TRAVELER’S DIARY: Greek Country Churches,Part I

The journey to the Greek Country Churches is a project… work in progress through my lens since I remember myself, because I am always fascinating with their simplicity and minimalism in terms of architecture, their relationship to landscape and nature (since they are usually built outside the noise of the cities, villages or island settlements, but also because they are quiet beyond the gossip. They are eerie, steep and ultimately for me, unification with divinity, the metaphysical, the universe. “The minor and the major” as the Greek Poet Odysseas Elytis said (Part II).

Text & Photo: Efi Michalarou

Historically the Greek Country Churches are reflecting the religiousness of the inhabitants of each territory, since they are signs of reverent petition and consolation for the rural man, built after a dream, a vision or a vow. Architecturally, they were built by poor farmers, stockbreeders or fishermen with their own labor and there owe their simplicity. “Their location in the countryside, outside the center of the village or the island, brings us back to the notion of classical ancient Greek city, there the sanctuaries were located both in and out of the  locality boundaries, due to this fact, the participants in religious ceremonies are collectively transported to the place of worship”  as experts say. The roots in some of the customs and traditions, that the local people are keeping alive in the days of the Divine Liturgy and the feast that follows on the day the Saint’s Celebration, are originating in archaic beliefs (Firewalk in Thrace, animal sacrifices, horse racing, placing clothes on steep sites, etc.) That is why the Country Churches remain alive in time, since many families make memorial services for their ancestors on their private Country Church, while through the feasts their role is renewed.