Greece and Turkiye

So how do I summarize the past eighteen days in Greece and Türkiye? I can start with one humorous scenario: celebrating Easter Sunday for the second time in 2024. In Greece, the patriarchs of the Eastern Rite Christians in communion with Rome have the authority to set the date of Easter to coincide with the larger Orthodox Church, the latter composing 90% of the population. I had no idea of this practice, though it was sanctioned in the Vatican II decree Orientalium Ecclesiarum [“On the Eastern Churches,” para. 20] in 1964. Here in the Latin West, we celebrated Easter Sunday on March 31, as you probably recall. Bottom line: when our plane touched down in Athens on April 30, we landed in the middle of Holy Week. As Yogi Berra put it, it was déjà vu all over. And, I might add, Greek Labor Day fell during Holy Week, too.
 
By the time we learned all this, we had a week of reservations and tours contracted, so we were unable to attend the Triduum, although that was not quite true as the Easter Vigil comes to your door in Athens. There were several Orthodox churches in our neighborhood which broadcast the chanting of the monks over loudspeakers which we could hear from the porch of our rental. During the Easter Vigil, at Midnight, the celebrants in these churches proclaim, “Christ is Risen!” And suddenly there are public fireworks displays throughout the city including, I believe, from the Parthenon itself. I have no idea how many Greeks do go to Church every Sunday—Eastern Rite or Orthodox—but they do identify as Christians.
 
Of course, this being primarily an Orthodox Greek-speaking country, there was one Eastern Rite Catholic Church—the Cathedral, actually--within subway range which offered a 6 PM Easter Sunday evening Mass in English. We visited the Cathedral earlier in the day, on the way to our Easter dinner, to confirm said fact and discovered that there was also a 4 PM Mass, and that sounded pretty good to us in any language as we were dead tired by Sunday and heading off to Türkiye on Monday morning. So, we ate, drained an ATM, and headed back to the Cathedral, where we met our partner couple fresh from the Athens airport from back home in Orlando.
 
It was an Easter Mass I certainly will never forget. There is a Philippine Catholic community in Athens in communion with Rome, and this 4 PM Eucharist was their Easter youth Mass. They darn near filled the church, too, lots of teenagers, mothers, and little ones. They sang enthusiastically to guitars and other instruments. And the entire Mass was offered in the Tagalog language! My Tagalog is more than rusty—it is nonexistent. But the Eucharist is the Eucharist. As the homily was delivered, I was struck by the delightful religious incongruity of sitting in the cathedral of Athens, Greece, with Margaret and two dear friends from my home diocese, celebrating Easter in Tagalog for the second time in a month with Catholics from Asia, praying for a safe trip to Islamic Türkiye. Just another day in the Kingdom of God.
 
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Jet leg is a bummer, so 2 AM is as good a time as any to switch on my computer after returning from Greece and Türkiye sometime between Thursday and Friday. For whatever reason, it is easier adjusting from jet lag after the eastern Atlantic crossing, perhaps because it is dark outside while you fly. Coming back, you take a noon flight from, say, Athens, fly for ten hours and land on North American soil at 4 PM. I felt my age on this trip; I have two more booked in my future—Ireland later this year and Western Europe next year—but I am scaling back.
 
That said, it was a privilege to spend three weeks in a part of the world I had never seen before. We rented an apartment in Athens for a week just several subway stops from the Parthenon, and then relocated for ten nights to the Celebrity Infinity for a sea journey to Türkiye and the Greek Isles. As I noted above, we unknowingly booked this trip during a peculiar time: we arrived in Greece for Holy Week and the Triduum, as well as for Labor Day, which is a national holiday and celebrated with more political gusto than our American September holiday. About 90% of Greece is Eastern Orthodox, i.e., not in union with Rome, but there is a 10% Eastern Rite Roman Church presence as well, which has permission from Rome to celebrate the Easter Triduum on the same days as the Orthodox.
 
Holy Thursday is called “Good Thursday” in Greece, and according to one of our guides, “Getaway Thursday” as well, as many residents leave the city for their hometowns to celebrate Easter dinner with roast lamb. Consequently, my interactions with churches and religious institutions in Greece was limited. We visited several Orthodox churches, which are most memorable for the feature of the wall in the sanctuary, behind which the Liturgy of the Eucharist [the Orthodox Eucharistic Prayer] is conducted. Religious art is primarily ikons, as there is a long tradition of Eastern Christians avoiding statues, the art form by which so many pagan gods were and are portrayed.
 
