|
The Orthodox Pages
|
||||
Back
   |
|
|||
|
|
Goodmorning pater. Pia I gnomi tis eklisias gia ta panigirgia out of the church.
Answer to Question 448 This is a custom that goes back many years when people brought their wares to sell where many people would be gathered together. It can be disruptive especially the stalls selling music, but in general the church is selective of who she allows to place up a stall and expects the stall owner to give a donation to the church at the end of the Panagiri. I think the church would like to do away with the stalls, but because they have become an expected tradition, she allows it as it is only for a day or two and many of the stall keepers rely on this type of selling for their income. I have a story to tell. before I became a priest I spent 8 months as a novice monk at the Monastery of Trooditissa. During the month of August we had many stalls outside on the road as the monastery celebrates on the 15th August. There was one stall selling music tapes which had the music on full blast which was very disruptive, especially during the time when the monks need to take a rest. The Abbot asked the stall keeper to lower the music but he refused. During the night we heard a big bang and in the morning we discovered that the music stall had been blown to pieces and scattered everywhere, but none of the other stalls were affected
|
|
||
