Panagia Soumela festival celebrates Greek culture and faith

BY GINNY PRIVITAR
WEST MILFORD — There will be a big Greek festival at the Holy Institution of Panagia Soumela (The Most Holy Mother of Mt. Mela), on Marshall Hill Road, starting Friday, Aug. 19 and running through Sunday, Aug. 21.
There will be music, dancing and traditional food including souvlaki, chicken pita, kontosouvli and other delectables.
Several musicians and dancing groups are scheduled to perform and everyone is welcome to attend.

The festival's history

Bob Vasiliadis has run this festival for the past 10 years. He explained that it is both a cultural and religious celebration. This particular festival recognizes the Dormition of Mary, familiar to Roman Catholics as the feast of the Assumption of Mary, the mother of Jesus, into Heaven.
The Holy Institute of Panagia Soumela Chapel and Cultural Center is not a typical parish. It is more of a cultural and educational center; religious services are held there about six times a year. Most of its members are from New York and Connecticut. They are congregants in their home churches who come to this central location to celebrate their faith and remember their heritage.
This festival also recognizes the original Panagia Soumela, a monastery established in a large cave in 386 A.D. to venerate an image of Mary and the child Jesus, thought to have been painted by St. Luke.
“The church itself has a long history; the original monastery was at (Trapezounta) in Pontus in Asia Minor, (now Turkey). It’s one of the oldest monasteries; built before the separation of the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches," Vasiliadis explained. "The monastery’s original icon (of the Blessed Mother and Child) is in Greece.”
The members of West Milford’s Panagia Soumela have an exact likeness of the icon and have re-established the traditions associated with it here in the United States. The festival is also celebrated in Greece at Mt. Vermion in Macedonia where a new church was built to house the original icon.

Fun events

The schedule of events for the weekend is as follows:
Friday, Aug. 19, 5 to 10 p.m. - Festival, cultural activities and entertainment
Saturday, Aug. 20: 1 to 10 p.m. - Festival, cultural activities and entertainment accompanied by Pontian lyre and presentations of dance troupes after Vespers.
7 p.m. Vespers and procession of the Holy and Venerable Icon of Panagia Soumela.
Sunday, Aug. 21, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. - Festival, cultural activities and entertainment
9 a.m. Orthros service
10 a.m. Divine Liturgy followed by the Blessing of the Five Loaves (Artoklasia) and a memorial service for the repose of the souls of Pontian brethren.
12 p.m. Procession of the Holy and Venerable Icon of Panagia Soumela.
12:30 p.m. Greetings from dignitaries, festival and entertainment accompanied by Pontian lyre.