‘When you hear of wars and rumours of wars … this is but the beginning of the birth pangs’

A typical scene in the European refugee crisis: refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean being rescued by Irish Naval personnel from the ship LÉ Eithne (Photograph: Irish Defence Forces/Anglican Communion News Service/Us)

Patrick Comerford,

Zion Church, Rathgar, Dublin,

Sunday 15 November 2015,

The Second Sunday before Advent

10.30 a.m., Morning Prayer 2.

Readings: Daniel 12: 1-3; Psalm 16; Mark 13: 1-8.

May I speak to you in the name of the + Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Winter has arrived, the evenings are closing in, the nights are getting longer, and the year is coming to an end.

The church seasons are changing too. Advent, which marks a New Year in the Church, begins the Sunday after next [29 November 2015]. Carol services are being planned, Christmas gifts are being wrapped, Christmas cards are being written, and for many places the last posting date for Christmas [4 December 2015] is looming.

In the midst of darkness, there is always hope.

But in the darkness it is also natural that we should think of our greatest fears.

In our Gospel reading this morning, Peter, Andrew, James and John are with Christ on the Mount of Olives, looking across to Jerusalem and the Temple.

But Christ’s entry into Jerusalem is not going to be triumphant, and he warns these four disciples – these four who act almost like Christ’s ‘kitchen cabinet’ in the Gospels – that the future is not going to be all plain sailing.

He talks about false teachers, wars and rumours of wars, nations fighting against nation, earthquakes, famines and natural disasters.

All of us have been shocked by the violence in Paris in the past 36 hours. The attacks in Paris and a few days earlier in Beirut were designed to shake the very foundations of all our societies. They are an assault on our shared humanity, and our tolerance, liberty and respect – the values that ought to underpin the world we share.

In the past week, many of us have been remembering the wars in the last 100 years that threatened not once but twice to destroy Europe. We are still in the middle of the centenary marking World War I, and this year has marked the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. And we remembered those who fought in both wars and who were promised that these were “wars to end all wars.”

Yet the Anglican suffragan Bishop in Europe, Bishop David Hamid, has said in the past week that the refugee crisis in Europe is the “largest crisis that Europe has had to face since World War II.” He warns that churches, governments and aid and mission agencies need to prepare for a “medium- to long-term situation” to a crisis that is “not going to go away quickly.”

I spent three days in the past week [11-13 November 2015] at a meeting of the Trustees of Us, the Anglican mission agency previously known as USPG or the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

It was a residential meeting in Westcott House, the Anglican theological college in Cambridge. And during those days I heard again and again of the work Us or USPG is doing with refugees throughout Europe.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says that so far this year over three quarters of a million refugees and migrants have arrived by boat in Europe. Most of them – around 620,000 – have arrived in Greece; while Italy has received over 140,000 people, Spain almost 3,000 people and Malta over 100.

The UNHCR also says almost 3,500 people have died or gone missing on the journey. Over half the migrants trying to reach Europe come from the Syria, and another one-in-five is from Afghanistan.

“The numbers of people on the move have not been seen for over 70 years,” Bishop David says. This problem is not going to go away soon, he says. “The end won’t be in sight, really, until we resolve the wars and people are able to live in security.”

Even if the wars stop tomorrow, four million Syrian people are living outside Syria and half the remaining people are displaced too, having left their homes, their villages and their towns. Rebuilding the region is a long-term task, and even if the wars ended tomorrow they cannot go home on Tuesday.

Bishop David says the challenge to Churches, governments and agencies in Europe is to work together on short-term responses, and medium to long-term situation.

When people began to appear in the parks and squares in central Athens having come from the ferry boats from the islands, the churches in Athens responded immediately.

Saint Paul’s Anglican Church and the other churches saw the need to co-ordinate their response and have drawn on their own limited resources to reach out together. This response has brought together Anglicans, the Greek Orthodox archdiocese, the Roman Catholic Jesuit refugee service, the Salvation Army, and the Greek Evangelical Church. This is on-the-ground ecumenism in action. Years and years of dialogue are now bearing fruit.

But Bishop David is worried that the rest of Europe fails to see that these people are human beings who deserve basic humanitarian assistance while their status is sorted out.

Christians and churches have a role to play in ensuring the truth of the refugee crisis is told without exaggeration. Bishop David says: “There is often exaggeration in some of the secular media. Sometimes this plays into people’s fear about the foreigner, fears of Islam, and all sorts of fears. I think we need to be clear, as Christians around the world, in making sure the truth is being told about this: that people are fleeing war zones, are fleeing persecution and are needing protection.”

Meanwhile, winter is closing in and threatens to make the sea-crossings even more treacherous for people fleeing war, persecution, and poverty. On one day alone in the past week or two, 22 people drowned in two shipwrecks in the Aegean Sea. On another day, the Greek coastguard rescued 242 refugees whose wooden boat sank north of the island of Lesvos. At least three people drowned, including two small boys.

‘The waves of the Aegean are not just washing up dead refugees, dead children, but [also] the very civilisation of Europe,’ says the Greek Prime Minister (Photograph: Antonio Bronic/Reuters)

Lifeless bodies are washing up on Greek and Turkish shores, including three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, whose death prompted global outrage. The Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, says: “The waves of the Aegean are not just washing up dead refugees, dead children, but [also] the very civilisation of Europe.”

The number of refugees arriving in Greece from Turkey has risen in risen week from 4,500 to 7,000 a day. More than 218,000 migrants and refugees arrived in Europe by sea last month [October 2015] – a record for any month and about the same number as the total number who arrived in 2014.

The UNHCR is warning that harsh winter conditions across Europe could lead to “a tragedy at any moment.”

Kate O’Sullivan, who works in Greece with Save the Children, says the winter months could be devastating. “The waves will continue to get higher, the water will get rougher,” she says. “Every time a boat goes down, it always seems to be the children who have drowned. Frankly, I am terrified for what the weather’s going to be like this winter.”

Freezing temperatures, heavy rains, and strong storms have not slowed down the surge of refugees (Photograph: Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)

But freezing temperatures, heavy rains, and strong storms across Europe have not slowed down the surge of refugees. These people were desperate before they ever left. They are desperate now. And they face a winter with little protection from the cold, with no weather-proofing kits, with damaged tents, without winter clothes. They need fuel, unconditional cash, kits, clothes, coal, stoves and blankets.

“The immediate imperative is to provide shelter. It cannot be that in the Europe of 2015 people are left to fend for themselves, sleeping in fields,” Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, says. “Every day counts,” he adds. “Otherwise we will soon see families in cold rivers in the Balkans perish miserably.”

Us has produced prayer cards providing guided reflections for each Sunday during Advent, inviting people to pray for refugees around the world as we light our Advent candles.

An example of the way the Church is responding to this crisis is the decision by the Anglican Diocese in Europe and the Anglican mission agency Us (formerly USPG) to fund an emergency centre for refugees at the remote Pharos Lighthouse on the Greek island of Lesvos.

The refugees arrive cold and wet having crossed 15 km from Turkey, typically making the journey in small rubber boats crowded with up to 50 people each.

