Sunday, February 6, 2011

My Travels - Crete: The Church of St. Titus

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One of the many places I visited while visiting my daughter on Crete in 1993 (which I wrote about here) was the ruins of the Church of St. Titus, located at Gortys.  What remains of the church is located in a complex with other most interesting ruins.  The link to Gortys, above, has photos and descriptions not only of the church ruins, but of the other archaeological sites near it. My visit here was both thrilling and humbling, when I realized that I might be walking on ground also tread upon by a saint of the Christian church.

Titus was a companion of St. Paul and, according to tradition, was ordained by Paul to be the bishop of  Crete, specifically the church at Gortys.  Paul's letter to Titus is one of three pastoral letters written by Paul, and is found in the Christian New Testament.

I read with interest that the early Roman church did not establish a feast/commemoration day for St. Titus in the original Tridentine Calendar.  His name was added in 1854 and his feast day was assigned to February 6 -- which happens to be today's date.   That's no longer the case, however, since in 1969, the date was changed to January 26.

Note: my decision to post about St. Titus today was not influenced by the foregoing information; I didn't discover that particular tidbit until I was reading the Wikipedia article about Titus.

That having been said, I shall close. Tomorrow is also a day.

8 comments:

George said...

It must have been an amazing experience to visit this church and the other sites in the area. Thanks for sharing them with us.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Wow Pat, You are so lucky to have gotten to see this beautiful church. WOW!!! Such history.
Hugs,
Betsy

Moannie said...

Dear Pat, this was such a treat. Old churches shiver my timbers for some reason, perhaps they sense my, what? Ambivalence? Fear? For whatever reason I usually burst into violent tears, and the older the church, the more I sob. Still, I do love to visit them, in the hope, perhaps, that something good will rub off on me.

Carolina said...

Isn't it amazing what people could build without having the tools available to builders now.
And yet, nowadays they can't build like that ;-)
Very impressive.

Arkansas Patti said...

I'm like you and get actual goosebumps when I walk on historic grounds. I did not know about Titus. Interesting.
What a wonderful oppoutunity you had. Thanks for taking us along.

Jackie said...

Oh Pat... To have gone to Crete...sigh...what a splendid trip that must have been. I, like you, would have been humbled and amazed to have walked on ground that contains such history. Beautiful blog, my friend....beautiful!!
Love,
Jackie

rhymeswithplague said...

I am more cretin than Cretan, I fear. Nevertheless, as visiting old ruins clearly demonstrates, life goes on. Or doesn't.

I need my morning coffee.

Suldog said...

How odd that Titus was not deemed a saint until such a late date. Love photos of old churches, in whatever shape. Thanks!