Kalabaka and Religious Icons

 Tuesday, September 12, 2023

 

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oday we are going to the monastery on top of the mountain dedicated to St. Stephen.  He was the first known martyred believer stoned to his death. 

 The arranged visit to the convent for nuns near the monastery follows strict dress code.  The women must wear a dress covering the arms and legs to enter the nun’s convent during the visit.  The men cannot wear any short pants but only long trousers.

We stayed at the Amalia hotel in Kalabaka only for one night.  Like the Lazart hotel in Thessaloniki where we stayed for 2 nights, this hotel offers modern amenities, spacious bedrooms (3 twin size beds), and well lighted bathroom facilities.  We also have buffet service for breakfast and dinner. 

Our tour guide Eleni is a wonderful historian (has a masters degree in archaeology) and an awesome project manager.  She may be a cat whisperer in disguise because she herds 31 diverse individuals with full command of time, place, and event for each planned day.  Our day’s tour begins and ends on the dot as mapped without exception. 

After a hearty breakfast, we proceeded first to an icon workshop where Byzantine inspired religious symbols are carved then painted into holy figures.  These icons beautified monasteries and often take a sacred place in people’s homes for prayer. 

These icons do not take an evolving, modernistic face but follow strict tradition in its presentation.  The colors chosen, the postures, and the icons’ countenance hold special meaning divined only by those with deep spiritual knowledge.  To bypass this knowledge gap, we just ask the Catholic priest for a quick explanation.

We purchased the Holy Trinity icons and the Orthodox priest signed the back of it.  To add the spiritual imprimatur, our Catholic priest blessed it.  We can now place these blessed religious icons on our prayer mantles at home.