A reminder from Crete of the reasons Saint Nicholas is popular in Greece

The Church of Saint Nicholas, near the bus station in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Today is the Feast of Saint Nicholas of Myra (6 December 2023). He is, of course, the real Santa Claus, and he is so popular in Greece that almost every town and city in Greece has a church dedicated to Saint Nicholas.

Saint Nicholas is also the patron of sailors, and in the mediaeval period, almost every coastal town and city in both England and Ireland also had a church dedicated to Saint Nicholas.

The celebration of Saint Nicholas today is a joyful, child-friendly interruption in the Advent preparations as we wait for Christmas and anticipate all its joys.

Inside the Church of Saint Nicholas, near the bus station in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I have not been to Crete for over two years now – Covid, a stroke, and retirement last year put an end to many of those imagined plans.

So, I thought this evening, on Saint Nicholas Day, I should look back on one my favourite churches in Rethymnon dedicated to the saint who brings joy to every child at this time of the year.

The Church of Saint Nicholas, close to the bus station in Rethymnon, is in a small square formed at the corner of Priskosoridi street and Emmanouil Kefalogianni avenue. The street runs around the shore of the rocky bay beneath the western slopes of the Venetian Fortezza.

This small chapel or church is surrounded by good fish restaurants and tavernas. This is now a suburban part of western Rethymnon, and is slowly becoming a part of the tourist area. But, only a few decades ago and within living memory, this was an area closely associated with fishers and their fishing boats.

The unusual iconostasis or icon screen in the Church of Saint Nicholas continues into the pillars of the dome (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Nicholas, as well as being the patron saint of children and the inspiration for Santa Claus, is also the patron saint of sailors, fishermen, ships and sailing, which explains the presence of this modern church dedicated to his name in this part of Rethymnon.

Saint Nicholas, whose name means ‘Victory of the People,’ was born in Myra in Lycia, now known as Demre, near Antalya on the south coast of present-day Turkey.

He had a reputation as a secret giver of gifts and the protector of children, so you can see why he has links with our Santa Claus today.

An icon of Saint Nicholas in the church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

There are stories too of Saint Nicholas and the defence of true doctrine. In the year 325, the Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea, attended by more than 300 bishops, to debate the nature of the Holy Trinity.

It was one of the most intense theological debates in the early Church. Arius from Alexandria was teaching that Christ was the Son of God but was not equal to God the Father, not God incarnate. As Arius argued at length, Nicholas became agitated, crossed the room, and slapped Arius across the face.

The shocked bishops stripped Nicholas of his episcopal robes, chained him and jailed him. In the morning, the bishops found his chains on the floor and Nicholas dressed in his episcopal robes, quietly reading his Bible. Constantine ordered his release, and Nicholas was reinstated as the Bishop of Myra.

As the debate went on, the Council of Nicaea agreed with his views, deciding against Arius and agreeing on the Nicene Creed, which remains the symbol of our faith. Which probably also makes it appropriate that this church is close to the Church of Saint Constantine and Saint Helen.

The Church of Saint Nicholas is in an area once closely associated with fishers and their fishing boats (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayers in the Kingdom Season with USPG: (21) 25 November 2023

Saint Paul preaching in Thessaloniki … a fresco in the Cathedral Church of Saint Gregory Palamas in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

In this time between All Saints’ Day and Advent Sunday, we are in the Kingdom Season in the Calendar of the Church of England. Tomorrow is the Sunday next before Advent and the Feast of Christ the King (26 November 2023).

Today (25 November 2023), the calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers the lives of Saint Catherine of Alexandria (4th century), martyr, and Isaac Watts (1748), hymn writer.

Throughout this week, I am reflecting on the seven churches in cities or places that give their names to the titles of nine letters or epistles by Saint Paul: Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae and Thessaloniki.

My reflections this morning follow this pattern:

1, A reflection on a Pauline church;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

The katholikon or main church of the Monastery of Vlatádon … tradition says it stands on the spot where Saint Paul preached when he visited Thessaloniki in 50 CE (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Paul’s Thessaloniki:

The Apostle Paul wrote 14 of the 27 books the New Testament. He founded several Christian communities in Asia Minor and Europe from the mid-40s to the mid-50s AD, and wrote letters to the churches in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae and Thessaloniki. The two Letters to the Thessalonians (I and II Thessalonians) and the thirteenth and fourteenth books in the New Testament.

Christianity first came to Thessaloniki with Saint Paul, who wrote two of his epistles (I Thessalonians and II Thessalonians) to the early church there. In these weeks, in the New Testament cycle of readings in the Revised Common Lectionary, we are reading from I Thessalonians on Sundays since 22 October (Trinity XX).

Biblical scholars agree generally that I Thessalonians is the earliest book of the New Testament to be written, and the earliest extant Christian text. It probably dates from 51-52 CE, although some scholars believe the Letter to the Galatians may have been written by 48 CE. Most New Testament scholars believe Saint Paul wrote I Thessalonians from Corinth or from Athens only months after he left Thessaloniki.

II Thessalonians names Timothy as the co-author. It may have been written ca 51-52 CE, shortly after IIThessalonians, although some scholars date it to as late as ca 80-115 CE.

The Acts of the Apostles recalls that when Saint Paul visited Thessaloniki, he preached in the synagogue on the three successive Saturdays, and was soon supported by some of the leading women in the city (see Acts 17: 1-4).

In Saint Paul’s days, Thessaloniki was the second city in Europe. Today it is the second city of Greece. It is a city with a rich Biblical and Byzantine heritage, and in 1988 Unesco declared many of the churches as World Heritage Monuments.

The Metropolitan Church or Cathedral of Thessaloniki is the Church of Saint Gregory Palamas. The cathedral, which has a round red dome, is named after the saint who was Archbishop of Thessaloniki from 1347 to 1359.

An earlier church on the site was a three-aisled basilica, built in the late 13th century. It became the Metropolitan Church or Cathedral of Thessaloniki at the end of the 16th century.

The church was destroyed in a major fire in 1890. The cathedral was rebuilt after the fire to designs by the architect Ernst Ziller and his Greek colleague Xenofon Paionidis, and was completed in 1914.

The building retains considerable Byzantine influences, but there are neo-classical elements too. It is based on the Byzantine octagonal type, and the main church is cross-shaped form, like many Orthodox churches.

The church holds the shrine and relics of Saint Gregory Palamas, who lived in Thessaloniki in 1325-1359. The walls are covered with bright, modern frescoes depicting the life of Christ and the ministry of the Apostle Paul.

In the hills above the city, the Royal and Patriarchal Monastery of Vlatádon is in a leafy, secluded location. The monastery was founded in the 14th century, perhaps by two monks from Crete. By tradition, the little chapel of Saint Peter and Saint Paul at Vlatádon stands on the very spot where the Apostle Paul preached when he visited Thessaloniki in the year 50 CE.

