COMERFORD WAY: Patrick Comerford’s online journal on Anglicanism, theology, spirituality, history, architecture, travel, poetry, beach walks ... and more
The bimah in the Etz Hayyim Synagogue in Chania (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
A recent video posted by the World Jewish Congress looked at the life of the Jewish Community in Greece, particularly in Athens, and it was a reminder that so many words that are an intimate to Jewish life are of Greek origin, including the words Bible (τὰ βιβλία), Pentateuch (πεντάτευχος pentáteukhos), Septuagint (Ἡ μετάφρασις τῶν Ἑβδομήκοντα, Hē metáphrasis tôn Hebdomḗkonta, the Translation of the Seventy), Pentecost (πεντηκοστή, pentēkostē, ‘fiftieth’), synagogue (συναγωγή), Diaspora (from the verb διασπείρω, diaspeirō, ‘I scatter’) and Bimah (βῆμα), the word used for the reading platform found in all synagogues.
All synagogues have a bimah or large, raised, reader’s platform or dais, although among Romaniote Jews and the Sephardim, the traditional, historic Jewish communities in Greece, as the teḇah (reading dais) by Sephardim. This is the raised place where the Torah scroll is placed to be read, and it usually serves too as the prayer leader’s reading desk.
The Ancient Greek word bēma (βῆμα) means both a ‘platform’ and a ‘step’, and it is derived from word (βαίνειν, bainein), ‘to go'’. The original use of the bema in Athens was as a tribunal from which orators addressed the citizens as well as the courts of law, for instance, in the Pnyx. In Greek law courts, the two parties to a dispute presented their arguments each from a separate bema.
As a figure of speech, the word bema also came to refer to a place of judgment, perhaps because of the raised seat of a judge, and even as the seat of the Roman emperor when speaking in judgment.
The post-Biblical Hebrew bima (בּימה), meaning a ‘platform’ or ‘pulpit’ seems to be derived from this Ancient Greek word bema (βῆμα), although a philological link has been suggested to the Biblical Hebrew bama (בּמה), a ‘high place’.
The bimah (plural, bimot) in synagogues is also known as the almemar or almemor among some Ashkenazi Jews. This word comes from the Arabic minbar, meaning a pulpit.
Inside the synagogue in Corfu, looking towards the ‘tevah’ or ‘bimah’ or reading platform (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
In antiquity, the bimah was made of stone, but in modern times it is usually a rectangular wooden platform approached by steps. The raised nature of the bimah emphasises the importance of the Torah reader when it is being read, but it also makes it easier for the Torah to be heard. A typical bimah in a synagogue is up two or three steps, and generally has a railing as a practical and safety measure.
In Ashkenazic Orthodox synagogues, the bimah is located in the centre, separate from the Torah ark or Aron haKodesh. In many other synagogues, the bimah and the Ark are joined together, and in Reform Judaism the bimah is close to or around the Torah ark.
Following the Romaniote tradition, synagogues in Greece have their own layout. The bimah is known as the tevah or migdal-etz (‘tower of wood’), and is on a raised dais at the west wall, facing the Aron haKodesh at the other end on the east wall, with wide aisle in between.
The word tevah means a box, of case. The Hebrew version of this word, meaning ‘ark’ (תֵּבָה tebah) is only used in two places in the Bible: for Noah’s ark and for Moses’ baby basket.
Looking down Kapsali Street towards the Cathedral … could this have been part of the old Jewish quarter of Rethymnon? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Throughout the years, I have searched but failed to find any archaeological evidence for the synagogues that must have been in the mediaeval Jewish communities in Crete, including the Jewish quarters in Retymnon and in Iraklion.
The only synagogue in Crete today is the Etz Hayyim synagogue in Chania, and there the bimah or tevah is in the traditional Romaniote and Sephardic location, in a prominent place at the west wall.
People queue to venerate the Epitaphios in the cathedral in Rethymnon this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Patrick Comerford
Today is known in the Orthodox Church as Great Friday rather than Good Friday, and I have spent much of the morning at the morning services in the Cathedral in Rethymnon (18 April 2025).
This is the most solemn day in the calendar of the Orthodox Church, and, despite the sunshine and the large throngs of tourists, many of the shops and cafés in Rethymnon closed for a few hours this morning.
People who remember the solemnity of Good Friday commemorations in Ireland that continued into the 1970s, perhaps even the 1980s, will understand the solemnity with which this day is marked in Greece.
