Back In The USA

On Saturday, August 25, 2011, at 11 p.m., Turkish Airlines flight number 11 touched down at JFK airport in New York City. Kathy and I were now back in the USA. We disembarked the aircraft and snaked our way through the Customs and Immigration line.

After retrieving our luggage, we went directly to the Eventi Hotel in mid-town Manhattan for some much needed rest and sleep. However, sleep did not come quickly. Yes, we were both tired from an 11 hour trans-Atlantic flight. However, strange as it may sound, we were both homesick for Ankawa. From our 20th floor hotel room, we looked over a forest of magnificent, high rise buildings, including the Empire State Building. However, our hearts were longing for the beauty and simplicity of the Ankawa city scape. After much reminiscing and reflecting upon life in Ankawa versus life in America, we both drifted off to sleep around 3 or 4 a.m.  It is that feeling of homesickness that we have which has caused me to delay writing and posting to this blogspot.




We were up by 9 a.m.  We enjoyed a good pancake breakfast in our room, as we looked east, out over the skyline of New York City.

 Kathy and I walked 2 blocks in order to attend the 11 a.m. Mass at St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church.  The last Mass in English that we had gone to was 2 months ago.  The liturgy was beautiful, and we felt like we were fully participating in the worship and adoration of our Lord and Saviour.

The main altar of the church.

 

This is the domed ceiling above the altar.  This scene, as well as all the other photos of St. Francis Church, was created with small ceramic tiles.  They are not painted!

 

 

 

 

After Mass we returned to our hotel room to change into our casual clothes.  Then we embarked on a walking tour of mid-town Manhattan.  We explored Penn Station, which is directly under Madison Square Garden.  This we did in order to get our Amtrak train tickets that we would need the following day for our journey to Albany, New York.  Kathy and I were going to visit Bob and his family.  If you recall, Bob is Kathy's older brother.  He had suffered a major heart attack back at the end of June.  Now, he had recovered enough to be released from the hospital.  He had been in the hospital for about 8 weeks.
 
Next we went to Macy's flagship store, where we rode the escalators to the 8th floor.  The 8th floor is the place where Miracle on 34th Street was filmed.  We were not there long as we had no desire to go shopping.



From Macy's we walked to St. Patrick's Cathedral.  There was quite a bit of scaffolding erected, both inside and outside of the church, for restoration work.  I was somewhat limited in the photos that I could take.  Therefore, I have searched the internet for the images posted.



Above, a view of the front of the cathedral, and a photo of the main altar.



Above, a stained glass window depicting St. Patrick, and a photo of one of the many, many side altars.





 After exploring St. Patrick's, we decided to procure a pedicab to take us back to the hotel.  Although we had walked from the hotel to St. Patrick's, we were a bit too tired for walking back the 20 blocks.

Once at the hotel, we went to the restaurant for the free wine and cheese party.  There we sat at a table with some tourists from Bologna, Italy.  One of the ladies spoke a little English, and I spoke some Spanish, so we were able to have a very nice converation.  Kathy and I then retired to our room just to relax and enjoy the view from the 20th floor.  Here are some photos I took from our hotel room.

 A view from the window looking down to the street below, and also looking to the northeast at the Empire State Building.

 

 

A view looking southward down the Avenue of the Americas.  You can see the two  "New" World Trade Center towers under construction.

 

Kathy and I were in New York City for a day and a half.  Sightseeing was very limited.  However, the activity that we most enjoyed was going to Mass on Sunday.  The place we visited that was the most impressive was the church of St. Francis of Assisi.  Although our hotel room was on the 20th floor, the place that we felt closest to our Heavenly Father was there, at the church of St. Francis.  It was there, in the Tabernacle, where our Lord waited for us to visit with him.

 

Francis of Assisi was born into an Italian, wealthy,  merchant class family.  He gave up all of that wealth to more fully embrace the Gospel and to follow Jesus, the Rabbi, more closely.  Living more simply, as Francis, has become more appealing to both of us.  Looking for Christ in others and trying to live our lives as the living stones we are called to be has taken on an even greater importance. 

