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BE GREEK FOR A DAY AT ANNUAL FESTIVAL
By Dana Oland - [email protected]
IdahoStatesman.com
http ://www.idahostatesman.com/life/story/400899.html
J une 5 2008
ID
One of the tenets of Greek culture will be fully realized this weekend
A Greek saying goes something like this: "Eat alone and you're just
surviving; dine with others and you are feasting on the best of what
life has to offer."
Dining with others is what Boise's Greek community will invite us
to do at the 27th annual Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox
Church Greek Food Festival this weekend.
"The whole purpose of a meal is to exchange conversation. When we eat,
it takes forever and you enjoy it. Today, everyone is in a hurry. They
run to McDonald's, grab a sandwich and go. I don't get it," said Jim
Michas, the church's president.
The festival has grown to be one of the most popular community events
in the area. For two days in June, nearly 10,000 people converge on
the tiny jewel of a church and its grounds, nestled in the neighborhood
at Bannock and 27th streets.
Patrons dine, dance and connect with each other and with their Greek
neighbors, said the Very Reverend Nektarios Serfes, who has headed
the Boise church since 1992.
"This is when we can share our culture and faith. We are different,
or we feel different to people because this is not an orthodox country
and people are not familiar with our faith," Serfes said.
The festival has grown in its 27 years, and the church is expanding
its grounds to hold more people and to have more room for dancing,
Michas said.
But the festival is still small enough that it retains its feeling of
family and the central point: the connection between food and Greek
culture, he said.
"It is a hospitable thing to do. If you go to someone's home, you
will get some baklava or pastry that was made for guests. Everyone has
Greek food stored up for when a visitor comes by, and it is a joyous
event. That is what we do here at the festival. It is the same as if
you come to our house."
The festival is the chief fundraiser for the congregation, which has
been at that location since 1951.
You can take a tour of the small building filled with beautiful
gold icons, paintings and ornate crucifixes during the festival. The
congregation was created by Greek families who settled in Boise and
decided they needed a church to unify their community, said John
Collias, 90, who was part of that original effort.
"Greeks came here as pioneers, and to build the railroad," Collias
said. Many, like Collias, settled in Boise after World War II. "We
are very proud, and sometimes temperamental, and we wanted to have
our own church."
Until they founded this church in a building that used to be a
train station, the Greeks in Boise borrowed spaces around the city
for services, including St. Michael's Episcopal Church and Christ's
Chapel, which is now at Boise State University.
They began holding Greek liturgy service in 1932, bringing an orthodox
priest from Pocatello or Salt Lake City. It eventually became a point
of pride to build their own church in Boise, Collias said.
Greek Orthodox trace their church back to the first century. That's
when it is believed that the apostles Peter and Paul traveled to
spread the Gospel. Peter settled in Antioch, which was at the time
Greek, and Paul went to Rome, Michas said.
"That was the first church, which was Greek. It was the Holy Apostolic
Catholic Church, meaning the Universal Church, until the year 1000
when a bishop in Rome declared himself pope," Michas said. "The
bishops to the East, where Emperor Constantine had taken the world
religious center, did not agree and that caused a split."
That split produced the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic
Church. The differences between the two churches are largely political,
and there are subtle differences in beliefs between Greek and other
orthodox faiths such as Russian and Armenian, Michas said.
Today, the Boise church has a multifaceted congregation, and Greeks
are an increasingly smaller part of that, Serfes said.
The services are primarily in Greek and English. They also include
prayers in Serbian, Egyptian, Romanian and Spanish.
"Greeks are a minority in our church now," Michas said.
But they are still leading the way in community service and building,
said Mark Abajian. Abajian is Armenian and is heading an effort to
create an Armenian Orthodox Church in the Valley, with the support
of the Greeks.
The Armenians borrow the church for services every other month,
when they bring a priest in from Seattle.
"They have been good to us in all aspects," Abajian said. "They have
been so gracious and generous, and they do so much for the community."
