Yesterday we visited a few of the typical tourist sites. If you get my newsletter then you know all about the Patriot Museum, or WWII Museum, if you do not receive my newsletter and you want to, email me at southernbelle_729@yahoo.com and I’ll add you!
The other tourist site we visited was the Lavra, which is actually the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. Pechersk means cave and Lavra is actually the word for a monastery where high ranking male monks study. The site consists of several buildings as well as caves, or the catacombs and the current housing of the monks. Yep, I said catacombs, so you can probably already put it together that I saw some mummified bodies yesterday!! Actually, I did not see the bodies, but I did see the cloth that holds the bones and the glass that incases them. As I am walking/stumbling through the catacombs in the dark, I noticed the people praying to the dead bodies and even crossing themselves and then kissing the glass coffins. They did this repeatedly, at each mummified body, sometimes even more than once. It was eerie, and not because it was dead bodies they were kissing, wait well yes that was a little creepy, but it was really eerie because these people believe that their prayers and devotion to the dead are going to bring them closer to God.
I got in trouble twice while I was in the catacombs. The first reason was because I had my flashlight out, we didn’t realize it was going to be so dark, or we would have bought the candles at the door. The second reason I got in trouble was because I had pushed my head scarf back off of my head and on to my shoulders. The guy in charge of keeping the people moving in the catacombs walked over to me and pointed to my hand, and almost grabbed it saying no flashlights, but by the time he arrived, I had already turned it off so he just looked at my hand in confusion, because my little flashlight was hard to see in the dark. Then he grabbed my head scarf and tried to pull it back on, I pulled away and acted dumb and said oh okay and then did it myself. I just can’t believe that those two little things are so offensive! I wanted to ask him, “Where is your freedom? You know the freedom we receive through Christ?” But I didn’t I just walked on feeling pity for those who depend on rituals that require kissing glass coffins that hold mummified bodies and saying prayers to a lifeless pile of bones.
"I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today. I know that he is living whatever men may say. I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer. And just the time I need Him, He's always near. He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today! He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart! You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart. Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian, lift up your voice and sing. Eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ the King! The hope of all who seek Him, the help of all who find. None other is so loving, so good and kind."
4 comments:
Sounds like you've been having a good time. That's so sad that they pray to mummies.
-Anthony J.
Yeah it is sad, to them they are praying to the saints, believing that they can on their behalf. Why go to the dead when you can go to a Living Father? :)
This reminds me of a couple of verses in Luke....Why do you seek me among the dead?
Yeah it's so true, and the saddest thing of all is that they believe that by going to these "people" that they will in turn go to the Father for them. My friend Jen put it best, "As voices echo off the ceilings and walls, I can't help think, so do the lofty prayers of most who enter there. Their prayers also bounce off the ceilings, getting no further than the walls that surround them. This fact breaks my heart. It is amazing how one can be in a place so beautiful but still feel hollow and empty."
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