I had the experience of the icon, which Paul had gifted me with, falling off the wall of my apartment on the day he passed. Somehow, I knew that day was Paul’s last day. As I write these words of remembrance, I think of being with him in Athens, Greece, and climbing the ancient marbles. He spoke to me of what he thought of Saint Paul as we stood beneath the Areopagus, where Saint Paul preached. The Greek restaurant is all in blue and white, and the flowers are blooming. We drank wine, and he told me he purchased this icon on a trip he made to Greece with his mother in 1939. He said he went to the holy island of Mount Athos, and it was just before the outbreak of World War II. Bishop Moore told me that he bought the icon because he liked the way the Madonna smiled. He was sure to add that this icon hung on the wall of his office every working day of his life.
Memoirs
of
Thirty
Years
in the
Classroom
The author struggled to assess and evaluate, after years in the classrooms of public, private, and parochial schools of New York City, his own development as an educator and what was really achieved in his students’ lives, morally, educationally, and even spiritually, through crises such as human rights struggles, the September 11 terrorist attacks, and the pandemic and war and peace. The author developed through personal relationships such as a 30-year relationship with Bishop Paul Moore of the Episcopal Church and meeting the woman who changed his life, Providencia.