having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
Hebrews 11:13-16

Monday evening, I gave a talk to the Orthodox Christian Fellowship chapter at the University of Toronto on the subject of Orthodox pilgrimage. I discussed some of the biblical precedents, some of the forms that pilgrimage can take, and some of the traditional pilgrimage destinations. Then I gave a brief slide show presentation of some of my own wanderings, with commentary.

Waiting for me when I got home was a DVD I’d borrowed from the public library. Saint-Jacques… La Mecque is a delightful film, and I recognized several of the characters from my own journey to Santiago de Compostela. There was added delight once I began to recognize some of the places they were travelling through.