Greek Pascha (Easter), my country's most important religious festival, arrived accompanied by the smells of spring, the rebirth of nature and the flower-carpeted ground.

Greek Easter is better known as Pascha. The word "Pascha", better known as Easter in Greek, stems from the Jewish "Pasah" which means "Passover. The corresponding Greek word for "Pascha" is "Lambri" meaning brightness; hence many Greeks believe that Easter is a joyous occasion, as on this day Christians all over celebrate Christ's victory over death.

Easter is the most sacred observance in the Greek Orthodox faith. Preparations and customs remain some of the most traditional in Modern Greek life and since the date of the Greek Orthodox Easter is based on a modified Julian calendar and the Western world uses the Gregorian calendar, the festivities do not usually occur at the same time as other Christian Easter celebrations.

Preparations for Easter come to a climax toward the end of Holy Week, between Palm Sunday and Easter.

I traveled this year abroad to celebrate Easter in Constantinoupolis (Constantinople or Istanbul ), a town with huge history, and the capital of a great empire, the Byzantium, and the center of the Byzantine civilization.

I had one of the most wonderful and most holy moments of my life in this city and I want to share some of the moments I lived there with you placing them in my blogs. Yes... this blog will be the first of three I will post about Constantinoupolis.

At this blog I present you the religious part of my trip. I share with you the celebration of my Pascha in Constantinoupolis.

The holiest day of Holy Week is Holy Friday. It is a day of mourning, not of work (including cooking). It is also the only day during the year when the Divine Liturgy is not read. Flags are hung at half-mast and church bells ring all day in a slow mournful tone.
Traditionally, women and children take flowers to the church to decorate the Epitaphio (the symbolic bier of Christ). The Service of Lamentation mourns the death of Christ and the bier, decorated lavishly with flowers and bearing the image of Christ, is carried on the shoulders of the faithful in a procession through the community to the cemetery, and back. Members of the congregation follow, carrying candles.

It is a tradition of my island to visit as much churches we can and worship at he "Epitafios" of each one. I follow this tradition every year and this year I am going to take you with me in a few of the most ancient and famous byzantine churches of Constantinoupolis.

My first stop was the church of "Panagia of Blachernae, the most celebrated shrine of the Holy Virgin in Constantinople. The best known and most celebrated shrine of the Holy Virgin in Constantinople was the church of Panagia of Blachernae. The history of the shrine, the fame of which had spread throughout the Christian world, extends over the entire Byzantine era, and the great events associated with it are linked with the history of the City.The first church at the site of the sacred spring was built and decorated by the Augusta Pulcheria between 450-453 (the year of her death) and her husband, the Emperor Marcian (450-457). The church was completed and embellished further by the Emperor Leo I (457-474), who added the Hagiasma (fountain of holy water) and the Hagion Lousma (sacred bath). Leo I also built the parecclesion of the Hagia Soros to house the holy mantle and robe of the Virgin that had been brought from Palestine to Constantinople in 473. It was then that the church was endowed with large estates.

The most important historical event in this Church occured in 626 A.D. The Avars invaded Constantinople while Emperor Heraclius was fighting the Persians in Asia Minor. The son of the Emperor the Ecumenical Patriarch Sergius carried the icon of the Virgin Blachernitissa in battle. Everyone gathered in the Church with the icon in an all night vigil standing and singing the Akathist Hymn in praise of the virgin Mary. Constantinople was saved and this was attributed directly to the intervention of the Virgin Mary. Many emperors atended serevices at the Church as well as carried an icon of the Panagia of Blachernae on their campaigns. The beautiful hymn, "Te Ypermacho", sometimes call the national hymn of Greek Orthodoxy, was sung by all the pilgrims in the exact place it was chanted over 1,400 years ago.

From the surviving sources we learn that the church of Blachernae was located near the shore of the Golden Horn, outside the city walls. To protect it, Emperor Heraclius built a defence wall around the shrine. Later, when the Palace of Blachernae was erected further up on the slope of the hill, a special gate and stairway connected the church with the Palace. Emperors often attended services at the Panagia of Blachernae and showed their interest and respect for the shrine in many ways. Campaigning Emperors are known to have carried an icon of the Panagia of Blachernae and a great number of imperial seals bear the image of the Blachernitissa.

