Pilgrims meet where St. Paul preached
This is the third in Archbishop George Niederauer’s series on Orthodox and Catholics’ Nov. 21-Dec. 2 ecumenical pilgrimage to Rome, Athens and Constantinople (Istanbul). The archbishop and Metropolitan Gerasimos of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco led a 28-member group from both communities.
ATHENS – On Thursday, Nov. 25, 2010, Thanksgiving Day in America, our group of 28 ecumenical pilgrims left Rome and arrived in Athens, the capital of Greece and heartland of the Greek Orthodox faith. We had dinner in our hotel, the Royal Olympic Palace, and it included – yes – roast turkey as well as many local dishes. We gave special thanks for our journey of faith together, and the walls of our private dining room echoed with some strains of patriotic song.
On Friday morning we were scheduled to meet in audience with His Beatitude, Hieronymos II, Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, but he had been hospitalized for surgery the day before. Nevertheless His Beatitude’s staff greeted us very warmly and kindly encouraged us regarding the value and meaning of our pilgrimage.
We later heard that His Beatitude recovered well from his surgery and illness. We regretted not meeting him; he is the author of many books on theological, social and historic subjects, and has led the social outreach of his church into such work as founding a program of foster families as well as shelters for the elderly, and programs that serve children with special needs and care for the mentally challenged.
Our hotel offered a breathtaking view of the Acropolis (fifth century B.C.), a cradle of Western European civilization, including the beautiful Parthenon (dedicated to the goddess Athena). It was in the Agora of the Acropolis that St. Paul the Apostle first preached to the people of Athens in A.D. 51 (cf. The Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 17).
On Saturday we were taken on a tour of ancient Corinth, where St. Paul lived and preached for two years (A.D. 52-54). He later wrote several letters to the members of the Christian Church in Corinth, two of which are included in the New Testament. The first of those letters contains the earliest description of the Christian Eucharist, the offering and receiving of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, written about 25 years after the Last Supper.
His Eminence the Metropolitan of Corinth Dionysios and many members of his clergy welcomed us most enthusiastically. The bells rang as they led us into the beautiful cathedral, and in his words to us His Eminence encouraged us in our joining together to bridge our two ancient faiths and to visit together the foundations of our shared beliefs. Afterward he and his brother clergy continued our welcome at a splendid luncheon: Because of the Advent fast it was a meatless meal, but the many courses we were served seemed numberless.
After lunch we visited the spot where Paul had preached in Corinth, as well as the Bema where the apostle pleaded his case before the Roman governor Gallo in A.D. 52 (cf. The Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 18). It is one thing to read the words of Paul and to study about his missionary journeys; it is quite another experience to stand in the very place where the Holy Spirit guided him in his preaching of the Good News nearly 2,000 years ago.
On the way back to Athens we visited the exquisite Monastery of Daphne, which is undergoing extensive restoration. It was once a pagan shrine and later a Christian monastery. While there we climbed about five or six flights of narrow, steep and somewhat rickety stairs to view the 11th-century mosaics of events in the lives of Jesus and Mary. The climb was well worth it to see these masterpieces of the golden age of Byzantine art.
By Archbishop George H. Niederauer
From January 14, 2011 issue of Catholic San Francisco.