 

From 1 Peter chapter 2: 

 

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

 

⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

 

¹ Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. ² Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, ³ now that you have tasted that the Lord is good!

 

jw

A Day in Instanbul

Kathy and I departed Erbil at 4:00 a.m. Saturday morning, August 25.  A 2 1/2 hour flight to Istanbul, Turkey was to be the first leg of our journey back to the States.  We arrived at Istanbul's airport at 6:30.  We had a 12 hour layover.  What could we do in 12 hours.  Fortunately for us, our airline, Turkish Airlines, provided a FREE tour of Istanbul.  So we purchased Turkish visas at the airport, and signed up for the 9:00 a.m. tour.

The first stop of the day was the Tamara Restaurant.  We had a delicious breakfast, and we began to get to know other members of our touring party.  Our party included folks from Barcelona, Spain, Rumania, Indonesia, and as well as other countries.

 

After breakfast, we boarded the bus that would take us to the Basilica Cistern.  The Basilica Cistern is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that are beneath the city of Istanbul.  It is very close to the Hagia Sophia.  It was constructed during the 6th century during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I.  The underground cistern covers an area of 105,000 square feet.  It's roof is held up by 336 marble columns, each 30 feet high. The cistern is capable of holding close to 3 million cubic feet of water.  It is recorded in ancient texts that over 7,000 slaves performed the construction work. 
Kathy and I both marvelled at the work done as we walked along the catwalks in the cistern.  There is probably about 18" of water in it now.  It is mainly a tourist attraction. 

After we emerged from the subterranian cistern, we headed for the "Blue Mosque".  It is more formally known as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque.  We had to be in and out by noon, as that is when a scheduled prayer time would begin.

 

It is called the Blue Mosque because of the abundance of blue ceramic tiles used to adorn the interior walls. It was built between 1609 and 1616 on the site of the palace of the Byzantine emperors. It directly faces the Hagia Sophia.

Here are some images that explains why it is called the "Blue Mosque".

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon leaving the Blue Mosque, Kathy and I walked along in the Sultan Ahmet Square.  The square is the ancient site of the hippodrome.  In AD 324, the Emperor Constantine the Great decided to move the seat of the government from Rome to Byzantium, which he renamed Nova Roma (New Rome). This name failed to impress and the city soon became known as Constantinople, the City of Constantine. Constantine greatly enlarged the city, and one of his major undertakings was the renovation of the Hippodrome. It is estimated that the Hippodrome of Constantine was about 450 m (1,476 ft) long and 130 m (427 ft) wide. Its stands were capable of holding 100,000 spectators.  This is the place where chariot and horse races were held. 

Today the only visible remains of the Hippodrome are some columns that were in the center island.

 

 

 

 

 

For those of you who have studied "Walk as Jesus Walked" by Ray Vander Laan, you will recognize the relief carvings at the base of the Egyptian Obelisk of Thutmose III in the Hippodrome.  In one of Ray's teachings, he uses this particular relief to demonstrate how the Emperor had a royal box seat to sit in with his family and other dignitaries during the games.

 

From the Hippodrome it was a short walk to the Hagai Sophia.   Hagai Sophia, or  ( Holy Wisdom ) is a former basilica, later a mosque, now a national museum. 

  

The Hagai Sophia or Ayasofya, as it is known in Turkish, was actually a patriarchal Basilica that has been considered to be an embodiment of Byzantine architecture and also had the distinction of remaining the largest cathedral in the world until 1520 A.D.  Built on the orders of Emperor Justinian, its interiors were richly decorated with artistic mosaics depicting various religious scenes and were supported by massive marble pillars.
The Islamic features such as the four minarets were added over the course of its history under the Ottomans.

 

Above is the place where Emperors were coronated.  Kathy is standing at the place where emperors were seated.

 

 This is one of the tile mosaics on the wall of the church.