Often these dangerous crossings are at night to avoid the Turkish coastguard patrols by day. Attracted by the beam of the lighthouse, they land on the rocky shore, soaked through, tired and hungry. Yet they are still 6 km from the nearest village, Klio, a six-hour walk across rugged, rock-strewn terrain. They need dry clothes, food, medical care and shelter before they can continue their journey to safety.

Local volunteers have been doing what they can to help them. I heard over these past few days how their work is getting a further boost with funding from Us and support from the Anglican chaplaincy in Greece.

Two abandoned buildings next to the lighthouse are being turned into a changing area and a field kitchen. Tents are being provided as shelter and volunteers are working there around the clock, seven days a week, providing food, clothing and medicines. These volunteers have also asked for ropes to help refugees climb up the rocky shores, safety helmets and headgear for the children and babies, wetsuits, night vision binoculars, heaters, lighting and walky-talkies.

Rachel Parry, Us Director for Global Relations, describes this as just one “small but highly significant response that is benefitting hundreds of very vulnerable refugees at a critical stage of their journey.”

The light of the lighthouse on Lesvos can lead the fleeing refugees to either a perilous end on the rocky shore or to hope for the future provided by these volunteers.

I listened to those stories in Cambridge over the past few days, those stories of Us and how the Diocese in Europe are trying to be lights of hope in this dismal, dark winter.

There is a real danger that because of the violence this weekend, the very people who are fleeing the violence of ISIS in Syria and their allies in the Middle East, will become their victims yet again, being blamed for violence perpetrated by people who are their very oppressors.

But despite all that is happening, there is hope. And we can be beacons of hope. We can show in how we live our life this coming Advent that we believe, that we want, good to triumph over evil, and to show that the Light of Christ shines in our hearts.

Throughout Advent this year, Us is appealing for donations to fund the Diocese in Europe as it reaches out to refugees arriving throughout Europe, and the Diocese in Europe has asked Us to be the official agency for Anglican churches on these islands to channel donations for its work.

The Advent candles on the Advent wreath represent the Patriarchs, the Prophets, John the Baptist, and the Virgin Mary, all pointing to Christ in the midst of darkness, despite the disasters of famines, earthquakes and wars.

Despite all this, there is hope. And we can be beacons of hope. We can show in how we live our life this coming Advent that we believe, that we want, good to triumph over evil, and to show that the Light of Christ shines in our hearts.

And so may all we think, say and do be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

(Revd Canon Professor) Patrick Comerford lectures in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute. This sermon was preached at Morning Prayer in Zion Parish Church, Rathgar, on 15 November 2015.

Where can the refugees find the lights of hope across Europe this winter? (Photograph: Picasa/Kate O'Sullivan/Save the Children)

Collect:

Heavenly Father,
whose blessed Son was revealed to destroy the works of the devil
and to make us the children of God and heirs of eternal life:
Grant that we, having this hope,
may purify ourselves even as he is pure;
that when he shall appear in power and great glory,
we may be made like him
in his eternal and glorious kingdom;
where he is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

Gracious Lord,
in this holy sacrament you give substance to our hope.
Bring us at the last to that pure life for which we long,
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Mark 13: 1-8

1 Καὶ ἐκπορευομένου αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ λέγει αὐτῷ εἷς τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ, Διδάσκαλε, ἴδε ποταποὶ λίθοι καὶ ποταπαὶ οἰκοδομαί. 2 καὶ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτῷ, Βλέπεις ταύτας τὰς μεγάλας οἰκοδομάς; οὐ μὴ ἀφεθῇ ὧδε λίθος ἐπὶ λίθον ὃς οὐ μὴ καταλυθῇ.

3 Καὶ καθημένου αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ Ὄρος τῶν Ἐλαιῶν κατέναντι τοῦ ἱεροῦ ἐπηρώτα αὐτὸν κατ' ἰδίαν Πέτρος καὶ Ἰάκωβος καὶ Ἰωάννης καὶ Ἀνδρέας, 4 Εἰπὸν ἡμῖν πότε ταῦτα ἔσται, καὶ τί τὸ σημεῖον ὅταν μέλλῃ ταῦτα συντελεῖσθαι πάντα. 5 ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς ἤρξατο λέγειν αὐτοῖς, Βλέπετε μή τις ὑμᾶς πλανήσῃ: 6 πολλοὶ ἐλεύσονται ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου λέγοντες ὅτι Ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ πολλοὺς πλανήσουσιν. 7 ὅταν δὲ ἀκούσητε πολέμους καὶ ἀκοὰς πολέμων, μὴ θροεῖσθε: δεῖ γενέσθαι, ἀλλ' οὔπω τὸ τέλος. 8 ἐγερθήσεται γὰρ ἔθνος ἐπ' ἔθνος καὶ βασιλεία ἐπὶ βασιλείαν, ἔσονται σεισμοὶ κατὰ τόπους, ἔσονται λιμοί: ἀρχὴ ὠδίνων ταῦτα.

1 As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!’ 2 Then Jesus asked him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.’

3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, 4 ‘Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?’ 5 Then Jesus began to say to them, ‘Beware that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name and say, “I am he!” and they will lead many astray. 7 When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

‘Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down’

Us has produced prayer cards providing guided reflections for each Sunday during Advent, inviting people to pray for refugees around the world as we light our Advent candles.

Patrick Comerford,

Zion Church, Rathgar, Dublin,

Sunday 15 November 2015,

The Second Sunday before Advent

9 a.m., Holy Communion 1.

Readings: Daniel 12: 1-3; Psalm 16; (Hebrews 10: 11-14, 15-18, 19-25;) Mark 13: 1-8.

May I speak to you in the name of the + Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

I know it is not traditional to have a sermon at this early morning Eucharist. But this morning’s Gospel can appear so gloomy, with its talk of wars and rumours of wars, earthquakes and famines, that I thought I should light a light in the darkness and share some of the thoughts that are shaping my sermon at Morning Prayer later this morning.

Winter has arrived, the evenings are closing in, the nights are getting longer, and the year is coming to an end.

The church seasons are changing too. Advent, which marks a New Year in the Church, begins the Sunday after next [29 November 2015]. Carol services are being planned, Christmas gifts are being wrapped, Christmas cards are being written, and for many places next Friday [4 December 2015] is the last posting date for Christmas.

In the midst of darkness, there is always hope.

But in the darkness it is also natural that we should think of our greatest fears.

All of us have been shocked by the violence in Paris in the past 36 hours. The attacks in Paris and a few days earlier in Beirut were designed to shake the very foundations of all our societies. They are an assault on our shared humanity, and our tolerance, liberty and respect – the values that ought to underpin the world we share.

In the past week, many of us have been remembering the wars in the last 100 years that threatened not once but twice to destroy Europe. We are still in the middle of the centenary marking World War I, and this year has marked the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. And we remembered those who fought in both wars and who were promised that these were “wars to end all wars.”

Yet the Anglican suffragan Bishop in Europe, Bishop David Hamid, has said in the past week that the refugee crisis in Europe is the “largest crisis that Europe has had to face since World War II.” He warns that churches, governments and aid and mission agencies need to prepare for a “medium- to long-term situation” to a crisis that is “not going to go away quickly.”

