Saturday, November 19, 2011

St. Nicholas of the Hazelnut, Rhodes, Greece

St. Nicholas of the Hazelnut
Rhodes, Greece

Image Courtesy: All Nature Sings
Look at this gorgeous St. Nicholas Church Rick at, All Nature Sings, not only told me about, but sent fabulous photos!
He even cropped a photo so I could read the plaque to the right of the gate. As expected it has the name of the church with the date of its construction engraved upon it. I love the way the flowers are so artistically peeking out from the side of the wall.
"St. Nicholas of the Hazelnuts"
15th c
Image Courtesy: All Nature Sings
An Interior Shot from Rick
The Sixth Edition (2006) to the "Rough Guide to the Greek Islands" writes the following about this church: "The partly shaded site has a fine view north over cultivated valleys; frescoes inside, dating from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, could use a good cleaning, but various scenes from the life of Christ are recognizable."
Rick wrote that at the time that he visited the church last year that it was getting that "good cleaning!" The restoration work being done is visible in his photos.
This 15th century church must have been built around an even older one to have icons from the thirteenth century...
But now one might ask, why the name St. Nicholas of the Hazelnut? I believe it must have had something to do with two facts. First that Hazelnuts were cultivated in the valleys around this church and two, that they would have been an excellent source of protein for mariners to take with them on long sea voyages.Why? Because they kept so long.
This of course is where St. Nicholas on this island located very close to his home city of Myra on the mainland of Asia Minor across the sea comes in! He is the patron saint of sailors and sailing could only be done if the seamen had food to eat! They would ask their patron saint to intercede and pray to God for a good food supply. To have a good food supply for the sailors would have been of utmost importance for these island people.
And let's face it, hazelnuts are delicious!

Many thanks, Rick, for telling me about this St. Nicholas Church and for sharing your photos! Visit Rick's site, All Nature Sings, if you want to see some really fabulous photography!

And a very Happy Thanksgiving  to all American's around the world!

10 comments:

Ola said...

a very nice find on my favourite Greek island!

Ann said...

that's some church. Would love to see it when the restoration project is completed

Ming said...

Thanks for the Thanksgiving wishes!!! and to you too.

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful church and the photos are great. There is something about Greek Orthodox Churches that takes my breath away. Icons, candles, incense, steeped in tradition and reverence, wonderful!
Thank you for sharing.
Blessings and prayers,
Ann.

Sherry Sikstrom said...

so beautiful!

Rick said...

Hi Ann - you're most welcome for the photos of this beautiful, historic church. Perhaps someone will read this post and send you some updated photos of the (hopefully by now) restored church. Thank you for the shout out. Best wishes for the book.

Have a great rest-of-the-week !

Sara said...

How interesting about the naming of this church -- and how sweet of Rick to share the photos with you... and all of us!
Happy Thanksgiving to you too!!

Angelsdoor * Penny said...

Dear Ann
I can only imagine how beautiful it will be upon completion. Just beautiful..How very kind of Rick to share the photos..
Thank you so much for your visit and kind thoughts.. I hope your Thanksgiving was a joyful one.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend.
fondly,
Penny

Diane said...

I hope that you get a photo of this when the restoration is done, it looks fantastic. The artwork inside look spectacular I would love to see some of it close up. Diane

Carrie said...

Ohh, I visited Rhodes back in 1993, but was at the time really fascinated with the places having to do with the crusaders. The St. Nicholas church is certainly a place of interest now.