A Visit to the Crypt of Original Sin by Chris White

Matera outside of Sassi district

Matera is a town in the extreme south of Italy that is largely a city of rock and caves.  There is evidence that suggests this place, located in the province of Basilicato, was originally settled 250,000 years ago and has been occupied with various groups and cultures ever since.  What drew me to stay in Matera was how ingenious and unusual this city was with houses and churches, schools and even hotels carved out of and into the soft limestone rock that is the dominate feature of the place.  But also I was traveling with friends whose eyes would glaze over when I began discussing art of the Italian Renaissance or Baroque church architecture, but would light up when we began discussing the truly authentic Mediterranean cuisine that forms the diet of southern Italians.  Put another way, my traveling companions wanted me to calm down a bit on my obsession to visit all the magnificent houses of worship that cover all of Italy and what better way to fight this temptation than to go to a place that was virtually unknown to people like Michelangelo and Bernini?

The Terme at Locanda di San Martino

I will say that I did a whole lot less sight-seeing on this trip and much more relaxing.  It didn’t hurt that our hotel, The Locanda di San Martino, a monastery carved out of rock in its previous life, had an underground Terme or mineral springs swimming pool (yes, carved into the rock too) that drew you in for hours because of the water’s restorative effect on your skin and body.  But, that said, I spent part of every- day visiting the rupestrian (carved-rock) churches, or their fine art galleries (also carved into the rock).  There are literally chapels and churches everywhere many of which are no longer in use but are of historic interest revealing the architectural styles and religious sensibilities of the many groups of people who came to settle there.  There are too many of these places to list in a single article, but the city of Matera does provide materials for a self-guided tour at each of them.

This rock has 3 churches carved into it

So what’s with the rocks and why are they so cool?  People build their cities with what is plentiful around them.  This region is dry, hot, and has few trees, but has plenty of soft limestone.  The early and later settlers found natural caves but also quickly discovered with simple tools they could create almost anything they wanted by carving out of the rock what one would normally have to build.  The other part of the equation is living in caves is really cool as in lower in temperature.  The heat in the south of Italy can be easily overcome by living in the cool of the rocks.  Additionally, this is a dryer region of Italy and the rocks allow for channels and cisterns to be cut in them to collect all the precious water that comes in the form of rain.

Crypt of Original Sin

The best of the best of these “rock churches” is just outside of Matera (you need to arrange for a tour and driver) in a place called the Cripta della Peccatore Originale or the Crypt of Original Sin.  This is not the location where Adam and Eve had their monumental slip up with God, but is so-named because one of the beautiful frescoes that survived depicts that epic moment in Biblical history.  This cave church was part of a monastery that was built by Christian monks migrating from southern Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) due to political and religious pressures placed on them by the Muslims who were conquering their lands.  These were Greek Catholics and their Byzantine sensibilities are seen in the art that adorns their caves.  If you could go back in time, all of the cave churches were highly decorated with these kinds of paintings, but most of them are lost simply because they were nearly impossible to preserve in the micro-climate of a cave.  In the mid-1960s these caves were discovered and the frescoes, which were in great condition (and possibly 1000 years old) were quickly and carefully preserved.   What stands out about the Crypt is that it was not a creation of poverty or necessity.  The paint colors reveal that this group of monks had great resources and the ability to travel and purchase what they wanted to make their chapel a beautiful place.  They probably could have built their monastery on a hill like so many others were in their homeland.  But they too saw the climate they were in and the wisdom of retreating to the coolness of a cave.  One can only imagine the haunting beauty of this church lighted entirely by candles and accompanied with the music of Greek antiphonal chant.

Byzantine style fresco of Adam and Eve in Temptation

I hope if you have found this article because you are already planning a trip to Matera, this will excite your appetite even more to explore this very unusual place in Italy.  If you have never been and are looking for something beyond the usual trifecta of Rome, Florence, and Venice, I would commend this small city for at least a few days of your trip.  We stayed there 10 days and saw everything and more but justice to Matera can be done with a stay of 3-4 days.  You will want to research transport there and hotels and I might add there is a direct correlation between price and comfort that is not always the case in other locales.  But if you do go, definitely put the Crypt of Original Sin on your itinerary.