I spent three days in the past week [11-13 November 2015] at a meeting of the trustees of Us, the Anglican mission agency previously known as USPG or the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

It was a residential meeting in Westcott House, the Anglican theological college in Cambridge. And during those days I heard again and again of the work Us or USPG is doing with refugees throughout Europe.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says that so far this year over three quarters of a million refugees and migrants have arrived by boat in Europe. Most of them – around 620,000 – have arrived in Greece; while Italy has received over 140,000 people, Spain almost 3,000 people and Malta over 100.

The UNHCR also says almost 3,500 people have died or gone missing on the journey. Over half the migrants trying to reach Europe come from the Syria, and another one-in-five is from Afghanistan.

“The numbers of people on the move have not been seen for over 70 years,” Bishop David says. This problem is not going to go away soon, he says. “The end won’t be in sight, really, until we resolve the wars and people are able to live in security.”

Even if the wars stop tomorrow, four million Syrian people are living outside Syria and half the remaining people are displaced too, having left their homes, their villages and their towns. Rebuilding the region is a long-term task, and even if the wars ended tomorrow they cannot go home on Tuesday.

Bishop David says the challenge to Churches, governments and agencies in Europe is to work together on short-term responses, and medium to long-term situation.

The UNHCR is warning that harsh winter conditions across Europe could lead to “a tragedy at any moment.”

Kate O’Sullivan, who works in Greece with Save the Children, says the winter months could be devastating. “The waves will continue to get higher, the water will get rougher,” she says. “Every time a boat goes down, it always seems to be the children who have drowned. Frankly, I am terrified for what the weather’s going to be like this winter.”

Freezing temperatures, heavy rains, and strong storms have not slowed down the surge of refugees (Photograph: Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)

But freezing temperatures, heavy rains, and strong storms across Europe have not slowed down the surge of refugees. These people were desperate before they ever left. They are desperate now. And they face a winter with little protection from the cold, with no weather-proofing kits, with damaged tents, without winter clothes. They need fuel, unconditional cash, kits, clothes, coal, stoves and blankets.

An example of the way the Church is responding to this crisis is the decision by the Anglican Diocese in Europe and the Anglican mission agency Us (formerly USPG) to fund an emergency centre for refugees at the remote Pharos Lighthouse on the Greek island of Lesvos.

The refugees arrive cold and wet having crossed 15 km from Turkey, typically making the journey in small rubber boats crowded with up to 50 people each.

Often these dangerous crossings are at night to avoid the Turkish coastguard patrols by day. Attracted by the beam of the lighthouse, they land on the rocky shore, soaked through, tired and hungry. Yet they are still 6 km from the nearest village, Klio, a six-hour walk across rugged, rock-strewn terrain. They need dry clothes, food, medical care and shelter before they can continue their journey to safety.

Local volunteers have been doing what they can to help them. I heard over these past few days how their work is getting a further boost with funding from Us and support from the Anglican chaplaincy in Greece.

Two abandoned buildings next to the lighthouse are being turned into a changing area and a field kitchen. Tents are being provided as shelter and volunteers are working there around the clock, seven days a week, providing food, clothing and medicines. These volunteers have also asked for ropes to help refugees climb up the rocky shores, safety helmets and headgear for the children and babies, wetsuits, night vision binoculars, heaters, lighting and walky-talkies.

I listened to those stories in Cambridge over the past few days, those stories of Us and how the Diocese in Europe are trying to be lights of hope in this dismal, dark winter.

Throughout Advent this year, Us is appealing for donations to fund the Diocese in Europe as it reaches out to refugees arriving throughout Europe, and the Diocese in Europe has asked Us to be the official agency for Anglican churches on these islands to channel donations for its work.

There is a real danger that because of the violence this weekend, the very people who are fleeing the violence of ISIS in Syria and their allies in the Middle East, will become their victims yet again, being blamed for violence perpetrated by people who are their very oppressors.

But despite all that is happening, there is hope. And we can be beacons of hope. We can show in how we live our life this coming Advent that we believe, that we want, good to triumph over evil, and to show that the Light of Christ shines in our hearts.

And so may all we think, say and do be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

(Revd Canon Professor) Patrick Comerford lectures in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute. This reflection was shared at the Eucharist in Zion Parish Church, Rathgar, on 15 November 2015.

Where can the refugees find the lights of hop of hope across Europe this winter? (Photograph: Picasa/Kate O'Sullivan/Save the Children)

Collect:

Heavenly Father,
whose blessed Son was revealed to destroy the works of the devil
and to make us the children of God and heirs of eternal life:
Grant that we, having this hope,
may purify ourselves even as he is pure;
that when he shall appear in power and great glory,
we may be made like him
in his eternal and glorious kingdom;
where he is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

Gracious Lord,
in this holy sacrament you give substance to our hope.
Bring us at the last to that pure life for which we long,
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Mark 13: 1-8

1 Καὶ ἐκπορευομένου αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ λέγει αὐτῷ εἷς τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ, Διδάσκαλε, ἴδε ποταποὶ λίθοι καὶ ποταπαὶ οἰκοδομαί. 2 καὶ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτῷ, Βλέπεις ταύτας τὰς μεγάλας οἰκοδομάς; οὐ μὴ ἀφεθῇ ὧδε λίθος ἐπὶ λίθον ὃς οὐ μὴ καταλυθῇ.

3 Καὶ καθημένου αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ Ὄρος τῶν Ἐλαιῶν κατέναντι τοῦ ἱεροῦ ἐπηρώτα αὐτὸν κατ' ἰδίαν Πέτρος καὶ Ἰάκωβος καὶ Ἰωάννης καὶ Ἀνδρέας, 4 Εἰπὸν ἡμῖν πότε ταῦτα ἔσται, καὶ τί τὸ σημεῖον ὅταν μέλλῃ ταῦτα συντελεῖσθαι πάντα. 5 ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς ἤρξατο λέγειν αὐτοῖς, Βλέπετε μή τις ὑμᾶς πλανήσῃ: 6 πολλοὶ ἐλεύσονται ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου λέγοντες ὅτι Ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ πολλοὺς πλανήσουσιν. 7 ὅταν δὲ ἀκούσητε πολέμους καὶ ἀκοὰς πολέμων, μὴ θροεῖσθε: δεῖ γενέσθαι, ἀλλ' οὔπω τὸ τέλος. 8 ἐγερθήσεται γὰρ ἔθνος ἐπ' ἔθνος καὶ βασιλεία ἐπὶ βασιλείαν, ἔσονται σεισμοὶ κατὰ τόπους, ἔσονται λιμοί: ἀρχὴ ὠδίνων ταῦτα.

1 As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!’ 2 Then Jesus asked him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.’

3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, 4 ‘Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?’ 5 Then Jesus began to say to them, ‘Beware that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name and say, “I am he!” and they will lead many astray. 7 When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

‘I’m trying to be Jesus to the migrants,’ as the Churches work together in Athens

The Diocese in Europe has chosen Us (formerly USPG) as the official agency for Anglican churches to channel donations to support its work to care for refugees

Patrick Comerford

I may never read John 16 in the same way after taking part in the Opening Worship and Reflection for Us volunteers in the Diocesan offices of the Diocese of Birmingham yesterday [23 October 2015].

I was there as a Trustee of Us, the Anglican mission agency formerly USPG , (the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel) as Carrie Myers, Us Volunteering Manager, and Davidson Solanki, International Programmes Manager, spoke of the work of Us.

