IN THE NAME OF GOD
Walking around Thessaloniki, I was struck by the things people and cultures have done to one another in the name of their particular God. The Macedonians (central Greece) were “pagans” who worshipped numerous gods until Paul and the apostles came to Greece and converted many to Christianity. The churches here are Orthodox. (The Christian church centered in Rome became the Catholic branch.) We visited two old churches in Thessaloniki—the more famous Church of St. Demetrios, and the beautiful, small Sophia Church. Demetrios is the patron saint of Thessaloniki; he was martyred in the fourth century during the crusades. The first photo shows the Church of St. Demetrios. In an interesting mix of cultures, Sophia, the Greek goddess of wisdom, is often referred to as the bride of Jesus or the Holy Spirit. The present church was constructed in the eighth century, on the site of an earlier church destroyed in an earthquake. This photo shows th...