[ALBSA-Info] Valentine Day and the Church of Greece

[Agron Alibali]

ATHENS, Monday, January 24, 2000 Updated: 01/24/2000
10:8 GMT 

New St. Valentine alternative
Archbishop Christodoulos proposes February 13 feast of
S.S. Priscilla and Acquila instead

Archbishop Christodoulos yesterday announced yet
another Orthodox Christian alternative to the
Valentine's Day celebrations of love, which the Church
of Greece regards with deep suspicion: February 13.
"We Orthodox Greeks have no reason to adopt foreign
models when we have our own Christian examples," the
loquacious Archbishop of Athens and All Greece averred
in his monthly broadcast to the faithful on the Church
of Greece radio. And he proposed that St. Valentine,
whom the Greek church does not count among its saints,
should be replaced by the model Christian couple of
Priscilla and Aquila, who lived in Corinth at the time
of St. Paul.

Last year Christodoulos had suggested that the July 3
feast day of St. Hyakinthos - equally Christian
despite its definite pagan roots - should be adopted
instead by people wishing to celebrate their love.

Yesterday, the archbishop also referred to the
increase in divorces in Greece, and promised to start
"training camps" for young couples. He also denounced
"zealots" who rioted on Friday in Thessaloniki during
the presentation of a book they consider blasphemous,
written by former left MP Mimis Androulakis.
 

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger.
http://im.yahoo.com