Churches Dedicated to Mary
After the Trinity, of course, is the Virgin Mary, and she has three churches near Kavousi, each dedicated to a specific Feast Day.
Mary, in the Greek Orthodox faith, has many epithets, but most commonly she is the Theotokos (Θεοτόκος) “The One who Bore God”, or the Mētēr tou Theou (Μήτηρ τοῦ Θεοῦ), the “Mother of God”, or the Panagios (Πανάγιος), the “All-Holy”.
on icons.
One church in Kavousi is the Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos (Ιερός Ναός Γενεσίου της Θεοτόκου, Ieros Naos Genesiou tēs Theotokou), that is, Mary’s birthday. This event is not mentioned in the Bible, but the Feast celebrating it is held on September 8.
Mary’s birthday is the first of the events in Mary’s life, according to the traditions of the Orthodox church. The last event in her earthly life also has its own church in Kavousi, the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos (Ναός της Κοιμήσεως της Θεοτόκου, Naos tēs Koimēseōs tēs Theotokou).
Because I did not grow up in the Catholic or Orthodox church, I had never heard of this “Dormition” until the second time I came to Greece, in 2001. Maybe everyone else knows all about it, but just in case… Mary’s “Dormition” is a Latinized version of κοίμησις (koimēsis) when she “went to sleep”. Mary did not die, according to Tradition, but simply went to sleep.
The Dormition is tied up with the Immaculate Conception, another concept this Episcopalian didn’t understand until he was a 33-year-old Professor. I’d assumed it referred to the conception of Christ, but I was wrong. The Immaculate Conception refers to the conception and birth of Mary. She had to be completely free from Original Sin in order to serve as the Theotokos, so she was conceived through a mysterious asexual process. Because she was completely sinless, she was immune to death. Evidently this, one of the “Marian dogmas”, is very controversial among all branches of Christianity..
Mary has a third church in Kavousi, the amazingly named Church of the All-Holy Virgin Protoseptemvriani (Ιερός Ναός Παναγίας Πρωτοσεπτεμβριανίς, Ieros Naos Panagias Prōtoseptembrianis). It has its own web-page.
I definitely had to look this one up. “All-holy”, Πανάγιος, is easy enough. And I could parse Πρωτοσεπτεμβριανίς into “First of September”, after “prōto-” and Σεπτέμβριος but I didn’t know that September 1 is the Festival of the Indictus, the first day of the Greek Orthodox Ecclesiastical Year. The Church’s New Year was once September 23rd, coinciding with some calculation of the Autumnal Equinox, but since that date was also the birthday of the Roman Emperor Octavian/Augustus, the religious festival was moved to the 1st. So this lovely little Church celebrates “The All-Holy Virgin of the First of September.”
September 1 is also the Feast of the 40 Virgin Martyrs and their Teacher the Deacon Ammon.
These forty young women and their teacher were arrested in the 4th Century and condemned by Licinius, the Roman emperor who was Constantine’s great rival. They suffered martydom in various horrible ways. The Church honors them on New Year’s Day, and faithfully records their names: Holy Martyr Ammon the Deacon, as well as Adamantine, Athena, Akrive, Antigone, Arivea, Aspasia, Aphrodite, Dione, Dodone, Elpinike, Erasmia, Erato, Ermeneia, Evterpe, Thaleia, Theanoe, Theano, Theonymphe, Theophane, Kalliroe, Kalliste, Kleio, Kleonike, Kleopatra, Koralia, Lambro, Margarita, Marianthe, Melpomene, Moscho, Ourania, Pandora, Penelope, Polymnia, Polynike, Sapfo, Terpsichore, Troada, Haido, and Harikleia.
Students who may stumble upon this blog: You owe it to yourselves to read through that list of names. I count the names of seven of the nine Muses, of a number of (pagan) Greek goddesses, and a number of figures from Classical Greek literature. There is a term-paper topic in here somewhere… you’re welcome!