tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52863339733630729722011-07-30T19:31:47.299-07:00being the ramblings of the Bishop of Troas while traveling, begun while on Sabbatical in Florence+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.comBlogger381100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-46161269816566185372010-03-18T02:56:00.000-07:002010-03-18T21:32:07.334-07:00

It's Thursday morning. The team is working on clearing out yet another storage room before we depart this afternoon for Jerusalem. Much as I'd like to be out there with them, my shoulder to the wheel, I have to update this blog. I hope they can forgive me someday for leaving the heavy lifting to them... Before bringing you up to speed on what happened yesterday, a word about last night. As I

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-50307468881105980942010-03-16T00:04:00.000-07:002010-03-16T14:09:51.100-07:00

Last night, we were honored by a visit from His Eminence Archbishop Theodosios of Sebastia, currently the only Palestinian Orthodox hierarch of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Archbishop Theodosios is a charismatic and controversial leader who is often in the news here. In the early 00's, Theodosios, an Archimandrite at the time, was a leading critic of then-Patriarch Ireneos for his alleged

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-2044506863831866442010-03-15T03:43:00.000-07:002010-03-15T23:55:14.477-07:00

I begin this blog again on the afternoon of my first full day in Israel as part of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship's Real Break: Jerusalem. From the window on my right, a few kilometers of rugged terrain away, through a cloud of dust kicked up by howling winds, beyond a stretch of recently constructed - and much hated - wall separating Israel proper from the West Bank, I can see the Mount of

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-53298389083312146672008-12-07T09:19:00.000-08:002008-12-07T10:30:35.033-08:00

[T]he tourist, despite all his claims to want to see the "real Florence," isn't interested in its urban sprawl; he is interested in what [art historian] Bernard Berenson called "conoscing," the object of which is the discovery of unsuspected marvels.... He wants to bring home, if not photographic evidence, then at least the interior knowledge that he has partaken of all the marvels that Florence

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-46014894356199239882008-12-04T09:04:00.000-08:002008-12-08T15:06:50.435-08:00

No one can leave Florence without having encountered Michelangelo's "David," whether it be the original marble statue in the Accademia Gallery, or the exact marble replica outside the Palazzo Vecchio in the Piazza della Signoria, where the original stood from its unveiling in 1504 until it was transferred to the Accademia in 1873, or the bronze replica that has stood at the Piazza Michelangelo,

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-88834430670183771542008-12-01T01:44:00.000-08:002008-12-01T01:54:53.931-08:00

I'll be spending a good bit of tomorrow writing up my experiences of the last two days here in Constantinople - the ordination of Deacon Nyphon (ne Nikolaos) Tsimalis on Saturday and the Patriarchal Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-called on Sunday - before turning my attention back to Florence as I conclude my two months there. Today, however, is a travel day. I

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-68949613904379751142008-11-28T09:22:00.000-08:002008-11-30T02:49:14.733-08:00

It's gone by many names over the course of its 2600-year existence: Byzantion, for its mythical founder, Byzas; New Rome, for the role it was to play in the restructured Empire; then Constantinople, after the Emperor who willed that new role and restructuring; and most recently Stamboul, then Istanbul, from the Greek "eis tin Poli," "(in) The City," as that was how the conquering Turks heard its

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-59932800474384555342008-11-27T02:43:00.000-08:002008-11-27T02:53:10.246-08:00

The following is from NPR's website. I was frankly quite surprised to learn that Constantinople had a part to play in this most American of holidays!Why A Turkey Is Called A Turkeyby Robert Krulwich Morning Edition, November 27, 2008 · Here's the puzzle:The bird we eat on Thanksgiving is an exclusively North American animal. It is found in the wild on no other continent but ours. It evolved here.

