observations of Easter in Athens in 1835. He writes:

The Paschal "Photikia"

In the Greek city of Ioannina, from the time of Ottoman rule and especially during that of Ali Pasha of Tepelena (1787-1822), the arts flourished, such as silversmithing (ecclesiastical and folk), gold embroidery, weaving and coppersmithing.

The "photikia" are an Easter custom, related to the art of copper.

The traditional art of coppersmithing can still be admired in Ioannina, in shops on Anexartisias Street and in Kaloutsiani Square.

The Church Where General Theodoros Kolokotronis Wept in his Darkest Hour

In the early days of the revolution, Theodoros Kolokotronis had marched triumphantly through cheering crowds, but in the following weeks few things went right for him. After the events of Kalamata, he headed north to Karytaina with Nikitas Stamatelopoulos, Elias Mavromichalis, the Plapoutas brothers, Kanellos Deligiannis, Papaflessas and Anagnostaras. Karytaina was an isolated village on a rocky outcrop in the central Peloponnese, with an old Byzantine castle over it. Turks were besieged in the castle by some thousand and a half armed Greeks. When 2000 enemy soldiers with 700 cavalry reached Karytaina from Tripolitsa all the Greeks fled, as Kolokotronis observed from afar with his telescope. For over 400 years of slavery the Greeks were used to obeying orders like good subjects and with the exception of the law-breaking klephts and law-enforcing armatoloi the villagers had no idea how to use a rifle. They needed the first victory, to acquire self-confidence. Kolokotronis had to then hide in a tree to allow the Turks to pass without noticing him. He was left alone and when he was asked by his soldiers to leave to fight another battle, he said: "I am not coming. I sit in these mountains where the birds know me better than my neighbors." Papaflessas ordered a young soldier to stay with Kolokotronis: "Stay with him, so that the wolves don't devour him." Kolokotronis stayed alone. And as he says in his memoirs:

The Repose of Hieromonk Fr. Nikolaos Koumentakis (+ August 15, 2020)

By George G. Spanos,

Shipping & Innovative Business Consultant, Author

The Hieromonk Fr. Nikolaos Koumentakis, undoubtedly made a mark on the spiritual life of Eastern Attica, having Mati as his center, for the last at least fifty years. Born in 1921, he became a priest at a mature age, being the link of a long unbroken priestly chain of Cretan Levites, whose traces are lost in the history of the mainland.

He was appointed pastor in Mati, Attica in the early 1970s, at the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos. When he decided, by divine inspiration, to build a new larger Church of the Panagia in Mati - something that had "looked bad" to various of our fellow citizens as excessive for little Mati - Fr. Nikolaos would say in the end, that Mati would receive something great while the church itself would be small in comparison. This is what the great Saint of our time, Porphyrios Kavsokalyvitis, had said to him, when he had visited him in Oropos in the 1970s. The certainty of these words was seen from early on. Immediately after the completion of the new white Sacred Church of the Dormition, a characteristic gem of the wider area, it was visited on Sundays and feasts by families from all over Attica.

May 31 - On This Day in 1850 Florence Nightingale Proclaimed From Athens That "The Greek Church is Dead"

On Friday 31 May 1850, Florence Nightingale, who was then thirty years old, wrote to her sister Parthenope Nightingale from Athens, about her travels and experiences in Greece. After expounding with lofty words about the glories of ancient Greece, she finally begins to talk about Greece as it was in her time, and initiates the conversation by proclaiming "the Greek Church is dead." It seemed like she hated everything that has to do with the Greek Orthodox Church, even Greek weddings (!), and much preferred the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches. Earlier while in Rome she blamed Greek monks for bringing images of Christ to the West, accusing them for dispelling the reverence of depicting Christ as a symbol as was done in the early Church. The only positive things Florence Nightingale had to say about the Orthodox Church was directed to individual monks and the then dead Archbishop Germanos of Patras because he "thought the best religion was to give his country independence and a constitution." Her denunciation of Orthodoxy held equally for the Russian Church, fueled by the persecution of the nuns of Minsk. Later, during the Crimean War during which she served as a nurse, Russia was the enemy.

