Thursday, May 31, 2012

Thursday, May 31, 2012. 9:50 pm

What a day! We were supposed to eat breakfast at 6:30, leave at 7:00 and do morning prayers on the bus. I have my travel alarm with me so there is no snooze button. I woke up at 6:00, turned off the alarm, and went back to sleep. Thankfully Jason knocked on my door at 6:50. I jumped in the shower and hurried downstairs after replying quickly to two emails. There was extra time so the group decided to do morning prayers, which I arrived in the middle of. I tried singing the Alleluias before the Gospel and the short responses before and after, but literally could not sing. I’ve been coming down with a cold for several weeks, fighting it off, etc., but it has finally set in full force. Right now just a deep voice and sore throat, and a little bit of a runny nose – not too bad. But I physically could not sing for half the day, and when my voice finally warmed up a bit I could only sing low and badly.

On the three hour bus ride we practiced the songs that we were going to sing at times when the Albanians asked us to sing. That way we wouldn’t embarrass ourselves by two people singing off-key. We practiced O Pure Virgin, Lord of the Powers, Seek Ye First, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, and the Apolytikion of St. Herman of Alaska in Russian chant. I felt that I was throwing everybody off by my gravelly voice that wasn’t truly singing – more like a rumble. I was irritable and tired and kept thinking that the Albanians need to pave their roads – typical American (*slap*)! Last night I was up late blogging and doing my proposal for my independent study next fall. I had eaten a quick breakfast on the run after morning prayers and so I was really thirsty and had a limited supply of bottled water on the bus.

Before leaving Tirana we picked up Ana Baba and Gabriela (last name?), two native Albanian missionaries who are both wonderful, wonderful people and are fluent in Greek. I was sitting near them on the bus so after the others finished singing and I finished gravelling (:P) I talked to them for a long time – all the while complaining how bad my voice was. When we got to Berat we went to the Cathedral of St. Demetrios. We saw Metropolitan Ignati briefly. Fr. Luke and Fr. Emmanuel went inside to talk to the gathering of Presvyteres. 

Gabriela and others led the rest of us on a walk across the river, down a long street and up a steep hill to the only other regularly-functioning church, St. Spyridon. It is very old and does not look Greek like the other, newer churches in Albania. Old, whitewashed, partially-renovated frescoes; old iconostasis with old icons; etc. It was nice.

Three of our team members talked to the youth of the Metropolis about facebook (most of them had facebook and one young man had 1800 friends) – through Gabriela who translated. It was a nice session and the kids asked some questions. One had converted from Islam and asked about how to deal with his Islamic friends at school who don’t understand Orthodoxy. One of our guys said to just ask them questions. Let them talk as much as they want and be confused by the incoherence of their own answers (maybe not the best answer to his problem). 

When we had twenty minutes left we sang some of the songs we had practiced and they also sang some of their songs. Stelio and I stayed behind for a few minutes while he took pictures.

We then followed everyone back across the river while I conversed with Gabriela in Greek and an older guy who only spoke Albanian. Gabriela translated. We had to go to the top of the mountain to see the enormous, mountain-encompassing castle. There are 42 churches inside the castle that is built on the hill, and none of them are used more than once or twice a year anymore :(

. The hill is very steep – a little steeper than the hill going up to Holy Cross in Boston, much longer, and made out of a special kind of cobblestone. It was hot and sunny, too. As tiring as it was I enjoyed it. The majority of the group got a ride up the other side of the hill from the Cathedral to the top. I wouldn’t have traded places with anyone even if I could have! I loved the walk!

We walked along the unfenced edge of the castle a bit and took pictures, then went inside.

The main thing we went to do was to see the biggest church of the 42, which has a lot of old icons and is used as a museum now (pretty sad – the Altar table is bare and they took our group inside the Altar, as if it was merely a replica and not a consecrated church), although Liturgy is served once or twice a year. The church is named after the Dormition of the Theotokos. The icons of Christ, the Theotokos and St. John the Forerunner on the iconostasis are by the hand of Onufry, a famous Albanian iconographer. The others are by someone else. All the icons are gorgeous! In some rooms right outside the nave (sort of like an exo-narthex) they have other icons, Gospels, etc, set up as a museum, and one of my favorites was an epitracheilion (priest’s stole) that had six or eight icons on it (I don’t remember). We weren’t allowed to take pictures of anything but some people snuck photos without flashes and I will get them and upload them later.

I found out towards the end of our visit in the church that a few members of our group who had lagged behind had gotten lost but taken full advantage of the opportunity, exploring, finding four different churches (all of which were locked), a statue of St. Constantine’s head, and a man on a horse which they got to sit on. I was really jealous.