By Dana Oland - [email protected]
IdahoStatesman.com
http ://www.idahostatesman.com/life/story/400899.html
J une 5 2008
ID
One of the tenets of Greek culture will be fully realized this weekend
A Greek saying goes something like this: "Eat alone and you're just
surviving; dine with others and you are feasting on the best of what
life has to offer."
Dining with others is what Boise's Greek community will invite us
to do at the 27th annual Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox
Church Greek Food Festival this weekend.
"The whole purpose of a meal is to exchange conversation. When we eat,
it takes forever and you enjoy it. Today, everyone is in a hurry. They
run to McDonald's, grab a sandwich and go. I don't get it," said Jim
Michas, the church's president.
The festival has grown to be one of the most popular community events
in the area. For two days in June, nearly 10,000 people converge on
the tiny jewel of a church and its grounds, nestled in the neighborhood
at Bannock and 27th streets.
Patrons dine, dance and connect with each other and with their Greek
neighbors, said the Very Reverend Nektarios Serfes, who has headed
the Boise church since 1992.
"This is when we can share our culture and faith. We are different,
or we feel different to people because this is not an orthodox country
and people are not familiar with our faith," Serfes said.
The festival has grown in its 27 years, and the church is expanding
its grounds to hold more people and to have more room for dancing,
Michas said.
But the festival is still small enough that it retains its feeling of
family and the central point: the connection between food and Greek
culture, he said.
"It is a hospitable thing to do. If you go to someone's home, you
will get some baklava or pastry that was made for guests. Everyone has
Greek food stored up for when a visitor comes by, and it is a joyous
event. That is what we do here at the festival. It is the same as if
you come to our house."
The festival is the chief fundraiser for the congregation, which has
been at that location since 1951.
You can take a tour of the small building filled with beautiful
gold icons, paintings and ornate crucifixes during the festival. The
congregation was created by Greek families who settled in Boise and
decided they needed a church to unify their community, said John
Collias, 90, who was part of that original effort.
"Greeks came here as pioneers, and to build the railroad," Collias
said. Many, like Collias, settled in Boise after World War II. "We
are very proud, and sometimes temperamental, and we wanted to have
our own church."
Until they founded this church in a building that used to be a
train station, the Greeks in Boise borrowed spaces around the city
for services, including St. Michael's Episcopal Church and Christ's
Chapel, which is now at Boise State University.
They began holding Greek liturgy service in 1932, bringing an orthodox
priest from Pocatello or Salt Lake City. It eventually became a point
of pride to build their own church in Boise, Collias said.
Greek Orthodox trace their church back to the first century. That's
when it is believed that the apostles Peter and Paul traveled to
spread the Gospel. Peter settled in Antioch, which was at the time
Greek, and Paul went to Rome, Michas said.
"That was the first church, which was Greek. It was the Holy Apostolic
Catholic Church, meaning the Universal Church, until the year 1000
when a bishop in Rome declared himself pope," Michas said. "The
bishops to the East, where Emperor Constantine had taken the world
religious center, did not agree and that caused a split."
That split produced the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic
Church. The differences between the two churches are largely political,
and there are subtle differences in beliefs between Greek and other
orthodox faiths such as Russian and Armenian, Michas said.
Today, the Boise church has a multifaceted congregation, and Greeks
are an increasingly smaller part of that, Serfes said.
The services are primarily in Greek and English. They also include
prayers in Serbian, Egyptian, Romanian and Spanish.
"Greeks are a minority in our church now," Michas said.
But they are still leading the way in community service and building,
said Mark Abajian. Abajian is Armenian and is heading an effort to
create an Armenian Orthodox Church in the Valley, with the support
of the Greeks.
The Armenians borrow the church for services every other month,
when they bring a priest in from Seattle.
"They have been good to us in all aspects," Abajian said. "They have
been so gracious and generous, and they do so much for the community."