I have been fascinated by Paul’s letter to Titus, one of his spiritual sons, who was serving Christ on the Greek island of Crete. I spent all of 1964 and the first four months of 1965 on that beautiful island. I was stationed at Iraklion Air Station as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force and I spent time in the city of Iraklion and visited many of the ancient sites while I was there. I also made friends with some of the local residents who worked on the base. I wanted to learn the Greek language, but their desire to practice their English always won out, so I picked up only a few phrases.
A mention of the letter to Titus in the New Testament would always elicit a sheepish grin on the face of the locals. In the very first chapter, Paul writes, “Even one of their own men, a prophet from Crete, has said about them, ‘The people of Crete are all liars, cruel animals, and lazy gluttons.’” (Titus 1:12) How would you like to read that description of your ancestors in God’s word? The quote was from Epimenides of Knossos, one of the cities I visited with artifacts from an ancient pagan civilization that worshipped the mythical Greek god Minos and may have spawned those bad traits. The English adjective “Cretan” describes someone with those bad qualities even today. One of the sites in Knossos was what is believed to be the oldest manmade road. I want to make it clear that while I was there, I found all of the people of Crete that I met very friendly, honest and energetic. (Possibly that was the lasting result of Titus’ teaching, example and influence.)
There are two fond memories of Crete I want to share with you from a Christian perspective. The first is a car trip several of us took across the island to Fair Havens, the harbor Paul’s ship anchored in for a brief time before trying to make it to a better harbor and wrecking their ship in the process. (Acts chapters 27 and 28) We encountered some roads that were much worse than that ancient road in Knossos, but it was worth the trip. It is a beautiful inlet with pristine beaches.
The second fond memory was when our chaplain told some of us that the locals in Iraklion needed help repairing and painting their very old church. We met a group of U.S. sailors from a ship anchored in Iraklion harbor and we worked side by side with those Greek Christian brothers. They were so grateful; they had a big feast for everyone when the work was finished. It was a great time of Christian fellowship. One thing I found very interesting; there were no pews or seats in the church. During the Greek Orthodox service the congregation stands the entire time.
The reason I’m sharing this old travelogue with you is because I want to let you know that the things we read about in the Bible are verifiable and that there is a strong spiritual bond between Christians in spite of language and cultural differences.