Hagai Sophia is one of those places that a tourist could spend days exploring.  It is a place that one truly has to see to understand and appreciate,  If I continue to write about it I will never come to an end for this blog post.  Therefore, I offer you the following excellent links with lots of photos and explanations:

Virtual tour of Hagai Sophia        and       Lots of info. on the Hagai Sophia

Kathy and I were awed and impressed by the faith and dedication of the people who would build such a temple to honor the 3rd person of the Blessed Trinity - The Holy Spirit.    However, we also know that in our present day and time, the Holy Spirit wants to build a new temple as a place for Him to dwell.  That "new temple" is the Body of Christ, the church, the unified, worldwide body of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour and Redeemer.  After touring the incredibly massive Hagai Sophia, I am sure that there is a place for me - one of the living stones- in the new temple of the Holy Spirit.  I am also sure that there is a place for you as well!!  May we all strive to be faithful and pure of heart so that we will give glory and honor to God as we become part of His new temple.

jw

Who Was Mar Qardakh??

     Tonight as I write this post, it is about 8:30 p.m. Ankawa time.  Kathy and I will leave for the airport in about 4 hours.  Although our flight does not depart till 4:00 a.m. Saturday, for security reasons we have to be at the airport at 1:00 a.m. 
     It occurred to me yesterday that I never wrote about Mar Qardakh, the person.  Mar Qardakh (or Saint Qardagh , as you please ) was an early 4th century martyr in the Eastern Church.  He was born during the time of the Sassanid Persian Empire to pagan parents who were nobles in society. When Qardagh was 25 years old, King Shapur II visited his parents’ estate and was deeply impressed with Qardagh’s handsome appearance and athleticism – especially with his skill at archery. After a particularly successful hunt, the king granted Qardagh a large amount of land and gave him authority as a governor over a large portion of northern Persia. After two years of living as a nobleman, Qardagh met a Christian hermit named Abdisho’, and his life was never to be the same. After debating heatedly about Christianity and Zoroastrianism and arresting the hermit, there was a series of miraculous events that convinced Qardagh that Abdisho’ was a holy man and that his God was the true one. He faced East, made the sign of the Cross, and begged Christ to forgive him and accept him into his flock. He released the hermit and visited him in his hermitage. After learning the faith, he was baptized.
     When he returned home, however, his family began to reject him due to his new faith, and this rejection became more and more violent. Qardagh was sentenced to death by the king due to pressures from the religious elite, but he did not give in so easily. Taking a small army with him, he fled to the mountains and held off the Persian army for a number of months. After valiantly defending himself for so long, Qardagh had a dream in which St. Stephen the Martyr appeared to him and told him that it was better to give his life for his faith than to continue fighting thus. It was his own father who threw the first of the stones that were to give Qardagh the crown of martyrdom. He was buried in Erbil, where a church was dedicated to him.

Today, Kathy and I visited Mar Qardakh Church in Erbil.  It was to be our last exploratory outing before leaving. 

Front of Mar Qardakh Church.

 

 

Side view of church.

 

Altar of church.

 

A sign outside of the church.

 

You may ask "Who is Father Ganni??  I will tell you in a moment.  But first I will share with you the unexpected surprise that lay in wait for Kathy and I as we were looking at the altar. 

 

.While we were in the church, we were invited to look through a grate that covered a niche in the wall near the altar.  Behind the grate was a reliquary for Fr. Ganni, his stole, and a Holy Card that was in his pocket when he was pulled out of his car in Mosul on June 3, 2007 and shot dead for refusing to obey those who told him to close his church.  You can see the bullet hole in the card, right above Mary's head.  Fr. Ganni and 3 of his subdeacons were martyred for being Christians in a hostile environment. 

 

I could devote an entire post to Fr. Ganni..  However, I think it will suffice if I provide a very good link that tells his story.  In many ways, Fr. Ganni's story is the same as many, many people that we have come to know and love.  I pray that all of us have the courage to endure in the faith during persecution as the Christians of the Middle East.

 

About: Father Ragheed Aziz Ganni

 

After our visit to Mar Qardakh Church, we returned to Ankawa for one last visit to Mar Qardakh School.  I offer you the following photos.

 

Main entrance in to the school.  Entrance is on Mar Qardakh street in Ankawa.

 

A view of the front of the school taken from the street.

A photo shot from the corner.

May Mar Qardakh be an inspiration to all the teachers and students of the school as well as Christians around the world. 

 

jw