In recent years, Vlatádon has been renovated and expanded, and has lost much of its old feeling. But the charming, inner, tree-shaded courtyard is a cool and refreshing place to rest and contemplate. This is one of my favourite places in Thessaloniki, and I visit it each time I am in the city. I spent Easter Day there five years ago (2018), and I once met the actress Irene Papas there in the late 1990s.

From Vlatádon, the panorama looks out over the whole city and as far as the peaks of Mount Olympus. The resident peacocks are usually in good voice. They are here because peacocks are an early Christian symbol of faith in the resurrection, perhaps because it was believed that their flesh did not decay after death.

The Turks badly damaged the original frescoes in the church and they have not been restored. Today, the monastery of Vlatádon is the only active monastery among about 20 monasteries in Thessaloniki. Traditionally, the abbots and monks of Vlatádon have close links with the University of Thessaloniki and the Theological School in Chalki. The Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies was founded there in 1965, and it has a library and publishes the journal Klironomia.

The most famous church in Thessaloniki is the Church of Aghios Dimitrios, named after the martyred Roman soldier who is the city’s patron saint and whose feast day is on 26 October. The church was first built as a small oratory shortly after the year 313 CE on the ruins of a Roman bath and on the site of the saint’s martyrdom 10 years earlier on the orders of the Emperor Galerius.

A new church was built on the same site in the fifth century. This was a large, three-aisled basilica, but was burnt down in 634. Soon after, the present five-aisled basilica was built on the site, and it remains the largest church in Greece.

The church became a mosque in 1493, but was restored to Christian worship in 1912. It was destroyed by fire again in 1917, but restoration work began immediately after the catastrophe of 1917. Very few fragments of sculptures, mosaics or frescoes survived the fire of 1917, but those that have survived are representative of the successive phases of the church’s history. Today, the church often functions as the de facto cathedral of Thessaloniki.

The crypt under the sanctuary and the transept is said to be the place where the saint was martyred, and has been an archaeological site since it was discovered in 1918.

The remains of Saint Dimitrios were returned from Italy in 1980 and are part of the exhibition open to the public, with items that survived the 1917 fire and others that came to light during recent excavations.

The Church of the Panaghia Acheiropoietos is an old Byzantine church, dating from the mid-fifth century. The church was built on the site of a Roman bath, and was dedicated to the Virgin ‘not made by human hands’ (Acheiropoietos), a reference to an icon rather than an inference of any miraculous role in its building.

Inside the church, a few fragments of mosaics from the fifth century have survived in the soffits of the arches of the colonnades. Several parts of the wall paintings date from the 13th century and are preserved in the south aisle.

It is a three-aisled basilica with a narthex on the west side and a second entrance with a monumental propylon in the middle of the south wall. A building attached to the east of the propylon may have been a baptistery or a diakonikon. A small parekklesion (chapel) is formed at the east end of the north aisle.

This was the first church in Thessaloniki to be converted into a mosque after the conquest of the city by the Turks in 1430. The Turks hammered down practically all the figurative decorations in the church, including the mosaics and frescoes. In 1930 the building was turned back into a church.

One church in Thessaloniki that never became a mosque but that often goes unnoticed because of its location is the 14th century Church of the Transfiguration of the Saviour (Μεταμορφώσεως του Σωτήρος, Metamorphosis tou Sotíros), also known as the Church of the Saviour (Ναός του Σωτήρος, Naós tou Sotíros).

This 14th century Byzantine church is also a Unesco World Heritage Site as one of the ancient Christian and Byzantine monuments in Thessaloniki.

This church stands across the street from the Arch of Galerius, at the junction of Egnatia Street and Palaion Patron Street, between the church of Panagia Gorgoepikoos and the Church of Ipapantis.

The Rotunda is the oldest church in Thessaloniki, and some Greek sources claim this is the oldest Christian church in the world, although there are competitors for that title. It is the most important surviving example of a church from the early Christian period in the Greek-speaking part of the Roman Empire.

The Rotunda, which is close to the Arch of Galerius is, built by the Emperor Galerius as his future mausoleum. But he died in Serbia, he was never buried here, and the Rotunda stood empty for several decades.

The Emperor Theodosius I ordered the conversion of the Rotunda into the Church of Asomaton or Archangelon in the late fourth century. The church has eight barrel-vaulted niches and was decorated with high quality mosaics. Some fragments of the frescoes and mosaics survive.

After the city fell to the Ottomans, it was converted into the Mosque of Suleyman Hortaji Effendi in 1590, and a minaret was added to the building. It continued to be used as a mosque until 1912, when Thessaloniki was incorporated into the modern Greek state.

The Rotunda was reconsecrated as the Church of Aghios Georgios (Saint George), although the Ottoman minaret was left standing. The building was damaged in the 1978 earthquake, and has restored once again. It is now an historical monument, and the Greek Orthodox Church continues to use it for festivities.

The Church of Panagia Deksia, about 150 metres south of the Rotunda, was built in 1956 on the site of an older church, Saint Hypatia the Miracle Worker. Although it is a modern church, its style of architecture is mostly Byzantine, with some neo-classical embellishments such as arcades resting on columns and barrel vaults.

The name means ‘Mother of God Right-Sided’ and is thought to come from the icon above the sanctuary depicting the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child on the right side. The church interior is illuminated by windows in the dome, and is richly decorated with frescoes, paintings and icons, some considered miraculous. The interior of the dome depicts Christ the Pantocrator holding the New Testament in his left hand and blessing with his right hand.

Saint Irene, Saint Catherine and Saint Barbara … three women martyrs in a fresco in the Church of Panagia Deksia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

One fresco in the Church of Panagia Deksia depicts three women: Saint Catherine in the centre, with Saint Irene and Saint Barbara on either side. It is an unusual grouping of three women saints. The men in the lives of these three women seem not only to have hated women, but to have hated themselves and to have devalued themselves rather than the three women.

Saint Catharine of Alexandria was a daughter of Constus, Governor of Alexandria in the reign of the Emperor Maximian (286-305). When the persecutions began in the reign of Maxentius, she rebuked the emperor for his cruelty and she was condemned to death. It is said angels transported her body to Mount Saint Catherine, next to Mount Sinai, where Saint Catherine’s Monastery was founded by the Emperor Justinian in the sixth century. Her feast day is today (25 November).

Saint Catherine is the patron of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, where I have studied in Cambridge. To mark her feast, the institute held Vespers at Wesley House Chapel, Cambridge, yesterday, followed by a lecture, ‘Axia Women and the Anthropologist from Mars,’ by Dr Patricia Fann Bouteneff, president and founder of Axia Women, who spoke about the Axia Women mission and women in the Orthodox Church.

To outsiders, the Orthodox Church can sometimes be seen as behind the times in its attitude to women, exemplified in debates about the ordination of women or the exclusion of women from Mount Athos. But the exclusion of women from Mount Athos is more about protecting and honouring the celibacy of the men in the monastic communities, and I am confident that because the debate about the ordination of women is theological rather than misogynistic that it is capable of moving forward in time.

