"The Monastery of Agios Savvas in Kalymnos"
St. Savvas the New is the patron saint of the Greek Island of Kalymnos, where he lived during the last twenty years of his life as the priest and spiritual father of the nuns of the Convent of All Saints. He was a great ascetic, confessor, iconographer and miracle-worker. He is one of the recently recognized saints in the Orthodox Church.
Saint Savvas was born in 1862 in Eastern Thrace and was baptized with the name of Vasilios. From a young age he had a calling for the holy monastic life and so he left for Mount Athos as a teen where he entered St. Anne's Skete. Along with the usual monastic duties, he learned iconography and Byzantine music.
After a few years, he traveled to Jerusalem for a pilgrimage to the holy sites, and there he entered the monastery of St. George Hozevitou. After a period of being a novice, he was tonsured a monk and given the name of Savvas.
Παραδοσιακό Καλύμνικο Σπίτι
The modern history of Kalymnos is unbreakably connected with the sea and mainly the sponges peach. In...
This is a view of the new Harbour of Kalimnos island in the center town. You have a view of the monas...
Reconstruction of the interior of a 19th c. mansion including the dining room , living room , store r...
Reconstruction of the interior of a 19th c mansion including the dinning room , living room , store r...
Church of the Holy Cross - 15th century - Kalymnos - Greece Hora was once the capital town of Kalymno...
Telendos is a small island 0,5 miles of the coast of Kalymnos. It's a part of Dodecanese island compl...
One of the most important crags on Kalymnos lies just above the sleepy village Armeos. In actual fact...
Europe is generally agreed to be the birthplace of western culture, including such legendary innovations as the democratic nation-state, football and tomato sauce.
The word Europe comes from the Greek goddess Europa, who was kidnapped by Zeus and plunked down on the island of Crete. Europa gradually changed from referring to mainland Greece until it extended finally to include Norway and Russia.
Don't be confused that Europe is called a continent without looking like an island, the way the other continents do. It's okay. The Ural mountains have steadily been there to divide Europe from Asia for the last 250 million years. Russia technically inhabits "Eurasia".
Europe is presently uniting into one political and economic zone with a common currency called the Euro. The European Union originated in 1993 and is now composed of 27 member states. Its headquarters is in Brussels, Belgium.
Do not confuse the EU with the Council of Europe, which has 47 member states and dates to 1949. These two bodies share the same flag, national anthem, and mission of integrating Europe. The headquarters of the Council are located in Strasbourg, France, and it is most famous for its European Court of Human Rights.
In spite of these two bodies, there is still no single Constitution or set of laws applying to all the countries of Europe. Debate rages over the role of the EU in regards to national sovereignty. As of January 2009, the Lisbon Treaty is the closest thing to a European Constitution, yet it has not been approved by all the EU states.
Text by Steve Smith.