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-27243240737667383982008-11-27T01:54:00.000-08:002008-11-27T04:32:28.731-08:00

Among the myriad gifts I'm grateful for, today and every day, is the gift of artistry, our God-given ability to share in creating the world, not out of nothing, but out of those things which He created from the beginning to be good, to be put to good use by us, created to reflect His glory by participating in His creative life. The art of storytelling, in its various forms, including the

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-90842723733539802262008-11-25T00:29:00.000-08:002008-11-26T02:17:16.599-08:00

No, I spelled it correctly. I'm not referring to the number, but to a historic monument and what remains of it. The Milion was a building in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), at the northern corner of the Great Church of Haghia Sophia, a few meters from the entry to the Basilica Cistern and few more from the site of the ancient Hippodrome, at the very beginning of the Mese Odos (

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-57268673644689362542008-11-20T04:52:00.000-08:002008-11-20T05:23:20.085-08:00

The clock is running down, friends. Fr Nikolaos, who can be very persistent, wouldn't let a little thing like the fact that I hadn't brought episcopal vestments with me prove an insurmountable obstacle to his desire that I preside at worship here. He arranged for a bishop in Greece to lend me a set, and had his brother Demetri bring them over from Kastoria earlier this week. Of course, it's not

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-22366692412496426752008-11-16T10:19:00.000-08:002008-11-19T06:30:08.430-08:00

Matthew Mallonee, that is, eldest son of my youngest sister Maria and her husband Steve, who is not only my nephew but my godson. Today, November 16th, is the feastday of his patron Saint, the Apostle and Evangelist Matthew, the subject of today's entry. Many years, Matt.In fact, this is not so much about Saint Matthew as it is about a statue of him by Lorenzo Ghiberti, situated in one of 14

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-39611316688364163962008-11-15T11:03:00.000-08:002008-11-16T09:50:13.644-08:00

In my remarks a few weeks ago about my visit to the glorious Basilica di San Miniato al Monte, I mentioned that the grounds contain a cemetery in which are buried several prominent Italians from the second half of the nineteenth century to the present day, among them Carlo Collodi, author of "Pinocchio." It wasn't until today that I realized that Collodi wasn't just Italian but in fact a lifelong

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-22448405296706873422008-11-12T04:06:00.000-08:002008-11-12T04:15:50.899-08:00

In yesterday's post, I wrote that April 26, 1478, the date of the assassination attempt on Lorenzo de' Medici (and the assassination of his brother Giuliano) was Easter Sunday. In fact, it was the Fifth Sunday of Easter, the Sunday before the Ascension. I also mentioned that the assault was made during the celebration of Mass. In fact, the cue was the elevation of the Host and the words, "This is

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-74176200851232658922008-11-12T02:46:00.000-08:002008-11-20T05:24:07.614-08:00

A couple of years ago, as I was nearing my fiftieth birthday, it hit me hard that my time was running out and I'd left too many important books unread. For the purposes of calculation, I gave myself another 20 years, and considering that, in a good year, I get through about 40 books, that meant I had another 800 to go before the Final Exam. Among the books I'd never read at the time: Homer's "

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-46191994230008527572008-11-11T03:05:00.000-08:002010-01-29T11:47:57.114-08:00

For starters, when I refer to the Duomo, I'm referring not to the justly-celebrated Dome of the Florence's Cathedral, but to the Cathedral itself. In other words, "Duomo" isn't Italian for "dome," but derives from the Latin "domus Dei," meaning "house of God." There are duomos throughout Italy, most of them without domes.Florence's Duomo is the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, or Holy Mary of

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-12831580605497815152008-11-10T07:14:00.001-08:002008-11-10T07:14:02.952-08:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-43465763982103841362008-11-08T09:43:00.000-08:002008-11-08T11:39:34.579-08:00

Other worthies, including the King himself, have covered it, and many have covered it well, but why did they bother? No one will ever own "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" but the woman who gave it to us a full 42 years ago, the late, very great Dusty Springfield. Believe it or not, it was her only #1 single in her native Britain! (It only went as high as #4 in the States.) Her only #1? You

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-77326848836872251632008-11-07T12:23:00.000-08:002008-11-07T12:33:27.237-08:00

I've been a little under the weather the past couple of days, Dear Readers, and so have been spending more time at the apartment or the doctor's than here on the Internet Train. It's nothing serious, just a vexing cough I develop pretty much every November, but it's been keeping me up the past couple of nights so I haven't been myself. I expect to have a new entry up tomorrow, along with a video

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-63590883372380133032008-11-05T06:39:00.000-08:002008-11-07T11:34:50.035-08:00

