Click here to view all the Real Break '09 Photos as they are added to galleries by staff photographer Cameron Thorp.
From Constantinople
Blogging from Real Break '09! This page featured updates from Constantinople including blogging by Bishop Savas the newly appointed Director of Church and Society of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and Rev. Mark Leondis the National Youth Director for the GOA and Chairman of the Board of Orthodox Christian Fellowship. Photos contributed by Cameron Thorp, staff photographer for the OCN!
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It’s been a little more than a week since our party of 22 returned from “Real Break: Constantinople ’09” to our homes or jobs or classrooms, and so far a day hasn’t passed that I haven’t spent a good part of, reflecting on the richness of what we went through. (It’s clear from the Facebook and Flickr postings and the volume of emails exchanged between us that I’m not alone in this!) We didn’t just visit one of the greatest cities the world has ever seen, or make a pilgrimage to one of the most important cities in the history of the Christian Church: we made history in it. And as we changed it, it changed us. We left it, I hope, a better place. We left from it, I know, better people.
Please enjoy and learn from these audio files sent to us from Constantinople, as the students tour the city and learn the stories and history of this ancient city.
1. Fr. Chris recounts the morning touring the city, while the Muslim call to prayer sounds in the background. Click here
2. Bishop Savas serves as an excellent tour guide. Click here
3. Bishop Savas explains some more history, this time the history of the Greeks under Ottoman occupation. Click here
4. An explanation of the palace of Attaturk. Click here
Today was a day of touring. We woke up and drove to the beautiful Church of Chora (now a museum which attracts thousands of tourists each day). The students marvelled at the mosaics and frescoes which adorn this ancient church.
The Church that the RB 2008 group renovated (Our Lady of the Heavens) is located just a short distance away. On our drive over, the tour guide announced, "here to your right is a Greek cemetery". Within seconds, a roar bursted out on the bus...the students realized this was "our cemetery" where we spent the first 3 days of our trip.
One unique aspect of the iconography in the Church of Chora were the mosaics in the narthex. They depicted stories from the life of the Theotokos (from the apocryphyal books).
Following the Church of Chora, we drove to the Church of Blacharnae to pray the Salutations to the Theotokos with His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. It was a beautiful service where His All Holiness presided. We spent time around the Church, receiving Agiasma (Holy Water) from the Church and Antodoron (holy bread) from the hand of His All Holiness (from the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy celebrated earlier that morning).
The opportunity to sing "Ti Permacho/O Champion General" with His All Holiness on the site where it was first sung in the 8th century was both moving and uplifting.
We visited the historic hippodrome and had some free time. We had a quick stop at the pomegranate stand for juice and proceeded to St. Sophia.
At St. Sophia we witnessed God's open embrace on humanity. The thought of those holy men and women worshipping here centuries earlier gave us a deep sense of connection to the early church.
The students were in awe standing in the midst of this holy site. Imagining a liturgy here...it is quite easy to mimic the words, "we didn't know if we were on heaven or earth".
We finished our last day in the Poli shopping in the Grand Bazaar and dinner in the city. The students have no desire to leave each other....they have become very close....they have become family.
This common grave was a pile of rubble in the morning. Through the dedication of our team and a little expertise from our Turkish helpers, dignity was once more bestowed on these unknown souls. Memory Eternal! Later in the day we held a memorial service in their honor. Our eyes were as wet as the cement but our vision was clearer than we could have ever imagined. These long forgotten souls were prayed for after many years of neglect and God allowed us to be the ones so honored.
With so many broken bottles, the students thought it might be good to put them to good use. They then proceeded to collect as many as possible and use then for a higher calling.
The students keep working on the cemetery, and are honored by a visit from His All Holiness Bartholemew. Join in on this sacred work by listening to the files below:
1. A discussion of the history of the Patriarchate over dinner. Direct link
2. Bishop Savas and the students talk about the previous day's work. Direct link
3. The students are honored by a visit from the Ecumenical Patriarch, who arrives to examine the work and interact with the students as they undertake the work he has personally asked of them. The ladies also chant for him! Direct link
4. The Patriarch gives a special message to the students for listeners around the world. Direct link
5. Father Chris oversees some work and asks the students about their progress. Direct link
Today was our last day at the cemetery. We all have mixed emotions...glad to be finishing up....sad that we will probably never return....anxious to finish the job we began...questioning if the work we've done will be destroyed. But overall, there is a sense of completion and pride in our work.
