From dgw1@nyu.edu Sun Apr 29 15:17:08 2001 Received: from mxu2.u.washington.edu (mxu2.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.9]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.11.2+UW01.01/8.11.2+UW01.03) with ESMTP id f3TMH79113630 for ; Sun, 29 Apr 2001 15:17:07 -0700 Received: from e3g1.home.nyu.edu (E3G0.HOME.NYU.EDU [128.122.108.152]) by mxu2.u.washington.edu (8.11.2+UW01.01/8.11.2+UW01.04) with ESMTP id f3TMH7v25627 for ; Sun, 29 Apr 2001 15:17:07 -0700 Received: from homemail.nyu.edu (d2 [192.168.78.12]) by e3g1.home.nyu.edu (8.10.1/8.10.1) with ESMTP id f3TMG6I10516 for ; Sun, 29 Apr 2001 18:16:06 -0400 (EDT) From: Diana Wright To: classics@u.washington.edu Message-ID: Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 18:16:06 -0400 X-Mailer: Netscape Webmail MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Language: en Subject: Mount Olympus [minimal classical content] X-Accept-Language: en Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Orthodox Clergy in Greece Pray For God to Prevent Visit by Pope Sunday, April 29, 2001 BY PATRICK QUINN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MOUNT OLYMPUS, Greece -- Byzantine chants echoed over the misty slopes of the mythical home of ancient Greek gods as hundreds of Orthodox monks and nuns prayed through the night, appealing to God to stop Pope John Paul II from visiting Athens. Inside a small chapel at the 16th century monastery of St. Dionysius, about 400 monks, nuns and faithful prayed from sunset Friday to dawn Saturday. "The worst enemy of Orthodoxy is coming, the arch-heretic of Rome," the Most Rev. Theofilos told the vigil. "This is a great evil. We pray for God to prevent this." The gathering was one sign of how the first visit by a pope to Greece in 1,291 years has enraged many here and sharply divided the clergy. When John Paul visits on Friday and Saturday, hundreds of churches and monasteries will shut their doors to worshippers, raise black flags and ring their bells in mourning. For many in the clergy -- who see themselves as protectors of the "true Christianity" -- the visit smacks of a Roman Catholic attempt to establish authority over the Orthodox church, which split from the Vatican in 1054 in a dispute over papal power. The Holy See has stressed that the 24-hour visit was designed as a pilgrimage to follow in the footsteps of St. Paul -- the common theme of a trip that will also take the pope to Syria and Malta. But many Vatican observers say it is also a significant step in John Paul's broader effort to reconcile the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. The pontiff has a five-day trip to Ukraine scheduled for June. The Vatican had no official comment Saturday on the protests, but officials noted that the pope was invited -- in his capacity as head of state -- by the Greek president. During the visit to Greece, which includes a papal mass, John Paul will be guarded by an enormous police security operation. The top Orthodox archbishop in Greece -- who has angered many clergy by assenting to the visit -- has appealed for calm. On the slopes of Mount Olympus, worshippers stood for hours in the candlelit church. Priests swung incense burners as two large chandeliers hanging from its dome swung in circles -- a monastic ritual known as the "dance of the angels" meant to represent the spirit of the Apostles joining the service. "The saints whispered to us while we prayed," said the Most Rev. Christodoulos, abbot of the Koutloumousi monastery on Mount Athos, the all-male monastic community in northern Greece. "The pope should be cursed." .