Let us rejoice and be glad in it!Or as my late father, Skevos ("Steve") Zembillas, used to say (generally, when the stock market went up), "Wow! Isn't it wonderful to be alive today?"I know I'm taking a risk of alienating or angering or confusing or scandalizing some of my readers, those who identify the Democratic Party with an ungodly, anti-family agenda, and who imagine the Republicans are the

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-54392910333847961932008-11-04T12:43:00.000-08:002008-11-04T13:07:15.982-08:00

How difficult it is to be here today! The people from whom I'm renting my apartment don't have satellite television, which means there's no CNN or BBC or any English-language programming at all (unless "The Hills" qualifies). No, that's not entirely true. CNN's on from 4am to 6am. Of course, if I set the alarm to get up for the news, the rest of my day is seriously effected by it, so it's not

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-34937457463198866202008-11-04T10:45:00.000-08:002008-11-08T10:42:31.745-08:00

I'm 51 years old. I grew up at a time when there were three major television networks, a public television station, and, in the Chicagoland area anyway, some ghostly channels on a dial marked UHF that catered to those like my father who needed the live stock market feed or who, like yours truly, watched Don Cortez Cornelius host the Soul Train after school. It was not a time of round-the-clock

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-86385447060304190862008-11-03T11:18:00.000-08:002008-11-03T13:34:32.941-08:00

Someone asked, "You said in an earlier post you planned to read Dante while on sabbatical. Have you followed through with your intention?"Long answer: "Hell, yes! I have my doubts about Purgatory, but I sure hope I make it to Paradise!"I'm referring, of course, to Dante's "Divine Comedy," which I am thoroughly enjoying, even though I haven't laughed out loud even once yet. Either the jokes don't

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-14158761973290975062008-11-03T03:14:00.000-08:002008-11-03T03:25:59.533-08:00

One of my readers expressed an interest in preparing ribollita, which sounds like a great idea to me. Unfortunately, though it is simple, it takes time to prepare properly. The name means "reboiled," as in "boiled again on the second day," and is said to best eaten no earlier than the third day. Ideally, it should be thick enough to eat with a fork. Here's a link to what sounds to me like a very

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-36129911543554640392008-11-01T10:52:00.000-07:002008-11-03T11:18:27.804-08:00

I'm not a gourmand. I'm okay with just about anything (as my substantial girth bears witness), though I'd have to be starving to eat cuttlefish, okra, and most internal organs, excepting liver. I prefer fresh fruit and cheese to dessert (unless it's Hagen Daaz) and Diet Coke (with lots of ice) to wine. Back home, I'm happy with Taco Bell. I tell you all this as a way of lowering your expectations

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-51399917492036258342008-11-01T05:47:00.000-07:002008-11-01T07:12:56.618-07:00

A couple of days ago - last Thursday, to be exact - I spent the afternoon in the Church of Santa Maria Novella, a few blocks to the west of the city center. It's among the oldest and most beautiful churches in a city full of old and beautiful churches. The facade is particularly satisfying, and that alone helps to set it somewhat apart from the competition, so to speak. The churches of the Santa

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-70118073150842366292008-10-30T10:20:00.000-07:002008-11-03T11:35:24.077-08:00

Bishop's been a bad boy. He took a video in the Museum of San Marco, despite having been warned verbally and in writing and pictographs not to do so. But he did it, he feels, for a greater good, for strictly educational purposes. He has no intention of profiting from his action. He's put it on line, on a popular video-sharing site on line, so that his readers, some of whom may never have the

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-35201817741010106602008-10-28T04:44:00.000-07:002008-10-30T10:52:48.848-07:00

[Before I get started, an apology. My thoughts on the local cuisine, promised for today, will be posted later this week. I'm still conducting research. Also, may I call to your attention a video clip I've posted of my apartment, called "Rooms With No View." Come in and have a look around.]Images of the Angel Gabriel announcing to the Virgin Mary that God has chosen her to give birth to the Christ

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-244464663463803732008-10-26T10:42:00.000-07:002008-10-26T12:07:30.595-07:00

