Pilgrimage to Spain - The ABCs of a Pilgrim

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Spain

(Spanish and Galician: España) - officially
the Kingdom of Spain
(Spanish and Galician: Reino de España) - a sovereign state in southwestern Europe and partly in Africa, a member of the European Union and NATO. Spain occupies the majority (80%) of the Iberian Peninsula, as well as the Canary and Balearic Islands, with a total area of 504,782 km² (together with small sovereign territories on the African coast, the cities of Ceuta and Melilla), being the fourth largest country in Europe.

History[edit]

According to legend, after the martyrdom of the Apostle James in the year 44 in the Holy Land, his remains were placed in a boat and floated on the waves of the Mediterranean Sea. Miraculously, this boat sailed to Spain, where the saint had preached earlier, and was thrown ashore at the mouth of the Ulya River (where the city of Santiago de Compostela would later appear). In 813, as church tradition says, the hermit monk Pelayo, who lived in this area, discovered an ark containing the relics of the saint. The relics of the Apostle James became the main Christian shrine in Spain.

In later times, in the Visigothic kingdom, which controlled most of Spain, the official religion was Arianism, and in Byzantine Spain Orthodoxy became the state religion. In 589, on the initiative of King Reccared, the third Council of Toledo adopted the Nicene religion. Despite the revolts organized by the Arian bishops, the Orthodox religion established itself in the territory of the Visigothic kingdom. After the split of the Christian Church in the 11th century, Spain became part of Catholic Europe.

In 1761, in Madrid, under the Russian envoy to Spain N. Repnin, the first house church was built. In 1882, the church was abolished due to a reduction in government spending; the iconostasis and utensils were transported to Buenos Aires.

Links

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Current state[edit]

The number of Orthodox Christians in the country began to increase in the early 1990s, when a flow of labor migrants from Eastern Europe rushed to Spain. Among them, Romanians predominate (up to 1 million people), also Bulgarians, Russians, Ukrainians, Moldovans, etc. The number of Orthodox Christians in the country is about 1.5 million people. To date, various historical patriarchates have been established in the country, under whose tutelage stable parishes of different ethnic origins operate, with their own governing bodies.

Patriarchate of Constantinople[edit]

In 2003, the Greek Orthodox parishes in Spain and Portugal were separated from the Metropolitanate of France and united into the Spanish and Portuguese Metropolis, which at that time numbered 7 parishes in Spain. The cathedral of the diocese is St. Andrew's Cathedral in Madrid, built in 1973 thanks to the efforts of the rector of the Greek parish, Archpriest Dimitri Tsiamparlis. The majority of the flock of Constantinople parishes currently consists of ethnic Bulgarians and Ukrainians.

Since 2007, the Spanish and Portuguese Metropolis has been headed by Metropolitan Polycarp (Stavropoulos).

Moscow Patriarchate[edit]

In 1761, a parish in honor of St. Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, was founded in Madrid, which existed until 1882.

After the Great Patriotic War, there was a house church in the Spanish capital in honor of St. Seraphim of Sarov at the house of the Russian imperial family.

