A photo montage of my best pictures from Holy Week and Pascha. High Def video at my YouTube page.

Today there was a parade for Greek Independence Day. The actual day of Greek independence was on Annunciation in the middle of Lent, a time when we don't celebrate much, so the parade was today. I can't say I'm a fan of nationalism in any form, but I can enjoy participating with people in things that are important to them. Being in the parade myself I only got to take pictures of our group, and it was hard taking shots among a crowd, plus at midday the light was too bright. Still, I got a few good shots. Enjoy!

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A few more pictures are on the Greek Independence Day photo page. For full-sized pictures look in the gallery.

This is me reading John 20:19-25 at the Agape Vespers on Pascha Sunday. It's in three parts. The camera mic didn't pick it up so well, so you'll have to turn the volume up, especially for the first reading.

The readings were done in 10 different languages, this is a selection from most of them. There is also some footage from the end of Agape Vespers and a little Greek folk dancing from our Paschal feast after services.

I hope everyone will enjoy these pictures I'm posting from Holy Week. I wasn't able to add much to the services, so this is my offering for the week. I'm sure I must have annoyed everyone moving around the chapel and taking flash shots in people's faces, but I tried hard to take pictures that would be memorable, pictures that said something about what was going on. It's not easy to get a good shot. Photography is becoming a throw away art. Everyone with a cheap phone has a camera and any picture can be touched up in Photoshop. Pictures are often uploaded to Facebook to be glanced at and forgotten. But to make something beautiful takes care and patience. It says a lot about you, the way you see other people.

Photography isn't my favorite hobby, videography is. (please watch some of my videos from Taiwan) I filmed a lot of religious ritual in Taiwan, and tried to apply the same principals toward showing our own rites. I learned this week that even though a photograph shows less, in freezing a particular moment you can capture and display a certain action that a video of the same even would pass over. I'm far from a professional, but I hope everyone will see something beautiful here.

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Note: If you have a little time, just look at the best pictures (122 pics). All the pics are in the full album for Holy Week (321 pics). These are print-quality. Everyone has my permission to use any photos that you or your friends or family are in. If you want, print them, or upload them to your Facebook. I'd only ask no one puts them on Flicr or other photo sites, I'll be doing that myself for all the best ones I took. If you want to print a picture, go to that picture in the album, click on the picture. It will open in a new window, full sized. Right click to save it. These are very big, 1-2mb. Most of the close-ups of people are here.

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4/11-12 - Saturday Vespers, Palm Sunday Liturgy and Bridegroom Service

Click to see the best pics from Saturday and Palm Sunday

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4/13 - Holy Monday - Presanctified Liturgy and Bridegroom Service

Click to see the best pics from Holy Monday

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4/14 - Holy Tuesday - Presanctified Liturgy and Bridegroom Service

Click to see the best pics from Holy Tuesday

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4/15 - Holy Wednesday - Presanctified Liturgy, Afternoon and Evening Divine Unction Services

Click to see the best pics from Holy Wednesday

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4/16 - Holy Thursday - Vesperal Liturgy and the Twelve Gospels

Click to see the best pics from Holy Thursday

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4/17 - Great Friday - Royal Hours, Vesperal Liturgy, and Service of the Epitaphios

Click to see the best pics from Great Friday

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4/18 - Holy Saturday - Vesperal Liturgy

Click to see the best pics from Holy Saturday

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Great and Holy Pascha

Click to see the best pics from Pascha

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4/19 - Sunday - Agape Vespers

Click to see the best pics from Agape Vespers

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Paschal Feast

Click to see the best pics from the Paschal Feast

This is a video I put together to very briefly show my life in Taiwan. It's set to the music of a couple of Taiwanese folk songs. I may be gone for a few years, but Taiwan will always be my home.

This is a project I've been working on for a long time. It is a collection of religious rituals. Videos clips are organized by the type of ritual without explanation as to the purpose or meaning of the rites. This is simply intended to introduce you to the sights and sounds of religious ritual in Taiwan.

I'm getting all the video work I've been putting off done before I go. Here's one I made of Annie with a couple of Irish instrumentals.

It's been so long since I've written anything I don't care to think about it. I'm working at a publishing company in Taipei now and that takes up most of my time. I'm also getting ready to go back to the States for three years to go to Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Seminary in Boston. I thought I should buy some stuff while I was here and could get it cheaper, and one thing I bought was a a digital SLR camera. I've been playing with it for a few weeks and have posted some of my new photos. Here are a few, have a look at the pages for Annie and BiTan for the rest. New one will be at the bottom.

Enjoy!!!

AMMAN - Lying underneath Saint Georgeous Church in Rihab, Mafraq, is what archaeologists describe as the first Christian church in the world.

“We have uncovered what we believe to be the first church in the world, dating from 33AD to 70AD,” said Archaeologist Abdul Qader Hussan, head of the Rihab Centre for Archaeological Studies.

The discovery was “amazing”, Hussan told The Jordan Times.

“We have evidence to believe this church sheltered the early Christians: the 70 disciples of Jesus Christ,” the scholar said.

Go to the Full Article

Last Sunday began the Dragon Boat Festival, a popular public holiday in Taiwan. The video explains what the festival is all about.

Note: The video is about 6 and a half minutes long. It will buffer for a moment before it begins to play. If it begins stopping pause it for a few minutes and then play it until the end.