The three women in the fresco in the Church of Panagia Deksia – Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Saint Irene and Saint Barbara – emerged as strong figures in their own right. They continued to adhere to their principles and their insistence on the truth when they were betrayed and sexually mistreated by the men in their lives. They were brutalised and faced court cases in which their truthfulness and their self-worth were publicly doubted. Their public humiliation finally lead to their deaths. Yet it was the men in their lives who were the real perpetrators of injustice, while the women retained their integrity and their own values, no matter what men said about them or projected onto them.

As I have recalled throughout this week, Saint Paul constantly tells his readers that the whole law is summed up in one single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (Galatians 5: 5). On more than one occasion, he summarises the Christian message in this way. In the Letter to the Galatians, for example, he says: ‘The only thing that counts is faith working through love’ (Galatians 5: 6). Then he writes, ‘For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself”.’ (Galatians 5: 14).

In I Thessalonians, Saint Paul writes: ‘And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you’ (I Thessalonians 3: 12). He encourages the Christians in Thessaloniki to love one another in a way that inspires others outside the community (see I Thessalonian 4: 9-12).

The Rotunda is the oldest church in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 20: 27-40 (NRSVA):

27 Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him 28 and asked him a question, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; 30 then the second 31 and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.’

34 Jesus said to them, ‘Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; 35 but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 Indeed they cannot die any more, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37 And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.’ 39 Then some of the scribes answered, ‘Teacher, you have spoken well.’ 40 For they no longer dared to ask him another question.

The Church of Aghios Dimitrios often serves as the de facto cathedral of Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 25 November 2023):

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), has been ‘16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence’. This theme was introduced on Sunday.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (25 November 2023, Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) invites us to pray in these words:

Let us pray for women and girls, that they may be released from the cycle of gender-based violence.

The Church of the Panaghia Acheiropoietos in Thessaloniki is one of the most important Byzantine churches in Greece (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The 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,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

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

Yesterday’s Reflection (Colossae)

Continued Tomorrow

The Church of Saint Gregory Palamas has been the cathedral of Thessaloniki since the end of the 16th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The Church of the Saviour or the Church of the Transfiguration … it sometimes appears suffocated by surrounding apartment blocks (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayers in the Kingdom Season with USPG: (19) 23 November 2023

The ruins of a large, three-aisled early Christian Basilica (Basilica A) in Philippi, dating from the end of fifth century CE (Photograph: Carole Raddato, Frankfurt / Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Patrick Comerford

In this time between All Saints’ Day and Advent Sunday, we are in the Kingdom Season in the Calendar of the Church of England. This week began with the Second Sunday before Advent (19 November 2023).

The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today (23 November) remembers Clement (ca 100), Bishop of Rome, Martyr.

Throughout this week, I am reflecting on the seven churches in cities or places that give their names to the titles of nine letters or epistles by Saint Paul: Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae and Thessaloniki.

My reflections this morning follow this pattern:

1, A reflection on a Pauline church;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

The imposing basilica next to the Forum in Philippi and its gagantic pillars, also known as Basilica B (Photograph: Carole Raddato, Frankfurt / Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Saint Paul’s Philippi:

The Apostle Paul wrote 14 of the 27 books the New Testament. He founded several Christian communities in Asia Minor and Europe from the mid-40s to the mid-50s AD, and wrote letters to the churches in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae and Thessaloniki.

The Letter to the Philippians is the eleventh book in the New Testament. The Letter is attributed to the Apostle Paul and Saint Timothy is named as the co-author or co-sender.

Philippi (Φίλιπποι, Phílippoi) was a major Greek city north-west of the island of Thasos. It was established by colonists from Thasos in 360-359 BCE. The original name of the city was Krenides (Κρηνῖδες, ‘Fountains’), and it was renamed by Philip II of Macedon in 356 BCE.

The town offered control of the local gold mines and the route between Amphipolis and Neapolis, part of the great royal route running east-west across Macedonia and later a part of the Roman Via Egnatia. Philip II preserved the city’s autonomy within the kingdom of Macedon, but Philippi became fully integrated into the kingdom during the last years of the reign of Philip V of Macedon (221 to 179 BCE) or the reign of Perseus of Macedon.

The archaeological remains include walls, the Greek theatre, the foundations of a house under the Roman forum and a small temple dedicated to a hero cult.

After the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE, Caesar’s heirs Mark Antony and Octavian confronted the forces of the assassins Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BCE. The city was refounded as Colonia Victrix Philippensium, was renamed Colonia Iulia Philippensis and then Colonia Augusta Iulia Philippensis, and became a ‘miniature Rome.’

The Apostle Paul visited Philippi during his second missionary journey, probably in 49 or 50 CE, accompanied by Silas, Timothy and possibly Luke. When Saint Paul preached in Philippi, it was the first time any Christian ever preached on European soil. He visited Philippi on two other occasions, in 56 and 57 CE. His Letter to the Philippians dates from ca 61-62 CE.

A century later, Saint Polycarp wrote a letter from Smyrna to the church in Philippi ca 160 CE.

Although Philippi had one of the oldest churches in Europe, it seem to have had a bishop only from the 4th century. The first recorded church in the city is a small building. The Basilica of Saint Paul is identified by a mosaic inscription on the pavement, and is dated ca 343 from a reference by Bishop Porphyrios, who attended the Council of Serdica that year.

Seven churches were built in Philippi between the mid-fourth century and late sixth centuries. Some of them competed in size and decoration with the most beautiful churches in Thessaloniki and Constantinople. The church known as Basilica B has been compared with Hagia Sophia and Saint Irene in Constantinople. The complex cathedral that took the place of the Basilica of Saint Paul at the end of the fifth century was built around an octagonal church and also rivalled the churches of Constantinople.

The city was almost totally destroyed by an earthquake ca 619, and became hardly more than a village. The Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas rebuilt the fortifications on the acropolis and in part of the city ca 969. Bishop Basil Kartzimopoulos rebuilt part of the defences inside the city in 1077, and Philippi began to prosper once more as a centre of business and wine production.

Philippi was occupied briefly by the Franks after the Fourth Crusade and the capture of Constantinople in 1204, and was then captured by the Serbs. It was abandoned in the 14th century after the Ottoman conquest. By the 1540s, the Turks were using the ruins as a quarry.

The first modern archaeological description, based on a visit in 1856, was published in 1860 by Georges Perrot. More extensive investigations by French archaeologists followed. Later excavations were interrupted by World War I, but continued until 1937, and the Greek theatre, the forum, Basilicas A and B, the baths, and the walls were excavated. Greek archaeologists returned after World War II and uncovered the bishop’s quarter and the octagonal church, large private residences, a basilica near the museum, and two others in the necropolis east of the city.

The present village of Filippoi is near the ruins of the ancient city and is part of the Greek region of East Macedonia and Thrace in Kavala. The archaeological site is a Unesco World Heritage Site due to its exceptional Roman architecture, its urban layout as a smaller reflection of Rome itself, and its importance in early Christianity.

