22nd June, 2009 - Posted by Archbishop Mark - No Comments
Patmos and Ephesus is a big double in one day, but that’s what it’s been for us. I’d been to Ephesus about twenty-five years ago, but I’d never been to Patmos, even though the place had always intrigued me. The tradition of St John’s presence there and of Patmos as the place he wrote the Apocalypse is strong, but in the end I don’t know what to make of it. I know all the scholarly arguments which suggest that the Apostle John didn’t write the Apocalypse, even if it bears the hallmarks of the Johannine tradition. One of the fascinating things about the New Testament is the way in which it weaves together in a great tapestry all the different strands of primitive Christianity - the Pauline, the Johannine, the Petrine and so on. Each was a distinctive voice - if I may change metaphor - but all the voices are brought together triumphantly into a single harmonious voice which bears witness to the communion of the Church inwhich there are many different voices but no cacophony; only the harmonics of Paradise.
Whatever the empirical truth - which is probably irretrievable - Patmos was very evocative on a glorious Aegean morning. These islands rise like bare rocks from the sapphire waters, yet in the morning light the islands themselves seemed like jewels. Travel on the water was a nightmare for Paul, but he must have breathed a sigh of admiration as he saw these jewel-like rocks rising from the mirror waters on a summer morning.
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22nd June, 2009 - Posted by Ursula Stephens - 1 Comment
It’s Saturday - a bright blue sky reflected on the deep blue sea.
Today we have been told will be quite strenuous and very hot. We’ve all found our sea legs but no-one seems to have slept very well.
I’ve remembered my pedometer and we’ve already walked about 20,000 steps in the footsteps of St Paul - that’s about 20kms!!!!
No wonder then that Ian, Eileen and Bishop Francis have decided not to venture to Lindos , in deference to their knees.
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22nd June, 2009 - Posted by Pilgrims - 1 Comment
Max Spencer
Returning to Ephasus and the house of Mary after 21 years was a very different experience considering the number of pilgrims.
However as previously it was a wonderful spiritual time especially the mass. The mass was very meaningful. I feel blessed and grateful for the oportuinity to be with this great group. I carry the prayers of all my loved ones and friends in my heart.
Stephen Utick
I have taken a large collection of photos showing key sights relating to Paul’s journeys and of all the pilgrims which I will share with the readers when I return. I am extending my prayers and best wishes as today, following the extraordinary experiences of Patmos and Ephesus, we journey to Meteora and its Monasteries. There were some fascinating religious and cultural points which I have picked up from the specialist guides which would make riveting reading. God bless!
Mary Harrigan
Sunday we visited Patmos where John lived and did some of his writings. We then visited the house of the virgin mary and ephesus. This was a very significant day. Even though it was rushed we saw everything that was on the tour for the day. Our physical journey today Monday takes us up through the centre of Greece to more sacred sites but more importantly we take you in our prayers.
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22nd June, 2009 - Posted by Ursula Stephens - No Comments
It’s Sunday and we’re all up early for a very special day - we are travelling by tender boat to Patmos to visit the Monastery of St John the Theologian and the cave that was his home when he was banished there for two years. It is said that St John wrote the text of Revelation in the Cave which is now built into the Monastery of the Apocalypse.
We’re all feeling sprightly - no one was enticed into the disco till the wee hours - although this is a very popular cruise ship filled with the energy and noise of young people on holidays.
One of the American pilgrims we met yesterday in Lindos fell and is now in a fibreglass cast - poor thing! It reminds us that for St Paul there would have been many dangers in his travels too. Lord, may your blessing and protection surround us as we travel in the footsteps of St Paul.
This afternoon we are going to the House of the Virgin Mary and to Ephesus - we’re back on the boat and heading to Kusadasi in Turkey. (more…)
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22nd June, 2009 - Posted by Archbishop Mark - 3 Comments
These days it’s not often that I learn something from a tour guide. I hope that doesn’t sound smug or arrogant but it’s just a fact. It’s part of being on the earth for sixty years and doing some of the things I’ve done. But we have had a couple of first-class guides so far, and the one we have at the moment - Iacovos, known as James - is a cracker. This guy really knows history (fair bit of Bible too) and speaks excellent English; he even has an Italian mother. He told us today that the Greek word “cosmos” means “world”, which I thought was pretty obvious. He then said - and this is what I didn’t know - that it also means “jewel”. Hence the English word “cosmetic”. Great point, I thought. The Greeks regarded the planet as a jewel, and how right they were. The first cosmonauts were moved by the beauty of the planet seen from a distance - a sapphire shrouded in lace, they thought.
St Paul in his Letter to the Romans speaks of the whole creation, the cosmos, groaning in a great act of giving birth. I thought of the light throbbing at the heart of this jewel planet, like a child wanting to leave the womb. The birth will come when the light bursts from the jewel, and the name of the light is Jesus. Until then we are aglow with the promise of the birth to come, a jewel spinning through dark space.
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