Excerpt characterizing Orthodoxy in Spain

“Well, okay, okay,” Denisov shouted, “now there’s no point in making excuses, barcarolla is behind you, I beg you.” The Countess looked back at her silent son. - What happened to you? – Nikolai’s mother asked. “Oh, nothing,” he said, as if he was already tired of this same question. - Will daddy arrive soon? - I think. “Everything is the same for them. They don't know anything! Where should I go?” thought Nikolai and went back to the hall where the clavichord stood. Sonya sat at the clavichord and played the prelude of the barcarolle that Denisov especially loved. Natasha was going to sing. Denisov looked at her with delighted eyes. Nikolai began to walk back and forth around the room. “And now you want to make her sing? – what can she sing? And there’s nothing fun here,” thought Nikolai. Sonya struck the first chord of the prelude. “My God, I am lost, I am a dishonest person. A bullet in the forehead, the only thing left to do is not sing, he thought. Leave? but where? anyway, let them sing!” Nikolai gloomily, continuing to walk around the room, glanced at Denisov and the girls, avoiding their gaze. “Nikolenka, what’s wrong with you?” – asked Sonya’s gaze fixed on him. She immediately saw that something had happened to him. Nikolai turned away from her. Natasha, with her sensitivity, also instantly noticed her brother’s condition. She noticed him, but she herself was so happy at that moment, she was so far from grief, sadness, reproaches, that she (as often happens with young people) deliberately deceived herself. No, I’m having too much fun now to spoil my fun by sympathizing with someone else’s grief, she felt, and said to herself: “No, I’m definitely mistaken, he should be as cheerful as I am.” Well, Sonya,” she said and went out to the very middle of the hall, where, in her opinion, the resonance was best. Raising her head, lowering her lifelessly hanging hands, as dancers do, Natasha, energetically shifting from heel to tiptoe, walked through the middle of the room and stopped. "Here I am!" as if she was speaking in response to the enthusiastic gaze of Denisov, who was watching her. “And why is she happy! - Nikolai thought, looking at his sister. And how isn’t she bored and ashamed!” Natasha hit the first note, her throat expanded, her chest straightened, her eyes took on a serious expression. She was not thinking about anyone or anything at that moment, and sounds flowed from her folded mouth into a smile, those sounds that anyone can make at the same intervals and at the same intervals, but which a thousand times leave you cold, in the thousand and first times they make you shudder and cry. This winter Natasha began to sing seriously for the first time, especially because Denisov admired her singing. She no longer sang like a child, there was no longer in her singing that comic, childish diligence that was in her before; but she still did not sing well, as all the expert judges who listened to her said. “Not processed, but a wonderful voice, it needs to be processed,” everyone said. But they usually said this long after her voice had fallen silent. At the same time, when this raw voice sounded with irregular aspirations and with efforts of transitions, even the expert judges did not say anything, and only enjoyed this raw voice and only wanted to hear it again. In her voice there was that virginal pristineness, that ignorance of her own strengths and that still unprocessed velvet, which were so combined with the shortcomings of the art of singing that it seemed impossible to change anything in this voice without spoiling it. “What is this? - Nikolai thought, hearing her voice and opening his eyes wide. -What happened to her? How does she sing these days? - he thought. And suddenly the whole world focused for him, waiting for the next note, the next phrase, and everything in the world became divided into three tempos: “Oh mio crudele affetto... [Oh my cruel love...] One, two, three... one, two... three... one... Oh mio crudele affetto... One, two, three... one. Eh, our life is stupid! - Nikolai thought. All this, and misfortune, and money, and Dolokhov, and anger, and honor - all this is nonsense... but here it is real... Hey, Natasha, well, my dear! Well, mother!... how will she take this si? I took it! God bless!" - and he, without noticing that he was singing, in order to strengthen this si, took the second to the third of a high note. "My God! how good! Did I really take it? how happy!” he thought. ABOUT! how this third trembled, and how something better that was in Rostov’s soul was touched. And this was something independent of everything in the world, and above everything in the world. What kind of losses are there, and the Dolokhovs, and honestly!... It’s all nonsense! You can kill, steal and still be happy... For a long time Rostov has not experienced such pleasure from music as on this day. But as soon as Natasha finished her barcarolle, reality came back to him again. He left without saying anything and went downstairs to his room. A quarter of an hour later the old count, cheerful and satisfied, arrived from the club. Nikolai, hearing his arrival, went to him. - Well, did you have fun? - said Ilya Andreich, smiling joyfully and proudly at his son. Nikolai wanted to say “yes,” but he couldn’t: he almost burst into tears. The Count was lighting his pipe and did not notice his son’s condition. “Oh, inevitably!” - Nikolai thought for the first and last time. And suddenly, in the most casual tone, such that he seemed disgusted to himself, as if he was asking the carriage to go to the city, he told his father. - Dad, I came to you for business. I forgot about it. I need money. “That’s it,” said the father, who was in a particularly cheerful spirit. - I told you that it won’t be enough. Is it a lot? “A lot,” Nikolai said, blushing and with a stupid, careless smile, which for a long time later he could not forgive himself. – I lost a little, that is, a lot, even a lot, 43 thousand. - What? Who?... You're kidding! - the count shouted, suddenly turning apoplectic red in the neck and back of his head, like old people blush. “I promised to pay tomorrow,” said Nikolai.

Shrines[edit]

The relics of ancient Christian saints and other sacred relics in Spain are located in Catholic churches.

The Path of the Apostle James

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELO (region of Galicia). Cathedral of St. James. Relics:

ap. Jacob Zebedee.

MADRID. Monastery of Claris. Relics:

bezsr. Cosmas and Damian of Arabia (IV century) (chapters).

Monastery of the Incarnation of Our Lord:

blood martyr Panteleimon the Healer.

OVIEDO. Cathedral of the Holy Savior. Shrines and relics:

sir of the Lord (a piece of cloth with which the Savior’s Face was covered during burial),
martyr Eulogius and Leocritia (IX century).

SANTANDER. Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Relics:

mchch. Emeterius and Celedonius (IV century).

LEON. Cathedral of Santa Maria de la Regla. Relics:

St. Froilan (10th century).

Temple of San Isidoro el Real. Relics:

St. Isidore of Seville (VII century).

MONASTERY OF SAN MILAN (La Rioja region, near San Millan de la Cogoglia):

prpp. Felix and Emilian (VI century).

JACA (Aragon region, about 50 km north of Huesca). Cathedral. Relics:

svschmch. Indalecius (1st century).

BARCELONA. Cathedral of the Holy Cross and St. Eulalia. Relics:

mts. Eulalia (IV century).

VALENCIA. Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Shrine and relics:

Cup of the Last Supper,
martyr Vincent (IV century) (hand).

ZAMORA. Cathedral of St. Peter. Relics:

St. Ildefonso (VII century).

VALLADOLID. Monastery of Laura. Relics:

St. Gennady (10th century).

TOLEDO. Cathedral of St. Mary. Relics:

St. Evgeny Toledsky (1st century),
mts. Leocadia (IV century).