Today’s worship experience at St Iakovos Church was, for me at least, a more uplifting one than last Sunday’s, for the simple reason that then Fr Nikolaos, understandably flustered by the unanticipated entry into the sanctuary of an bishop unknown to him during the Great Doxology, forgot to turn on the lights, and so the Liturgy was conducted in a thick gloom (as evidenced by the clip I posted of

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-33746015732284805262008-10-24T08:52:00.000-07:002008-10-30T10:18:31.769-07:00

You know Sandro Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus." It's only, like, the most famous painting in the world, after maybe Leonardo's "Mona Lisa." (Both men were Florentines, by the way, but that's not my point today.) Here it is, if you're not sure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_Venus_(Botticelli). Well, the model for Venus (or Aphrodite, for all you Philhellenes) was Simonetta Vespucci,

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-27777264651693408122008-10-23T14:10:00.000-07:002008-10-23T14:14:58.833-07:00

No history lesson today, friends! Instead, let me direct you to a few pictures I've posted on another site:http://www.flickr.com/photos/bishopsavasEnjoy!

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-89371361975492174502008-10-22T09:17:00.000-07:002008-10-23T12:22:01.708-07:00

414 steps: that's how far it is from street level to the top of the Campanile di Giotto, Giotto's Belltower. Strictly speaking, of course, it's the Duomo's belltower - that is, the Cathedral's - but everyone knows it by the name of the man who designed it, the great Giotto di Bondone. Sure, you know him. He painted those remarkable frescoes illustrating the life of St Francis of Assisi. He's

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-89170959734044249632008-10-21T11:56:00.000-07:002009-04-16T13:43:09.644-07:00

Today I visited the Church of San Miniato el Monte. Yes, I know: "saint WHO?" In fact, Saint Minias is Florence's first, and apparently only, Christian martyr, in the specific sense of someone who was put to death because he refused to renounce his belief in Jesus Christ. We don't know much about him. He may have been either Armenian or Syrian, a soldier or a cloth merchant. (Historians now

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-60879402294900247862008-10-19T06:07:00.000-07:002008-10-21T11:47:28.383-07:00

I attended the Divine Liturgy at the Greek Orthodox Church of St Iakovos, the Brother of the Lord. The church is a few minutes walk from my apartment: cross the Ponte Vecchio, take the first right (on via San Jacopo, no less!), and walk for 3 minutes. It's on the right. I took a video from a few seconds before I turned on to the Ponte Vecchio until I reached the Church: it's up above somewhere

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-52836115685812513732008-10-18T11:36:00.000-07:002008-10-19T06:06:58.458-07:00

This morning, I ran into a real live student demonstration! I have no Italian (yet) so I couldn't understand their chants or read their painted sheets or placards or shirts but eventually I found someone to explain that they were protesting an new government initiative to privatize higher education. As in most European countries, university here is inexpensive by American standards. You pay

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-26251291666608596302008-10-18T10:21:00.000-07:002008-10-21T11:55:51.325-07:00

Time to get specific about my situation here, do the "sights and sounds" bits.   I'd been complaining for a long, long time to anyone who would listen that I needed some serious time off from the stresses of the Chancellory, and when I got back from my most recent Young Adult Pilgrimage (see yesterday's post) I had a specific location in mind where I would spend.  From then on, whenever asked, "

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-43461534268334006262008-10-17T07:34:00.000-07:002008-10-17T08:26:31.883-07:00

One of the great blessings of my past few years as Chancellor has been the opportunity to accompany, for three of the past five autumns, a group of Orthodox Christian young adults on pilgrimage to Constantinople and elsewhere.  On the first such pilgrimage, the Young Adult Department of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese arranged that we visit several sites of spiritual significance throughout Greece

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286333973363072972.post-22016640408105410722008-10-15T06:26:00.000-07:002008-10-17T07:34:09.846-07:00

Greetings from Florence! I arrived two days ago, on Monday, October 13th, and hope to stay through early December, as part of my four-month sabbatical from the Chancellory. I can already tell that it will be hard to leave after so short a stay...This is my first attempt at a blog, so I hope you'll be patient while I figure out how to do this. I expect to post on a fairly regular basis my thoughts

+Bishop SAVAS of Troashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04508393042893425734noreply@blogger.com4