Much of my Grecian experience involved exploring the famous remains of temples, notably the Parthenon, the Delphic Oracle, and the Temple of Poseidon, the latter two several hours outside of Athens. I will include photos with this post. Athens itself is an interesting city which extends in all directions from the Parthenon. It was very friendly to us, and English is spoken widely. But it is in massive need of infrastructure work—traffic is maddening—and its subway, relatively new, was funded by the European Union.
 
The next ten days were spent aboard the Celebrity Infinity, departing from Athens, and heading north to Türkiye and then to the Greek Islands. Along the way to Istanbul we passed through the Dardanelles, a vital waterway through Türkiye famous for, among other things, the tragic Gallipoli military campaign of World War I that led to 500,000 casualties and the disgrace of Winston Churchill, who conceived the strategy. I would say that one of the more powerful moments of the voyage was entering Istanbul harbor itself, the city skyline highlighted by massive mosques. We had two full days in Istanbul…and we used them to the max.
 
We had several guides over our stay, and between them we learned that Istanbul’s population is 15-16 million and its mosques number between 2500-5000. Ironically, I did not visit the city’s most famous mosque and former cathedral, Hagia Sophia or “Sacred Wisdom” based on the collective advice of guides. The truth is that the government cannot decide whether to preserve Hagia Sophia as a mosque or a museum; tourists pay a not-insignificant admission fee for a limited walk on a gallery walk-around, as I understood it. We were advised that the “Blue Mosque” was a better experience, but I came away with a sense that entering any major mosque is akin to the screening and boarding process of an airport. The Blue Mosque was so full of people—presumably, tourists--that it was impossible to soak in the atmosphere…and as a male I was carrying my sneakers in a sack; Margaret purchased a prayer shawl for the occasion.
 
I cannot say that I had a profound Islamic experience, nor could I gauge the intensity of Islamic pastoral life, i.e., what percentage of Turkish citizens “go to Mosque weekly.” When the Adhan or call to prayer is sung across the city [five times per day], I did not notice any slack in the marketplaces or restaurants. Truth be told, I had a lot of secular fun in Istanbul and dropped more Liras than I expected to. Istanbul’s Spice Bazaar is world famous, and yours truly partook of an exhaustive sampling of candies, nuts…and tea. I admit I bought several pounds of blackberry tea to bring back home, among other tasty treats. Later we took an evening cruise around the Golden Horn—where Asia and Europe meet—and the staff served up more exotic teas and countless snacks.
 
We pulled ourselves away from Istanbul and proceeded to Ephesus. The main attraction is a massive archaeological dig to uncover the city as it was in ancient times. While a considerable amount work has been completed, the full project will go on for decades, at great cost. I learned more about ancient plumbing than I really needed to know. We pushed on about ten miles to the reputed site of Mary’s residence with the Apostle John. There is no evidence that Mary moved to Ephesus from Jerusalem, but I was hoping that at least the site might be a quiet and/or inspiring moment of the trip. To be honest, you get a single-line rush through a nondescript chapel. Nowhere to sit, kneel, or meditate. When we got back on the bus, I whispered to Margaret, “I was hoping to at least see some pots and pans.”
 
Our cruise ship did a three-day swing through the Greek islands of Rhodes, Mykonos, and Santorini, exceedingly popular tourist sites. I guess you could call this the la dolce vita stage of the trip. Sailing through these islands was like boating through the Grand Canyon. In fact, I passed on a few excursions just to sit on the Infinity and take in the atmosphere from the balcony.
 
I should add here that we had super companions for the cruise, Kathy and Tim. We have known them for almost thirty years through church and diocese; they hosted our wedding reception in their home twenty-six years ago. The nightly dinners and thoughtful conversations brought each day to a pleasant close.
 
Margaret and I arrived back at our own home at 5:30 AM Athens time on Friday, or 10:30 PM Orlando time on Thursday. If there isn’t yellow police tape around my house when we get home, I consider it a good trip.
 
Back to regular posts on Tuesday or Wednesday.