Finding the Sacred whilst Traveling

Just about a week has gone by since I returned from my latest adventure abroad.  A well-planned trip to Northern Europe visiting several Baltic cites and Germany including stops in Copenhagen, Malmo, Stockholm, Tallin, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Porvoo, Magenburg, and Berlin; places steeped in various kinds of Christianity and Judaism where state domination of society often suppressed the religiosity of its citizenry. But even while travelling, encounters with the Divine happen in the most unexpected places.

My home parish of Christ Church is currently engaged in a year-long read of the Bible: First and Second Testaments.  We are currently in the middle of the Psalms, and I used a good chunk of time on my flight from Newark to London catching up and surpassing my place, so when I got home, I would be caught up to date.  The gentleman in the next set of seats over asked what the huge book I was reading was, and I showed him.  He told me he was Jewish and was impressed that a Christian group was reading his scriptures with such intent, and we discussed the  translations of Pslams from the Hebrew, the language he studied them in, into the English that I was reading.  He was also interested in the order in which we were reading the books of the Torah.  He said that he found comfort in the Psalms of David because the issues they address: anger, joy, suffering, elation, despair, contentment, hopelessness and honor; things that still plague us today...a valid and honest point.

Interior Sankt Petri Kyrka

On my second day in Denmark, we decided to take the train over the new Øresund Bridge to visit the of Malmo, the third largest city in Sweden.  There I visited the main Lutheran Cathedral, Sankt Petri Kyrka . While I was visiting there, I got to witness a wedding performed by an Armenian Orthodox priest and deacon dressed in vestments that made the bride's elegant body clinging white gown look like last weeks left over wet white bread. And of course, their  Eastern influenced chanting gave the whole ceremony an other-worldliness that was breathtaking. An added extra was that the church served coffee and cookies all day...a perpetual coffee hour! Something my son, Rob, would have really enjoyed!

Samon, Guri, Aviv

While visiting Tallin I encountered  lovely trio of Russian clerics on a 18th century Russian icon that came home with me. This was really special because when the Soviet Union was in the game, none of the older icons could leave the premises. Sts. Samon, Guri and Aviv, the stars of this piece of art,  are supposed to support marital bliss. Aviv is the deacon.  The example here is a bit nicer than mine, and I could not afford to buy this one. Mine has a painted blue background, not this fancy gold leaf.

Stockholm Cathedral

This trio will make a nice addition to my icon collection that has its primary focus on deacons ...originally an academic project which later became a rather obsessive hobby of mine.  Now if I could only find a deacon in an icon with a swan....my other collection obsession.

St George and the Dragon

In Stockholm we visited the Lutheran Cathedral.  Of course, it was not always a Lutheran Cathedral; it only changed over from Roman Catholicism after the Protestant Reformation.  It is a monument to the state as well as to religion as it has two ornately gold-leaf decorated "seats"...more like thrones...upon which the ruling monarchs of the realm can plant their royal posteriors. The rest of us commoners can sit in the faux marble painted wooden pews which speak to Scandinavian sensibility and practically. There is also a great statue of St George slaying the Dragon which would scare the beejesus out of any young child.





Grand Choral Synagogue

The highlight of my tour in St Petersburg was not the opulence of Catherine's Place, nor the manicured and pristine gardens and fountains at Peterhof, but the simple yet elegantly refurbished Grand Choral Synagogue. Its simple majestic beauty and serene ambiance as a place of prayer and remembrance stands in tribute to the many folks who have over the years passed through its massive doors as worshipers and visitors.

 

Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe

And continuing on that theme, in Berlin we visited the Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe located across the street form the American Embassy two blocks from the Brandenburg Gate in what would have been just inside the eastern Berlin Wall.  This monument is a sobering reminder of the horror and destruction humans have inflicted upon each other over ideology. I just wish more visitors read the admonishment that this is a solemn spot and not a place for school children to play "Hide and Seek".      

But my favorite souvenir from my trip was given to me by a travelling companion from Germany.  Thanks, again! Who knew Martin Luther could actually be fun?  Playmobile, of course!