A Parthenon on our roof by Peter Barber

Author:Peter Barber [Barber, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Greece, Biography, Autobiography, Memoir
Publisher: UK Book Publishing
Published: 2022-05-09T23:00:00+00:00

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The whole family spent the next couple of days on the small, friendly island of Aegina, an hour’s ferry ride from Piraeus and with a pace of life far slower than the capital’s. We could sense the relaxed atmosphere as soon as we arrived.

Aegina is famous for pistachio nuts, whose flavour and aroma are considered among the best in the world. As we drove around the island, we could see them heaped up in piles along the roadsides, drying in the sun. The cultivation of pistachios started there in around 1860 and most of the fields are on the western side of the island, which is more fertile and less mountainous than the eastern side.

We stopped the car at the top of a hill beside a field of pistachio trees, picked a few nuts and chewed while we wandered across to admire the view. Alex pointed towards a distant monastery further down the valley. It was dedicated to St Nectarios, she said. ‘When I was a girl,’ she continued enigmatically, ‘my mother took me there to be exorcised.’

Of course we were intrigued by this and keen to find out more. So we left the warm grass, the smell of wild oregano and the chatter of crickets to drop my sister and the kids off at the beach. Then Alex and I took my mother to the monastery for a guided tour and to learn more about Alex’s demonic possession.

St Nectarios is well known for his healing powers and is considered to be particularly effective in the curing of madness. When Alex was young, she was a rebellious child. She was always in trouble, and there was concern that her unusual, sparky character might be a sign that she was possessed by the devil. So Debbie sent her to the Monastery of St Nectarios to find out.

As a girl, Alex was responsible for a lot of the mischief in her street. If a cat ran past with a tin tied to its tail, it was her. If a neighbour’s fence had mysteriously disappeared, she had moved it to make a ramp for her bike so she could jump over things – usually her brother, Christos, who she forced to lie on the road at the end of the ramp. Whenever the parents of the local bully came to the house to complain about his injuries, Alex would hide her bruised knuckles behind her back and wear her cutest expression; they invariably left convinced of her innocence and now swearing at their own child for telling lies.

Debbie grew so worried about Alex’s naughtiness that she took her to the local doctor, who declared that there was nothing physically wrong with her and suggested a priest. The priest diagnosed demonic possession and suggested a visit to the tomb of St Nectarios of Aegina.

Alex, more than happy to take time off school to visit the island, spent the day picking flowers from the grounds and being fussed over by the monastery’s nuns and monks. She was taken into the chapel for the exorcism.

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