There is a general consensus that the Letter to the Philippians consists of authentic Pauline material, and that it is a composite of multiple letter fragments from Paul to the church in Philippi. These letters could have been written from Ephesus in 52-55 CE or Caesarea Maritima in 57-59 CE, but it seems most likely they were written in Rome ca 62 CE, or about 10 years after Paul’s first visit to Philippi.

Many biblical scholars agree that Philippians is a compilation of fragments from three separate letters written by Saint Paul, edited into a single document in Greek, sometime during the 50s or early 60s CE:

1, Philippians 4: 10-20, a short thank-you note to the Philippian church for gifts.
2, Philippians 1: 1 to 3:1, and perhaps also 4: 4-9 and 4: 21-23.
3, Philippians 3: 2 to 4:1, and perhaps also 4: 2-3.

  In Chapters 1 and 2, Saint Paul sends word to the Philippians of his upcoming sentence in Rome and of his optimism in the face of death. He assures the Philippians that his imprisonment is helping to spread the Christian message, rather than hindering it.

In Chapter 3, he warns the Philippians about those Christians who insist that circumcision is necessary for salvation.

In Chapter 4, he urges the Philippians to resolve their conflicts with one another. He thanks them for their gifts and assures them that God will reward their generosity.

There is a sense of optimism throughout the epistle. Saint Paul is hopeful that he will be released, he promises to send Timothy to the Philippians, and expects visit them again. Chapter 2 also contains a famous Christological poem describing the nature of Christ, with the often-quoted concluding words (Philippians 2: 9-11):

Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Saint Paul constantly tells his readers that the whole law is summed up in one single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (Galatians 5: 5). On more than one occasion, he summarises the Christian message in this way. In the Letter to the Galatians, for example, he says: ‘The only thing that counts is faith working through love’ (Galatians 5: 6). He also writes, ‘For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself”.’ (Galatians 5: 14)

In the Letter to the Philippians, Saint Paul writes: ‘If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, and compassion and sympathy. Make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind’ (Philippians 2: 1-2).

Papyrus 16 – Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1009 – in the Cairo Egyptian Museum containing Philippians 3: 10-17, 4: 2-8

Luke 19: 41-44 (NRSVA):

41 As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44 They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.’

A floor mosaic with the name of Saint Paul (Παυλο) in the Octagonal Basilica in Philippi (Photograph: Berthold Werner / Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 23 November 2023):

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), is ‘16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence’. This theme was introduced on Sunday.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (23 November 2023, International Day for Tolerance) invites us to pray in these words:

Lord, we pray that women might receive greater acknowledgement for their role in sustaining our churches and our communities. Amen.

The Collect:

Creator and Father of eternity,
whose martyr Clement bore witness with his blood
to the love he proclaimed and the gospel that he preached:
give us thankful hearts as we celebrate your faithfulness,
revealed to us in the lives of your saints,
and strengthen us in our pilgrimage as we follow your Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God our redeemer,
whose Church was strengthened by the blood of your martyr Clement:
so bind us, in life and death, to Christ’s sacrifice
that our lives, broken and offered with his,
may carry his death and proclaim his resurrection in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection (Ephesus)

Continued Tomorrow (Colossae)

The Forum in Philippi (Photograph: Carole Raddato, Frankfurt / Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The ancient theatre in Philippi (Photograph: MrPanyGoff / Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Daily prayers in the Kingdom Season with USPG: (16) 20 November 2023

The Emperor Nero was the first to try to build the Corinth Canal, using a workforce of 6,000 Jewish prisoners of war (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

In this time between All Saints’ Day and Advent Sunday, we are in the Kingdom Season in the Calendar of the Church of England. This week began with the Second Sunday before Advent (19 November 2023).

The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today (20 November) remembers both Edmund (870), King of the East Angles and Martyr, and Priscilla Lydia Sellon (1876), a Restorer of the Religious Life in the Church of England. Before today begins, I am taking some time for prayer and reflection early this morning.

Throughout this week, I am reflecting on the seven churches in cities or places that give their names to the titles of nine letters or epistles by Saint Paul: Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae and Thessaloniki.

My reflections this morning follow this pattern:

1, A reflection on a Pauline church;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

The Bema of Corinth, later the site of the Church of Saint Paul (Photograph: Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth)

Saint Paul’s Corinth:

The Apostle Paul wrote 14 of the 27 books the New Testament. He founded several Christian communities in Asia Minor and Europe from the mid-40s to the mid-50s AD, and wrote letters to the churches in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae and Thessaloniki.

Saint Paul appears to have been very disappointed with Athens. He did not visit it again, and it is never mentioned in his letters. When he left Athens he travelled 80 km west to Corinth (Κόρινθος), then the capital of the Roman Province of Achaia and effectively the capital of Greece.

Corinth was destroyed by the Romans, but was re-established by Julius Caesar in 46 BCE, and was made the capital of Achaia by Augustus. It was built on the southern extremity of the isthmus connecting the mainland with the Morea, and was on the great traffic route between East and West. It had two magnificent, lively and crowded harbours, one on each side of the isthmus.

Corinth was a centre of traffic, wealth and vice when Saint Paul arrived, probably about the end of 51 CE, and he spent up to 18 months there (see Acts 18: 9-11). He lived there with two Christian Jews, Aquila and Priscilla, who were refugees from Rome.

He began by preaching in the synagogue every Sabbath, ‘and he persuaded the Jews and the Greek.’ Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, and his family, and several of the Corinthians were converted and baptised. Some of them noble, wealthy, and learned people were converted too, but the great majority were neither learned, nor powerful, nor noble (see I Corinthians 1: 26). During this long period, Christianity was planted in Corinth and in other parts of Achaia, especially the eastern port of Cenchreæ.

Saint Paul wrote two letters or epistles to the Corinthians, I and II Corinthians, addressed to the community that he had founded in Corinth. They are now the seventh and eighth books in canon of the New Testament.

The first letter, I Corinthians, was written from Ephesus ca 53–54 CE. It deals with problems that arose in the early years after his initial missionary visit (ca 50–51) to Corinth and his establishment of a Christian community there. Saddened by reports of dissension, Paul addresses the issues dividing the church in Corinth, including morals, marriage, quarrelling, sharing and jealousy. Then in Chapter 13, one of the most significant of all Pauline texts, he explains that no gift in ministry has meaning unless it is accompanied by love.

For me, the core of Saint Paul’s teaching is found in this letter: ‘Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends’ (I Corinthians 13: 4-8a).

The second letter, II Corinthians, was written from Macedonia ca 55 CE. It may have been written after an actual visit by Paul to Corinth, when he was insulted and challenged. Because of this, Paul resolved not to go to Corinth again in person. Instead, he wrote an intervening letter (2: 3-4; 7: 8, 12), now lost, in which he told the Corinthians of his anguish and displeasure, and sent Titus to deliver the letter. Now, in this letter, Paul expresses his joy at the news he has heard from Titus, that the Corinthians have changed, and he urges them to give generously to the poor in Jerusalem.