The cemetery is surrounded by a large stone-wall...in the afternoon (after 2pm), there are many men who stand on top, drinking beer until late in the evening. The trash that has accumulated there over the years is tremendous. The first day, the students (men) spent over 6 hours clearing the trash and hauling away debris. They must have moved 2 tons of rocks during that time.
A few days ago, this cemetery was a mess...bones scattered throughout....tombstones broken into pieces....crosses knocked over....garbage scattered throughout...overgrown weeds, trees and bushes. Today, only after 3 days of non-stop work from the students....this cemetery is indeed a true place of rest.
A few moments ago, a man was wandering through the roads of the cemetery. I greeted him, not knowing who he was. He was a Greek man who was born in Constantinople who now resides in Athens. His name was Michali.He told me that he was overjoyed to see what was happening and he thanked the students for what they have done. I asked him to take me to his family's grave...he brought me to the northern tip of the cemetery and showed me the grave of his parents, his brother (who died at age 40) and his Nouna (God-mother who died at age 38). I called over to of the students, Alex Lucas and Joel Nixon and asked if they would restore his family's grave. Michali teared and with his head bowed, said "thank you".
As I walked back down to re-join the group, I came across Lucy Pappas from Kansas City. Lucy has spent the last 2 days in an elevated area where 5 graves lie. She has been cleaning, planting, scrubbing, cementing (with the help of others) this area. It is now beautiful and properly prepared.
A little farther down is Vannessa Theoharis from Boston and Julia Mekdessi from Houston (she speaks 4 languages and translates for us with the caretaker --Iouseff)...they have spent the morning with three graves that needed repair. As they complete one, they keep branching out to the next. They feel close to the Charalambides family (the graves they've been working on).
Marion Alberty, Christina Paniouseiris, Madeline Daily, Stephanie Baker and Julia spent the first two days in the small St. Kiriakos chapel. The work inside is complete, it is now fitting for worship. They scraped, painted, scrubbed, spackled, scrubbed, washed, scrubbed for 2 days. When His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew was visiting the grounds, we brought him to the Chapel. As the young women were cleaning, they were singing hymns of the Church. They didn't see His All Holiness as he entered and he just stood there silently and listened to them (the smile on his face.)
Adrienne Allen spent the first day with a large piece of cement/monument that stood tall near the wall - it was black. She began to scrub, sand and clean the monument....it was a monument for chanters. Peter Peloponnisios was the first listed, he lived from 1730-1777. The monument now can be seen clearly from the grounds, it is beautiful.
We have three Nick's with us....Nick #1 (Nick Brasowski), Nick #2 (Nick Chrissides) and Nick #3 (Nick Grivas).#1 is the master "stump remover.” He has removed stump after stump for 3 days. He has been called "a creative genius".#2 is our cement man (and heavy lifter). Besides being the one we call when we need to pick something heavy up, he has spent most of his time with our 4 Turkish cement workers (and crazy enough, he has found a way to communicate with them). #3 does it all! He is quiet and a HARD worker....comes to the aid of all! Oftentimes you will see #3 out assisting others.
Sara Tomczyk from “Minnesoooota” spent the first day by herself in front of the large mausoleum (it is now beautiful) and the next two with a grave (Bergidis and Diamantopoulos family) of some locals....they asked if we could help them....and she did.
Alec Shamas worked on a monument that was overgrown with ivy....it looked like a bush of ivy -- along with Stephanie -- they cleaned out the area, cut down the ivy and the large tree that was growing out of the tomb. It was a Russian family called Christovou family.
Gabe Otte has spent the last 3 days doing everything. He spent a good part of yesterday painting different fences around graves. The Topouzoglou family grave is now complete. He has also cleared shrubs and garbage, planted flowers, dug up roots -- helped out wherever needed.
Christina Cassar is like the energizer bunny....she keeps going, and going, and going. She paints, weeds, plants...and then she paints, weeds and plants. As soon as she finishes a project, she is ready to move to the next. Together with Adrienne and Vanessa, she cleaned the graves of the clergy (Fr. Panagioti, Fr and Presbytera Garofalidis and Fr. Michalopoulou)-the local Bishop (Dyonisios) asked us to do this.
