Publication 955
By Arcadian on
Friday, December 29, 2006
at
03:08
Location:
Australia
Registered:
Friday, July 30, 2004
Posts:
63
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Inside The Byzantium Church
When lambathes are lit
and placed before the ikones
in the candle holders;
flames waver briefly
by drafts that have found a way
inside the aisle of this old Church.
The priest in his gold vestment
swings the incense-chamber of myrrh
back and forth like a pendulum;
his hand fixed as a fulcrum
steady like his unbending faith
begins to intone the Evangelion.
The scents and chants are memories
that go back to the glorious days
of Byzantium -- add a historical presence
that no sophist with words and ideas
can explain and expound at length:
how our Holy Ecclesia
surrounded by the hoardes of barbaroi
managed to preserve
for just under half a millenia
the tongue of the Hellenes.
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Inside The Byzantium Church