The litany celebrated every Friday at the church of St.Mary in the Chalkopratiae with the icon of the Virgin Blachernitissa had been established. since the time of the Patriarch Timotheus I (511 -518).
The shrine of Blachernae, "the great church" as it is called in written sources, was composed of three buildings: the main church, the parecclesion of the Hagia Soros and the Hagion Lousma.

Second stop in my journey to the churches of Constantinoupolis was the "Church of Zoodochos Pege" (Panagia the Life Giving Spring ) in Baloukli. The first monastery is built on the location of the garden that was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, sometime in the 5th century. This icon is commemorated by the Church on Bright Friday of each year.
During the reighn of Emperor Marcian (d. 457), a blind man had lost his way and the famous warrior, Leo Marcellus, passing by helped him. As he went to search for some water, to refresh the exhausted man, he heard a voice directing him to the spring. In Constantinople , some time in the 5th century, there was a garden that was dedicated to the Virgin Mother of God. In the garden was a spring and it was well known for its miracles. In its history, the fountain had been destroyed and then rebuilt, on many occasions, at the request of the Virgin Mother.

In the 15th Century, the city of Constantinople fell into the hands of the Muslims. The Church of the Life-giving Spring was destroyed, and its building materials were used to construct a mosque for Sultan Bayazet. The church site was covered with earth and crushed stone, so that the very foundations of the church disappeared from sight. The beautiful surrounding areas were turned into a Muslim cemetery. A Turkish sentinel, placed at the ruins of the church, forbade Christians not only to gather at the site, but even to approach there.

Little by little, the strictness of this ban eased, and Christians were permitted to build a small church there. However, in 1821, it was destroyed as well, and the spring itself was filled in. Once again Christians cleaned up the ruins, reopened the spring, and once again drew water from it. Even upon these shards of the former magnificent holy structure, the Theotokos, as before, granted hearings through Her grace. Later, among the broken pieces in one of the windows was found, already half-rotted away through time and dampness, a panel on which were recorded 10 miracles which occurred at the Life-giving Spring during the period 1824-1829.

During the reign of Sultan Mahmoud, the Orthodox received a measure of freedom to conduct religious services. They used it to erect, for the third time, a church above the Life-giving Spring. In 1835, with great pomp, the Ecumenical Patriarch Constantine, celebrating with 20 bishops and an enormous flood of the faithful, consecrated the church which stands to this day. Nearby was built a hospital and alms-house. Even the Muslims spoke with great respect of the Life-giving Spring, and of the Theotokos, Who through it pours out Her grace-filled power. "Great among women Holy Mary" is how they refer to the Most Holy Virgin. The water from the Life-giving Spring they call the "water of Holy Mary."

The Church of St. Savior in Chora was build by Byzantine Emperor Justinian and took its contemporary shape in the 11th century.
The powerful Byzantine statesman Theodore Metochites endowed the church with much of its fine mosaics and frescos. Theodore's impressive decoration of the interior was carried out between 1315 and 1321. The mosaic-work is the finest example of the Palaeologian Renaissance. The artists remain unknown. In 1328, Theodore was sent into exile by the usurper Andronicus III Palaeologus. However, he was allowed to return to the city two years later, and lived out the last two years of his life as a monk in his Chora Church .

The Chora Church is not as large as some of the other Byzantine churches of Istanbul (it covers 742.5 m²), but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in the beauty of its interior. The building divides into three main areas: the entrance hall or narthex , the main body of the church or naos, and the side chapel or parecclesion. The building has six domes: two in the esonarthex, one in the parecclesion and three in the naos.

The epitaphios itself represents the body of Jesus wrapped in a burial shroud, and is a roughly full-size cloth icon of the body of Christ. Then the priest may deliver a homily and everyone comes forward to venerate the epitaphios.

On Friday night, the Matins of Holy and Great Saturday, a unique service known as the The Lamentation at the Tomb ( O Epitaphios Threnos ) is celebrated. Much of the service takes place around the tomb of Christ in the center of the nave. A unique feature of the service is the chanting of the Lamentations or Praises ( Engkomia ), which consist of verses chanted by the clergy interspersed between the verses of Psalm 119 (which is, by far, the longest psalm in the Bible). At the end of the Great Doxology, while the Trisagion is sung, the epitaphios is taken in procession around the outside the church, and is then returned to the tomb. Some churches observe the practice of holding the epitaphios at the door, above waist level, so the faithful most bow down under it as they come back into the church, symbolizing their entering into the death and resurrection of Christ.

