Kyrstyn Goes to Church

Quite by accident, I assure you. Organized religion and I parted ways long ago, the reasons for which I will not go into here lest I upset my dear Grandma, who is as devout a Roman Catholic as you're likely to encounter.

My intention was to go see a re-enactment of the birth of Christ in the cave of Agia Sofia. I learned of this event last time I visited the cave with Lisa when she was visiting in October. The woman who "worked" in the cave, which contains a chapel and some interesting, albeit potentially mythical history, informed me that they perform this re-enactment every year on Christmas Eve. It sounded like something different and interesting to do. Having not remembered exactly what time she told me it started, I arrived a little after 8:30pm and waited around with about 30 other early-birds. As soon as I saw the priest, I realized that there was probably going to be a service of some sort. No big deal...I was curious to see what an Orthodox service was like anyway, so I figured I could sit through it until the real entertainment began.

An hour later they had still not served Communion, the priest and three old men were still chanting away, it seemed to be getting colder and damper by the minute, and my bladder had begun to quietly inform me that it was going to require emptying sooner rather than later. At this point the place had really begun to fill up, and I debated whether or not to try and tough it out. Certainly if all these people were arriving, the real show was going to start soon, right? Well, I gave it about another 15 minutes and there was still no end to the ceremony in sight, and I think it was my bladder that probably decided it for me. So I left the cave and descended the many steps that I had climbed, encountering a flood of visitors coming up the other way. It was almost 10:30pm at this point, which is usually around the time that I start thinking of pillows and blankets and closed eyes, and I remarked to myself (not for the first time) how very un-Greek-like my sleeping/waking/eating habits still are.

Anyway, I'm glad I went even though I didn't stay to see the performance. It was nice to be out with others on Christmas Eve, and interesting to spend the evening in a cave with pigeons, bats and incense.


This was on the way up. It's a relatively short but steep climb, and part of the way was lit by only tea lights. Coming back down I could hear those still ascending breathing heavily, and I felt proud that even though I don't always take the best care of my body, I can still kick ass going uphill.









The "stage" preparations.







I don't know why demon sheep would show up for a Christmas service...






I guess the priest must have been moving his head when I took this. Come to think of it, he looks almost as scary as the sheep do here (his blurred visage reminds me of a scene from Jacobs Ladder).



Is it me, or do the angels even look a little bit creepy?








As I was descending, I came across a group of guys in hooded robes serving up drinks and food next to this bonfire. I didn't stop for any, probably should have because I have a feeling that's where the real action was happening.

By the way...this really is an interesting and unique event. I realize that my comments here are somewhat snarky, but I appreciate all the work that must go into planning something like this, and I give kudos to everyone involved - not least to the poor cop who had to tell people that they couldn't park alongside the road below the cave, and who was catching a rash of you know what from many visitors.