The commemorations in the cathedral today were presided over by the Metropolitan of Rethymnon, Bishop Prodromos (Xenakis), who has been in office for the past three years. He is a former Bishop of Knossos, and I got to know him when he was a post-graduate student in Maynooth in 2010-2012. He was following a programme in Biblical studies leading to the MTh degree, and was attached to the Greek Orthodox Church in Dublin.
During those post-graduate student days in Maynooth, we took part together in Greek community events in Dublin, a broadcast service on RTÉ, and he came to the Church of Ireland Theological Institute when I was presiding at the Community Eucharist on the day the Church Calendar remembers Saint Polycarp of Smyrna.
After meeting a good friend for coffee this afternoon, I went to this morning’s main service in the cathedral, which included the veneration of the Cross and the Bier and Christ, and the Epitaphios (Ἐπιτάφιον), the large, embroidered and richly adorned cloth that is woven with the image of the dead Christ.
The priests and deacons had already places the Epitaphios on the Holy Table or altar, had anointed the Epitaphios with perfumed oil, and had placed a chalice veil and the Gospel Book on top of it.
During the reading of the Gospel accounts of the death and burial of Christ, the icon depicting the body of Christ was taken down from the cross, wrapped in a white cloth and taken into the sanctuary.
As the service was drawing to its end, the priest and deacon, accompanied by acolytes with candles and incense, carried the Epitaphios in procession from the Holy Table the church, placed it on the bier, richly decorated with white, red, and purple flowers, beneath the kouvouklion, an elaborately carved canopy, and laid the Gospel Book on the Epitaphios. In some Greek churches. Finally, Metropolitan Prodromos, scattered more petals on bier and the Epitaphios, and sprinkled the congregation with holy water.
The largest commemorations take place this evening so that the largest number of people can attend. The Epitaphios will vary be processed through the streets, with bands and solemn music. Sometimes, young people crawl under the bier, perhaps representing that they too are entering into death with Christ.
This evening’s procession ends with drama and solemnity at the steps at the steps leading up to the Church of the Four Martyrs.
As I was leaving the cathedral this afternoon, people were still joining a long queue to venerate the Epitaphios as the choir chanted. The bells of the cathedral and the neighbouring churches are continuing to toll this afternoon, and there is a constant stream of people coming to venerate the Epitaphios in the cathedral and churches in Rethymnon.
The hustle and bustle of daily life has resumed in the city, and few tourists have probably glimpsed this dimension of Greek life and piety today. But everything grinds to a halt this evening to mark the climax of this, the most solemn day in Crete.
The Epitaphios is placed in the bier in the cathedral in Rethymnon this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
A Byzantine-style crucifix by Αλεξανδρα Καουκι, icon writer in Rethymnon, Crete
Patrick Comerford
We are at the climax of Holy Week, the last week in Lent. Today is Good Friday (18 April 2025), known as Great Friday in the Greek Orthodox Church.
I awoke once this morning to the sound of the church bells from the Cathedral and the Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymnon. I am spending these closing days of Holy Week and Easter in Rethymnon. I spent part of yesterday the villages of Tsesems and Platanias, east of Rethymnon, with a short time for swimming at Pavlos Beach – my first time to swim in the sea this year. I am meeting friends for coffee later during the day, but I plan to spend much of the day at church events in Rethymnon, and I am looking forward to the processions of the Epitaphios through the streets of Rethymnon this evening.
But, before this day begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, reading today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects of the day.
The Crucifixion depicted on a 16th century sarcophagus from Skouloufia in the Archaeological Museum in Rethymnon; the symbols includes the moon, stars and sun, with Adam and the Tree of Life on the left and the Harrowing of Hell on the right (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
John 18: 1 to 19: 42 (NRSVA):
1 After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, ‘For whom are you looking?’ 5 They answered, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus replied, ‘I am he.’ Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus said to them, ‘I am he’, they stepped back and fell to the ground. 7 Again he asked them, ‘For whom are you looking?’ And they said, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ 8 Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these men go.’ 9 This was to fulfil the word that he had spoken, ‘I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me.’ 10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. 11 Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?’
12 So the soldiers, their officer, and the Jewish police arrested Jesus and bound him. 13 First they took him to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was better to have one person die for the people.
15 Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, 16 but Peter was standing outside at the gate. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the woman who guarded the gate, and brought Peter in. 17 The woman said to Peter, ‘You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ 18 Now the slaves and the police had made a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they were standing round it and warming themselves. Peter also was standing with them and warming himself.
19 Then the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. 20 Jesus answered, ‘I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. 21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard what I said to them; they know what I said.’ 22 When he had said this, one of the police standing nearby struck Jesus on the face, saying, ‘Is that how you answer the high priest?’ 23 Jesus answered, ‘If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong. But if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?’ 24 Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They asked him, ‘You are not also one of his disciples, are you?’ He denied it and said, ‘I am not.’ 26 One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, ‘Did I not see you in the garden with him?’ 27 Again Peter denied it, and at that moment the cock crowed.