The liturgy of Resurrection starts at 11 p.m. A few minutes before midnight the lights switched off. A few minutes at the dark... and the first light comes out at the priest's candle. This light is the "The Holy Light". It is the same Holy Light that appeared the same day at midday at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The priest carries it at the church and he is ready to spread it to every believer.

The Holy light came to our candles too. the miracle of Resurrection has changed everything. The smile has been back to our face. We are happy, we kiss each other and we exchange the greeting of the day... " "Christos Anesti" (Christ is risen) and the reply to this greeting " "Alithos Anesti" (It is true, Christ is risen).

After the Easter liturgy of Ressurection (Anastasi) the people are ready to go back to their home carrying the Holy Light which will bring the God's blessing to their family. At the time they reach their home and before entering from the door the man of the home use to design the sign of cross at the top of their doorcase with the light of his candle. Maybe I was away from my home this Holy day but I felt so well, so warm at this foreign city having around me so many happy faces celebrating the bigest and most important celebration of my religion.

Sunday morning we attended the liturgy of " Agapi" (Love) at the Church of St. George, the principal Greek Orthodox cathedral still in use in Constantinoupolis, the capital of the Byzantine Empire until 1453. Since about 1600 it has been the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople , the senior patriarchate of the Greek Orthodox Church , and of the Ecumenical Patriarch, recognised as the spiritual leader of the world's Eastern Orthodox Christians.

The church, dedicated to the Christian martyr, Saint George, and is the site of numerous important services, and is where the patriarch will consecrate the chrism ( myron ) on Holy and Great Thursday, when needed. For this reason, the church is also known as the "Patriarchal Church of the Great Myrrh". At one time, the patriarch would consecrate all of the chrism used throughout the entire Orthodox Church.

The church is located in the Fener (more traditionally Phanar) (Lighthouse) district of Istanbul, north-west of the historic centre of old Constantinople. It is a relatively small church, particularly given its status in world Christianity.

Since the fall of the Ottomans and the rise of modern Turkish nationalism most of the Greek Orthodox population of Istanbul has emigrated, leaving the Patriarch in the anomalous position of a leader without a flock, at least locally. Today the Church of St George serves mainly as the symbolic centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and as a centre of pilgrimage for Orthodox Christians. The church is financially supported by donations from Orthodox communities in other countries.

On December 3, 1997, a bomb attack seriously injured a deacon and damaged the Patriarchal Cathedral. This was one of the many terrorist attacks against the Ecumenical Patriarchate, its churches and cemeteries in Istanbul in recent years, which were condemned by the Turkish people, and the efforts to bring the terrorists to justice are continuing by Turkish officials.

His All Holiness, BARTHOLOMEW, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch is the 270th successor of the 2,000 year-old local Christian Church founded by St. Andrew. As a citizen of Turkey, Patriarch Bartholomew's personal experience provides him a unique perspective on the continuing dialogue among the Christian, Islamic and Jewish worlds. He works to advance reconciliation among Catholic, Muslim and Orthodox communities, such as in former Yugoslavia , and is supportive of peace building measures to diffuse global conflict in the region.

As Archbishop of Constantinople and New Rome, Patriarch Bartholomew occupies the First Throne of the Orthodox Christian Church and presides in a fraternal spirit among all the Orthodox Primates. The Ecumenical Patriarch has the historical and theological responsibility to initiate and coordinate actions among the Churches of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Russia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Cyprus, Greece, Poland, Albania, The Czech Land and Slovakia, Finland, Estonia, and numerous archdioceses in the old and new worlds.

In his person, Patriarch Bartholomew represents the memory of the life and sacrifice of the martyred Orthodox Church of the 20th Century. After ascending the Ecumenical Throne in 1991, he journeyed throughout the Orthodox and non-Orthodox world bringing a message of restoration and renewed hope.

I hope you enjoyed my religious tour at the capital of Constantinoupolis. My wish for all my friends who shared my Easter moments reading my blog is the Greek wish:

"Have many years in front of you!"
CHRONIA POLLA!!!