Of all the wonders I saw in Greece last summer, I think the icons were most fascinating. I wandered into a church at Lindos on Rhodes, and saw the usual line of icons of saints on the wall. The last in line was a donkey with a halo around his head. Turns out it was a traditional depiction of St. Christopher (Christ-bearer) - legend says he carried Jesus across a flooded river, like a donkey would do.

In a church in Thessaloniki in the north, the icons were speckled with chips, spaced about one inch apart. The Turks held northern Greece until 1923 and they considered icons to be profane, so they defaced them. The Hagia Sofia in Istanbul was an Orthodox church, largest in the world. It must have had wonderful icons - I wonder what happened to them after the church was taken over by Muslims.

As a Roman Catholic, I'm not sure I'd like to return to orthodoxy. I think I'd rather have all Christians learn to tolerate and value each other and celebrate their diversity. Homogenized religion isn't the answer.

-Joe Offer-
I hope nobody minds that I moved this to the "folklore" category.