Volunteers and representatives of over half a dozen dioceses in the English Midlands (and one from Wales) were present in a conference room looking across to Saint Philip’s Cathedral, which is celebrating its tercentenary this year.

We began with our Opening Worship that included a reading form John 16: 16-22:

16 [Jesus said:] ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.’ 17 Then some of his disciples said to one another, ‘What does he mean by saying to us, “A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me”; and “Because I am going to the Father”?’ 18 They said, ‘What does he mean by this “a little while”? We do not know what he is talking about.’ 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, ‘Are you discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said, “A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me”? 20 Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is in labour, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. 22 So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.’

Saint Philip’s Cathedral seen from the offices of the Diocese of Birmingham during yesterday’s conference (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

In our reflections, a representative from the Diocese of Lichfield pointed out that the Disciples are putting words into Christ’s mouth, for in this passage he does not utter the words ascribed to him in verse 17: “Because I am going to the Father.”

A woman from the Diocese of Southwell turned to those words about a woman in labour who is in pain and whose pain turns to joy when her child is born.

She described for us the sorrow and joy of her encounter with two women she met recently on a train travelling from Serbia to Austria. One was breast-feeding her child; the other was visibly pregnant, and in her opinion would probably give birth in about two months’ time – a Christmas baby, born at the same time as the Migrant Mary gave birth to the Christ Child who would himself become a refugee in the East Mediterranean.

It was a startling link between the pain of refugees and migrants in Europe and the Incarnation, the meaning of Christmas.

Later, in his presentation, Davidson Solanki recounted a story from the Diocese of Sittway in Myanmar (Burma), where health works often travel between remote areas by boat. He told the story of woman about to give birth, but who faced complications. Her parents were frightened and had no help. When the baby was delivered, the placenta was stuck, panic set in, but the traditional attendant not able to help.

By the time a local church worker, who was 2k m away, arrived the baby had died and the woman was in a serious condition. Although she could not help with the dead baby, she was able to help the mother who slowly recovered, and so the whole community was educated about primary health care.

In the Greece, where Father Malcolm Bradshaw is the senior chaplain at Saint Paul’s Anglican Church in Athens, the Anglican Church is responding to immediate needs created by the current refugee crisis in Europe.

Thousands of migrants from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries have filled the squares of Athens.

In Afghanistan, these people are experiencing the threat of immediate death from the Taliban, while their experiences of escaping, running away, being on the move means they have exchanged this threat of immediate death with what one of them described as a slow death.

It is not an easy journey, and they see Greece only as a transit point, with most of them hoping to reach Germany.

“Europe is offering us life,” one of them said. “Here we are respected as human beings.”

But their experiences are mixed ones, including those of shock, chaos and hope.

Maria, a captain from the Salvation Army, is preparing and distributing sandwiches in the squares of Athens from 4 a.m. each morning.

“I’m trying to be Jesus to the migrants,” she was reported as saying as she tries to feed and cope with traumatised women, children and old people.

We heard of traffickers, exploitation, shops that are reopening with some happy to find new custom in the midst of economic recession, and others exploiting the opportunities presented by the arrival of these people.

How do the Churches provide hope, or seek to find safe passage in these circumstances?

Despite their past differences, five churches have come together to work on these problems on the streets of Athens.

Us has been asked to work throughout Britain and Ireland on behalf of the [Anglican] Diocese in Europe as it seeks to fund this work.

As part of this year’s Advent Appeal, Us is inviting churches to pray for refugees in Europe and around the world as they light their Advent candles. The Diocese in Europe has chosen Us as the official agency for Anglican churches to channel donations to support its work to care for the refugees arriving in Europe.

Us is asking parishes and people to pray for the refugees in Europe while lighting Advent candles in churches. A prayer card provides reflections for each Sunday in Advent, and Advent candle prayer cards are available now. Donations will help to meet the emergency needs of refugees over the winter months, as well as funding a longer-term support strategy.

There is a particular focus on Greece, where local churches and agencies are working together to provide refugees with food, shelter and healthcare.

From 5,000 to 7,000 people arrive on the shores of Greece every day. In the midst of this crisis, the Anglican church is feeding 800 people a day on the streets in Athens.

The irony was not lost on anybody yesterday that Greece is the country with the greatest economic crisis in Europe yet is facing the greatest demand on its resources.

Meanwhile, winter is fast approaching, northern borders are closing, and Church leaders suggest Athens is going to be in the eye of the storm.

Immediate aid is needed, but this is not going to bridge the gaps between expectations and experiences, between what is possible and what is hoped for.

One person at the meeting asked whether there a long-term strategy for the Churches in Greece, how long is this sustainable, and whether the Churches are just facilitating people to take the onward journey. Most migrants see Greece as a transit point, and they do not want to stay there long-term.

We were told that even the churches in Greece are not sure about what the future challenges are. This is first time they have responded together, and despite past differences and mutual suspicions that are not avoiding the issue, instead have moved to the forefront.

“This is being the Church,” one person declared. The Churches are coming together in unity rather than working in isolation. But Churches in other countries too, all along the line up to Germany, need to ask themselves how the Churches can help to provide safe passage from the countries of origin, through passage and transit, to the final, hoped-for destination.

How can the Church be with these people all the way?

Meanwhile, Us is launching a new study resource next month, Migration and movement, which should prove poignantly relevant and useful in parishes and dioceses in this islands in Lent 2016.

I arrived in Birmingham in time for the early morning Holy Communion at 8 a.m. in Saint Philip’s Cathedral. Later, before the meeting, I was given a personalised tour of Saint Chad’s Roman Catholic Cathedral , perhaps one of the finest architectural works by AWM Pugin.

The meeting finished in time for me to get to Lichfield Cathedral for Evening Prayer. But even as I walked around Stowe Pool as the dusk of evening turned to the dark of night, I found it difficult to do anything but pray for those migrants caught every night in the waters of the Mediterranean, hoping against hope that “Europe is offering them life,” and praying that the Church will be Jesus to them.

Lichfield Cathedral reflected in the waters of Stowe Pool as dusk turns to darkness last night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

‘The freedom we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life’

Pericles’ Funeral Oration by Philipp von Foltz (1860)

Patrick Comerford

The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (Αλέξης Τσίπρας) had his new cabinet were sworn in on Wednesday [23 September 2015] following Sunday’s election, many of the senior positions going to members of the previous cabinet – a move that is seen by many observers as attempt to present stability and indicate a commitment to the terms of Greece’s bailout terms.

The thorny issues the new 27-member cabinet is expected to tackle in the weeks to come include pension cuts, tax increases on farmers, recapitalisation of banks, the privatisation of state assets and the liberalisation of closed markets.

Doubtless, these measures are going to bring further hardship to the long-suffering people of Greece. They are going to be put in place before international inspectors begin a review of the economy as a step towards to unlocking €3 billion in aid and address the crucial issue of debt relief for Greece.

Earlier this month, the Athens daily newspaper Kathimerini published a glossy magazine supplement, Greece Is Democracy, devoted entirely to the theme of Greek democracy.

The contributors include leading Greek and international academics from Professor Mary Beard of Cambridge to the Greek historian Thanos Veremis, who founded the thin-tank Eliamep (Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy) – I co-chaired one of the workshops at the Halki International Seminar organised by Eliamep on the island of Halki off Rhodes in 2002.

