We live in a beautiful world where the secret of life is held by tiny entities called genes. They are indistinguishable, invisible. However, they determine life and its characteristics. They characterize each person and determine their identity. With precision and detail.
We swim in an ocean of infinite particles, identified by various strange names: quarks, gluons, bosons, leptons, baryons, neutrinos, photons, and many others. And they are invisible. But these tiny particles support the greatness of this world. They hide its mystery. All of them have their mission and their significance. No matter how small they are. Some are responsible for mass. They are called bosons. We don’t even understand why. But without them, we would not be able to feel our world. Others help in the propagation of forces. Some are known as gluons. And that sounds bad. And others make up light. These are called photons. A nicer-sounding name.
Maza, forces, light.
It is important to interpret the mass or justify the distribution of forces. Matter is tangible, forces sustain motion and maintain equilibrium. This is how we understand matter and gravity.
For some reason, however, the photon has a unique greatness. It is very noble, it has no mass, but it exists. And it can even generate mass. It carries energy. But above all, it shows and reveals. Thanks to photons we enjoy the sensation of sight. The world is visible. And it is so beautiful. A multitude of colors, impressive symmetries, surprising asymmetries, contrasts, reflections, harmony, depth, changes. Without photons, we would not know what beauty, aesthetics, variety, and visual harmony mean. We would not be able to compare. As if they give life to matter.
Photons confirm the existence of the world, but above all they reveal its beauty. But to see it, you have to discover them.
Our eyes help us with this. When they lose their accuracy or sensitivity, we use corrective lenses. To see small objects that cannot be seen, we have microscopes. For distant objects that are also invisible, we have constructed telescopes. And so we see even those things that are not visible. Our world is very beautiful. And it encompasses a great deal of wisdom. Beauty is hidden behind what it shows. And wisdom is hidden within what it hides. The first is enjoyed by the eye. The second enchants the mind. Without the stimulus of visible beauty, thought could not make its penetrating journeys. That is why photons are so valuable.
Other times, we use telescopes to photograph or detect. We do not see. It is not the same. Detection provokes the excitement of discovery. Thought provokes the magic of discovery. But it is sight that gives rise to the thrill of immediacy. Our senses are a wonderful thing. Especially sight.
Elytis says: My God, how much trouble you go to so that we cannot see you! And we add: My God, how many photons did you create so that we would suspect you!
“God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” Indeed, “in the beginning,” the first thing. Ultimately, God’s particle is not the boson, nor is it called Higgs; that would mean nothing.
The particle of God is the photon. And the gateway to the world is the telescope. You put your eye to the lens and you are transported to infinity. Where beauty meets truth. The eye sees. The heart beats. The mind races. It converses with photons.
The view is amazing, the vivid image. Especially in our homeland. Seas, islands, sky. Bays, beaches, hills, all together. Its natural beauty takes you on a journey. It makes you want to either stay on earth forever or leave. You want to live forever. And if that is not possible on earth, you want to go elsewhere. Beauty adorns your eternity. You look through the telescope and leave. You leave for infinity. You lose yourself in space. You are freed from time. How wonderful is the feeling of the universe!
But after a while, even infinity becomes finite. And time is short. You want to leave again. You want to move from the beauty of the visible to the experience of the invisible. And you owe all this to photons. The photons show you the beauty of the created and make you suspect the truth of the uncreated. Photons show Him who is not seen. They show God.
I would like to express my joy at the opportunity presented by this evening and my many thanks to Mr. Tsiganos for the invitation and for the opportunity to open my heart to you for a moment. It is a wonderful thing when your life is filled with a sense of astrophysics and the experience of priesthood.
And it’s wonderful to spend a beautiful evening in Penteli with the dome open chasing photons. Perhaps better than spending years searching for a boson in Geneva!
Thank you very much.
Metropolitan Nicholas of Messogaia and Lavreotiki
