Anastasia

Thanks, Mum!

 

Mum and I haven't always got on well. We fight more often than not, we don't understand each other, we hurt each other. This has been happening since I was a teenager. My brother was the wonder child, I was the odd one out. I wasn't allowed to have a boyfriend at sixteen and when I trusted her and told her I was in love with one of my classmates, all she said was "I'll tell your father and you will be punished very severely." I was glad she told Dad because he did not threaten with punishment, he just asked me to talk about it. And I remember we had a great talk and I  felt like I was talking to my best friend. 

 
When I met Alkis - my husband - at eighteen,  mum was furious! According to her, he was much older than me (7 years older!) and most importantly, he was poor!  Dad said he wanted to talk to me about Alkis. He asked me if he loved me and if I loved him and  the answer was yes. Then Dad said : "That's all that matters and I trust you." You can say, I was daddy's girl, and I still miss him so much. I don't think I'll ever get over his passing away seven years ago.

Mum and I still argue a lot. Mostly for trivial matters . Yet, I owe her a lot. I owe her who I am and if I was mad at her at times, I would like to apologise because I love her very much.  I am not a mother myself, but right now I would like to tell the whole world how much I love my mum. She's the world to me!

. s

Being Godparents

This has been in my Blog It list since last October. Owing to work on the one hand and to the holidays on the other, I’ve never really got down to writing this blog which is a very important part of my adult life. So today, I’ll go back to October and tell you about one of the most wonderful, most touching experiences in my life. That of being a godmother for the first time.

 

On October 11^th 2009, Alkis and I became the happy godparents of Alkistis – the youngest daughter of Zoe, Alkis’ niece. Both Alkis and I were very honoured when Zoe and Stratos asked us to be the godparents of their adorable baby girl. Alkistis was 10 months old in October and she really behaved herself during the christening at the church of Chrysopolitissa in Larnaca. Being godparents is not only a touching experience but also involves a lot of responsibility as the spiritual parents of the child.

 

Unlike most babies on the day of their christening, Alkistis hardly cried and seemed to be enjoying the ceremony. The Greek Orthodox  ceremony of the baptism consists of the following procedure:

The Renunciation and the Acceptance –  the child will be held by Godparent or Godparents (Nonos and Nona in Greek) as they stand in the narthex of the church facing east (towards the altar). The priest, standing in front of them, blows three times into the child’s face in the form of the cross to drive away any evil spirits and adverse power and blesses the child each time saying “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen”. He then places his hands on the child’s head, which symbolizes the taking of possession of the candidate in the name of the Holy Trinity and recites a prayer addressed to the Triune God: “In your name, O God of truth..I lay my hand on your servant who has been found worthy to seek salvation in your Holy Name and protection under the shelter of your wings. Banish from him the old error, fill him with faith and hope in you..so that he might know that you are the only true God..Grant him the ability to live in accordance with your commandments.”

The Exorcisms – The prayer is followed by three exorcisms and yet another prayer, the prayer of acceptance, at the end of which the priest, in summary of all that was said before, asks God to drive out and banish from the child any and every evil and impure spirit which may be hiding and lurking in his heart and make him a reason-endowed sheep in the holy flock of Christ, an honorable member of the Church, child and heir of the kingdom. The child and Godparent will then be asked to face west and renounce Satan and all his works, and all his worship and all his angels, and all his pride in a question and answer form three times and then asked to breath (instead of the old tradition of spitting) down on Satan. Facing west signifies the west, a place of natural darkness, where the Devil, who is darkness himself, makes his abode.

The Confession of Faith – Then the child and Godparent will face east again and affirmatively answer The Priest who will ask them (three times) if they have pledged their allegiance to Christ.

The Service of Baptism

The Blessing of the Water – Now that the child is ready, they will enter the Church and the Priest will ask the Holy Spirit to come down and bless and consecrate the water in the font and make it an instrument of salvation.

