Walking with Generations

Today's trip to Delphi marked my sixth day as tourist in Greece. Like all tourists around the world, I took pictures, road a bus, and tried new food to gain knowledge and experience the culture. This trip to Delphi however, went far beyond my tourist expectation, and I was able to share a spiritual experience with people who lived thousands of years before me.
Our first stop on our way to Delphi was the Osios Loukas Monastery. Here, we were able to walk through a building that was over 1,000 years old. During our visit we were able to gain a religious perspective of people who have worshiped there throughout the centuries. Not only was the exterior of the building beautiful, but the inside was truly breathtaking. At the head of the alter, Virgin Mary stood holding her son and the rest of the ceiling was covered with stories from Jesus' life. The only form of light inside the church came from candlelight and whatever rays of sun came through the windows. Being in this room allowed me to reflect on how many thousands of people had prayed in the same room I was standing in and this allowed me to comprehend its religious importance to the nearby city. Our class was very fortunate to be allowed such a privileged of walking the same steps people had taken and will continue to take years from now.


Climbing to the temple of Delphi was a similar spiritual experience. Our class walked the same path that people went to worship thousands and thousands of years ago. The path is littered with large boulders that were once the foundation of statues. It was hard to envision how divine and powerful the walk to the temple used to be because our culture doesn't take the time and care to carve hundreds of statues out of marble and line the streets. With each step I took the picture became more and more clear and I was able imagine what the life of people taking the original journey to the oracle would have been like. People waited in line for days, each one carting an elaborate gift that they made for the oracle in hopes of hearing her wisdom. Unfortunately, few were let through. This walk illustrated the importance of believers wanting to know what their future had in store for them and questioning things only the oracle had the answer to. It was also interesting to think the amount of work and passion that was put in to Delphi. Delphi is built on the side of a mountain, and somehow tons of marble had to be carted up the mountain. This observation made me realize the amount of importance that people placed on their religion. When I thought about the amount of time, physical labor and pain the people put in to building what I was walking through, led me to appreciate it even more. I'm very thankful to share a spiritual experience with people in my class and the people who walked before me.