The publication of this colourful supplement marked the occasion of the Athens Democracy Forum 2015, but also came a week before the latest elections.

The cover illustrates the famous funeral oration by Pericles in 430 BC, as recorded by Thucydides (Peloponnesian War, Book 2.34-46). It is a timeless statement on the value of democracy:

“Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighbouring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. Its administration favours the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition.

“The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life. There, far from exercising a jealous surveillance over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbour for doing what he likes, or even to indulge in those injurious looks which cannot fail to be offensive, although they inflict no positive penalty. But all this ease in our private relations does not make us lawless as citizens. Against this fear is our chief safeguard, teaching us to obey the magistrates and the laws, particularly such as regard the protection of the injured, whether they are actually on the statute book, or belong to that code which, although unwritten, yet cannot be broken without acknowledged disgrace.

“Further, we provide plenty of means for the mind to refresh itself from business. We celebrate games and sacrifices all the year round, and the elegance of our private establishments forms a daily source of pleasure and helps to banish the spleen; while the magnitude of our city draws the produce of the world into our harbour, so that to the Athenian the fruits of other countries are as familiar a luxury as those of his own.

“If we turn to our military policy, there also we differ from our antagonists. We throw open our city to the world, and never by alien acts exclude foreigners from any opportunity of learning or observing, although the eyes of an enemy may occasionally profit by our liberality; trusting less in system and policy than to the native spirit of our citizens; while in education, where our rivals from their very cradles by a painful discipline seek after manliness, at Athens we live exactly as we please, and yet are just as ready to encounter every legitimate danger. In proof of this it may be noticed that the Lacedaemonians do not invade our country alone, but bring with them all their confederates; while we Athenians advance unsupported into the territory of a neighbour, and fighting upon a foreign soil usually vanquish with ease men who are defending their homes.

“Our united force was never yet encountered by any enemy, because we have at once to attend to our marine and to dispatch our citizens by land upon a hundred different services; so that, wherever they engage with some such fraction of our strength, a success against a detachment is magnified into a victory over the nation, and a defeat into a reverse suffered at the hands of our entire people. And yet if with habits not of labour but of ease, and courage not of art but of nature, we are still willing to encounter danger, we have the double advantage of escaping the experience of hardships in anticipation and of facing them in the hour of need as fearlessly as those who are never free from them.

“Nor are these the only points in which our city is worthy of admiration.

“We cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge without effeminacy; wealth we employ more for use than for show, and place the real disgrace of poverty not in owning to the fact but in declining the struggle against it. Our public men have, besides politics, their private affairs to attend to, and our ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public matters; for, unlike any other nation, regarding him who takes no part in these duties not as unambitious but as useless, we Athenians are able to judge at all events if we cannot originate, and, instead of looking on discussion as a stumbling-block in the way of action, we think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all.

“Again, in our enterprises we present the singular spectacle of daring and deliberation, each carried to its highest point, and both united in the same persons; although usually decision is the fruit of ignorance, hesitation of reflection. But the palm of courage will surely be adjudged most justly to those, who best know the difference between hardship and pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink from danger. In generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by conferring, not by receiving, favours. Yet, of course, the doer of the favour is the firmer friend of the two, in order by continued kindness to keep the recipient in his debt; while the debtor feels less keenly from the very consciousness that the return he makes will be a payment, not a free gift. And it is only the Athenians, who, fearless of consequences, confer their benefits not from calculations of expediency, but in the confidence of liberality.”

The swearing-in ceremony of the new Greek Cabinet earlier this week (Photograph: Michalis Karagiannis/Reuters/Guardian)

In what may be the most academic cabinet in any EU member state, with probably the highest number of PhDs, Dr Euclid Tsakalotos (Ευκλείδης Στεφάνου Τσακαλώτος), returns as Finance Minister. He is a Rotterdam-born economist and went to Saint Paul’s School, London, before going on to Queen’s College, Oxford. He held that position in July and August, and helped to negotiate Greece’s third bailout with its international creditors after Yanis Varoufakis stepped down.

Euclid Tsakalotos is a leading member of the “group of 53,” a faction within Syriza that has an uneasy relationship with Alexis Tsipras, and some members of the faction even threatened not run in last Sunday’s election.

Yannis Dragasakis (Γιάννης Δραγασάκης) returns as Deputy Prime Minister, and is overseeing the bailout-related ministries. He is from Lasithi in Crete and has studied in London. He was a prominent member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece until 1991. He resigned to join Synaspismos, which became one of the founding forces in Syriza.

Dr George Chouliarakis (Γιώργος Χουλιαράκης) is the alternate finance minister and remains the chief economist and negotiator. He has a doctorate from Warwick University and is a lecturer in economics at the University of Manchester. He was also the chief negotiator for the Greek government in the run-up to the third bailout package, and is known in the Greek press as the “invisible negotiator.”

Panos Skourletis (Πάνος Σκουρλέτης), who remains Energy Minister, studied economics at the University of Piraeus.

Dr George Stathakis (Γιώργος Σταθάκης) is back as Minister of the Economy. He was elected for the Chania constituency in Crete. He is a Professor of Political Economy at the University of Crete and a former Vice-Rector, but has been on leave since he was first elected in 2012.

Dr Nikos Kotzias (Νικόλαος Κοτζιάς), who remains Foreign Minister, has worked at Oxford and Harvard, and is Professor of Political Theories and International and European Studies at the University of Piraeus.

The leader of the right-wing Independent Greeks (ANEL), Panos Kammenos (Πάνος Καμμένος), is the Defence Minister. He has claimed that “Europe is governed by German neo-Nazis” and has called German’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble persona non grata because of the war reparations that Kammenos demands from Germany.

A colourful member of the government in Terence Spencer Nicholas Quick (Τέρενς Σπένσερ Νικόλαος Κουΐκ) a well-known journalist and member of the Independent Greeks, who returns as Deputy Minister of State for Coordinating Government Operations. He worked for a number of newspapers and front many well-known newspapers, and is a former member of the leading opposition conservative party, New Democracy.

But within hours of the cabinet being sworn in, the deputy minister of infrastructure and transport, Dimitris Kammenos of ANEL was forced to step down because of his antisemitic views. He recently posted a picture on his Facebook page doctoring the words above the gates of the Auschwitz concentration camp to “We’re staying in Europe.”

He and his right-wing party leader more than any other cabinet members needed to hear those words of Pericles: “We throw open our city to the world, and never by alien acts exclude foreigners from any opportunity of learning or observing.”

But perhaps everyone sitting at the cabinet table over the next few weeks will be conscious too of these words from Pericles: “We have the double advantage of escaping the experience of hardships in anticipation and of facing them in the hour of need as fearlessly as those who are never free from them.”

The taste of a Greek summer lingers as the evenings close in

Picture-postcard images of Greek islands on the shelves of Lidl this evening (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Patrick Comerford

I’m back from Greece for little more than a week, but already I am missing Greek food – the fresh fruit available every morning in the local supermarket in Platanes on the eastern edges of Rethymnon, the freshly-baked bread and pastries from the bakery downstairs, the taste of real Greek yoghurt and real Greek feta, the fresh figs and fleshy olives, the pomegranates, the aubergines, the peppers, the grapes growing on the vines …

There was a Lidl supermarket behind Julia Apartments, where I was staying for the week, and I even joked about whether they had regular Irish weeks, just like Lidl stores in Dublin have regular Greek weeks.