The Blessing of the Oil and Anointing – Once the blessing of the water is complete, the Godparent will offer a small bottle of olive oil over which a prayer for the banishment of evil is read to make it “an anointing of incorruption, a weapon of justice, a renewal of soul and body, a defense against every influence of the Devil and a release from evil to all those who are anointed with it, or partake of it.” Some of this oil is then poured crosswise three times on the water in the font in order to render the consecration of the water complete. The child (now naked) will be anointed with the blessed oil on the forehead, nose, ears, mouth, chest, legs, feet, hands and back. The Godparent will then anoint the child, to prepare him, just as an athlete prepares, to battle the demon whom he has just renounced and to slip away from the grip of sin. 

The Baptism – Now the child will be immersed in the font three times with prayers, and then handed to the Godparent who is waiting for him with a white sheet.

The Sacrament of Chrism (Confirmation)

Now newly baptized, the child will be chrismated with Holy Myrrh on the same parts of the body where he was earlier anointed with oil. Holy Chrism is the seal of the gift of the Holy Sprit, which brands all baptized persons with a seal which sets them apart as inalienable possessions of Christ. That is, the Holy Spirit embraces them and envelopes them like a shield and an armor of faith to enable them to live the faith into which they have just been baptized. This is why Chrismation is also known as the Sacrament of the Holy Spirit.

The Tonsure

Following the Baptism and Chrism, the Priest will tonsure the child by cutting some of his hair crosswise to signify: that Christ will be the head of the child from now on, that he will reject other allegiances, the first sacrifice from his body to God.

 
  
  
The Vesting

The Priest now blesses the child and places a white garment of righteousness on him. The child will leave to be dressed and the Priest will read additional prayers at this time. The child will return fully dressed and undergoes the ablution or symbolic washing away of the Myrrh and then receives the blessing of Christ. The Godparent will then take the child’s baptismal candle and will then be lead three times around the font. This is an act of rejoicing with the angles in heaven at the return of a lost sheep, and with the other Christians present at the addition of one more member to the flock of Christ.

The Readings

The readings follow from the Epistle of Paul to the Romans (6, 3-11) where Paul makes the comparison between the immersion and emersion with the burial and resurrection of Christ and from the Gospel according to St. Matthew (28, 16-20) where the Divine Institution of Baptism was established by our Lord.

Holy Communion

The whole ceremony ends with the partaking of Holy Communion by the child, his first taste of the Body and Blood of the Lord, so that just as nature nourishes the newborn infant physically with milk, likewise the Grace offers to it Holy Communion as spiritual food as so as he is born through baptism. Finally the Priest places a blessed gold cross around the neck of the child. The child will then be presented to the parents and the celebration can begin.

More Photos

Autumnal Sunday

Last night, Alkis came back late from work as there was a wedding reception taking place at the hotel and he had to check on things so that everything would be perfect for the happy couple. By the time he got home , the wedding reception at the  swimming-pool area had already finished and everything went off swimmingly! He had a long, hard day at work so I rewarded him with a very special treat for dinner on the terrace. Perfumed candles, lillies floating in a crystal bowl, Neil Diamond's September Morn playing in the background, my famous coq au vin avec pommes dauphinoises for main course and poires a la beaujolaise  for dessert. And, of course, a great French red - Chassange-Montrachet. I'm afraid I was too distracted to take any photos! The terrace is semi-covered with a pergola so we didn't really feel the first drops of rain as both the wine and the dessert kept us quite warm. Within minutes it was pouring! It was one of those rare times that I enjoyed the rain as I go back to school tomorrow. Like my friend Stefania says on her blog, it feels much better to go back to school when autumn's in the air.

Lefkara

Just after the Easter break, Labour's Day was a very pleasant day off in an otherwise hectic school term - the last term of 2008-2009 school year. For most people in Europe it is also a long weekend, not for me , though, as I start workearly in the morning tomorrow. So we couldn't get away for the weekend , as Alkis had suggested. Besides, I had a pile of IGCSE compositions to mark. I got up early in the morning and by 11:00 o'clock I had finished my marking and got ready for an outing. We went to the nearby village of Lefkara    - home to the finest local embroidery -  and had lunch at Iason's Restaurant. The fresh mountain air gve us a huge appetite and had a hearty meal, as per usual when we eat out in the countryside.