A couple of websites to get your research started:

http://www.amoitaly.com/matera/access.html  (arrival to Matera using Italian train system)

http://www.italyheaven.co.uk/basilicata/matera.html (general info and ideas for your time in Matera)

http://www.locandadisanmartino.it/?lang=en (The hotel I mention in the article. A totally unsolicited recommendation.  They treat you like a VIP!)

Mt. Sinai : God's Summit by Chris White

Sunrise on top of Mt. Sinai

There are many sacred mountains in the world which serve as pilgrimage sites for a diverse mix of religions pagan, Christian, Eastern, and Indigenous.  In some cases the mountain is the symbol of an unseen deity (such as Pele in the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii) or commemorates a great event (such as Mt. Ararat in Turkey where Noah's Ark is said to have safely landed).  Some mountains are Temples.  Mt. Zion in Jerusalem is utterly covered over with the remains of the Jewish Temple and the present day Dome of the Rock (the third holiest site in Islam).

Among the most important sacred mountains is Mt. Sinai where God came down and Moses went up and in a holy summit (double entendre intended) the 10 Commandments were given and a holy covenant was ratified with Israel.  Mt. Sinai is one of those Bible sites that are endlessly debated today.  There are at least 5 sites that have laid claim to being the true Mt. Sinai.  Surprisingly, only two of the 5 are on the Sinai Peninsula, the others are in what is known today as Saudi Arabia and Jordan.  Of course there are also some liberal scholars who doubt the entire story of the Exodus because they do not believe Israel ever lived in Egypt much less was enslaved and set free.

 I'm not going to enter into any of this debate.  The Mt. Sinai I visited is in the Sinai Peninsula and located nearby is St. Catherine's Monastery (one of the oldest in the world).  This is the Sinai of Christian tradition.  It probably was not the exact site that is recorded in the book of Exodus, but the location does have a fresh water source and an area large enough for several million people to encamp.   At the very least, it is emblematic, but authenticity is by no means ruled out.

My presence there was for spiritual pilgrimage.  Although I am Christian, my faith emerges from Judaism and the Ten Commandments form the ethical system taught by Jesus.  And so my interest was certainly more than historical and touristic.  Because of this I so chose to walk the trail that I might pray during the ascent which I will recount for you.

 Several hundred were making the climb that day.  You begin your climb at 4am in the dark of night.  As you look ahead, you see an endless train of flashlights making the ascent looking like a river of light flowing uphill.  There is little solitude or quiet.  Some (including my wife) have hired a camel to carry them to the top.  The camel drivers are all yelling at their animals or each other as they negotiate the serpentine trail with hundreds of switchbacks and loose rocks.  The last quarter mile is very steep and narrow and all must take it on foot.  By the time you reach the top you begin to see the pre-dawn light. 

It's exceptionally cold on the summit with breezes kicking up from many directions and reminding you that your undershirt is soaked from your exertions getting to the top.  Everyone seems to huddle together.  A cacophony of languages are heard and spoken, some groups are passing around a bottle of liquor to stay warm, some are outfitted in true hiking attire while others look as if they just left a night club (or A.A. meeting) to make this hike.  In a corner I see Egyptian family selling cups of instant coffee with milk and sugar.  There we wait; looking to the east, all of a sudden all noise and talking give way to a collective gasp.  There it is.  The sun.  But it is bright pink and then red and then bright white as it rises through the pollution of China and then the dust of Saudi Arabia.  It was like seeing the sunrise for the very first time in your life.  How could something so common, so daily, be so glorious?

Actual Moses Not Pictured

It is odd to say this, but the experience of the sunrise on Mt. Sinai felt like one of those moments in your life when you know for certain something has changed inside.  Unlike Moses, I did not walk down the mountain carrying stone tablets, but walking down I did have a sense of profound gratitude for life and the simple joy of seeing such a beautiful sight.  My heart, which had been weighed down by a long illness and subsequent depression, felt lighter than it had for some time.  It was a different experience than I expected, but a religious one none the less.  Sinai is the place of the law, a law I aspire to live by but always fall short.  But for me, in that moment and that place, I experienced a touch of God’s grace that was both extraordinary and common at the same time.