Each year before the beginning of Lent, as Orthodox Christians prepare for Pascha,
our Church has set aside three Saturdays called "Psychosavato" or
“Saturdays of the Souls”. On these Saturdays, the priest offers a special memorial service for all the members of God’s family that have died. A Divine Liturgy is held on each of these “Saturdays of the Souls.” For this liturgy, we prepare a piece of paper, make a cross at the top of it and write the names
of family members and friends who have died. This paper is given to the priest who will read all the names and pray for these souls during the Liturgy and the memorial service. We also prepare "Koliva," a plate or tray of boiled wheat that we bring to church for the memorial service. Wheat is used to remind us
that when wheat seeds are planted in the ground, even though the seeds do not look alive, they sprout and become a green living plant. In the same way the soul of a person who does not look alive, and is buried, will be given a new and better life in God’s heaven.
Tomorrow I will be attending the Divine Liturgy at our local Church. I'll take a plate of Koliva that Mama has prepared with a list of the first names of our departed love ones including the names of four men who gave their lives for their country. Greek military men no matter where they find themselves are the descendants of a military tradition that goes back to ancient times. As free men in free societies they put their lives on the line and sometimes pay the ultimate price. Like the Spartans at Thermopylae they guard the pass.
- Ὦ ξεῖν’, ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε
- κείμεθα, τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι.
Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by,
that here, obedient to their laws, we lie
John W. Markoglu was a Major in the US Marines
who was killed tragically in Beirut in 1983 when the building housing
the battalion headquarters where he worked was blown up by a suicide
bomber. He died along with over two hundred other Marines and sailors.
I met John when we were junior officers stationed in Okinawa, years
earlier. John left a wife
and three children behind.
Sgt. John Parastratidis was a Greek soldier who fell to his death in a parachute drop in Megara, Greece in 1986. Although I didn't know him well, our paths crossed that fateful day. At the time, I was attending the Hellenic Army Airborne School at Aspropirgos and executing my first jump. I was the only American on the Hellenic Air Force C130 Hercules aircraft. John was the assistant jumpmaster. Since I was the senior man that day I had the dubious honor of being the first one out the door. Our twenty man stick jumped uneventfully. Sgt Parastratidis was pulling in our static lines when the cable they were attached to snapped suddenly, causing him to fall out of the doorway of the aircraft. His main chute became entangled and although he tried deploying his reserve, that too got twisted up with the static lines and he fell 1000 feet to his death. John had grown up in Germany. He returned to Greece to serve his military commitment and volunteered for the Hellenic Army Special Forces. He had only a few days remaining before his discharge.
Lance Corporal Dimitrios Gavriel joined the US Marine Corps after 9/11. The son of Greek immigrants, a champion high school wrestler and Brown University graduate, he walked away from a lucrative career on Wall Street to avenge friends killed in the collapse of the Twin Towers. Dimitrios volunteered to serve as an enlisted man, turning down an officer's commission. He also volunteered to be a "grunt", an infantryman. He was wounded during the vicious fighting in the Batlle of Fallujah. Undeterred by his wounds he returned to his unit and was subsequently killed in an explosion a few days later.
Flight Captain Konstantinos Iliakos was the pilot of an Hellenic Air Force F-16 fighter flying an intercept mission against Turkish military aircraft intruding on Greek airspace. His plane crashed into the Aegean after a collision with one of the aircraft. He was married with two small children. Although our paths never crossed, his loss in service to his country is worthy of my respect and remembrance.
May their memories be eternal. Pray for the repose of their souls.
"With the Saints give rest, O Christ, to the soul of Your servant, where there is no pain, nor sorrow, nor suffering, but life everlasting. Among the spirits of the righteous perfected in faith, give rest, O Savior, to the soul of Your servant. Bestow upon it the blessed life which is from You, O loving One."
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