Holy Trinity Celtic Orthodox Church

Over my trips to Nicosia (first for my visa interview and then to pick up my visa and that of some other friends) I killed myself surveying the city. There are lots of historical places in Cyprus (especially in Nicosia) and magnificent historical churches constitute a big portion. And those churches are not merely historical tourist attractions.

One of the clerks at the hotel where I stayed (who was not a religious person BTW), cautioned me not to judge Cypriots by what I observe in the streets. According to her, Cypriots are religious people and those churches are a big part of their culture and church services are so important in Cypriot life that two national TV channels broadcast Masses every Sunday morning for people who cannot make it to the church so early.

I really enjoyed my time in Nicosia from early morning to late night (when I returned to the hotel exhausted from all-day walking) and except for the times I was in the US embassy, I spent almost all of the remaining time visiting places (mostly churches) in Nicosia. Over my short trips to Larnaca, I managed to visit a few others in there. And I was lucky enough to attend all sort of religious rites given my limited time (altogether 14 days over 3 trips).

Long before my first trip to Nicosia, I spent a lot of time, meticulously planning my stay in Nicosia to make the most out of the fortunes I spent over my visa interview/pickup trips (yeah, Cyprus is a terribly expensive place). Apart from getting my visa and that of my friends, I count my church visits as the most fruitful part of my visit, somehow paying off the hard-saved money I lost in a flash. I spent 3 rolls of film, taking photographs. That should give an idea of my time there.

Before my Cyprus trips, all I knew about Orthodox churches was through Russian movies and 2 novels by Nikos Kazantzakis (Greek writer) and some other books. And I got to know that:

1) They have a lot of gold all over those churches (presumably much more than what we have in our shrines in Iran) making them a prime target for looters all over their history,

2) Their priests are heavily bearded sober guys (again, way more than our clergy) always in black robes, wearing highly ornamented crosses and a lot of jewels,

3) Their services are lengthy, solemn, full of rituals, yet very dedicated and very strict about observing traditions (hence the word orthodox),

4) They worship in languages unintelligible to me (I know a tiny bit of Russian and Greek, but that helps almost nothing).

My time in Cyprus served to verify all of the above (more or less).

And when I was drawing a list of churches in Toledo (which seems to be a Protestant city, judged by the huge number of Protestant churches for its average population, although they have a big Catholic population), I was keen to visit those few Orthodox churches to see how they compare with the ones I had visited in Cyprus (or the ones I'd envisioned through books and movies). And I was especially interested to evaluate the degree of Americanization and modernization that has affected everything here (even mosques). However, lacking a car and hence being stranded to a very limited mobility radius, I couldn't visit any. And to complicate my job even more, public transportation in Toledo is virtually non-existent. But now, I can ride my bike to virtually anywhere I wish. Well, after this not-so-short prologue, I have to deal with the main topic (which is unlikely to be any shorter, yet it's gonna be interesting).

When I found about Holy Trinity Celtic Orthodox Church, the word Celtic perplexed me. To my limited knowledge then, the Orthodox Church had originated in Syria and found its way to Eastern Europe (Slavonic countries) and Greece. So, where do Celtic countries (Scotland and England) that were Catholic and later on got Anglican fit in the puzzle? And to confuse me even more, browsing through the links in the church websites (which I have to complain are not so efficiently organized), I came to Ukrainian Orthodox Catholic Church. O my God! Ukraine, Celtic, Orthodox, Catholic, what do they have to do with each other? I gave up. I would find out soon upon my visit to the church for their Wednesday afternoon Mass.

But finding the church was not any easier job than decrypting its name. Unlike the ones I had visited in Cyprus (that would shout from afar: this is an Orthodox Church), I had difficulty finding the church even with a Google Map printout and the accurate address. The church was located in a rundown area near downtown (and I had been warned not to approach those areas of Toledo near dark) and some alleyways lacked nameplates and not all homes had numbers. And apparently, a bearded white bicyclist wearing a helmet was much of an amusement to the folks wandering around the block (which was almost entirely black populated); I could reckon that from their interested stares. And I had to return greetings from my black brothers every few meters.

And when I eventually found the church or monastery (as they call it), I had more difficulty matching its appearance with the descriptions I had found on the above mentioned sites and the picture I had in my mind for a monastery. Have a look at the right hand picture on the second row here and you'll understand how I felt.

