Greek Church Tour and Food Festival

I was visiting Suzanne over at Window on the Prairie and she had been on a tour of a beautiful old church and she asked if any of her readers had toured any churches.  I thought I had written this post already because goodness gracious . . .this was way back at the end of September . . but I have searched my blog - high and low - and this post is nowhere to be found!  I love reading Suzanne's blog because she lives in such a different part of the country and I also love seeing pictures of her kitty!!!  She and her husband also take great photos!!

Back to my photos . . .every year, the Greek Orthodox church located in our downtown area, hosts a Greek Food Festival.  The husbands were down at the farm and I was out at the mall on that Friday and I received a text from my sister-in-law, Alice . . ."want to play tonight?"  I quickly sent a text back to her that I was thinking of driving down to the Greek Festival and asked her if she wanted to go. She said, "YES."  In Alabama, it is still very warm in late September. . .and this night was no exception . . . I'm telling you that because I remember sweating that night!!  We parked a few blocks away and walked toward the music and the wonderful smells (and we basically followed the crowd).  Our first stop was the church itself.  The architecture of the building is quite lovely.

There was a tour going on while we were inside and the person giving the tour was VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE and several times we slipped closer to listen.  She sounded like she might be a professor.  The inside of the church is magnificent.  It is so different from a United Methodist church (where I have been a member all of my adult life) and it is definitely different than a Southern Baptist Church (where I was a member until I was 23.)  The icons and paintings are incredible and the tile work . . .hundreds of tiny tiles forming a beautiful picture.  There aren't enough descriptive words for me to use.

As I was adding pictures to this post, I noticed that I had typed the words "bishop's seat" next to this image when I cropped it.  I don't know if their bishop is like the bishop in the United Methodist Church or not.  I guess I need to google "bishop in the Greek Orthodox Church" and find out, don't I?  I wonder if he just comes once a year and they have this fancy seat for him.  I wonder if any one else gets to sit in it?

This piece was very ornate.  There were bells and carvings.  (ok - I stopped and went to the Greek Orthodox Church webpage . . it is the bishop's throne! and they didn't tell me if someone sits there every service but it did say that person represents Christ (sort of . . .as the bishop is understood as their symbolic image of Christ the High Priest in the Church) . . .I was looking for a description of the piece below and I can't find it.  I remember reading something about it when we were touring the church.  I can't remember if that piece is just to "house" the document/tapestry/cloth underneath the glass or if there was another meaning.

The baptismal font was beautiful.  I would imagine that someone has to polish it every week.  My friend, Lynn, has pictures of her twin relatives (babies) being baptized and they "dunk" the whole baby (pretty much - I don't think their head).  As I type those words, I once again . . .remember typing them before.  I just can't imagine where/how that post disappeared.

After the tour, we moved outside.  The food lines were so long that we decided not to wait.  We decided to go eat Mexican food at La Paz!  Our evening of around the world travels!!

I love watching the children dance.  I think it is so special that someone has taken the time to teach them about their heritage.  This was in the lower level of a parking deck and it was hot hot hot under there!!

It was a fun night spent with a special sister-in-law!