"Philoxenia" – Friend to the stranger

One week after we launched Pegasus this year, we were exploring the beautiful Chora of Patmos looking for a place to draw. The options were endless in this UNESCO world heritage site with the monastery perched on top of the rocky outcrop and the beautifully preserved old houses and small churches tumbling down around it.

 We walked through a passageway, down a narrow alley and came out into a tiny square with an exquisite small church. Two men were sitting in the shade of the Church. I smiled at them and wished them a good day in Greek and told them that they looked very peaceful sitting there. The older of the two responded enthusiastically and invited us to sit with them.

And so began our day of experiencing “philoxenia”, literally translated from Greek as “friend to the stranger” but deeper than this - generosity of spirit, hospitality to and love of strangers. In ancient Greece, “philoxenia”, was a virtue ranking high on the list of virtues, and clearly in modern Greece this virtue is still highly valued.

Jon Megaris, an enigmatic Greek man living in New York but spending 7 months every year on Patmos, entertained us with stories of local lore, history, and politics. When we told Jon that we were planning to paint and draw, he insisted that we come home with him as we would be seduced by the beautiful view from his house. We climbed in his car and drove down the mountain, past wonderful gorges and olive groves until he stopped the car in-front of one of the most beautiful settings we have ever seen in Greece. 

Jon’s large but modest house was built on terraces amongst citrus, fig and olive trees overlooking a small, sheltered bay with fishing boats at anchor. Jon bustled around, offering us cake and drinks and we were soon absorbed in trying to capture the magical setting in paint or pencil.

We spent the rest of the day with Jon – he drove us to the far north of the island to a remote taverna on the beach that only locals know about. We drank a toast to “philoxenia” with delicious Patmos wine and ate seafood meze until we were stuffed. 

In all our years in Greece, we have experienced this love of strangers many times, but Jon was the first who gave it a name. It is very similar to the Zulu / Xhosa word “Ubuntu” – a person is a person through other people. Perhaps having grown up in South Africa and knowing Ubuntu, we are particularly open to “philoxenia” and the highlights in all of our sailing adventures are these moments when we experience this Greek generosity of spirit.

By the time we met Jon, we had already spent 2 days with our Rhodes architect friend, Anastasia Papaioannou, discovering the history and architectural gems of Symi; our old friend Mercurious of the Raki and Rembitiki music had driven us to his farm in the mountains and to the oldest and most out of the way monasteries in Symi and our French sailing friend Jeff had taken us on a tour of his most interesting sites in Leros. 

  
But more of these 'philoxenia" stories to come.......