Don't get me wrong. I don't believe that a house of God should be highly ornamented (as the ones I visited in Cyprus) to be a house of God. If you click on the photo, you'll get their explanation about worshiping God in such a shabby looking house and I agree with the essence of their word. But without my Google Map printout, it was impossible for me to pinpoint a number-less house in a nameplate-less alley.

Well, I was just at the beginning of my adventure. I walked around the house to find the entrance to the monastery. What you see in the photo is actually the entrance, but as there were dishes in front of it with several happy kittens feasting around (and yeah, I was quite a spectacle for those kittens also as they stopped munching and stared at me), I assumed this must not be where I should enter. I toured around and found another door with the warning "Beware of Dogs" and even without that, I didn't have any difficulty being warned with their loud bark from behind the door. I ventured and rang the doorbell. The custodian came out and directed me to the front entrance (sorry about that, kitties).

I looked inside and realized that the Mass had been already begun and there was no way for me to enter the tiny room without interrupting their worship. I felt like forgetting about it, although not attending an Orthodox Mass at such a tiny house was a pity. They noticed me and removed the chair behind the door and opened it and I was immediately greeted by the barking charging dogs. I retreated and closed the door, but they kept barking at me from behind the door. Now, I had completely interrupted the worship. And now, I was even more like going back and forgetting about it all after all the mess I had made. But those people were so kind and welcoming that they took the protesting dogs to the backroom and motioned me to come in and the priest said smilingly: now it's safe, come in! I was totally embarrassed, but now (after all this mess) I had to go in.

I took the seat behind the door and was given a prayer book. The priest (bishop as I found out later) resumed his sermon and then proceeded with the liturgy. And wow, they had their prayers almost completely in Latin!

In America, even Roman Catholics (who used to pray in Latin for centuries in Europe) say their prayers almost completely in English. So, basically I was not in a much better position than in Cyprus (my knowledge of Latin is not much better than Greek). Fortunately, most of the liturgy in the booklet was accompanied by English translations and clarifying pictures. Still, I had difficulty keeping up while trying to match Latin sentences with the pictures in the booklet and to what the bishop was doing and saying and in the meantime following the English translations. But a visiting bishop (from Indiana) sitting to my left was so kind and would point to the right sentence whenever I lost track. As it went on, I began to understand the hymns I used to listen to (without making out much) in the Masses written by Mozart and others.

And I noticed something else completely orthodox when I entered the room and took a sit. All people were barefoot. That goes with the very Orthodox tradition. It was not so odd to me as I had seen that in St Lazarus Church in Larnaca, but that was understandable as the church was believed to have been his actual burial place (I visited the cellar and the stone casket where they said once contained his body). I also remember seeing the priest at Faneromeni Church in Nicosia giving a Mass barefoot.

What surprised me was holding to such minute orthodox details in America where everything is changing and churches are adapting themselves to change. Later on, when I mentioned about this to the Bishop and that I'd witnessed that only in St Lazarus Church in Larnaca (among all churches where I attended religious ceremonies), he simply dismissed the issue saying it's their problem that they don't observe true rituals; a place of worship is a sacred place and everybody should be barefoot as a show of respect to God (meanwhile, he was OK with me having my shoes on).

And that was not all. I had heard that in very traditional churches, they hold trays beneath the bread (while serving the Lord's Supper) to prevent crumbs of the bread (body of Christ) from falling on the ground. Now, I could observe here what I had heard. Also, when finished with the consecration of the wine, the bishop didn't offer it to anybody and drank it completely in lieu of the congregants.

When I mentioned about social change and the effect it has had on religion (the subject of my research), he was firm: the world should conform to the Church, not the Church conform to the world. Have a look at his strict views here and you'll admire his tolerance, respect, warmness and openness toward a heretic visitor. And when I was trying to apologize for my interruption when I entered, he simply said that I didn't interrupt them and encouraged me to visit them again and contact him with further questions after visiting their website.

For more on their beliefs and doctrines, visit their denomination website Athonite Benedictine Fathers and follow through the maze of the links and webpages. In some pages, there are URLs like this one that are not made a hyperlink. Click on any icon and picture throughout pages and you will get abundant info and articles. And there's more info here on Celtic Orthodox Church.

He also boasted their worship to be exactly the way it was done during the time of Benedict of Nursia. Yet, they have not completely stayed away from modernity, despite holding fast to their traditions. During their Mass, they turned on a CD-player to play some Baroque chorals as the Bishop was reciting those hymns.