And then there is Lis Lourie (the "fore-woman"), the GOA Resource Coordinator. She has planned out the work to be done and has lead by example. Her feet do not stop moving...moving from one project to then next. She is a "a mover and a shaker"
Recording this sacred work and these sacred images is Cameron "our camer-man". He has been our shadow documenting this work...and all the beautiful moments for those back home. He has a true gift and uses it for God's glory.
You see, we've been working with inanimate objects:tombstones, graves, dirt, mud, rocks. We have spent the good part of the day in silence completing the task at hand. We see the names of the people listed, sometimes hard to read -- and we do what needs to be done.
We take care of the graves as if they were our own family. These people have no one to care for them....they are forgotten...their tombs are desecrated, destroyed, urinated on...and noone can keep them up.
I am so proud of these students...they have come to realize that these "remains" are their family. We have a strong connection with each of those laid to rest here. All these names have real people connected with them: mothers who have lost children; fathers who were murdered; children who died at very young ages; God-parents, Aunts and Uncles. They are real!!!
Because of the hard work, sacrifice, dedication and love for these students, their memory does continue....they are not forgotten; there place of rest is not in turmoil and chaos....but a true place of rest.
Today we offered a Trisagion service for these faithful who have fallen asleep in the Lord and our laid here to pious rest. May their Memory be Eternal and May the dwell with the Saints.
Even before their conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Ottoman Turks referred to The City’s inhabitants as “Rum,” or “Romans.” In this, they were simply following the local practice: that’s how Constantinopolitan Christians referred to themselves, and continue to refer to themselves to this day. They knew themselves to be citizens of the Christian Roman Empire.They would never have heard of the word “Byzantine,” a term first used to describe the Eastern Roman Empire in the 16th century, and had you called them “Hellenes” or “Greeks” they would have felt affronted, thinking you were calling them pagans. No, they were Romans, thank you very much.And that’s why, if you Google Earth “Istanbul,” you’ll find that the place where our OCF Real Break team has spent the past couple of days working is labeled “Egrikapi Rum Mezarliki,” or “the Cemetery of the Romans at the Crooked Gate.”
The cemetery just outside the northernmost stretch of Constantinople’s famous land walls, often called the Theodosian Walls, after the fifth-century emperor during whose reign they were first erected.Four miles of triple fortifications running from the Sea of Marmora at the south to within half a mile of the Golden Horn to the north, the Walls proved impregnable to would-be invasions by land for more than a millennium.At the north-westernmost corner of the historic City, the Theodosian Walls connect up with a single wall of defense that bulges out toward the west for a few hundred meters to accommodate the once enormous, no longer extant Imperial Palace at Blachernae.Egri (Crooked) Kapi (Gate) was what the Ottomans called one of the gates of this final half-mile stretch of land wall, an entrance the Greek-speaking residents of the City knew as “Pyle Kaligareia,” or “Gate of the Bootmakers’ (Quarters).” It’s just a couple hundred yards north of the cemetery’s northernmost boundary. When present day residents of Istanbul speak of Egrikarpi, however, they are referring to a section of the City rather than to the gate itself.
The roughly triangular-shaped piece of land that is the cemetery is just outside the final few three hundred meter stretch of Theodosian Walls.Its northern boundary is the first hundred meters of the Blachernae Wall, where it begins to move out toward the west. Its three-hundred-meter-long western boundary is the multi-lane highway that runs along the length of the land walls. Its eastern boundary is marked by a stone wall, 350 meters long and 4 meters high, which doesn’t look to be more than a couple of hundred years old.About fifty meters separates the cemetery’s eastern wall from the Theodosian Walls.Another 200 or so meters south of where the cemetery’s east and west boundaries come to a point is the Gate of Charisius, through which the 21-year-old Ottoman Emperor Mehmet II, the Conqueror, entered the City of his dreams on Tuesday, May 29, 1453, following a siege of seven weeks.Outside this gate is a well-maintained cemetery for the fallen heroes of the conquering forces.