But this evening, I was glad to live so close to a Lidl supermarket.

It’s Greek Week once again there … the first they have had since last May.

Being homesick for Greek food was aggravated last night as I stayed up late watching the Greek election results coming in on television news channels.

This evening, on the way home from work, I stopped off in my local Lidl for stuffed peppers, baklava, halva, cheese pies, Greek yoghurt (not Greek-style yoghurt), tzatziki, feta, broad beans … even a few bars of olive soap, all from the Eridanous range, all decorated in the Blue and White national colours, and often with images of sun-kissed Santorini, with blue domes and roofs over white-washed churches and houses.

Although they had bottles of ouzo and anessia, they had no Greek wines however.

But as the evenings close in and the nights become longer than the days, meaning autumn is soon going to show signs of turning to winter, the taste of Greece is going to linger a little longer, and promises and hopes of returning to Crete are kept alive.

Tastes of Greece that help to keep alive autumn hopes of returning next summer (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

A surprising introduction to the music of Chainides in Crete

Chainides (Χαΐνηδες), a Cretan folk music group whose music is inspired by the rich legacy of traditional Cretan music

Patrick Comerford

Barber shops can be the most boring places to sit and wait. The reading is usually confined to the red-top tabloids, television magazines and the sports supplements, and the background sounds are usually either cheap pop or shallow talk radio shows.

However, when I went for a haircut last Friday in the ‘Hair Stories’ shop, next door to Julia Apartments and the Taverna Garden in Platanes, I was delightfully surprised.

The books left behind by previous customers included original Greek novels by writers such as Nikos Kazantzakis, two or three Greek versions of Victoria Hislop’s The Island (Το Νησι), and Greek translations of Mikhail Bulgakov and Paulo Coelho.

The business cards on display included ones for the icon writer Alexandra Kaouki-Melidoni, who has a studio near the Fortezza in Rethymnon. Anyone who appreciates the work of one of the great iconographers in Greece had to have good taste in other areas of the cultural life of Crete.

In the background, I thought I heard the music of Ross Daly, although the tracks were not familiar. As I waited, I asked what I was listening to and to have the sound turned up so I could listen with greater pleasure.

Χαΐνηδες, Το καπηλειό

I was introduced to the music of Chainides (Χαΐνηδες), a folk music group based in Crete whose music is inspired by the rich legacy of traditional Cretan music and whose lyrics often draw on words in the Cretan dialect of Greek.

The name Chainides comes from the word χαΐνης (chainis), meaning a fugitive rebel. The group was formed in March 1990 by five friends – Dimitris Apostolakis, Dimitris Zacharioudakis, Giorgos Laodikis, Miltos Pashalidis and Kallia Spyridaki. At the time, most of them were students at the University of Crete, and their first live performance was in the university canteen.

Chainides released their debut album in 1991

Their first recording came a year later with their debut album Χαΐνηδες (Chainides) in 1991. They were soon joined by two more members and they released three more albums before breaking up for a short time in 1997.

A year later, Dimitris Apostolakis and Dimitris Zaharioudakis brought the group back together and they were joined by four new members – Maria Koti, Alexis Nonis, Periklis Tsoukalas and Antonis Skamnakis. Other members have included Mihalis Nikopoulos and Dimitris Mprentas.

Χαϊνηδες, Το Δρακοδοντι

Over the years, Chainides have collaborated in studios and on stage with Ross Daly and several other well-known musicians and singers. They have performed throughout Greece and abroad, including Luxembourg, Cyprus and America, and they have recorded seven studio albums.

In their live performances, Chainides blend their own compositions and songs with new arrangements of themes and songs from traditions such as those of Turkey, Afghanistan and Bulgaria.

Chainides show that Crete’s musical tradition is alive and not a thing of a bygone age. Their success has paved the way for other young artists to embrace and enrich this tradition. Their instruments include the Cretan lyre acoustic guitar, traditional Cretan percussion instruments, mandolin, bouzouki, flute, double bass and electric bass.

Some of their music is discussed here: Love Song for Greece.

For more, see: this site.

For more on Cretan music visit the site Etsi Ketsi, Music from Crete

Χαϊνηδες, Κοσμος Κι Ονειρο Ειναι Ενα

From summer in the Mediterranean to a wet, rainy weekend in Ireland

A walk along the shore at Carlingford Lough on the way back from Belfast to Dublin last night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Patrick Comerford

Arriving back in Dublin from Greece in the early hours of Sunday morning [13 September 2015] was a real shock to the system.

The temperatures in Crete all last week were in the high 30s each day, the skies were blue, and I was able to swim in the warm blue waters of the Mediterranean and walk along the long sandy stretch of beach east of Retymnon each day.

But I awoke to a chilly Dublin, and as two of us set off for Belfast late on Sunday morning or early on Sunday afternoon, it was a cold day, and it rained heavily for much of the journey, making driving conditions on the M50 and the M1 quite treacherous.

With an old friend from Lichfield, Dean Pete Wilcox of Liverpool, in Saint Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast

I was in Saint Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, for the ordination of four students as deacon. It is not possible in this ordination season to get to all the ordinations, but happily many of the other students whose ordinations I have been missing were there too.

There was a warm welcome from both Bishop Alan Abernethy of Connor and Dean John Mann of Belfast, and I was asked to read the Epistle reading (Romans 12: 1-12).

It was a pleasure too to find that the preacher was an old friend, the Very Revd Pete Wilcox, who is Dean of Liverpool Cathedral. He and his wife Catherine Fox have has been good friends since he was the Chancellor of Lichfield Cathedral and they lived in the Cathedral Close in Lichfield.

Sheep hung out to dry … clever street art in Carlingford, Co Louth (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

On the road back from Belfast, the rain had eased off and the fields of the Down and Armagh countryside were arrayed in autumn colours of green and gold.

In Carlingford, Co Louth, two of us stopped for a meal in the Bay Tree. This is a charming mediaeval town, with a number of castles and mediaeval houses and buildings.

Before darkness closed in on Carlingford and before going to eat, I went for a stroll around the harbour, and then through the narrow streets of the town, where some of the vacant buildings are decorated with captivating and amusing paintings.

Later, after dinner, I had another brief walk along the shoreline. It was dark by now, but Carlingford Castle was lit up, and bird calls could still be heard from the waters of Carlingford Lough.

Summer is gone, and I shall have to wait until next year for hopes of Mediterranean summer sun. But hopefully autumn may linger a little and allow some more walks in the countryside and the beaches.

Carlingford Castle lit up last night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

The sun sets on another holiday in Greece

Sunset on the beach in Platanes last night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Patrick Comerford

The sun is setting on another wonderful holiday in Crete. I have spent the past week in Rethymnon, based in Julia Apartments, in Platanes. This was once a small country village on the edges of Rethymnon, but it has grown in recent decades, acquiring all the facilities and amenities of a resort.

In previous years when I have been in Rethymnon, I have stayed in the heart of the old walled Venetian city, but I have been surprised by the benefits of staying in Platanes.

