I Accuse the Church and the State
God is not the truth- the Truth is god
Just Another Man
A Story of the Nazi Massacre of Kalavyrta
Bedtime Stories
Musings of a Cynic
- "A Spin Through Mount Athos"
Andy's Other Writings ...
An Excerpt From: "A Spin Through Mount Athos"
The absence of hot water puts a damper on a shave, but a mischief is tickling my whiskers. As I’m walking back to my room, I start flinging open all doors down both sides of the hallway. “Time for vespers. Wake up, faithful. Time for vespers.” Strangers assume I’m somebody of authority performing my duty. My pals tell me to go to hell and hide under their covers. I pull on Fanis’ foot.
“Get up.”
“Leave me alone. We came to bed after midnight.”
“Mary is looking down on you, pal. You miss vespers, She gonna tear up your ticket to heaven.”
Well, at that very moment something incredible happens. The faint tolling of a church bell from very far away reaches my ear. As if the conductor had raised his baton, suddenly in concert myriad bells join in. The whole mountain is shaking, talking to God. Twenty-seven monasteries are urging the devout to attend the first service of the day.
Fanis, me, the others following, we spill out into the pitch-blackness. Phantoms appear and vanish behind ancient walls. Chiming censers and wood-crackling sounds add a supernatural mysticism inside this forgotten Byzantine fortress where pilgrims and monks achieve union with the Almighty through ceaseless prayer. We follow shadows heading for a flickering faint light. We enter the red church. Except for a rising and falling large cross with lighted candles, the shrine is darker than a deep cave. All seven of us settle down inside the Holy place. We sense the presence of worshippers but we can’t see them. A chanting monk’s message echoes crystal-clear. “Oh, Virgin Mary, mother of God, let this rugged landscape be your garden, a paradise, and a salvation for those who are seeking to be saved.”
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