Nativity of the Theotokos, Pereira, Colombia

Holy Week 2016,

A wedding that took place after the holy week

I was very fortunate and blessed indeed not only to attend a part of the Holy Week in Pereira, but also to be hosted by Father Chrisostomos at his place. A small church with plastic walls situated at the patio of the Father´s house. This was all that the locals and myself needed for celebrating the Resurrection of Christ. While the majority of the Easter celebrations in my life so far had been in overcrowded churches, this time it was very different. We were 10-12 people. Lots of them were family of Father Chrisostomo, some locals, and a Colombian monk that went to visit Mount Athos in Greece as laity and became a monk! The chants were mainly in Spanish but there were also some Greek, as the monk was very fluent in Greek.

Overall, it was a very nice experience. The whole simplicity, the participatory atmosphere, the calm environment and the fact that we were not so many made easier (at least for me) to concentrate on the most important celebration of our faith.

I don´t know how, but somehow I lost the recordings of those days 😦
However, incredibly, I found online a blogpost on the celebration of the Orthodox Easter in Pereira from last year! Amazing…!