Various monasteries in Greece

[Macrina Lewis]

My family was most blessed to have a month-long pilgrimage in Greece June-July 2008. I have put up a blog describing the many monasteries, churches and holy places we visited. The children, non-Orthodox Grandmother and I went through Rome, Ravenna, Zakynthos, Mystras, Malevi, Paralio-Astros, Tinos, Andros, Athens, Meteora, Thessaloniki, Agios Giorgios above Volos, and Lavrio. My husband also went to Mt. Athos and wrote several entries on his impressions of St. Panteleimon, Vatopeidi, St. Andrew's Skete, Grigoriou, Dionysiou, and Iveron.

ourpilgrimage2008.blogspot.com (http://ourpilgrimage2008.blogspot.com/)

Enjoy,
In Christ,
Macrina

[Paul Cowan]

Thank you Macrina and please thank him for the tears he brought to my eyes with the beautiful story of his visit. I tried to post a comment to his blog, but was not permitted. Suffice it to say, I envy his time and memory which is so much better than mine. It has not been 9 months and I am forgetting, pray I don't forget it all.

Paul

[Effie Ganatsios]

Paul, I always keep a journal in addition to any photos I might take when travelling anywhere special.

Reading the journal, months, even years later, allows you to relive your experiences. Much, much better than photos, although these supplement the journal.

I will now visit Macrina's husband's blog.

Effie

[Effie Ganatsios]

Macrina, thank you for posting the link to this terrific blog.

Am I permitted to copy a post from it ?

I am still exploring but this post stopped me and held me with its beauty :

"Iveron: Prayer
There is a kind of prayer in which we reach out and touch the overwhelming reality of God. That touch is wondrous, healing, freeing. There is further degree of prayer in which we invoke and invite God into the heart. This is the beginning of the All-Transformative, the Metamorphosis.

At last, at Iveron, I found a quiet balcony where no one could see me, no one disturbed me. In front of me was a wall of large chestnut trees bathed in full sunlight. Beyond it was the base of a hill of such trees; down below the balcony was a fruit orchard. There was nothing else but the sky, and, far to my left, a small corner fragment of the huge eastern expanse of the Aegean Sea.
I was fresh from a nap, fully awake, and as thirsty for solitude as I have ever been. I eagerly plunged into the exercise of interior prayer, and for the first time since speaking with the elder yesterday.

Since the last time that Fr. Mo’een had instructed me in this prayer three years ago and given me permission to try the breathing exercise in the heart with the prayer, there has been nothing to stop me from doing this. There has been nothing to stop me from advancing, with God’s help. What has distracted me for so long? What has been so important that I have essentially forgotten what I am to do? There have only been a few times when I put my attention to it, and every time was fruitful. The later poems of Mysteries of Silence are a sketchy chronicle of those few experiences.

How have I been so foolish? How can the wasted moments add up to years? At least there is another chance to begin.

Fr. Nicholas had assured us that in this particular monastery, the slow, quiet pace is ripe with such prayer, that it might creep up on us unawares. I sought it out; it found me.

Christopher"

Effie

[Effie Ganatsios]

I have a beautiful book titled Panayia Portaitissa that was published by Iveron Monastery and sent to me by my cousin who is a monk there.

The chestnut trees that your husband referred to made me think of the huge trees on pages 98 and 99, 100 and 101 of this book. A huge folded section that you spread out. There is also two or three quotations from a hymn praising nature showing how close our religion is to all God's creation.

Hail trees/wood

Ancient trees in forests that have not been destroyed as much of our forests have been.

Effie

[Macrina Lewis]

Thanks for your thoughts, Effie and Paul. I hope it will be inspirational for people. My husband is a great writer and I love being able to savor his thoughts and impressions.

Effie, sure, you can copy something off the post. Just contact me directly if you want to actually put it in something published, just so I know.

In Christ,
Macrina