100th Anniversary - Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation

Greek Festival 2006

There are three Festivals which I do not miss "under pain of death." The first one is the Russian Festival at my own parish. The second is the Grek Festival at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation, and the third is the Greek Festival at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in "Greektown." I have absolutely no excuses for the first two and maybe a lame excuse for the last one. I can walk to the first two and I usually do walk to the first one.

There is a fourth Festival which I miss because one has to have transportation to get to it. The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) does not provide transportation to the one at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church. From the closest bus stop, it is about three miles on streets without sidewalk and relatively poor visibility for pedestrians.

Because the Festival fell on the weekend of Pentecost, I did not have the time to spend there as I would like. But I still made an appearance and enjoyed some great Greek food. I arrived Saturday afternoon after I took care of some chores at home. The highlight of the Festival for me was spending time with Christina. I met her at the Russian Festival several years ago and I presumed that she was Russian, but she assured me that she's Greek. Most important, she's Orthodox.

There were several people at the Festival whom I know, but not by name. I can identify Christina and her sister Cleo, of course. Then there is Subdeacon Vasili and Matushka Molly. Nick, a local DJ, is also in some of the pictures. He has a garden at the Festival. And there is a former co-server with his sister, but I can't remember their names. This is so embarassing.

If you see somebody whom you can identify, please feel free to send me an e-mail message. I have no problem acknowledging people if I know who they are.

The church also has a self-guided tour of the temple. I took pictures so that we can improve upon the self-guided tour at my own church. Although some parishes use these Festivals strictly for fund raising, at my parish we feel that they are also a tool to bring people to the Church. Often people think, "Oh, I would not be welcomed there. I'm not Greek." This is so wrong! I also am not Greek and yet I feel so much at home in most Greek churches. I can say the same about Russian and Ukranian churches also. In fact, I am probably more at home at a Russian church because I "grew up" with the Slavic traditions and I speak more Russian than I do Greek. But one does not need to speak another language to be at home at an Orthodox Church.

Now that this Festival is history, I look forward to the next one. I am really excited about the Russian Festival coming up in October at Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church and I hope to see you there.

Please enjoy the photographs and if you have any comments, please feel free to send them to me at Reader at Michael-Bishop dot com.