Contessa Entellina Society – The Oldest Italian/Sicilian Society in New Orleans – Incorporated September 8th, 1886
History & Religion
Greek-Albanians (Kingdom of Epirus), Schiros from Skyros – Greece, and Albanian warriors fought for The Church against the Ottoman Turks (who spread Muslim culture by the sword). In Albania, the years long fight failed, so Pope Nicholas 5th granted us passage to Sicily along with our royal titles and permission to establish towns (to the seven royal families) – we owned land in those days = royal; we even had Albanian/Epirus ≈shamanic practical applications of esoteric knowledge that may be lost if we don’t go back to the highlands from which we came to try to recapture that important powerful knowledge…
Dresses were embroidered with actual gold thread in patterns. The Greek influence was from seafaring entrepreneurial traders. The Greeks have a wealth of esoteric knowledge too. Italian influence integrated when living in Sicily for a few hundred years before the slaves were freed in America (united States), when the plantation owners of the greater New Orleans area paid passage for skilled Sicilian farmers to come work the plantations; after two years of service many of us left the plantations to open groceries, bakeries, etcetera in New Orleans and beyond. Also, famine from world war two brought many Sicilians/Italians to New Orleans.
Jefferson Parish Regional Library 2nd floor Italian Research Library West Napoleon Avenue Metairie, Louisiana
More on Religion:
Those of us whom are Schiros may wish to dig deeper into the Byzantine Orthodox Church &/or Greek Orthodox Church. The Byzantine Orthodox Church allows married priests, which I am personally very happy about. Joyce Lucas Schiro was of the opinion that priests should be allowed to be married. It is my understanding that both churches (Byzantine and Greek Orthodox) in Contessa Entellina have married priests. Most of the original disciples were married. Many including William Henry have written books about & argue that Jesus was married & that the host of a wedding is responsible for providing wine to the guests. Was the wedding at Cana Jesus’ wedding? It was completely normal in those times, & I believe still is in the Jewish faith, for Rabbis to marry. Many things have changed from the times of the original Church of Jesus, the Christ. What is important is the search, the dominant thought, and state of purity through meditation, prayer, and communication / daily relationship with the Saints, Jesus, & the Angels to attain the true goal here on Earth, the transformation of human into Angel, just as Metatron did. – to become perfect
What I like about the Byzantine Orthodox Church is that the mass is entirely sung with the exception of the homily. King Solomon sung his prayers. Frequency/pitch in song is cause & effect… I like the icon tradition; one is supposed to gaze & reflect; quantum physics has proven that we become what we see. Beware of the “Programing” watched on television; choose wisely.
“Historically, the term “Greek Orthodox” has been used to describe all Eastern Orthodox churches, since the term “Greek” can refer to the heritage of the Byzantine Empire.[2][3][4] During the first eight centuries of Christian history, most major intellectual, cultural, and social developments in the Christian Church took place in the Byzantine Empire or its sphere of influence,[4][5][6] where the Greek language was widely spoken and used for most theological writings. The empire’s capital, Constantinople, was an early important center of Christianity, and its liturgical practices, traditions, and doctrines were gradually adopted throughout Eastern Orthodoxy, still providing the basic patterns of contemporary Orthodoxy.[7][8][9] Thus, Eastern Orthodox came to be called “Greek” Orthodox in the same way that Western Christians came to be called “Roman” Catholic. However, the appellation “Greek” was abandoned by the Slavic and other Eastern Orthodox churches as part of their peoples’ national awakenings, beginning as early as the 10th century A.D.[10][11][12] Thus, by the early 21st century, generally only those churches most closely tied to Greek or Byzantine culture and ethnicity were called “Greek Orthodox” in common parlance.[13]
Greek Orthodoxy has also been defined as a religious tradition rooted in preserving the Greek identity.[14] In 2022, U.S. government estimated that 81-90% of the population of Greece identified as Greek Orthodox.[15]“
What I like about the Greek Orthodox Church is that one gets to settle into a nice 2 hour long service, which allows one the time and environment to attempt to tap into a spiritual state of consciousness. Again, this tradition also sings the mass, in Greek.