Epitafios

Today we celebrated the burial of Jesus Christ. A tradition within the Orthodox Church is the Epitafio, which is decorated with many beautiful flowers and which symbolises His Tomb. His body will remain in the Tomb until His resurrection, on Easter day.

The pictures here are from three different Greek Orthodox Churches in London and show how there have different shapes, colours but the Epitafios is still a symbol of Jesus' Tomb. Normally, if the weather is good enough, the believers take the Epitafios around the Church, i.e. a Litany. This was the case at the Church of All Saints, where we took the Epitafios and followed it around the church, halting all traffic. This was a great example of how Christianity persists and prevails in an ongoing secular society which cannot tell the difference between tolerance and persecution (especially against Christianity). 

All Saints Cathedral, Camden Town

Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Michael, Golders Green

St. Panteleimon Church, Harrow

   

EU economy

Instead of writing a whole essay on this serious and current matter I thought of posting this picture which shows emphatically the reality of the present economic crisis and instability within the European Union. Especially now that Portugal has "joined the club" together with Greece and Ireland, it seems more likely that more states will eventually follow, bringing large problems to the Union but also individually to each country.

The P.I.G.S. (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain) are in the last position, however many refer to the P.I.I.G.S., which also include Italy in the equation. If something does not change, I am afraid that the economic crisis will  merely spread within the E.U.