The last Catholic Church I would see on the trip was the Cathedral of San Blas. It was here where there was the most blending of indigenous and Spanish within Catholicism. In one of the main praying areas there was a Peruvian Mary, a Peruvian Jesus and the alter in the center of the Church was carved from a single tree stump. It had awareness of the land that the other main Cathedrals clearly did not. It was small and homy and the symbols spoke to more than just the Spanish immigrants.
It was here that I did a prayer at the Peruvian Jesus to center myself. I'd been going all over Peru that day and in-taking so much information. It was nice to finally start calmly taking it all in and reflecting on it. Also, I have a soft spot for small churches.
One of the other cool things this Church had were a tiny catacombs where there were a bunch of bones. It felt very Indiana Jonesish being there and as usual. I always feel peace when being faced with mortality in the situation of catacombs or cemeteries. This was one of those times and after centering myself with the prayer this was part of the exploring the Church both above where the bells are, and below where the catacombs where made the day complete.
My visit to the Monastery of St. Catherine of Siena would be one of my favorite visits during the trip, at least in hindsight of the blog (and also being one of the most disturbing too). It was here that the face of colonialism was most obvious (one of the walls that makes up the Monastery used to be a place where Inca Women were kept who had taken vows of chastity).
First, the Monastery is very beautiful. It is a collection of art that is almost Zen like in its simplicity in capturing the major events of the Gospel.
Second, The Monastery itself has almost ceased to be one. It now functions as a museum showing how the members of Catherine's order lived. The immediate thing that became obvious was power dynamic. Much like the cloistered Inca women were beholden to the Inca Priests, so to the nuns. It was here that there was tiny confessional tied to the wall so the nuns would never see a man or the man responsible for their souls and confession. The abbess may have had a lot of power within the Monastery, but the lowliest of Priest would still wield more power than her.
In both cases it is complete control of a women's sexuality by men and seeing that them losing that will somehow lessen them. Purity becomes a form of control so great that an entire segment of a populace is cut off from the opposite sex.
This tangent is actually tied into a story that we were told the day before by Puma. There was a woman who wanted to become a medicine women, but the village elders rejected her. Keep in mind, before this they had done nothing as she suffered from an abusive husband too. They laughed her away and it was only when she'd faced the darkness and contemplated killing herself that she had the experience of the Spirits of the Mountains talking to her and teaching her, she came back and confronted the elders and today she is now respected as a medicine women in the surrounding communities.
Saint Catherine also shows power within the Church as a teacher, even if she could never speak for Christ the way a Priest could during Mass. I guess for her era she fought for power as best she could. One does not become famous sitting down, a person has to be active and fighting in some way, even if it is by removing oneself from the game the way the Taoist and Buddhist Masters did, just like many of the Catholic Saints.
The final bit is about Tupac II the last Inca King. It was today that I went to the museum and learned about his resistance against the Mita slave system that the Spanish had committed against the native population. His aims were extreme, but sadly I don't know what other alternatives were really available to a native man who had no power within Spanish society. Well, what does this have to do with Saint Catherine Monastery? Well the time the Church could have brought about peace rather than backing the oppressors, tehy back the oppressors. Saint Catherine Monastery gave a blessed Jesus figurine to clear the souls of the men who brutally executed Tupac, and the local Dies labeled Tupac and heretic and let that excite the mob leading to his execution.
The Jesus on the Cross that was given to the exectuionors now sits in the Regional Museum of Cuzco. The Monastery out of guilt refused to take it back and so it as people realized what Tupac II had been trying to do to change an unjust system (even if it was in an immoral way). People, and the Monastery at least realized they'd been immoral doing nothing and allowing the slavery of the native populace to continue leading to Tupac's revolution in the first place.
How to describe Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Church? First I must describe the location. It's in a rural area near my house on a private road. There is a pasture with Pony's next to the Church and a large house behind the Church.
Then there was the Chapel. Paintings of saints and characters from the Bible posed with Golden Halos, in paintings painted gold. There wasn't holy water at the entrance like there is with Catholic Churches, and the altar was carved out of wood and covered flowers and had a red tapestry underneath the arch on the altar. This was the first room.
The second room was smaller and had a golden cross that looked like it had a sun upon it, and a great candle holder with seven candles ornately made of gold. There was so much gold in both the paintings and symbols. The Priests garbs were also gold.
Today was vespers and the holy liturgy. I was not able to stay for it all so I shall describe what I was there for. The vespers were readings from the Old Testament along with chants and prayers to the Trinity. I was there for Genesis, Exodus, Jonah, Isaiah and Kings. It was here I noticed what my friend and I had been talking about the day before.
In Exodus God leads Pharaoh on for the soul purpose of showing his glory. Rather then having Pharaoh become compassionate towards the Jews he ignites Pharaoh's anger...all this is a show of power to get the Jews to worship and honor Him...to FEAR Him.
In another story a Prophet get's God to heal a boy who is sick. Because "God why have done evil against this boy?" Because the Prophet calls God on it. God lets the prophet heal the boy and "Repents of the Evil He (God) committed."
The God of religion is so much like us (better and worse in some instances). He does good and evil. He contradicts Himself. Is jealous, wrathful, compassionate, and all the other human emotions. The God in the Bible feels bad over some of His actions. Whether it's the flood, the child or other actions. But I have trouble seeing the character as All-Good and All-Benevolent given these actions...as well as the existence of Heaven and Hell.
If either exists then there isn't justice. Eternal punishment or reward for Temporal actions, is not just. There isn't an equal give or getting...it's eternal, infinite, for something that was finite. This is something my friend told me yesterday that stuck with me. She's right. How is infinite punishment or reward just given finite actions?
Hearing these Old Testament stories really gave me an appreciation of the past and how far we have come. Ethically most people are aware of the Good have moved on from an "Eye for an eye." Or killing for ideology...most people just want to live. So many people asked questions and many of them died as heretics for asking those questions...thankfully it is not that way in as many parts of the world as it was before...though it still happens.
When any book, Holy or not, is put above free thought and then used to suppress questions of it...evil occurs. Closed systems aren't just in religions though, that same mentality has exists and does exist within countries and communities. The State can be God, or any ideology can be God. Any thought of what a person believes God to be...can be worth killing for. Worth doing evil in It's name. As our ancestors did in the past and that is still done to this day.
Easter or sometime after I'll be doing a reflection on Christianity...but this where I am currently. I don't think I would ever convert to any of the Abrahamic faiths. The Books of the Word have to many contradictions, and the God is like us (not all Good or all benevolent)...not better or worse in the stories, just more powerful. There is still more to explore and discover in the stories and life. Religion tells us a lot about ourselves and people. I intend to continue to discover, experience and learn as I continue the blog.
