Imagine going to the net! If you could not climb up to the top of the monastery at Varlaam in Meteora, the only way up was in the net. People, building equipment, material, and the goods, all had to be placed in a net and pulled up 300 meters. The […]

This first icon in the antechamber depicts the spirit-fighting church in a very special moment, in the border between the present and the future life. Imagine martyrdom, mostly in the time of the Romans. Some of them were so cruel that even the sickest human imagination counts them as sick, martyrdom, […]

At the Varlaam Church of Meteora, Kostas gave us an introduction to Greek icons. The most important part of this picture is the golden halo seen in the icon. Look, at how the 3 figures are depicted (Mary, Jesus, and John the Baptist. The figures are flat. Notice the angels. […]

At the end of our climb we will reach the Varlaam Church of Meteora.

In the Eastern church an icon is not just an artifact to be venerated, but it is a book which has to be read – a book where we don’t only see the actual event, because at the same time we can read the doctrine. And that’s what we were […]

It’s easy to travel by bus and easy to use the stairs. However, for centuries and centuries, communication with a monastery used to be through a pulley, a rock and a net. People, regardless of who they were, even if they were bishops, princes and kings, when they wanted to […]

We looked forward to seeing the oldest music chant ever scored, from the 2nd century BC. After lunch we would see it in the monastery. OK, music students, do you remember your modes? Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian. The names of the modes correspond to places of the […]