I am home again after nearly two weeks spent in the mid-east. It was a not very fortuitous trip, though stimulating and ultimately valuable trip. I was briefly ill with stomach trouble in Jerusalem and caught a bad cold in Turkey.I went with a group of friends from the Congregational Church in Boothbay Harbor, first to Jerusalem for 4 days, then to Istanbul, Izmir and Ephesus in Turkey for 5 days. Jerusalem I found to be an armed camp, regardless of which side of the West Bank wall you are on, and regardless of what religion. Returning home, I read Moshe Dayan's widow's story in the New Yorker about the death of Israel, and I couldn't agree with her more. And from what we heard, there is very little hope that Israel and Palestine will resolve their differences peacably. The lack of hope was palpable. The one bit of spirituality I found was a bird singing outside the window of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Garden of Gethsemane.
In Istanbul, however, I found a thriving, growing city full of pride for what it has become. Although the current government is conservative and Muslim, the separation of church and state is written into its Constitution, and the pride of the people in Istanbul is tangible.
One of the major reasons for going on this trip, besides curiosity over the presence of any form of spirituality in Jerusalem, was the Hagia Sophia. Ever since Prof. John McAndrew cut up his oranges and grapefruits in front of us in Art 100, thus demonstrating the ability of a round arch to support other round arches and barrel vaults, and thus to build the Hagia Sophia in 533AD, I have wanted to experience that space. Even today, it is the 3rd largest dome in the world, though it is over 1500 years old. I don't know the others, probably football stadium domes, but this surely beats them in impressiveness. It was built as a Christian church; its apse faces east. Today it is a museum but it was a mosque for over 500 years, and the small enclosure where the Imam reads the Koran is in the apse, slightly off-center, facing Mecca. (see above right-hand photo)It is a happy enough arrangement, with some of the original Christian paintings being exposed, even as they are covered still by the beautiful mosaics of the Muslims.
Our later visit was to Izmir, or Smyrna, Tardis, and Ephesus. The layers of civilization to be found there are stunning, as is the current countryside, and food! The cabbages are literally nearly 3feet in diameter; the yogurt so creamy! It was too much for this poor body and I stumbled back onto the plane in Izmir and have been sleeping for 3 days now. Finally I am beginning to come out of my cold-induced stupor. When I remember more, I will write more!
