Where do I begin to tell you what a day we just had? I know that His Grace Bishop Savas will be posting his blog shortly, Cameron will be posting some truly incredible pictures of the work our College Students did today and I will be posting our audio files of the sounds and voices that make up this year's Real Break in Real Time. Listen carefully - you may hear someone you know speaking about this truly remarkable trip.

We began the day together with breakfast in the hotel, and walked to the Patriarchate just down the street from the hotel to attend morning lenten Orthros. While in the glorious Cathedral of St. George we prayed and venerated the sacred relics of St. John Chrysostom and St. Gregory the Theologian, the relics which were recently returned to the Patriarchate by the late Pope John Paul II. From here we returned to change into clothes for a day of work which would prove to be a life changing experience for our students. Just prior to our departure for the work day, His All Holiness arrived at the Patriarchate and came over to wish each of us a good morning, offer his blessings and wish us well as we undertook a sacred project he personally asked us to undertake. Then it was off to the Patriarchal Cemetery and the Church of St. Kyriakos.

There is no way to describe what we saw except that we could not believe our eyes. The graves were desecrated, there were broken beer bottles everywhere, weeds, garbage you name it. It was in such a state of disrepair we all were wondering where to begin. Under the direction of Meltem, the wife of Paul Gikas (one of the coordinators of our trip here in Istanbul) each student was assigned a task of restoration. Some were to clean and paint, others weed, others plant, others return head stones to their proper place of honor and on and on the list went. Without hesitation I should say, the students sprang from the van and without so much a word set to their new their tasks and began them in earnest. His Grace Bishop Dionysios (the local bishop) was kind enough to bring us snacks and remarked how wonderful it was to have the students present, and how grateful he was on behalf of the deceased to have the students doing this sacred work. Then a lunch was also served to us.

The students found many artifact, but the open graves in which some students saw the bones of the deceased seemed to be the most moving. There is so much more to tell and see. I want to encourage you to read His Grace Bishop Savas's blog and by all means see the fabulous photos which tell the full story that Cameron took. All is all it was a blessed day. A day we will never forget. It was rather cold in the open cemetery and centuries-old church. The students returned tired, cold and yet gratified for the wonderful experience of today.

Tomorrow holds many more challenges as we move forward cleaning and restoring more graves as well as painting the church. Pray for us as we are praying for you!

- Fr. Chris

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment Preview