Caught these two young Serbian Orthodox priests the other day not far from Belgrade's large park, Kalemegdan, and the capital's busy walking street, Knez Mihailova. The one closest to us was passing the time in a traditional fashion, deeply absorbed in a book, while the other was text-messaging, possibly even to his wife, for except for bishops who are required to remain celibate, the Orthodox Church has always allowed priests and deacons to be married, provided the marriage takes place before ordination. In general it is preferable for parish priests to be married as they often act as council to married couples and thus can draw on their own experience. NOTE!! Thanks to Abe of http://brookvilledailyphoto.blogspot.com, who noticed that BOTH priests are using cell phones. I guess the reader is either intentionally hiding his phone to appear more "serious," or else he's just answering or texting like anyone else!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Passing the time
Caught these two young Serbian Orthodox priests the other day not far from Belgrade's large park, Kalemegdan, and the capital's busy walking street, Knez Mihailova. The one closest to us was passing the time in a traditional fashion, deeply absorbed in a book, while the other was text-messaging, possibly even to his wife, for except for bishops who are required to remain celibate, the Orthodox Church has always allowed priests and deacons to be married, provided the marriage takes place before ordination. In general it is preferable for parish priests to be married as they often act as council to married couples and thus can draw on their own experience. NOTE!! Thanks to Abe of http://brookvilledailyphoto.blogspot.com, who noticed that BOTH priests are using cell phones. I guess the reader is either intentionally hiding his phone to appear more "serious," or else he's just answering or texting like anyone else!
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BOTTLE OF BUBBLY
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12 comments:
They must save a fortune on razor blades ...
I love the contrast of traditional and modern here.
Indeed the contrast between the "reading priest" and the "messaging priest" is amusing! The contrast is heightened by the them both being in the traditional garb of the Orthodox priests. Excellent photo!
Beautiful photo, I like it very very much.
As you already know, I try to always visit those who visit my blog and leave a comment.
Thanks for your visit to my blog and for the nice comments you left there about my furry mother.
She was so special to us that we considered her one of our own. She raised four and they thrived. I still miss them.
I really do like this photograph you posted. It would make an excellent wall hanging anywhere as it is filled with contrasts that we just accept or take for granted.
On looking at the enlarged image I did notice that both priests are using cell phones. The one with the book is actually looking at a message he must have gotten. His book looks more like a paperback novel than a religious volume.
The biggest contrast is in their footwear. One has sandels and socks and the other leather shoes. I don't know about socks on him.
I still say it would look good on any wall in or out of a frame.
Hey, Abe, you're right!!! I'll put a little note in the description paragraph!!!
Sharp eye!
The one looks bored who's playing with his fingers.
How interesting to see! In the UK, you don't tend to see that many religious officials in their official clothes, outside of church. So I was quite surprised to see nuns and even monks, when I lived in Italy for a year. With travelling, I have seen more nuns and monks around, but not priests like these - good capture there!
Thanks, Dogeared! Haven't been to the UK for a while to notice. You see fewer nuns here on the streets; don't know why.
Folks, Dogeared has a really cool blog that I've added to my favorites: http://dogearedphotos.blogspot.com/
I'm struck by these two men's nose profiles and that they both exhibit the same poor posture. They also look to be quite tall. Wonder if there's any significance to their hats ... one plain and the other with fabric stripes? Reminds me of a photo I did in Assisi of two Brothers sitting on a bench eating gelato cones. -:)
What if they were text-messaging with God ? Thank you for capturing this amazing and constrastful scenery.
Actually, these two are monks, and not all monks in either Orthodox or Roman-Catholic churches, or indeed Buddhism, are necessarily also ordained priests (though a great majority are).
However, monks may not marry, while Orthodox parish priests have to, so it is not merely "usual" but indeed compulsory, and they marry once for a lifetime. So they have to be either married or widowers. Widowers are allowed to become monks and then there's no going back.
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