November 12-15- The Theological School at Halki

I met my guide Prof Sotiri Varnalidis at the courtyard of the Patriarchate I had my bag. I need to get a collapsible Kalymafki. The one with the case is way to bulky to carry around. Prof V was going to make sure I didn't get lost on the way to Halki. First, we had to get on the ferry at Katabas for the ride out to Halki. We get to the road and hail a Taxi. Unlike New York where you stand in the street with your hand in the air, here you just stand on the street and wait for the taxi to stop. We got in and the Prof V told the cab driver where he wanted to go. There was a discussion between them and the taxi driver suggested that he go to the train station and take the train to Kabatas. It would be quicker (and presumably cheaper). We follow his advice. We go to get on the train and the Prof tells me to watch my wallet because of pickpockets. Mine is in the front of my pants and hopefully more secure. Its good that we took the train because cars were backed up and going nowhere fast.

Got off the train and on the way to get the tickets Prof V ran into some people he knew. They recommended a certain boat. But before we got on I had to get some Kolouri from the street vendors. They are a little harder than the ones in Thessaloniki but delicious nonetheless. Its a nice slow ride while sipping on chai.

Metropolitan Iakovos of the Princes Island is heading home as well on the same boat.

After about an hours ride we hit port on Halki. We get a nice carriage ride up to the Monastery/ Seminary. There are a few ways of getting around the Island but none of them involve a motor vehicle. They are very sparse on this island.

We go up the Hill of Hope. It is dark and you really can't see much but you do have a feeling that you are somewhere momentous. We are led into the building and taken to our rooms by Fr Doristheos. Mine is number 51. It is sparse with a bed, desk, armoire and a bookcase. This used to be a hiearchs room. Unfortuantely, you have to go outside your room to get cleaned up in the morning. They waited for us to have dinner and the Abbot of the Monastery and Current Dean of the Theological School is His Eminence Metropolitan Apostolos of Moschonision.

The morning came as all mornings with the sound of the muezzin. Not as loud as the Patriarchate but its there. Orthros and Liturgy were celebrated in the small chapel in the courtyard of the school. The Chapel is dated from 1844. It was awe invoking standing in the same chapel that has seen such noted church men as- Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop Iakovos, Metropolitan Anthony, and my dear friend Fr Efstathios Mylonas. This is where they learned their theology and were formed as clergymen. My generation has been nourished by Holy Cross in Brookline.

Side Note: Most of the churches and institutions that I visited thus far date from the late 1700's like the Patriarchal Cathedral or in the middle/ end of the 1800's. There must have been a change of fortune for the Orthodox Church because it seems as if there was an explosion of building programs by the Church. It could not have occurred without the Sultan's permission. This would be a very good study for someone. The churches all are in the basilica style and none have domes (that I have seen).

After Liturgy I walked around the grounds with Prof V and Fr Kallistos who was also visiting for a while. I got the full import of how large this building was. It housed the library, dormitory rooms, class rooms for the students, professors and hierarchs in residence. It was a microcosm of the Church. Everything is in a state of readiness for the day when the school is reopened.

I walked the halls and looked in the rooms and can imagine the hundreds of students that have graced these halls. There enrollment here was somewhere around 90 students. I was told that the lowest was about 80 and the highest about 115-120. That's about the same number as Holy Cross in Brookline. If anything, it was very quite and offered some time for reflection and prayer.

I celebrated Great Vespers and the next morning Orthros and the Divine Liturgy. The humbling moment was at the proskimidi when I commemorated the dead. So many Patriarchs, hierarchs, teachers and students who are commemorated at each Liturgy. I made it a point to commemorate my dear friend, Fr Stathys Mylonas. I know that he was looking down from heaven at the schole that nourished him. May their memories be eternal!