I had walks on the long sandy beach at sunset in the evenings, watching the sun set beyond the Fortezza in Rethymnon, which is 5 km to the west, or I have gone into Rethymnon for strolls around the harbour at sunset.

I have been into the sea at Pavlos beach, swimming each day under blue skies in the blue waters of the Mediterranean, which are still warm at this time of the year.

The gardens at Julia Apartments, with its tall trees and lush growth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

There has been time for reading on the beach, or on the balcony overlooking the gardens in Julia Apartments, with its tall trees and lush growth.

There have been walks in the countryside, climbs into the mountains to visit Venetian villages, and time for prayer too, visiting the Monastery of Arkadi, which is just 17 km from Platanes, visiting the Cathedral and the Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymnon and visiting the old churches of Maroulas.

But it has also been deeply spiritual to see at first hand the work of the Voluntary Welfare Clinic Rethymno from a storefront crèche in Kastrinogiannaki Street, providing medical care and help for people who have no medical insurance, whether they are Greeks, refugees or migrants.

There have been breakfasts on the balcony, with fresh fruit – especially the figs – and bread bought in the local supermarkets and the bakery downstairs, there have been wonderful meals in the local restaurants and tavernas, there has been time to stop and sip Greek coffees and double espressos in the cafés, and there was a wonderful dinner with a friend who went out of her way, laden with presents, all the way from Iraklion, to join us for dinner in the gardens at Julia Apartments.

I even had my haircut in the local hairdressers next door.

Evening closes in on Platanes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Platanes took me by surprise. I had expected a more brazen sort of resort, but in many ways it still retains the feel of a local village, and I found traditional Greek hospitality and interest in the visitor is found unfeignedly everywhere I went.

The square in the centre of the village is more a junction than a traditional Greek village square, but on all sides there are cafés with people sitting out watching life passing by on what was once the main road along the northern coast of Crete.

I noticed no late-night seedy nightclubs – they may be here, but I never noticed them, and I was not out of place for my age or generation. This is not a “young and lively” holiday destination, at least at this time of the year.

There is a Lidl supermarket behind Julia Apartments, just after the road under the new highway that runs between Rethymnon and Iraklion. I wondered whether they run Greek weeks, as they do in Ireland. No, perhaps they run Irish weeks.

The bells on the church of Aghios Nektarios in Tsesmes this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

As I strolled further up the hill late this morning, I was soon in the neighbouring village of Tsesmes, which I had passed through yesterday on my way to the hill-top Venetian village of Maroulas. In Tsesmes, there are grapes on the vines, olives waiting to be harvested on the trees, and gardens filled with trees and flowers or even some goats.

Here there is a village square where life must gather at other times but a sleepy Saturday at mid-day. There are village tavernas and cafés, side streets that lead on into hidden houses, and a village church that I had failed to find last Sunday morning despite eager searching.

The side streets in Tsesmes lead into rustic scenes and memories of village life (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

After an early afternoon coffee in Tsesmes, it was a few minutes back down to Platanes for a last walk on the beach, a late lunch in Vergina, and a farewell coffee at Julia Apartments.

I have never believed in the “trickle-down economy” that Thatcher and Reagan pretended would bring prosperity to everyone – after the rich got richer. But spending money locally, in locally-owned shops, supermarkets and businesses keeps money going around in this small Greek town at a time when Greek businesses are finding it difficult to keep going. And putting money into the economy means more local people are employed and more local produce is sold.

Figs on sale in a local supermarket in Platanes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

I am told that the real blow to tourism in this part of Greece has come not from foreigners worried about the political climate in Greece but from many so Greeks not able to spend money on holidays this year. But foreign tourism boosts the balance of payments and contributes immensely to the Greek economy and to Greek employment figures.

Who knows what the future holds for Greece? It would have been difficult for most tourists to know that there is a crucial election here in just over a week’s time [20 September 2015], and it would have been impossible for them to know about the refugee crisis on other Greek islands, such as Lesvos, Kos and Rhodes.

Undoubtedly, there are difficult times ahead for everyone in Greece, no matter what results the election produces.

The bus is waiting outside to take me to Chania Airport and my Ryanair flight back to Dublin. But I hope to be back again next year.

Grapes on the vine between a taverna in Tsesmes and a house that is up for sale (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

A journey in time to the Venetian mountain-top village of Maroulas

Wandering through the narrow streets and alleyways of Maroulas (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Patrick Comerford

I spent Friday morning [11 September 2015] picking my way through the Venetian towers, renaissance ruins, narrow streets and alleys and the churches and chapels of the once-fortified hilltop town of Maroulas (Μαρουλάς).

This quiet, mountainside village in the olive groves above Platanes and Rethymon, is 10 km south-east of Rethymnon, at a height of 240 meters (800 feet). Although it is only 5 km from Platanes, it took half an hour to get there along the twisting, corkscrew road that winds its way up by the mountain valleys and gorges and through some of the oldest olive groves in Greece.

Perched on a lofty position facing down onto the sea, Maroulas is like a time capsule, with ancient tombstones dating back to antiquity, a Byzantine church, two Venetian towers, mediaeval and renaissance houses, old olive oil presses, narrow streets and alleyways, and a hidden church with a double nave that is partly built into a cave.

The Venetians built several tower houses throughout Maroulas (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Although most of the buildings that attract visitors to Maroulas date back to the Venetian period, the discovery of arched burial chambers has led archaeologists to suggest that the area may have been inhabited since the Minoan period. Two cemeteries of the palatial period of Minoan period have been found in the area. The findings are on display in the Archaeological Museum of Rethymnon.

It is said the village was originally named Amygdalea and that at one point it was completely destroyed by a flood or an earthquake.

According to tradition, Maroulas takes its name from the shepherdess Maroula, a name derived from Maria. While she was grazing her sheep, she found a spring of cool drinking water. This natural spring water fountain at Vryssi was the main water source of the village, supplemented by rainwater collected in tanks. Although the water at the fountain is no longer drinkable, this is a quiet, shaded place to rest under a spreading plane tree.

The settlement was probably founded as a fortified town in the second Byzantine period, and continued to prosper after the Venetian invasions, when the houses in Maroulas became second homes in the cool mountains for the nobility of Rethymnon.

The Venetians built towers with battlements, tower houses and several mansions that display Venetian coats of arms on the arches and doors.

There are seven or eight churches scattered through Maroulas (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

There are seven or eight churches scattered through the village and in the surrounding hillsides, and I visited at least four of them.

The main parish church was being repainted inside. The smaller church next door has Byzantine fragments. The tiny chapel in the centre of the village was locked and closed.

The interconnecting twin churches of Aghios Nikolaos and Aghios Antonios, with a mediaeval sarcophagus in the churchyard (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

A double nave church built into the rocky hillside that almost formed a cave was in fact two inter-connecting 14th century churches, one dedicated to Aghios Nikolaos (Saint Nicholas) and the other to Aghios Antonios (Saint Anthony), with a mediaeval sculpted sarcophagus in the churchyard.

At one time, there were three towers in Maroulas. The first was probably built in the Byzantine period but has since collapsed.

The second tower dates from the Venetian period, and stands by the cobbled street leading down to the fountain at Vryssi.

