Third Sermon for the Pilgrim: a Balkan Journey
I have survived three pilgrimages with Fr. Ilya Gotlinsky, leader of Orthodox Tours. Each one has been a sermon. My journey through Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia (May 25 to June 7, 2014) with 27 fellow pilgrims from the Australia, England, Ireland, Russia and the United States, is the latest sermon.
First Sermon: Russia 2005, “Beloved, behold your future”
Somewhere along the road from Suzdal to Yaroslava a deserted church on the eastern skyline called to us. As our bus drew nearer we could see hundreds of blackbirds roosting in the skeletons of its cupolas and wild brambles growing on its roof. It was not on our itinerary, but we turned aside to explore this grave of prayer with graffiti scaring the lower surfaces of its unremarkable fresco. Fr. Ilya climbed up on a mound of trash in the altar area and declared, “Beloved, behold your future!”
Second Sermon: Mount Sinai 2008, “Blessing from Prophet Moses”
During Emperor Justinian’s reign in the 6th century, a monk of St. Catherine Monastery completed the 4,000 rough granite steps of Sikket Saydna Musa (the Path of Lord Moses). In the mixed company of a thousand spiritual and eco-tourists from all over the world, I reached the summit of Mount Sinai at sunrise on October 21, 2008. My descent was not so simple…