There are several hundred graves or tombs in the Cemetery of the Rum, the great majority of them crowded together in the southern of the enclosure.It is rare to see a grave here inhabited by a single person; most contain the remains of several members of a family or even of two or more related families.Most of the markers date from the late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth centuries.Perhaps twenty Christians were buried here in the 21st century, the most recent in 2006.A century ago, this was one of several cemeteries which met the needs of an Orthodox Christian population that made up about a third of the City’s one million inhabits.Today, there are more Christians buried in this single space than there are alive to tend their graves.An estimated 1500 Greek Orthodox Christians remain in present-day Istanbul, a city of more than 15 million.Almost every Greek who could do so left the City in the twenty years between the horrifically violent anti-Christian riots of September 6th and 7th, 1955, and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.After nearly seventeen centuries, the Orthodox Christian community of Constantinople seems on the verge of extinction.
Given the demographic situation, an informed first-time visitor would expect to find signs of neglect at the cemetery, such as graves buried under ivy or weeds, or dislodged by growing tree roots.What came as a shock to the 22 members of our OCF Real Break team is the evidence of vandalism everywhere.There is hardly a grave with a marble covering that hasn’t been smashed, or a standing cross grave marker that hasn’t been pushed to the ground, or a image of a deceased person on a memorial that hasn’t been defaced.Along the entire length of the eastern wall are broken bottles and other debris, tossed down from the men who gather on top of the wall on most afternoons, to smoke and drink and occasionally harass the few Greeks who continue to visit and maintain the graves of their loved ones.Packs of dogs roam freely, finding shelter in the spaces opened up by the vandals’ sledgehammers and crowbars.Everywhere, bones.Some, too large to be human, are probably the remains of larger animals fed on by the dogs, though it’s hard to imagine what they might be – horses? bulls? mules?We found a couple of dogs’ skulls.Sadly, many of the ribs, vertebrae, limbs and skulls we discovered while raking up broken glass and weeds or collecting plastic debris from opened graves could only be of humans.
About midway between the anti-Greek riots of ’55 and the Turkish invasion of ’74, with the Orthodox Christian population on the wane but still significant, a Constantinopolitan named Kyriakos Pamoukolgou, knowing that he was nearing the end of his long life, had a chapel built in the middle of the cemetery, dedicated to his patron saint, Kyriacos the Anchorite (hermit) of 6th-century Palestine.(The Christians who remain here now call the cemetery “St. Kyriako’s.”)Pamoukoglou fell asleep in the Lord in 1972.He was buried a few yards from the entrance of the church he left behind, not far from the remains of his own father, the Priest Panagiotis.In recent years, His Grace Bishop Dionysios of Synada has begun a tradition of gathering his few remaining clergy and the faithful of his diocese to chant the Service of the Epitaphios, or Lamentations, at the Church of Saint Kyriakos on Holy Friday evening.
This past Monday morning, when we first drove in to the cemetery, I worried that His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew had made a mistake by asking our team to help restore it rather than, as we’d expected when arranging for the trip, a house of worship in need of repair.The enormity of the task was immediately evident, at least to me.And the presence of local loiterers, or malingerers, on the eastern wall gave me a sense of futility, a fear that whatever we repaired would be destroyed before we left on Saturday. The students, however, don’t seem to have entertained such doubts.They hit the ground running, eager to do whatever was in their power to restore a sense of peace and dignity to the place where so many who have gone before them await the Resurrection.
Yesterday morning, we were surprised shortly after we began our workday by His All Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew, who greeted each of the students individually as he explored the cemetery in search of the graves of departed clergymen or people he had known.We found five hierarchs at rest here, as well as several priests, presvyteres and chanters.(A monument near the church lists first among the deceased buried here the renowned chanter and composer of Byzantine music, Petros Lambadarios, who reposed in 1777, but we found no markers dating back earlier than the late 1800’s.)As I write this, they are nearing the end of the third and final day of their labors.I will be there shortly, to lead them in prayer for the repose of the souls of those who lie asleep there.I’ve asked each of the team members to bring me the names of the people whose graves they worked on.May God grant them rest where the righteous repose, and may their memory be eternal!
The local Bishop, His Grace Dionysius, reviews the work of the students. Clergy are restricted from wearing traditional priestly clothes by law. Click here for gallery
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