The last four chapters differ markedly in tone from the earlier chapters, suggesting that chapters 10-13 may have been written earlier, before Paul had received Titus’ message, or are a misplaced part of another letter to the Corinthians.

After writing II Corinthians, Paul stayed in Corinth for about three months in the late winter, and there he wrote his Epistle to the Romans.

While Saint Paul was in Corinth, he was brought before the proconsul, Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus, Seneca’s brother, accused of illegal teaching. Gallio, however, refused to judge what he saw as an internal religious dispute among the Jews.

According to tradition, the site of Paul’s trial in Corinth was the Bema, a large elevated rostrum in the centre of the Roman Forum and from where the city’s officials addressed the public. Probably because of the monument’s connection to Saint Paul, the Bema was turned into a church during the Byzantine period.

Ancient Corinth was one of the largest and most important cities of Greece, with a population of 90,000 in 400 BEC. The Romans demolished Corinth in 146 BCE, built a new city in its place in 44 BCE, and later made it the provincial capital of Greece.

The city was rebuilt after earthquakes in the years 365 and 375, Alaric’s invasion in 396, and an earthquake in 856. Four churches were located in the city proper, another on the citadel of the Acrocorinth, and a monumental basilica at the port of Lechaion.

When an earthquake destroyed Corinth in 1858, the present, modern city of Corinth was founded as Nea Korinthos (Νέα Κόρινθος) or New Corinth, 3 km north of the ancient city. It has been rebuilt after earthquakes and fires in 1928 and 1933.

The Corinth Canal, between the western Mediterranean and the Aegean, is about 4 km east of the city, cutting through the Isthmus of Corinth that connects the Peloponnese to mainland Greece. The canal was cut through the isthmus at sea level, without locks. It is 6.4 km in long and 21.3 metres wide, making it impassable for most modern ships.

The first attempt to build the canal was made to build it in the 1st century CE. Julius Caesar and Caligula both considered digging the canal but died before starting the project. The emperor Nero was the first to try to build the canal, with a workforce of 6,000 Jewish prisoners of war.

Modern construction started in 1882, after Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire, but the original builders went bankrupt. It was completed in 1893, but because the canal is so narrow, and due to navigational problems and periodic closures to repair landslips, it failed to attract traffic, and it is now used mainly for tourist traffic.

The modern cathedral in the centre of Corinth is dedicated to the Apostle Paul, patron saint of the city. The cathedral was built in the 1936-1937 on the site of an earlier cathedral destroyed in the earthquake in 1928.

The cathedral was designed by the architect Nikolaos Kotseronis of Corinth, and it is said he was inspired by the church of Aghia Sophia in Constantinople. It is a three-aisle basilica with a dome. The central aisle is dedicated to Apostle Paul and the two side aisles to his disciples, Saint Timothy and Saint Titus. The bell tower is almost 30 metres high.

The modern Cathedral of the Apostle Paul in Corinth, designed in the 1930s by the architect Nikolaos Kotseronis

Luke 18: 35-43 (NRSVA):

35 As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.’ 38 Then he shouted, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ 39 Those who were in front sternly ordered him to be quiet; but he shouted even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ 40 Jesus stood still and ordered the man to be brought to him; and when he came near, he asked him, 41 ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ He said, ‘Lord, let me see again.’ 42 Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight; your faith has saved you.’ 43 Immediately he regained his sight and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, praised God.

The Temple of Apollo among the ruins in Corinth … seven of its 38 Doric columns are still in place

Today’s Prayers (Monday 20 November 2023):

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), is ‘16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence’. This theme was introduced yesterday.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (20 November 2023) invites us to pray in these words:

Let us pray that girls around the world might grow up knowing that they are safe and have access to education and employment opportunities.

The Peirene fountain in Corinth was said to be favoured by Pegasus and sacred to the Muses … poets would travel there to drink and receive inspiration (Photograph: MM/ Wikipedia)

The Collect:

Eternal God,
whose servant Edmund kept faith to the end,
both with you and with his people,
and glorified you by his death:
grant us such steadfastness of faith
that, with the noble army of martyrs,
we may come to enjoy the fullness of the resurrection life;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God our redeemer,
whose Church was strengthened by the blood of your martyr Edmund:
so bind us, in life and death, to Christ’s sacrifice
that our lives, broken and offered with his,
may carry his death and proclaim his resurrection in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection (Rome)

Continued Tomorrow (Galatia)

An ancient street in the ruins of Corinth (Photograph: MM/ Wikipedia)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The walled gates of Acrocorinth (Photograph: MM/ Wikipedia)

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (143) 18 October 2023, Week of Prayer for World Peace (4)

‘The struggle for peace, like the struggle for human rights and humanity, is not one in which, having reached the peak of the mountain, the final goal comes into view’ … a peak-top monastery in Meteora in Greece (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and the week began with the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIX, 15 October 2023). The Church Calendar celebrates Saint Luke the Evangelist (18 October).

Before today begins, I am taking some time early this morning for prayer and reflection.

The Week of Prayer for World Peace began on Sunday, and so my reflections each morning this week are gathered around this theme in these ways:

1, A reflection on the Week of Prayer for World Peace ;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

The Week of Prayer for World Peace began with ‘A Call to Prayer for World Peace’ signed by faith leaders in 1974

A Week of Prayer for World Peace, Day 4:

The International Prayer For Peace:

Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth
Lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust
Lead me from hate to love, from war to peace
Let peace fill our hearts, our world, our universe

Day 4, Heroes: For those working with courage to improve the world:

O Allah, the Creator of all that’s good,
bless our heroes, courageous and understood.
For those who strive to make the world better,
grant them strength and guidance in every endeavour.

Watch over those who help others in need,
their acts of kindness, a noble deed.
Guide them in their mission, both big and small,
as they spread love and kindness to all.

Bless our heroes, young and old,
with bravery and hearts of gold.
May their efforts inspire us to do good,
and make a difference, just as they would. Ameen
– Islamic

‘The struggle for peace, like the struggle for human rights and humanity, is not one in which, having reached the peak of the mountain, the final goal comes into view. Rather, it should be thought of as the work of generating an uninterrupted and unstoppable flow of commitment that connects and is passed on from one generation to the next.

‘Each of us, no matter how weak or ineffectual we may feel ourselves to be, must build deep within our hearts a stronghold for peace, one that will be capable of withstanding and in the end silencing the incessant calls to war. This is the only way humanity’s tragic predilection for violence can be reformed and its energies channelled in new directions.

