The first was this rather incredible bear sized church, which was even better than the shrine to the tuna which we found in Greece last year.
This is St Gobban' Church, said to be Ireland's smallest church, located in the equally small fishing village of Portbradden. Sadly it is privately owned, but as we don't approve of 'private' churches, this didn't stop us getting a closer look, even if we did have to trespass a bit. Have you found us in the picture? Here's a close up for anyone who needs glasses and isn't wearing them.
We looked up the Greek word by the door when we got home, although we were fairly confident, having studied a bit of ancient Greek, that it meant 'welcome'. However, one of our minder's biblical Greek dictionaries said it meant 'sing' (which we would happily have done, had they provided a translation) while another suggested it meant 'world' or 'mankind'. We don't suppose there are too many Greek scholars will be reading a bear blog, but if there are, and they can clear up this confusion, do post us a comment.
After that cultural interlude we became adventure bears again. Keep reading to find out how.
2 comments:
oikumene can mean the inhabited earth or also household. In a Christian setting it describes the whole household of faith. From this Greek word, we get the word ecumenical.
See http://www.religion-religions.com/html/sub_chapter.php?select=christian0007&religion=Christianity
Thanks Anonymous,
That has cleared up the puzzle, we will certainly look at the web site.
Love all at BU
xx
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