8"x10" | artist oils on archival linen panel

I was raised a secular humanist but was baptised into the Greek Orthodox Church about 7 years after I married Nick at City Hall in Ann Arbor, right before I got married to him again in the Church in Cyprus and shortly after became pregnant with Nicole. 

 

I consider myself an agnostic, Greek Orthodox Humanist. If we are going to use labels might as well choose all that fit, even if they seem contradictory. Or perhaps, most especially when they seem contradictory...

 

The Greek Orthodox Church is rich in tradition with a symphony of sight, sound, smell, and taste at our liturgies.  From the amazing icon paintings, to the choir singing Byzantine hymns, on to the incense used for blessing and the taste of the Prosforo bread, all the senses are engaged at an Orthodox Liturgy.

 

It never fails, whatever mood I am in when I arrive, I leave the Church feeling peaceful. So even though I declare that I cannot know for certain whether God exists, I also say that the community, the values and the spirit of the Orthodox Church are very real and important to me.