‘We need to awaken a common consciousness of being all inhabitants of Earth. This consciousness is not to be found in some distant place. It will not be found on a computer screen. It lies in our hearts, in our ability to share the pain of our fellow human beings. It is the spirit that says ‘As long as you are suffering, whoever you are and whatever your suffering may be, I suffer also.’
– Daisaku Ikeda, Buddhist philosopher

We thank you God, for all those who … courageously go into areas of conflict and natural disaster, to give humanitarian aid, bind wounds, heal broken bodies, save lives. We give thanks for all NGOs and charities … who bring healing and hope to all those affected by war and disaster.
– Susan Gale WPWP Committee member

Saint Luke the Evangelist and Physician … a stained-glass window in Saint Michael’s Church, Tipperary (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 10: 1-9 (NRSVA):

1 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2 He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. 3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you”.’

‘Study for the Calf of Saint Luke’ by Graham Sutherland in the ‘Consequence of War’ exhibition in Lichfield Cathedral in 2018 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers: USPG Prayer Diary:

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), is ‘Helpline to women in need.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (18 October 2023, Saint Luke the Evangelist) invites us to pray in these words:

Let us give thanks for the life and works of Luke the Evangelist. May we be inspired by his Christian witness.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
you called Luke the physician,
whose praise is in the gospel,
to be an evangelist and physician of the soul:
by the grace of the Spirit
and through the wholesome medicine of the gospel,
give your Church the same love and power to heal;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Almighty God,
who on the day of Pentecost
sent your Holy Spirit to the apostles
with the wind from heaven and in tongues of flame,
filling them with joy and boldness to preach the gospel:
by the power of the same Spirit
strengthen us to witness to your truth
and to draw everyone to the fire of your love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

The Week of Prayer for World Peace began on Sunday 15 October 2023

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Delacroix’s paintings take me back to Venice and to massacres in the east Mediterranean

‘The Execution of the Doge Marino Faliero’ by Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863) in the Wallace Collection, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

I was recalling yesterday how Charlotte and I recently spent an afternoon visiting the Wallace Collection, a museum in Hertford House in Manchester Square, London. There I was particularly interested in the collection of Canaletto paintings of Venice in the Wallace Collection.

But another great classical work took me back to Venice and has also reminded me in recent days of another painting that has me thinking of how massacres and acts of brutality seem to mark out the history of conflicts in the East Mediterranean for far too long.

Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863) painted ‘The Execution of the Doge Marino Faliero’ in 1825-1826. It is a work in oil on canvas and measures 145.6 x 113.8 cm. It was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1827 and is now in the West Gallery II in the Wallace Collection. This painting dates from a time when Delacroix briefly shared his studio with Richard Parkes Bonington whose influence can be seen in this painting.

The subject of the painting, Marino Faliero (1274-1355), was the short-lived 55th Doge of Venice. He was appointed on 11 September 1354, and was executed seven months later, accused of an attempted coup d’etat, on 17 April 1355.

Faliero was one of the three heads of the Council of Ten in 1315 when it was punishing the organisers of the conspiracy by Bajamonte Tiepolo in 1310. Faliero continued as a member of the council until 1320 and held the office of chief and inquisitor several times. He and Andrea Michiel organise killing Tiepolo and Pietro Querini, the only two leaders of the conspiracy still at large.

Faliero was a naval and a military commander and then a diplomat before he was elected Doge in 1354. He learned of his election while he was on a diplomatic mission to the papal court at Avignon. At the time, the people of Venice were disenchanted with the ruling aristocrats who were blamed for a naval defeat by the fleet of Genoa that year at the Battle of Portolungo.

Within months of his election, Faliero attempted a coup d’etat in April 1355, aimed at taking power from the ruling aristocrats. According to tradition, this came about because the dogaressa, Faliero’s second wife, Aluycia Gradenigo, had been insulted by Michele Steno, a member of an aristocratic family. However, in a study of the Doges of Venice, Antonella Grignola suggests Faliero’s move was consistent with a trend in Italian city states to move away from oligarchic government to absolute, dynastic rule.

The plot involved murdering the chief patricians on 15 April and proclaiming Faliero Prince of Venice. It was badly organised and was quickly discovered because of leaks from some of the key plotters.

The Council of Ten ordered the arrest the ringleaders, several conspirators were condemned to death, and others were jailed. Faliero pleaded guilty to all charges, he was beheaded on 17 April and his body was mutilated. Ten additional ringleaders were hanged on display from the Doge’s Palace in Piazza San Marco.

Faliero was condemned to damnatio memoriae. His portrait in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio or Hall of the Great Council in the Doge’s Palace was removed and the space painted over with a black shroud, thar can still be seen today. A Latin inscription on the shroud reads: Hic est locus Marini Faletro decapitati pro criminibus, ‘This is the space reserved for Marino Faliero, beheaded for his crimes.’

The story of Faliero’s failed plot inspired plays by Lord Byron (‘Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice’, 1821) and Casimir Delavigne (1829), and an opera by Gaetano Donizetti (1835). All three present the traditional story that Faliero was acting to defend his wife’s honour.

Eugène Delacroix’s painting in the Wallace Collection, with some variations from the text, is based on Byron’s ‘Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice,’ a blank verse tragedy in five acts published and first performed in 1821.

In Byron’s play, Faliero offends Steno, who retaliates by writing on the Doge’s throne an indecent libel on Faliero’s wife. Steno is tried by the Council of Forty and convicted, but is sentenced to only a month’s imprisonment.

Faliero is outraged by what he believes is an inadequate punishment for an affront to the ruling Doge. He secretly joins the plot to abolish the constitution of Venice and to take revenge on his enemies. The plot is discovered and Faliero is executed.

Byron was inspired to write his play when he viewed the portraits of the Doges in the Palazzo Ducale and saw how Faliero’s had been blacked out. Byron was living in Ravenna when he completed the play in July 1820, and it was published in April 1821, along with his ‘The Prophecy of Dante.’ He intended this play to be read rather than acted, and it was criticised for its neoclassical form and lack of sensationalism and love interest.

Delacroix’s painting depicts the Scala dei Giganti or Giant’s Staircase in the Doge’s Palace. But this is a much later addition to the palace, designed by the architect Antonio Rizzo in 1483-1491. There, at the top of the staircase, the newly elected Doge would receive the zoia or ‘crown’ and make the solemn pledge (promissio ducis) of allegiance to the Most Serene Republic.

Delacroix derived the costumes, some of the heads of the dignitaries and the rich colouring in his painting from Venetian Renaissance paintings. The elderly bearded man at the top of the stairs, for example, is based on Titian’s ‘Self-Portrait’ in Berlin.

The picture was a favourite of Delacroix himself, and it is said he estimated it higher than any other of his works. However, the painting’s lack of a strong moral message upset some of his contemporary critics.

Delacroix was a pupil of Pierre-Narcisse Guérin (1774-1833), and was deeply influenced by Rubens and the 16th century Venetian masters whose paintings he copied in the Louvre. He was also interested in the works of Dante, Goethe and Tasso and in English art and literature.

Delacroix visited London in 1825, accompanied by Bonington. By then, he was an established leader of the Romantic painters, and the word ‘Romantic’ has been associated with his name ever since.

