How can I begin to describe a Pilgrimage, I have been a part of, travelling on the footsteps of the Apostle Paul, through Greece, this August?
It was not simply a delightful voyage but an experience through time and different cultures, as well as a window on how these early Greeks evolved through schools of thought and lived their faith through the ages.
We were on a mission! That of retracing Paul’s footsteps, which he had painfully but joyously walked, to spread the message about the good news – the immense love of God through Jesus Christ – to these people.
And it is that same message, the Fathers of the Community of the Missionary Society of St Paul echo up to this day. For this pilgrimage, we were led and spiritually guided by Fr Martin Cilia, whose zeal towards evangelization follows that of Paul.
Paul had passed through and settled for some time in villages and cities working and teaching the people about this unknown God of his. He managed to laboriously sow seeds where early Christian Communities, later on took life – Neopolis, today’s Kavala, the port where he first landed. Thessaloniki – the northern city of Greece, important in Paul’s time; Philippi – now an excavated first century city of antiquity, where Paul was held captive and later fled from; Lydia – an idyllic place where Paul baptized the first Christian woman, whose town later on took her namesake. Veria – with its Bhma, the place of preaching, where Paul taught the Word of God. Athens – where he was rebuked. Corinth – another city of antiquity from where after forming a community, departed to reach Ephesus Turkey, to spread the word there. This was the route we followed, the same route Paul took preaching the Gospel and teaching people.
His spirit was kindled, in spreading the word, baptizing in Christ’s name and giving life to these early Christian Communities, whom he later on provoked, heartened and strengthened through letter writings. And thus, keeping them in his love. I can never read one of his many letters now without understanding the context of the place and its people.
We travelled from the northern part of Greece, the region of Macedonia to south, through mountain passes, deep ravines, evergreen woodland, and a sea of glorious olive groves, and with each turning we got the privilege to savor beauty and a deep spirituality leading to the divine.
…Centuries old inaccessible Greek Orthodox monasteries built on pillars of rock formations called Meteora.
…’the holy mountain with its twenty monasteries of the Byzantine period, a center of Eastern Orthodoxy sprawled desolate beneath the majestic Mount Athos …
…The enfolding layers of depth each icon of immeasurable beauty conveyed to us, not only a feast to our eyes but more so to our heart …
… Liturgy, the space we shared together daily in communion, at Eucharist and at the table…
…I lift my eyes and my heart up at the gentle face of the Pantocrator written on the dome over me…
…The smell of candles and incense fills my nostrils…
…I can feel the presence of those around me … A gift to us all…
…Quiet reigns…
And through the door of the small Byzantine chapel, from across the hills and the olive groves, and a different dimension of time and space…
Paul’s words came to us…
“I pray… that he may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith.
And I pray that you, being rooted. In love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:14-21)
Mrs Ann Marie Galea forms part of the MSSP Lay Community (Malta) and a youth leader with MOY Community.