 

We left the castle and went to a mountaintop restaurant to eat along with all the priests and presvyteres and all the young people that the various members of our group had been with earlier. We sat down and waited until Metropolitan Ignati came to say the prayer and start eating. I was honored to be sitting across the table from His Eminence, two chairs down. I was able to talk to him some in Greek. He is an Arvaniti. Arvanites are Albanians who have lived in Greece for 400 years. He is Greek-born but of Albanian descent, and knows both languages fluently. He used to be the abbot of two different monasteries in Greece – Hosios Loukas (the famous one) and Hosios Seraphim. He looks like a “typical,” old, kind Greek bishop or abbot. Short, a little heavy-set, a little hunched over, soft-spoken, hard of hearing, long and thin pure white beard and long white hair in a thin ponytail. Fr. Emmanuel said that when he asked His Eminence what he misses most after becoming a bishop, His Eminence said he misses hearing confessions the most. I was really drawn to him – his kindness and love. His Eminence’s spiritual father was Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos. His Eminence also knows Gheronda Ephraim in Arizona from having visited Mt. Athos. He visited all twenty monasteries, I believe, but only lived there for six months I think. He was a monk on the mainland. He reminds me a bit of Metropolitan Maximos – the kindness, love, white hair and softspokenness.

Sitting at the other end of the table were four priests, a deacon, and some of our guys. The priests kept toasting every two minutes (Gezuar!). It seems to be a very Albanian thing to do. We couldn’t get over how much they were toasting! 

The wine went well with the delicious meat (beef?) and diced/roasted/oily potatoes. His Eminence, however, is a monk. He ate fish, like the kind we all ate last night.

At the end of the meal two priests and the metropolitan spoke, and a lot of us sang songs. We sang some of our songs and the Albanians sang some of their songs – both hymns and folk songs. My favorite was the concluding one: “Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God.” They know it in Albanian from their camps. We did a verse in English and they repeated it in Albanian, then we did the second, etc. It was really beautiful!

The Metropolis paid for everyone’s meal, and His Eminence gave us all gifts before we left – a beautiful 8½x11 icon (or the European equivalent size), laminated, a detail of 12-year-old Christ teaching in the Temple. (Definitely a keeper!!) Also the life of St. Luke the Surgeon in Albanian – another reason to learn the language!

We all thanked His Eminence profusely and got multiple blessings from him. I also briefly met Fr. Elias. Fr. Elias is the son of Fr. Kosma, a priest who used to do Liturgies and Baptisms in his home secretly during communism. At one point Fr. Kosma was dragged into the middle of town to have his robes taken off him and his beard shaved. Fr. Kosma secretly baptized Metropolitan John of Korca. Later on the Church wanted Albanian-born hierarchs. There were no celibate Albanian priests in the world. They asked Fr. Kosma to separate from his wife and become a bishop, which he did. Metropolitan John was one of Bishop Kosma’s ordaining bishops. Today I also saw Fr. Elias’ mother who seems like a pious old Albanian lady. I didn’t get to talk to her. She and Fr. Elias were sitting a bit out of earshot at the same table as us.

We drove a few hours from Berat and arrived at the monastery of Ardenitsa. It is all-but abandoned. Two monks live there most of the time (these were the two I’ve been told about) but don’t have a regular monastic life. Divine Liturgy is served in the church by one of the village priests on Sundays. The church is kind of dark and some of the frescoes are in need of restoration (if that’s even possible) but it’s still really beautiful. The top levels of the walls are icons of each stanza of the Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos. It’s pretty awesome! I’ve seen pictures and heard of icons like that, of the Akathist Hymn. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in person, though.

I walked around the monastery a little bit but couldn’t go inside anywhere. Both monks were gone and there was a guard or two (just a regular guy with a key) and we could only see so much. I walked around outside a little. I really found myself wishing there were monks or nuns populating the place!

We ran into three evangelical missionaries from England who were on a walking trip across Europe, on their way back home after visiting 19 countries. They had a life-size cross with a wheel on it which they carried with them. Fr. Luke told them about the historicity of Christianity in Albania and after they finished one of them asked if he could pray. It was kind of funny and awkward because I don’t see that a lot. One guy kept saying “Amen,” “Oh, Jesus,” “yes,” and other things while the other one was praying. Our group said he even spoke in tongues a bit but I didn’t hear it.

We walked inside the church and Fr. Luke and some of our guys were explaining things to the evangelical guys. I snuck out into the narthex and up some stairs with Gabriela and Stelio to see the icon of the Last Judgment on the back wall of the church. Gabriela and Ana have been there many times and know all about it – they are very familiar with the place. Fr. Luke got an Albanian service book from inside the Altar and did the Great Litany and the Completion Litany. Then one of the evangelical guys asked if he could pray a prayer to the Holy Spirit and asked Him to come and empower us or something. I think we were all kind of perplexed as to what to do about these guys. We all agreed afterwards, though, that we think Fr. Luke handled it really well from a pastoral point of view, maintaining a balance in everything.

All these places that we visit – I want to go back. I want to get familiar with all 42 churches in the castle, with the Ardenitsa monastery, etc. I want to make them my own like so many churches and monasteries in America. I really hope I develop a relationship with at least some of these places. Also, if I am ordained I want to liturgize in random, unused chapels like St. Nicholas Planas did :) (http://www.serfes.org/lives/stnicholas.htm).

On the way back on the bus I literally lost my voice because I was talking so much with Gabriela and Ana. It is such a good opportunity to practice my Greek and they are such wonderful people with amazing smiles and really big hearts. We shared a lot of laughs and talked about many things, all the while hoping to improve my Greek :)

We got back to the Tabor Center at 9:00 (a 14 hour day!) after having dropped off Ana and Gabriela in Tirana. We ate delicious homemade pizza from the wonderful staff here. Then I came upstairs to blog :)