Perhaps the painting that most help to establish his reputation was ‘The Massacres at Chios’ (1824), depicting the Massacre of Chios two years earlier in April 1822, one of the many horrific events during the Greek War of Independence. The details of this massacre continue to shock and to horrify people as they learn about it.

The island of Chios is an Aegean island that is often counted as one of the Dodecanese islands, and it is just 8 km off the main Anatolian coast of Turkey. The Chians or Chiots – the islanders of Chios – never joined in the Greek War of Independence, and enjoyed many privileges under Ottoman rule, including a degree of autonomy, religious freedom, property rights, and exemptions from many taxes on houses, vineyards, orchards and trade.

The islanders had avoided threats of forced conversion to Islam experienced on so many other Greek islands, and they were exempt from the devshirme, in which the fittest and strongest boys in families were captured or conscripted and sent to Constantinople, where they were trained as janissaries, an elite and brutal corps.

The island was known for the production of mastic, silk and citrus fruits, and for its sea trade. Many merchant families from Chios dealt in banking, insurance and shipping and founded merchant houses in England, Italy and the Netherlands. Traders from Chios settled in Smyrna, Constantinople, Odessa and other Black Sea ports.

It is easy to understand why the people of Chios rebutted an appeal to support a naval assault on the Ottoman Empire in April 1821. But, a year later, in April 1822, a small number of people from Chios joined a small band from the neighbouring island of Samos who attacked the small Turkish garrison on Chios. A small number of soldiers were killed. But the response and retribution were swift, brutal and merciless.

The bloodbath began on Easter Day 1822 and continued for several months. In a revenge attack in June 1822, Greek insurgents from the neighbouring island of Psara attacked a flagship of the Ottoman navy anchored in the harbour of Chios while its sailors were marking the end of Ramadan. In all, 2,000 men were killed in one assault. A second wave of savagery was then unleashed against the people of Chios.

The original population of the island was 100,000 to 120,000. At least 30,000 people were murdered or executed or died by suicide or disease, and another 45,000 people were sold into slavery. Whole villages were wiped out. Of the survivors, about 20,000 people managed to flee to safety on islands under Greek rule.

Richard Calvocoressi, a descendant of one such family from Chios, wrote last year in the New Statesman: ‘For months afterwards the slave markets of the Levant were glutted with Chian boys, girls and young women, for sale at knock-down prices; and for many, slavery meant sexual slavery.’

The massacre inspired Eugène Delacroix’s Scenes from the Massacres at Chios or Scènes des massacres de Scio, completed in 1824. It is an enormous painting in the Louvre seen by millions of visitors each year.

The massacre caused an outcry throughout Europe. Reports of the massacre, Delacroix’s painting and Byron’s writings encouraged Philhellenes to redouble their efforts in support of Greek independence from Ottoman oppression. But Ottoman rule continued for another 90 years, and Chios did not become part of the modern Greek state until 1912.

Although the composer Mikis Theodorakis (1925-2021) is popularly identified with Crete and was buried there when he died two years ago, he was born on the island of Chios.

Today, Chios is the fifth largest of the Greek islands, and is one of the Aegean islands that have become a centre for asylum seekers and refugees seeking to arrive in Europe.

Now, over 200 years after the Massacre of Chios, it is hard not to think of those merchants in Odessa and the brutality in Ukraine today; it is hard not to think of the refugees and slaves created by the massacre; it is hard not to think of the refugees and asylum seekers who arrive in Chios and other Greek islands in the hope of finding freedom today; and it is hard not to be reminded of the massacres, murders, brutality and responses in recent days in other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean, in Israel and Gaza.

‘Scenes from the Massacres at Chios’, Eugène Delacroix (1824), in the Louvre in Paris … the massacre began on Easter Day 1822

Death and dying: a reflection on icons of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary

The icon of the Dormition by Alexandra Kaouki for a church in the old town of Rethymnon in Crete

Patrick Comerford

In the Calendar of the Orthodox Church, today [15 August] is the Feast of the Dormition (Κοίμησις) or the Falling Asleep of the Theotokos, the Virgin Mary. For Roman Catholics, it is the Feast of the Assumption, which has particular associations with Ephesus.

in the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today is marked simply as ‘The Blessed Virgin Mary’, without any indication of any event in her life or any commemoration.

Today’s Festival of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been marked in Lichfield Cathedral today at the mid-day Eucharist at 12:30 and with Solemn Choral Evensong at 5:30 sung by the Sussex Festival Singers, with Stanford’s Evening Service in C and Jacques Arcadelt’s Ave Maria. In Pusey House, Oxford, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is being marked this evening with High Mass at 6 pm, when Father Alexander McGregor is preaching. Mass was preceded by Evensong at 5.30 pm.

A reflection in the parish leaflet in Stony Stratford and Calverton described the Assumption as ‘the taking up of Mary into the glory of the Resurrection.’ It added, ‘In sharing in the fullness of God’s life and love, we remember that the same promise is made to all believers, as we turn to the Lord for grace and mercy.’

In his guidebook, The Holy Land, the late Jerome Murphy-O’Connor points out that two places in Jerusalem are traditionally associated with the end of the Virgin Mary’s earthly life: a monastery on Mount Zion is the traditional site of her death or falling asleep; and the basilica in the Garden of Gethsemane is said to be the site of her tomb.

Since the end of the 19th century, however, Mereyama, 8 km east of Selçuk, near ancient Ephesus, has been venerated by many Roman Catholics as the site of the Virgin Mary’s last earthly home. This tradition is based not on tradition or history, but on the writings of an 18th century German nun and visionary, Sister Catherine Emmerich, who never left her own country, and the interpretation of her visions by some late 19th century French Lazarist priests who were living in Smyrna (Izmir).

The pilgrim industry was boosted by a papal visit in 1967. Today, undoubtedly, Mereyama has been thronged by thousands of tourists staying in Kuşadasi, the Turkish coastal resort near Ephesus. Few of them may ever know that the commemoration of this feast has different emphases in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. The Dormition and the Assumption may appear to be different names for the same event – the Virgin Mary’s departure from this earth – but the beliefs surrounding this day are not actually the same.

A fresco depicting the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in the parish church in Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Dormition: death or dogma?

The Feast of the Dormition is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church. However, this belief has never been formally defined as dogma by the Orthodox Church, nor is it made a precondition of baptism.

The Orthodox Church teaches that the Virgin Mary died a natural death, like any human being; that her soul was received by Christ upon death; and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her burial, at which time she was taken up, bodily only, into heaven, so that her tomb was found empty on the third day.

The death or Dormition of Mary is not recorded in the New Testament. Hippolytus of Thebes, writing in the seventh or eighth century, claims in his partially preserved chronology to the New Testament that the Virgin Mary lived for 11 years after the death of Jesus and died in AD 41.