Despite Quarantine Measures, Greeks Find Unique Ways to Celebrate Easter

The weekend of Easter 2020 will go down in history as being among the most unique. In particular Greece, where the great majority of the population are Orthodox Christians, though the people were confined behind closed doors during the celebrations of Holy Week and Easter due to the coronavirus crisis, unique ways were found to participate in the celebrations throughout the land. Everyone celebrated nonetheless, mostly with people going outside their homes and on their balconies to sing "Christ is Risen" as soon as the bells struck at midnight and fireworks in many places were fired off. The videos are too numerous to post, so you can take a look at a sample here.

Thousands of Cypriots Chant the Akathist Hymn From Their Balconies

Orthodox Christians in Limassol, Cyprus went out on their balconies Friday evening, 3 April 2020, holding candles and chanting the Akathist Hymn, accompanied by a live radio broadcast of the service from the Cathedral Church of Agia Napa.

Thousands of worshipers accepted the call of a group of Limassol citizens who took the initiative for this group prayer and sent the message that "this virus will not defeat us, it will not shake our faith."

Only a priest and chanters and a sexton are allowed in churches of Cyprus during the coronavirus pandemic. This event took place with the blessing of Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol.

Nikolobarbara: The Winter Celebration of St. Barbara, St. Savvas and St. Nicholas

In Greece, from December 4-6, 'Nikolobarbara' includes the feast days of St. Barbara, St. Savvas, and St. Nicholas. These days are considered to herald the onset of truly wintry cold weather, therefore homes are prepared for winter beforehand, such as preparing wood for the fire place. It is said also that the weather of these days will be the same weather as Christmas. Sayings that can be heard in various parts of Greece at this time are:

The Archbishop of Greece Helps a Homeless Elderly Couple

On the afternoon of Friday 22 November 2019, Archbishop Hieronymos of Athens and All Greece visited a church in Kerameikos, which is an area of Athens located to the northwest of the Acropolis, to meet an elderly couple, 84-year-old Philip and his 82-year-old wife Helen.

Who Is Saint Sostis?

Throughout Greece, especially on the islands and anywhere near the sea, there are chapels, islands, villages and beaches named after Saint Sostis (Άγιος Σώστης). However, in the Synaxarion of the Church, there is no Saint that goes by the name "Sostis." This leaves us with the question: Who is Saint Sostis?

15 Orthodox Shrines Dedicated to the Holy Apostle Jude Thaddaeus

1. Chapel of Saint Jude Thaddeus in the center of Athens in the courtyard of the Church of Saint Isidore at Lycabettus.

Holy Synod of the Church of Greece Declares the Day of the Unborn Child

The establishment of the Day of the Unborn Child was announced by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece in a decision taken on 9 July 2019, which is officially taking a stand against abortions.

As stated in the relevant circular, this decision was taken to protect the child and to solve the country’s demographic problem. The Day of the Unborn Child is set for the first Sunday after Christmas.

The Traditions and Customs of Cheesefare Sunday in Greece

The celebrations of Apokries (Greece's Carnival) culminate on Forgiveness or Cheesefare Sunday. It is the last day that Orthodox Christians traditionally eat dairy products and celebrate before the first day of Lent. In Greece, this day is redolent of traditions, customs, and, of course, delicious recipes that bring community and family together.

The advent of the carnival season, a period known in Greece as Apokries, marks the peak of indulgence in food and festivities. This period, however, ends with the start of the longest fasting period of the Orthodox calendar: the forty-seven-day pre-Easter Lenten fast. The Greek word "apokria" refers to the weeks of the gradual change in diet prior to the discipline of Lent, also known as Great Lent or "Sarakosti." This period of Apokries spans the three weeks before the onset of Great Lent. The popular tradition of celebrating Apokries culminates during the weekends with masquerades, parades, parties, and of course, the abundance of traditional foods. While the most popular carnival today is that of Patras, other cities and smaller towns carry out their own regional traditions
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Greece Has Most Priests Proportionately in Europe

According to the website jodi.graphics, which deals with statistical studies, Greece has the most priests in Europe per capita, with roughly 88 priests for every 100,000 people. Italy came in close second, followed by Romania. It has been suggested that these statistics will play a role in talks of the separation of Church and State.