Religious Matters

I've been debating whether or not to write a post about religion. Reason against: I don't have much to say beyond my own limited encounters. Reason for: I like the photos.

Photos win. Perhaps this post is more aptly titled something like "Buildings I like: Houses of Worship in Eastern Europe." But getting on with it...

When in Romania, start with the Romanian Orthodox Church (right), of course. The majority of Romanians identify as members of the Orthodox church. It's interesting to see how that plays out in people's lives. For many people, going to church, etc. doesn't seem as pressing as other parts of daily life. Yet people still seem to incorporate their faith by explaining things that happen through a spirituality.

It's interesting to watch Romanians that I know as they visit a church or monastery - they usually light a luminary inside or outside and approach the icons. Usually inside the church there are many elderly people and some young ones as well, coming and going or simply sitting and contemplating. The most noticeable practice outside the church is something I see all the time - whenever people pass a church (walking, or on the bus, etc.) they cross themselves three times. I like watching people on the bus as they clean off the window to see when the church is coming. You have to know where they are, and which buildings are churches, after all! I've only been to part of one service, which was at the Patriarch's Cathedral in Bucharest. There were several priests standing near different chapels inside the church. Groups of people crowded around them in order to be blessed. It was interesting to see how the crowd would move if a new priest arrived. Someone (I think it was a student of mine) told me that services are generally "come and go" like this; services might have a starting time, but the only people who arrive then are the old women. In the hours that follow, more people show up. There are no pews (and relatively few Jews - sorry, that is a joke I swear but maybe not in this context); instead everyone stands. Traditionally the men stood on one side and women on the other.

Other Christian groups I've encountered include Jehovah's Witnesses (they come to my door regularly and one of them knows my name), Seventh Day Adventists (I wrote about this in October) (above left, tall building), Mormons (mostly Americans), and the evangelical Christian student group. Most of these churches have ties to Americans, either directly (having an American minister), with clergy trained in the U.S., or affiliated with American congregations.

Now let's leave Romania. Watching the Serbian protests on CNN this week, I saw the protests at Saint Sava, the huge white "temple on the hill" that is a symbolic landmark in Belgrade (white church above right). I was just there a few weeks ago - it's so strange to think of how different it must be now. When I was there, at the church specifically, there were a few groups of people walking in and out, but inside the main action was the construction (above left). The church is almost completed but there is still some interior work to do. Outside it was just like a park with families playing and abandoned leaflets blowing in the wind.

In Istanbul, there was a mosque - or five - in every possible direction. The Blue Mosque was the only one we visited, if my memory serves me correctly (small photo above right). The Blue Mosque attempts to out do the Hagia Sophia (which was converted to a mosque with the addition of minarets, among other things), and from the outside it definitely impressed me more. But the interior of the Hagia Sophia is just awesome (and cold) (small photo above left). So, like I said. I like buildings.