On the other hand, Roman Catholic teaching says she was ‘assumed’ into heaven in bodily form. Some Roman Catholics agree with the Orthodox that this happened after her death, while others hold that she did not experience death. In his dogmatic definition of the Assumption in Munificentissimus Deus (1950), Pope Pius XII was not so dogmatic, for he appears to leave open the question of whether or not she actually underwent death and even alludes to the fact of her death at least five times.

In the Orthodox tradition, Mary died as all people die, for she had a mortal human nature like all of us. The Orthodox Church teaches that Mary was subject to being saved from the trials, sufferings, and death of this world by Christ. Having died truly, she was raised by him and she already takes part in the eternal life that is promised to all who ‘hear the word of God and keep it’ (Luke 11: 27-28). But what happens to Mary happens to all who imitate her holy life of humility, obedience and love.

The icon of the Dormition was completed by El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos) in Crete, probably before 1567

An ancient tradition

In the Orthodox tradition, it is said that after the Day of Pentecost, the Theotokos remained in Jerusalem with the infant Church, living in the house of Saint John the Evangelist. That tradition says she was in her 50s at the time of her death. As the early Christians stood around her deathbed, she commended her spirit to the Lord, and tradition says Christ then descended from Heaven, taking up her soul in his arms. The apostles sang funeral hymns in her honour and carried her body to a tomb in Cedron near Gethsemane. When a man tried to interrupt their solemn procession, an angel came and cut off his hands, but he was healed later.

The story says that the Apostle Thomas arrived on the third day and wished to see the Virgin Mary for the last time. The stone was rolled back, and an empty tomb was discovered. Orthodox tradition says that the Theotokos was resurrected bodily and taken to heaven, and teaches that the same reward awaits all the righteous on the Last Day.

Icons of the Dormition date from the 10th century, although there may have been earlier representations. In traditional icons of the Dormition, the Theotokos is shown on the funeral bier. Christ, who is standing behind her, has come to receive his mother’s soul into heaven. In his left arm, he holds her as an infant in white, symbolising the soul of the Theotokos reborn in her glory in heaven.

Greek icons of the Dormition, Η Κοιμηcισ τησ Θεοτοκου, follow a 1,000-year-old tradition that some say dates back to early texts.

Behind the bier, Christ stands robed in white and – as in icons of the Transfiguration, the Resurrection and the Last Judgment – he appears surrounded by the aureole, or elongated halo, depicting the Light of his Divinity and signifying his heavenly glory.

Christ receives the soul of the Mother of God, but here the imagery reverses the traditional picture of mother and son, as he holds her soul, like a child, in his arms.

The Twelve Apostles are present; sometimes they are shown twice: grouped around the bier, and transported to the scene on clouds accompanied by angels.

The Apostles are usually seen on either side of the bier – the group on the left led by Saint Peter, who stands at the head of the bier; the group on the right led by Saint Paul, who stands at the foot of the bier.

In many icons, we also see four early Christian writers, who are identified by their bishops’ robes decorated with crosses – James, Dionysios the Areopagite, Hierotheos and Timotheos of Ephesus. In the background, mourning women are a reminder too, perhaps, of the women who wept when they met Christ carrying his cross to Calvary, or who arrived at his tomb early on Easter morning ready to anoint his dead body.

The cherubim in blue, the seraphim in red and the golden stars in these icons refer to the hierarchy of cosmic powers, described by Dionysios the Areopagite, who serve the Lord. Archangels are present in the foreground in the lower left and right corners. In the centre foreground, the Archangel Michael threatens the non-believing Jephonias who dared to touch her bier in an attempt to disrupt her funeral. The story is told that his hands were cut off but that later they were miraculously restored when he repented, was converted to Christianity, and was baptised.

The best-known version of this icon is the work of El Greco, or Doménikos Theotokópoulos (1541-1614), painted in Crete probably before 1567.

Christ holding his mother’s soul wrapped like a new-born baby … a detail from Alexandra Kaouki’s icon of the Dormition as it neared completion

Watching the creation of an icon

It was my privilege in Crete some years ago to watch a new icon on this theme in Orthodoxy being shaped and created by Alexandra Kaouki, perhaps the most talented and innovative iconographer in Crete today, as she worked in her studio, then below the Venetian Fortezza in the in the old town of Rethymnon.

She was creating this new icon for the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, or the Little Church of Our Lady, on a small square in the old town.

It was a careful, slow, step-by-step work in progress, based on El Greco’s celebrated icon. But, as her work progressed, Alexandra made what she describes as ‘necessary corrections’ to allow her to ‘entirely follow the Byzantine rules.’

In her studio, we discussed why El Greco places three candelabra in front of the bier. Perhaps he is using them as a Trinitarian symbol. However, Alexandra has returned to the traditional depiction of only one to remain true to Byzantine traditions.

How many of the Twelve should be depicted?

Should Saint Thomas be shown, or was he too late?

Why did she omit stories from later developments in the tradition, yet introduce women?

Alexandra completed her icon in time for the Feast of the Dormition in Rethymnon on 15 August that year.

A traditional depiction of the Dormition in a fresco in a Greek church

Ecumenical agreement

The name Theotokos was given to the Virgin Mary by the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus in 431 CE. That council decreed that she should be honoured by this name which confirms the Orthodox belief in the Incarnation: that Christ was both true God and true man.

As so often happened in those days, this action was a response to heretical teachings that needed to be addressed. Thus, once and for all, the Church affirmed its teachings about Christ and Mary.

It is a custom in some Orthodox parishes to bring fragrant herbs or flowers to the church to be blessed on the Feast of the Dormition. These are then used to decorate an icon or the family table.

In some places, the Rite of the ‘Burial of the Theotokos’ is commemorated an all-night vigil, with an order of service based on the service of the Burial of Christ on Great Saturday.

Tinos, one of the largest islands in the Greek Cyclades, is best-known for its large Church of Panagia Megalochori (The Virgin with All Graces), on a hill above the capital, Chora. Each year, the church attracts thousands of pilgrims from all over Greece to Tinos on 15 August.

A fresco depicting the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in a church in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Collect:

Almighty God,
who looked upon the lowliness of the Blessed Virgin Mary
and chose her to be the mother of your only Son:
grant that we who are redeemed by his blood
may share with her in the glory of your eternal kingdom;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God Most High,
whose handmaid bore the Word made flesh:
we thank you that in this sacrament of our redemption
you visit us with your Holy Spirit
and overshadow us by your power;
strengthen us to walk with Mary the joyful path of obedience
and so to bring forth the fruits of holiness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Troparion (Tone 1)

In giving birth, you preserved your virginity!
In falling asleep you did not forsake the world, O Theotokos!
You were translated to life, O Mother of Life,
and by your prayers you deliver our souls from death!

Kontakion (Tone 2)

Neither the tomb, nor death, could hold the Theotokos,
who is constant in prayer and our firm hope in her intercessions.
For being the Mother of Life,
she was translated to life by the One who dwelt in her virginal womb!

An icon depicting the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in the Church of Aghiou Philippou in Athens (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)