28 Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate’s headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate went out to them and said, ‘What accusation do you bring against this man?’ 30 They answered, ‘If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.’ 31 Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.’ The Jews replied, ‘We are not permitted to put anyone to death.’ 32 (This was to fulfil what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.)
33 Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ 34 Jesus answered, ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?’ 35 Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?’ 36 Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ 37 Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’ 38 Pilate asked him, ‘What is truth?’
After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, ‘I find no case against him. 39 But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?’ 40 They shouted in reply, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas was a bandit.
1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. 3 They kept coming up to him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and striking him on the face. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, ‘Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him.’ 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ‘Here is the man!’ 6 When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.’ 7 The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.’
8 Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. 9 He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, ‘Where are you from?’ But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Pilate therefore said to him, ‘Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?’ 11 Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.’ 12 From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, ‘If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.’
13 When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, ‘Here is your King!’ 15 They cried out, ‘Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!’ Pilate asked them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but the emperor.’ 16 Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
So they took Jesus; 17 and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’ 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew,[o] in Latin, and in Greek. 21 Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, ‘Do not write, “The King of the Jews”, but, “This man said, I am King of the Jews.”’ 22 Pilate answered, ‘What I have written I have written.’ 23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. 24 So they said to one another, ‘Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.’ This was to fulfil what the scripture says,
‘They divided my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots.’
25 And that is what the soldiers did.
Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ 27 Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.
28 After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfil the scripture), ‘I am thirsty.’ 29 A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31 Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. 32 Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. 35 (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.) 36 These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, ‘None of his bones shall be broken.’ 37 And again another passage of scripture says, ‘They will look on the one whom they have pierced.’
38 After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. 39 Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. 40 They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. 42 And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Venerating the Cross in Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymnon last night marked the beginning of the commemorations of Great and Good Friday (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Today’s Reflection:
Throughout this week, the Holy Week prayers and devotions in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church in Stony Stratford have included the Stations of the Cross in the evening. The verse and response at each station has been:
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, Because by your holy cross
you have redeemed the world.
And then, following a meditation:
Lord Jesus crucified, Have mercy on us!
The Stations of the Cross are not usually found in Greek Orthodox Churches, but the Good Friday processions through the streets of cities, towns and villages in Greece on the evening of Good Friday are unmatched in northern Europe. The Great and Good Friday commemorations began in Greece last night, and I attended the Vespers with the Veneration of the Cross in the Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymnon late into the evening, with sombre tolling of the church bells, echoing the solemn tolling of the bells of the cathedral a few metres away.
This morning, my reflections on today’s Gospel reading (John 18: 1 to 19: 42) are assisted by images of the Stations of the Cross in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church in Stony Stratford:
Jesus is Condemned to Death … Station 1 in the Stations of the Cross in the Church of Saint Mary and Saint Giles in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Jesus is Made to Carry His Cross … Station 2 in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Jesus Falls The First Time … Station 3 in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Jesus Meets His Sorrowful Mother … Station 4 in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry His Cross … Station 5 in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Veronica Wipes The Face Of Jesus … Station 6 in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Jesus Falls The Second Time … Station 7 in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The Women Of Jerusalem Weep over Jesus … Station 8 in the Stations of the Cross in the Church of Saint Mary and Saint Giles in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Jesus Falls The Third Time … Station 9 in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Jesus Is Stripped Of His Garments … Station 10 in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Jesus Is Nailed To The Cross … Station 11 in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Jesus Is Raised Upon the Cross And Dies … Station 12 in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Jesus Is Taken Down From The Cross And Placed In The Arms Of His Mother … Station 13 in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Jesus Is Laid In The Sepulchre … Station 14 in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Prayers (Friday 18 April 2025, Good Friday):
A ‘Holy Week Reflection’ provides the theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel).’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with reflections by Bishop David Walker of Manchester, who is the chair of USPG trustees.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 18 April 2025, Good Friday) invites us to pray:
O Suffering Saviour, we lament the weight of our sin you bore. And yet, by the miracle of grace, we find healing and peace in your wounds.
The Collect:
Almighty Father,
look with mercy on this your family
for which our Lord Jesus Christ was content to be betrayed
and given up into the hands of sinners
and to suffer death upon the cross;
who is alive and glorified with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Additional Collect:
Eternal God,
in the cross of Jesus
we see the cost of our sin
and the depth of your love:
in humble hope and fear
may we place at his feet
all that we have and all that we are,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