Being wintertime- not the peak tourist season- the only ones present were Prof V and Fr Doristheos. Yet, the chapel was filled by the saints and the angelic hosts and those who have gone before us. No Church is ever empty when the presence of the Holy Spirit fills it. It is often easy to be discouraged when we priests look at empty or sparsely attended Churches but we need to look at it from another, spiritual perspective. We are an eucharistic assembly whether it is one person in addition to the celebrant or 5,000 Its the same body of Christ. That one person needs to be nourished as well as the 5,000. The tendency is to validate our effectiveness as priests by the numbers of people in attendance at the Liturgy or the services of the Church but this is not who we are. We are servants of God. We are workers in the harvest. We are not the ones who save but Jesus Christ who saved and continues to save us.

Later in the afternoon I walked out of the Monastery compound down the road to the waterfront. It was an easy 10-15 minute walk. The waterfront is dotted by cafes and restaurants and sat down and had two cappuccinos and just watched the people. I may be in a different country but the people were the same as all over the world. People hurrying to the ferry to get back to the mainland, families meeting one another, kids playing with each other. On the way back I walked through another side street and was intrigued by another culinary masterpiece- fillo dough with pasta and soft (feta?) cheese. I got my piece and went and sat by the waterside and savored the flavors. Tomorrow begins the pre-Christmas fast. They do fast at the Patriarchate.
On the way up I passed a shop selling donair. Instead of pork that we are used to, it is made of chicken. I got one and started eating it on the way up the Hill of Hope.

It is a steep climb up. It is the only way up to the Theological School. I am treading the same road hundreds. if not thousands, have tread before.

Monday morning after breakfast, I was being escorted to the Patriarchate by a gentleman whose name was Iask (That is what his name was). We had the carriage waiting for us. I needed to got to the other side of the carriage my eye was draw to a small triangular penant. It said *ORDUSPOR*. I was intrigued by this and come to find out this was the soccer team from Ordu in Pontus. The carriage driver was Ordutis so was my travel companion Iask. I was told that most of the carriage drivers on Halki were from Ordu! They may be Muslim but still Patrioti!

We sat on the water's edge as we waited for a while and sipped "çaı". Soon the ferry came and we were off for the Poli once again. As we pulled away from Halki the magnificence of the "Hill of Hope" became evident. It commanded a pristine spot on Halki.  It is a reminder of the times when ethnic Greeks/ "Rum" lived among the Muslim Turks. Although second class citizens in many respects this was,  nevertheless, their home- their land. 

Whatever the politic situation may be at the moment I believe that positive change is always possible. We can point out that the Patriarch was allowed to celebrate the Divine Liturgy at Panagia Soumela in Pontus for the first time since 1923 when the Pontian Greeks had to leave their ancestral homeland. Granted it was a ethnic cleansing but the Greek state does not entirely have clean hands in this. Both Venizelos on the Greek side and Ataturk on the Turkish side, for their own reasons, bargained for this in the Treaty of Laussane. It was not until I read the book Twice a Stranger: How Mass Expulsion Forged Modern Greece and Turkey by Bruce Clark that I got an appreciation of the political implications of the population exchange and the attempt to forge homogeneous nations. It continued to get the world into trouble since then. 

Agia Sophia on the Right. Blue Mosque is on the left.

It is only one hour to Kabatas. We passed the coast by Chalcedon where the 4th Ecumencical Council was held in the 5th century. As we approached Constantinople, the absolute commanding presence of Agia Sophia was very much apparent. From quite a distance one can make out the Emperor Justinian's crowning monument. You can probably imagine Constantinople, the Queen City, as it was in its heyday (without the minarets)- Sparkling in the sunlight towering above all the buildings of the old city as it does to this day. Modern Istanbul is spread out more than the old Constantinople. The new part of the city is across the Golden Horn in the Beyoğlu – Galata district.

We got off the Ferry and headed to a car that was sent by the Patriarchate. On the way I decided to pay homage to my new soccer team- Orduspor- by getting a soccer scarf.