Saint Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine

St. Augustine, Florida 

Thursday, February 10, 2022

    The Saint Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine located off of St. George Street is the first national shrine of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in America. The institution is an educational center where individuals of any ancestry can go to honor and remember the Greek heritage. Exhibits illustrating the life of the Greeks and how the Greek Orthodox Church developed as well as the St. Photios Chapel are displayed. 

https://stphotios.org/

Exterior Photo 1

    The Saint Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine resides in the Avero House on St. George Street. It is a two-story house that is one of the 30 remaining houses within the historic district that pre-date 1821. The outside of the building is covered in white stucco to represent a Greek appearance. When the weather is perfect outside with a blue sky, it will feel like you are right in Greece. 

Exterior Photo 2

    The architecture of this building is significant because it was built using coquina stone which is a sedimentary rock formed by the deposition and cementation of organic particles on the floor of oceans. Along with the architecture of the building, the landscape in the courtyard is composed of trees and bushes to make it look welcoming and tropical. 

Artifact Photo 1

    Pictured above is a Greek Orthodox Bishop fully vested. Each item from the outfit is attached to a symbolic effort of the Old Testament. There are ten Vestments for a bishop to wear by placing them on in a specific order. During the Byzantine Empire and still today, bishops are ordained ministers who hold the fullness of the sacrament of holy orders. Bishops are responsible for representing the place of worship. 

Artifact Photo 2

    The artifact above shows the instruments used for Holy Communion also known as Eucharist. During Communion, sacred vessels such as chalice, host, paten, etc are placed on the altar. The items are used in ritual celebrations to hold the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Communion is a sacred time of our fellowship with God, where believers remember how Jesus sacrificed his life on the cross for his people. 

Image in Conversation #1 

https://www.churchofpresentation.org/home/

    Pictured above is the Church of the Presentation in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Ever since I moved to New Jersey at two years old, I grew up being a member of this church. It was founded in 1961 and began with a congregation of 270 families. Since then, it has brought together more than a dozen times that number of families, making it the largest parish in the Archdiocese of Newark. The church had not made any significant renovations to its original design until 2017. 

    This church holds many memories for me such as it is the place I received my baptism, my first communion, and my confirmation. It also holds a place in my heart because this is where my family held the funeral service for my Poppy. Growing up, I was involved in bible study and multiple other activities to happen at church. The most recent that I remember was participating in a homeless retreat where we had slept in boxes on the front lawn and traveled to New York City to deliver food, beverages, and clothing to the homeless. 

    Visiting the Greek Shrine brought me back to my roots and my first thought was 'My Church'. It brought back all of the memories, good and bad times. It reminded me of the multiple services I attended and all the people I had met. It will forever be a place of worship for me. 

Image in Conversation #2 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/19/leonardo-last-supper-ross-king-review 

    Above displays the origin of the Eucharist in The Last Supper of Jesus and his disciples. Jesus had taken bread and given it to his disciples telling them to eat it because it was his body and gave them a cup and told them to drink it because it was his blood. 

    The painting of The Last Supper was painted by Leonardo da Vinci. It represents the scene of the Last Supper of Jesus with the Twelve Apostles. The painting is held at the end wall of the dining hall at the monastery of Santa Aria Delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. Leonardo worked on The Last Supper from 1495 to 1498 but did not work on it continuously.

 

Literature in Conversation

    In Ann Browning Masters' writing of "Floridanos, Menorans, Cattle-Whip Crackers Poetry of St. Augustine", she touches upon the history of St. Augustine. When she explains who the different groups are, she says, "In 1777, indentured servants, mostly from the Balearic island of Menorca, Italy, and Greece, walked to St. Augustine from the failed indigo plantation of Scottish Dr. Andrew Turnbell. This group of Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox eventually became known as Menorcans in St. Augustine". As shown, her writing touches upon the creators of the Greek Orthodox Shrine. That the individuals who came over, known as the Menorcan's contributed to the Greek religion captured in the city of St. Augustine. 

Creative Component

    I chose to write the 'Our Father' in Latin because it is the prayer that resonates most with me. Being a Catholic Christian, I wrote it in Latin because in Rome, the Christians adopted Latin and it became the church's language in the fourth century.