The tallest Venetian tower has become a symbol of Maroulas (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

The third tower is seen as the emblem of the village. This imposing tower was recently renovated. It is 14 metres high and has three floors. It was built sometime in the 15th and 16th centuries and served as an observation point and as well as the home of a Venetian noble.

Using fire and smoke, the watchmen on the tower could communicate with the fortress at the Fortezza in Rethymno. The tower had holes from which the guards could spill burning oil or tar on their enemies below.

Later Venetian buildings were inspired by the works of the Venetian engineer Francesco Barozzi. They date from ca 1577, and have become known for their aesthetic and artistic features.

After the Turkish invasion, Maroulas became the country seat of Turkish officials who valued its strategic position and wealthy soil.

During the Ottoman period, the main tower was used as an army base. Later, the Turks build using architectural elements from Anatolia such as chimneys, wells and hamams or fountains.

The main tower provides views across the countryside from Rethymnon to Iraklion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Metochi, a massive complex west of the settlement has traces of Renaissance and Islamic architecture, including a Turkish hamam or bath.

After the disastrous war between Greece and Turkey in the 1920s, the main tower was used to house Greek refugees from Asia Minor.

In the inter-war years, the 17th century Despotiko or residence in the north-east of the tower became the summer residence of the Bishop of Rethymnon. However, the main tower was abandoned during World War II, and at the same time Metochi was partly destroyed during a Nazi bombardment in May 1941.

Maroulas suffered because of large migration in the 1980s, when young people left for the cities, leaving only the elderly behind.

New hope came when Maroulas was listed for its historical monuments and houses in 1985. The main tower was renovated and restored by the Municipality of Rethymnon in the mid-1990s, and in 1997 it was bought for the local community.

Further restoration work was carried out in 2007-2013 under an EU-funded scheme to restore specific buildings of historical interest in both Greece and Cyprus.

Maroulas is coming back to life with almost 200 residents today, and many of the old houses are being restored by families who have moved there to live permanently.

The village attracts many painters and photographers who find many themes here with the narrow alleys, old doors, door knobs and stone mosaics. Today, Maroulas is a maze of narrow streets and alleyways, with a few inviting tavernas and cafés. We lingered a little longer in the early afternoon sunshine in Milopetra Café, sipping a frappe and a double espresso.

On the way back down the winding twisting road to the coastline, we were pointed to an olive tree that is said to be over 200 years old. Our journey in time came to an end back in the busy resort town of Platanes.

An olive tree said to be over 200 years old in the olive groves below Maroulas (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Hidden gestures of solidarity in Crete that move beyond charity

Do tourists in the old town of Rethymnon know the crises Greece is going through this year? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Patrick Comerford

The casual tourist strolling through the cobbled streets and squares of the old Venetian town of Rethymnon would be forgiven for not realising that Greece is going through a difficult election campaign and a severe economic crisis or that many Greek islands are finding it impossible to cope with the arrival of refugees in large numbers.

In the midst of the evening bustle, a few young adults were handing out leaflets for a far-left organisation. But they knew it was waste of time handing them to middle-age tourists – how could they read or understand them anyway?

Two policemen on motorbikes tell casual street traders to move on, the northern coast of Crete is too far from the Turkish coast for any refugees to arrive here in great number, and so there is no sign of one of the most difficult humanitarian crises that Greece has experienced since the end of the civil war in 1949.

The tourism sector contributes over 20% to the GDP of Greece, covers 60% of the country’s trade balance deficit, employs one in five people, and generates €40 billion for the Greek economy. But these figures are higher in islands such as Crete that are heavily dependent on tourism.

Despite images on television and in newspapers of the crises in Greece, more than 5 million tourists are expected to arrive in Greece this month and next month, and another million in November and December.

The economy of Rethymnon depends heavily on tourism in summer and on its standing as a university town in the winter. Walking around the old town last night [10 September 2015], I could see where some shops have closed and other shops and restaurants seem to be doing less business, but it is difficult to assess whether the images of Greece in northern Europe have had any direct impact this year on the tourism sector in Crete.

In the back streets, away from the gaze of tourists, other lives face difficulties (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

But in the back streets, away from the gaze of tourists, there is one particular place trying to make a difference and bring about change.

The Voluntary Welfare Clinic Rethymno (Εθελοντικό Ιατρείο Κοινωνικής Αλληλεγγύης Ρεθύμνου) works from a storefront crèche in Kastrinogiannaki Street, hidden in a dark street where there are no tourist shops, yet only a few steps away from the cathedral.

The doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists and other volunteers who run this clinic are not part of any government-funded programme, and believe in a free public system.

At the end of their busy working days, they provide free attention, advice and consultation for anyone who is without health insurance. That includes migrants without proper papers, but also includes many Greeks who have fallen on hard times.

They refuse to call themselves a charity, because they see health care as a human right. The clinic is open to all people without access to health care. It is a gesture of solidarity by experts and professionals who have already seen their own salaries and incomes cut in public spending cuts and in the decline in the Greek economy.

Some of the hidden work here also includes helping refugees and migrants trace missing family members.

We had called in on Monday evening when we saw some of the work of the clinic. But it is hard-pressed, the workload is heavy, and the numbers needing attention must be growing.

Last night the clinic was closed, but the hairdresser across the street told us we could make a donation at the pharmacist’s shop, Kounoupas Pahrmacy, on the corner of Manioudaki Street, facing the Cathedral.

The response was overwhelming in warmth and unexpected. But we also learned about a business with an ethical approach that seems unique.

Yannis Kounoupas founded this pharmacy in 1908, and continues with his values over a century later, having passed down through four or five generations of the Kounoupas-Kardiakidou family.

Their centenary brochure says: “A pharmacy’s purpose is to serve patients, not to make the pharmacist rich … We should treat everyone with an open heart … If the patient cannot afford the medicines, the pharmacist must always find a way for him to obtain them. A pharmacist should treat the pharmacy’s staff as if they were their own children and participate in all of the pharmacy’s chores, for there is no work to be ashamed of as long as it is honest.”

Prayers of thanks in the Cathedral in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Down on the next corner, in a small cobbled square opposite the place in Arkadiou Street where we had found rooms to rent three or four years in a row in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a brass band was playing, and life was continuing as normal.

We paused for a short time of prayer in the cathedral, giving thanks for those who try to help those who are suffering reach out towards a normal life, and who do so without expectation of reward or acknowledgement.

We had dinner in Akri, a garden taverna that is almost hidden in a corner of the old town at Souliou Street and Kornarou Street and one that has been an old favourite for decades.

And there was some tourist shopping to complete before catching a late night bus back through the suburbs of Rethymnon to Platanes for a nightcap at Julia Apartments.

Dinner in Akri in a hidden corner of the old town in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

The Voluntary Welfare Clinic Rethymno (Εθελοντικό Ιατρείο Κοινωνικής Αλληλεγγύης Ρεθύμνου) can be contacted at Kastrinogiannaki 12, Rethymnon Old Town 74100, Crete (Καστρινογιαννάκη 12, Παλιά Πόλη, 74100).

Visit their website here, watch their work on this video, like their Facebook page or contact the clinic directly: ethiatreio@gmail.com

Life goes on … a brass band in a small square between the Cathedral and Arkadiou Street in Rethymnon last night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)