ANDUJAR (Andalusia region, about 30 km northwest of Jaen). Relics:

St. Euphrasius (I-II centuries) (part of the relics).

MONTSERRAT MONASTERY (Mount Montserrat in Catalonia):

Black Virgin of Montserrat

Covadonga

Covadonga is a place that is dear to every Spaniard. Here a small detachment of Christian Asturians defeated the superior forces of the Muslim Arabs. The Reconquista began here. The Spanish militia was led by the local prince Pelayo. History has not preserved any evidence about him, except one. According to legend, before the battle, Pelayo prayed all night in a cave. The Mother of God appeared to him. She promised help to the prince. The victory inspired the Spaniards so much that they were inspired by it for 800 years, until the Reconquista was finally over. But even during Arab rule in Spain there were people who did not hide the fact that they were Christians. They were called Mozarabs - Christians living under Arab control.

Temples[edit]

The arrival of the Archangel Michael
. Carretera N-332 Km. 163, Altea, Alicante.
Parish of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
. Mare de Deu dels Reis, 12, Barcelona, 08023.
Parish in the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz. Plaza Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados sn. E-01004.
Parish in the city of Oviedo. Rua do Franco nº 50, 3ºF 15702, Santiago de Compostela.
Parish in the city of Roquetas de Mar. c. Virgen del Carmen, 04720, Aguadulce, Roquetas de mar.
Parish in the city of Seville. C/Cerro Gordo 37, 41089, Montequinto, Dos Hermanas, Sevilla.
The arrival of the martyr.
St. George the Victorious . Calle del Norte, 6, 46003, Valencia.
The arrival of the martyr.
St. George the Victorious . Girona, Pont Major, Passeing de Sant Juan Bosco, 1.
The arrival of the Ascension of the Lord
. Calle Hermanos Alvarez Quintero, 4, 29670, San Pedro Alcántara, Malaga.
Parish in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear”
. La Ermita de la Mare de Deu de la Pineda, Carretera de la Pineda-Vila-Seca
The arrival of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God
. Arquitecto Vidal, 22, Alicante.
The arrival of the martyr.
Cyricus and Julitta of Tarsus . Сarrer de Pitàgores, 6, 17310, Lloret de Mar Girona.
Parish of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Sputnik, c/ Reyes Católicos, 133, 04700 El Ejido, Almeria.
The arrival of Job Pochaevsky
. Murcia, Iglesia San Bartolome.
Parish of St.
Seraphim of Sarov . Av. Mestral, 6, 03570, La Vila Joiosa, Alicante.
Parish of St.
Simeon the New Theologian and St. Innocent of Moscow . C/ Tato, 6, 03005 Alicante.
Arrival equal to
Mary Magdalene . Gran Via de Hortaleza, 48, 28043, Madrid.
The arrival of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
. Calle Torresal, 12, 03181, Torrevieja, Alicante.
The arrival of the Nativity of Christ. C./ Gregorio Vacas, 16, Madrid.
The arrival of the Nativity of Christ
. Puerta Pintada, 9 (Calle San Miguel esquina Olmos), Palma – Mallorca.
Parish of St.
Nicholas the Wonderworker . Calle Madre Maria Teresa 60, Sevilla.
Parish of St. Hosea of Corduvia. Calle Diego Serrano 16 14005 Córdoba.
Arrival sschmch. Vincent of Saragossa and St. Seraphim of Sarov. C/ Porta La Morera, 18. Colegio Salesiano de San Rafael, Elche.
Parish of the Presentation of the Lord
. Calle el Jable, 26, 38678, Callao Salvaje, Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
The arrival of the passion-bearing princes Boris and Gleb
. C/Secretario Artiles 87 – 105, 35007, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.

Links[edit]

Spain - a country of ancient shrines
Hug Saint James
Saints of Spain
Spain: The Church of Emigration in Our Days
Orthodoxy in Spain: do we have a future?
Orthodox churches and parishes in Spain
Orthodox Spain. Parishes
Russian Orthodox churches in Spain
Orthodoxy in Spain
Video diary of three pilgrims along the Portuguese Way of St. James
Free walker's guide to the Way of St. James
Shrines of Spain
History of Orthodoxy in Spain

Notes

[www.iglesiaortodoxa.es/index.php?lan=ru&area=contenido&pagina=ortodoxia_en_espana Spanish Orthodox Church (Serbian Patriarchate)]
S. Mudrov [www.pravoslavie.ru/jurnal/1414.htm Church: emigration of our days]
↑ 12
[www.sedmitza.ru/text/578250.html The Madrid City Hall will provide the Russian Orthodox Church with a plot of land for the construction of a temple - News - Church-Scientific ]
[www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/1639716.html Official permission has been received for the construction of a temple of the Russian Orthodox Church in Madrid]
[www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/1818435.html The foundation stone for the Church of the Nativity of Christ in Madrid has been consecrated]
[www.iglesiaortodoxa.es/index.php?lan=ru&area=nuestra_diocesis&pagina=nuestra_diocesis Spanish Orthodox Church (Serbian Patriarchate)]