www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall It was all Greek to me!

Last night I attended The Burial of Christ--Lamentations at the Tomb of the Lord at a local Greek Orthodox parish.

It was beautiful, though not speaking Greek I understood very little, it was all Greek to me!

I met MizByz1974 there and I noticed something very amusing. I do not look Greek! For those who do not know MizByz/Karen ... she is a lovely and beautiful woman with goregous brown eyes and dark curly hair. Her complexion is not quite olive but not yet pale. She is just a tad bit on the shorter side of the height spectrum (she is vertically challenged but don't tell her I said so). And many people approached her speaking Greek.

No one said anything to me in Greek. Could that be because I am so pale skinned as to nearly glow in the dark? Because my eyes are a vivid shade of blue? Perhaps because my hair is red? Is it because I look like what I am? The descendent of Irish and German immigrants?

I was the proverbial "Who in this picture doesn't belong." hahaha

I had a wonderful experience and the chanting in Greek was beautiful ... but does anyone have a "Speek Greek in a Week" program I could borrow!

Have a wonderful and blessed day! And to all of our Orthodox members and Old Calendarist Catholic members ...

Happy Easter

Carole

Dear Carole and our esteemed members,

Christos anesti! Alithos anesti!

Here are a few online resources:

http://www.kypros.org/LearnGreek/
http://www.ibiblio.org/koine/
http://www.greek-language.com/learn.greek/
http://www.monachos.net/greek/index.shtml

and under the Liturgical Music area:
http://euphrosynoscafe.com/portal/

I believe these are cost free, for the most part.

In Christ,
Michael

Thank you, Michael! Hey who knows maybe someday I'll even be able to correspond in Greek with friend of mine who lives just outside of Athens. It's a good thing that he speaks English because my knowledge of Greek is limited to food names!

Carole

Hi Carole!

Thank you for the compliments... you make me sound like Miss Greek America.

I guess I can pass for Greek or Italian, though I am neither... my dark eyes and olive skin come from my Russian-Jewish paternal grandfather. Of course, with that comes also the dark undereye circles that no amount of sleep in the world can get rid of...

My mom (who was of English descent) was very fair with light hair and blue eyes like you. But look at it this way, in northwestern Europe you'd fit right in, and people would be addressing you in German, Dutch, Swedish, etc. :-)

Did you get the pics I sent okay?

God bless,

Karen

I hope you both enjoyed the service(s). Apokathelosis and Lamentations are pretty much my favorite for the whole year, and the hymns are just beautiful.

You could feel today in the liturgy for Great and Holy Saturday that the feast is almost here.

�Today a tomb holds Him who holds the creation in the hollow of His hand; a stone covers Him who covered the heavens with glory. Life sleeps and hell trembles, and Adam is set free from his bonds. Glory to Thy dispensation, whereby Thou hast accomplished all things, granting us an eternal Sabbath, Thy most holy Resurrection from the dead.�

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Christos anesti!

Yes, I enjoyed it very much. I especially loved the procession with the tomb. And it was really neat how, at the end of the service, Fr. gave out the fresh flowers from the tomb to the people. I have mine on the table in my prayer corner, right in front of my big Russian Resurrection icon.

God bless,

Karen

Dear Carole,

Although I am glad that you enjoyed the service, I am sorry that the particular church you attended did the service primarily in Greek.

There are many, many parishes of the Greek Archdiocese across the country that do the service in all English, mostly English, or at the very least, half and half.

Next time you visit a Greek Orthodox parish, you may want to inquire into the different ones around to find out. Generally, the make-up of the congregation determines the language used.

From what you said about looking non-Greek and standing out like a sore thumb because of it, it sounds to me like that parish's congregants are primarily Greek born and their offspring.

We have so many mixed couples in my parish that seeing Irish looking men, women and children is no big deal. We also have some people of Greek extraction, like me, whose coloring might surprise you--contrary to popular belief, we Greeks do come in blonde hair, light brown hair, ivory skin, and we also can have green and/or blue eyes...

For instance, my daughter has blue eyes and light brown/honey hair, my father had blue eyes, my grandmother had blue eyes, my husband has green eyes, and my mom and I have green eyes and blond hair, and we are not the only ones, though, we are admittedly, not the majority. On the other hand, my son is so dark, with dark curly hair and dark brown eyes, that he doesn't look like he could possibly be my son!

Regards,
Alice

Alice,

In the area of Florida in which I live there is a sizeable Greek community. Everyone was friendly and I was not snubbed, just not addressed in Greek! I actually find it to be wonderful how the Greek Orthodox parishes in our area strive to maintain connection to their cultural roots. I could wish that my German relatives had done as much (but I suppose emmigrating here just before the start of WWII would have made being German a bit uncomfortable for them).

I didn't mind at all that the service was primarily in Greek as that was part of why I chose to go. I was interested not only in the Orthodox celebration but in hearing the Greek language.

I found it to be like attending the Latin Mass - ethereally beautiful in spite of my lack of understanding.

There are other Orthodox parishes (of varying jurisidictions) here that I can visit. But I found the Greek parish to be really interesting.

In Christ,

Carole

Indeed he is risen Karen. Let us celebrate his glorious third day resurrection!

We have white carnations from Lamentations on our icon stand as well. Because they are blessed we will let them dry with the palms and pussy willows and then burn them together.

Andrew

Dear Carole you said:

[QUOTEI could wish that my German relatives had done as much (but I suppose emmigrating here just before the start of WWII would have made being German a bit uncomfortable for them).
[/QUOTE]

I say:

Luckily for them, they managed to leave Germany before the war. I recall my girl friend's mother telling me how they owned a great deal of land in Germany. Now I was very young and didn't realize why she was saying it. It happened that her brother went back to fight in the German army and I believe the Hitler stated that whoever does not go back to Germany to fight will lose their land. It was a Norwegian neighborhood, so I guess she was on the defensive.

Christ is risen!

Yes, carnations is what we got too-- white ones, though some people got red ones too.

This church is really beautiful, and if my beloved parish should close, it would probably be my new parish.

God bless,

Karen