 

Lefkara is situated at an altitude of 750 metres, south west of the Troodos Mountains. You can say that Lefkara lies in the heart of Cyprus, because it is only 50km away from Nicosia, 35km from Larnaca and 55km from Limassol. The dry and healthy climate, the hospitality of the people of Lefkara, the beauty of the landscape and the art of embroidery are only a few reasons to come to Lefkara. Thousands of tourists from all over the world visit Lefkara each year.

And since I am a history lover, here is a very brief historical survey of Lefkara.

The village attributes its name to the surrounding mountains: Lefka Ori, White Mountains.
Historical sources show that the different conquerors of Cyprus have left their tracks behind in Lefkara. In the period of the Franks (the French Kings also known as The Lusignans), Lefkara became the seat of the bishop of Amathus.Under the authority of Venice, Lefkara became a sanctuary for women from Venice. According to the legend these women taught the local population to embroider.During this period the famous Leonardo da Vinci reputedly visited Lefkara and legend says he bought a big table-cloth for the altar of the Milanese cathedral.Around 1570, when the Turks invaded Cyprus, Lefkara offered lodging to a lot of refugees.

A Hectic Day and a Surprise!

It seems that today I got up on the wrong side of my brand new bed! I've recently had the bedroom refurbished and I was very glad to see that I had a great night's sleep on the new bed right away from the very first day while it took two days to Alkis to get used to it! He didn't sleep well on the first day we had our new bedroom furniture 2 weeks ago. It was the Christmas present to ourselves! But today all went disastrously wrong.

I was online till very late last night or should I say till very early in the morning. But yesterday was Sunday and I had a great  siesta from 4 pm to 8 pm. So after dinner, I stayed online for quite a while and finally decided to go to bed at 3 am. I knew I had a very hard day at work today, so I asked Alkis to wake me up at 7 am. It took him 5 great efforts until he eventually managed to drag me out of bed. On the fifth effort he said: " Oh my God! It's 11:36 in the morning and I'm late for work!" That was when I got up with a start and tripped over my slippers. I know not many people trip over their slippers but ...I do. 

From then on I did everything in fast forward mode. I washed my face and brushed my teeth, I had a shower and gulped down 2 croissants and some brie before I gasped my way to work. It was 11:45 am when I got to the office...It was one of the rare times I thanked Alkis for lying to me about the time earlier this morning. Once in the office, I had some important phone calls to make to The British Council but as per usual at this time of year they don't bother to answer the phone or reply to emails! By 2:30 I finally managed to finish my lesson planning and photocopy the test for my E3 Elementary. Then off I went to six teaching periods in a row! My Intermediate (12 year-olds) were very talkative today as we had a speaking activity about their favourite pop music! I learnt a lot from them ! My Higher Intermediate tested my patience levels . I asked them to explain the difference in MEANING! between the following two sentences: I saw wolves in that forest and I've seen wolves in that forest. One of them asked : " What kind of species exactly?" Help!

After having posted my online lesson at about 9 pm, I called it a day ! It was terribly cold outside. I read 8 C* in the car but it was only 5 * really. Once home Alkis greeted me with a kiss which really warmed me up! We shared a pizza and some red wine by the fireplace and then Alkis said ..."OH!!! You've got mail!". In my study room, I found Tina's wonderful present. I felt as if Christmas wasn't over yet even though I had only just taken down my Christmas decorations! I loved the calendar by a great artist I did not happen to know - Richard Benjamin. He's a great photographer! The theme is Rhode Islands - the smallest US state. I loved it. Together with the calendar, I also had a great card (see blog photo) with Tina's handwritten wishes in Greek! And such a wonderfullly artistic handwriting. Being ambidextrous myself , I've always envied other people's great handwriting.

Thank you, Tina, for making Christmas last longer for me!