The Greek America Foundation has opened reservations for a nine-day journey through Athens and the Peloponnese led by Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos, built around Orthodox faith, ancestral memory and the traditions that lead into Great Lent.
Scheduled for February 28 through March 8, 2027, A Pre-Lenten Homecoming Journey with Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos will bring a small group of travelers through some of southern Greece’s most important religious, historical and cultural landscapes.
The journey is designed especially for those seeking a closer encounter with the traditions that have shaped generations of Orthodox faithful—not only through churches and monasteries, but through food, family, village life, remembrance and the rhythms of the Orthodox calendar.
Bishop Demetrios will accompany the group throughout the journey, offering reflections at sites connected to early Christianity, monastic life, sacrifice, memory and the enduring relationship between faith and place.
The journey begins in Athens with a welcome dinner overlooking the city and the Acropolis. The following morning, the group will cross into the Peloponnese for a guided visit to Ancient Corinth, where Bishop Demetrios will reflect on St. Paul and the first Christian communities of the Greek world.
From Corinth, the journey continues to Nafplion, with visits to Agia Moni—also known as the Monastery of Areia—and the archaeological site of Mycenae. The itinerary brings together two different strands of Greek inheritance: the Orthodox monastic tradition and the ancient world of Homeric memory.
Faith, History and the Memory of Place
The group will then travel into the mountainous northern Peloponnese to Kalavryta, a place deeply associated with sacrifice, resistance and historical memory.
A visit to the Monastery of Mega Spileo will offer another encounter with Greece’s living monastic tradition before the journey continues to Patras.
While in the region, participants will also visit Nafpaktos, with its historic harbor and old town, before returning to Patras for a special Tsiknopempti celebration.
Observed during the final weeks before Great Lent, Tsiknopempti is one of Greece’s most beloved seasonal traditions—a communal feast marked by food, music and fellowship before the fasting period begins. The evening will give participants an opportunity to experience the celebration as it is lived in Greece, around a shared table and in the company of local people.
From Patras, the journey will turn south toward Pylos and Messinia, where some of its most personal experiences will unfold.
In the Marathopolis area, participants will take part in a hands-on kolyva-making experience. Under the guidance of Bishop Demetrios, the group will prepare the traditional memorial offering of boiled wheat and may submit the names of departed loved ones to be commemorated during the following morning’s Saturday of Souls service.
That service will take place at Metamorphosis Church in Marathopolis, in the landscape of Bishop Demetrios’ own family roots.
The experience brings together several of the journey’s central themes: faith, ancestry and the powerful Orthodox tradition of speaking the names of those who came before us.
The day will continue through Messinia with visits to the Palace of Nestor and Ancient Messene, connecting the Orthodox practices of remembrance with much older Greek ideas of homecoming, restoration and the ties that bind people to the places of their ancestors.
A Journey Led by a Familiar Voice
Bishop Demetrios has been an ordained clergyman for more than three decades and has long been known for a ministry that extends beyond the conventional boundaries of church life.
His work with people living with HIV/AIDS and his advocacy against the death penalty in Illinois became the subject of Grace Unbound: The Sacred Activism of an Orthodox Bishop. His participation gives the journey a perspective shaped not only by theology, but by a lifetime of connecting faith with compassion, human dignity and action.
The final leg of the journey will bring the group to the Byzantine landscape of Mystras. Its churches, monasteries and fortress walls preserve the remains of a civilization in which Orthodox faith, Greek culture and public life were deeply intertwined.
After Mystras, participants will return to the Athens area for a final overnight before departing on March 8.
The program includes eight nights of accommodation, daily breakfast, private transportation, professional guided visits, archaeological-site admission, a welcome dinner, the Tsiknopempti celebration, additional lunches and dinners, the kolyva-making experience and participation in the Saturday of Souls service.
The journey is limited to approximately 25 to 30 participants. Double-occupancy pricing begins at $4,895 per person, with international airfare and travel insurance excluded.
The trip is part of Homecoming Journeys, a travel initiative launched by the Greek America Foundation to create intimate experiences that bring people into deeper contact with Greece through its culture, history, traditions, food and people.
Each journey is organized around a particular theme, host or way of encountering the country. In this case, the entry point is the sacred period before Great Lent—a time of celebration and preparation, feasting and fasting, memory and return.
Full itinerary, pricing and reservation information are available on the official journey page.
