Hestia 

Contributed by Stephen Wickman, St. Thomas Episcopal, McLean

I had forgotten all about the book I had to read in high school until I heard this show about the Greek goddess Hestia (Vesta to the Romans). (BBC Audio | Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics | Hestia  That book is long gone, but my memory synchs nicely with the classicist podcasters message: she was the most important deity in classical Greek society – so fundamentally known to everyone that she hardly ever gets talked about in literature (you know, Homer and all those guys). 

Hestia’s story is “juicy,” not because she flaunted her obvious physical attractiveness but because she spurned romantic approaches from her more well-known brother, Poseidon and her nephew, Apollo, vowing to Zeus that she would not take a partner. She also stood up to other women, like Aphrodite, who Homer tells us had no power over Hestia. 

Hestia is identified with fire and the hearth and the abstractions of community and domesticity, not the fire of metalworking or war.  Every Greek city had a communal hearth where her fire was set and worshiped. In art, she is often depicted simply and modestly in a veil or holding a staff or by a large fire, or sitting on a plain wooden throne.  

The Christian tradition brings the Greek gods down to earth in the form of saints or maybe angels, and the one that Hestia reminds me of is Martha, who busied herself about the kitchen (the hearth) and complained that her sister Mary was doing nothing, just sitting and listening to the words of Jesus. And she appears in the Gospel of John as the sister of Lazarus. “There they made him a supper; and Martha served.” 

Hestia, a bit like Martha, is the patron saint of those who focus on community and domesticity, two bookends that are closely related. If we love and tend to the needs of our own family that will lead to love and service to the greater community, a value that all our faith traditions share. 

This blog post is the expressed opinion of its writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tysons Interfaith or its members.