The exhibition “In the Footsteps of St Paul” (30.1-30.4.2025), presented at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, traces the Apostle Paul’s second missionary journey from Macedonia to Corinth (50-51 AD), which influenced world history by marking the beginning of the end of the ancient world. It was designed by the Directorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of the Ministry of Culture and implemented within the framework of the project “Cultural Route: "In the footsteps of Saint Paul, the Apostle of the nations".

The exhibition was structured within a revised framework of documentation, based on the text of the Acts of the Apostles, St Paul’s letters to the newly founded Christian Churches and his associates, historical and archaeological research, as well as the oral tradition that preserved the memory of the Apostle unaltered. It aims to connect the apostolic journey with archaeological sites and monuments from the Greco-Roman era, the Jewish Diaspora, and the Christian world at the stations of the Apostle's journey, as well as current cities of modern Greece.

The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki is the first stop of the exhibition, which will also travel to other cities in Greece located near the sites of the Apostolic Journey. The exhibition is enriched with objects from the museum's collections that shed light on aspects of Thessaloniki's society before and after St Paul’s visit, reflecting the impact of his teachings.

(Source: Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki)

The project “Cultural Route: "In the Footsteps of Saint Paul, the Apostle of the Nations" is a candidate for certification as a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe. The Route is managed by a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation, with its headquarters located in Thessaloniki. This initiative is a collaboration of four partners from Member States of the Council of Europe: Belgium, Cyprus, Greece and Italy. The partners include the Pafos Regional Board of Tourism, the Central Macedonia Region, and Lazio Region – Regional Tourism Agency. (Source: Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe)

The exhibition at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki is based on the Apostle’s second missionary journey in the Greek peninsula, connecting religious tradition with historical evidence and archaeological remains. Starting from the island of Samothrace, which St Paul visited coming from Minor Asia in the spring of AD 50, one can visit the early Christian basilica of Palaiopolis, built at the site from which he departed.

Samtothrace, the early Christian basilica of Palaiopolis (left), Cobblestone Roman road (via Egnatia) near Kavala (right)

 Mosaic at the “Apostle Paul's Stasidi”, located on the north side of Samothrace, built in 2007 near the location where the ship carrying St Paul docked (Holy Metropolis of Alexandroupolis)

From Samothrace, one sails to the city of Kavala (ancient Neapolis), where St Paul disembarked on his way to the Macedonian interior. He was accompanied by Silas, Timothy, and St Luke the Evangelist.

View of the port of the city of Kavala (Source: www.visitgreece.gr)

After following the Via Egnatia roman road, St Paul reached Philippi, at 12 km from Neapoli. At the archaeological site of Philippi, one can visit the Roman Forum where he walked, the so-called “prison” (St Paul and Silas were accused of provoking abnormalities in the city), as well as the Zygaktis river where the first Christian, Lydia, a noble woman from Thyateira of Asia Minor, was baptized.

Archaeological site of Philippi, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site – Basilica B (Hellenic Ministry of Culture)

In Amphipolis, at the northwestern edge of Mt Pangaion, visitors can stand next to the gates of the ancient walls which the Apostle crossed during his brief sojourn.

The lion of Amphipolis, 4th century BC, located next to the old bridge of the Strymonas river, at a short distance from the archaeological site of Amphipolis (Source: visit-centralmacedonia.gr)

Following the Apostolic route one can visit the mutatio (changing station) of the via Egnatia at Asprovalta, the modern bema of St Paul at Apollonia, next to lake Volvi, and Thessaloniki. In the city of Thessaloniki one can admire the Letaean gate of the city walls, through which Paul likely entered the city, the Roman Forum, the Vlatadon monastery, erected on a site where the Apostle preached, according to the local tradition and some of the oldest basilicas in the city centre.

The upper town of Thessaloniki (Source: visit-centralmacedonia.gr)

The Holy Patriarchal and Stavropegian Monastery of Vlatadon, built in the 14th century on the site of a pre-existing church, is the only Byzantine monastery in operation in Thessaloniki. It is one of the 15 UNESCO World Heritage Sites located in Thessaloniki (Source: visit-centralmacedonia.gr)

After Thessaloniki St Paul visited Berea (modern Veria). The urban route starts from the Royal gate of the city walls, reaching the modern Jewish synagogue built likely on the top of the ancient edifice, ending at the Opsician gate from where pilgrims and travelers can either walk, cycle or drive to the port of Pydna at the Pieria seashore, following his route.

The pilgrimage monument known as "Step of the Apostle Paul" in the center of Veria (Source: visit-centralmacedonia.gr)

The Jewish synagogue in Veria, the most ancient synagogue in Northern Greece (Source: visit-centralmacedonia.gr)

The ancient city of Pydna, on the shores of Thermaikos golf, has been known for great prosperity during the Byzantine years, as a port, an intermediate station between the North and the South of Greece (Source: visit-centralmacedonia.gr)

The next stop is Athens, where St Paul arrived by boat. On the site of the Ancient Agora, he spoke with philosophers, and on the Areopagus, the hill west of the Athenian Acropolis, he delivered his famous speech referring to the “unknown God”. It is said that he spoke in front of the High Court's Body, as one of its members, Dionysius the Areopagite, adopted the ideas of his preaching and became Athens’ Patron Saint.

Athens, the Ancient Agora (Source: Ministry of Culture)

From the ancient port of Cenchreae and the early Christian basilica starts a third route heading towards the Bema at the archaeological site of Ancient Corinth, the Erastus’ inscription at the theatre and the Jewish exhibits of the museum. Apostle Paul is the patron saint of the city of Corinthos and an impressive church was built in his honor.

Τhe ancient port of Cenchreae: the Roman buildings are visible at sea level, and the ancient and classical buildings are underneath them (Source: visitpeloponnese.com)

The Bema at the archaeological site of Ancient Corinth, the site of Paul’s trial, is a large elevated rostrum standing prominently in the centre of the Roman Forum (Source: Ministry of Culture)

The cultural route ends at Nikopolis in Preveza in Western Greece, the great Roman city which St Paul intended to visit by the end of his life.

Archaeological site of Nikopolis (Source: visitpreveza.gr)

Read also: Greece, Cyprus and Italy walk in the footsteps of St. Paul

On the spiritual path in Greece

Byzantine and post-Byzantine Monasteries in Attica

I.A.

The post “In the Footsteps of St. Paul”: Tracing the Legacy of the Apostle’s Journey through Greece at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki appeared first on Greek News Agenda.

Archbishop Anastasios of Albania, a pivotal figure in the revival of the Orthodox Church in Albania, has passed away at the age of 95, on January 25, 2025. He was the Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania and as such the primate and Head of the Holy Synod of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania, elected in June 1992 .

In 2000, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and, in 2006, he was appointed president of the World Council of Churches as well as honorary president of the World Conference of Religions for Peace. Archbishop Anastasios's legacy is marked by his tireless efforts to restore the Orthodox Church in Albania after decades of oppression, as well as his significant contributions to interfaith dialogue, missionary work, and theological scholarship.

Born Anastasios Yannoulatos on November 4, 1929, in Piraeus, Greece, he demonstrated an early commitment to religious and intellectual pursuits. He earned a Bachelor of Divinity and a Doctor of Theology from the National University of Athens. Furthering his studies, he pursued post-graduate work in the History of Religions, Ethnology, Missions, and Africanology at the Universities of Hamburg and Marburg. He also conducted research at Makerere University College in Uganda. In 1972 he was appointed extraordinary professor of the History of Religions at the University of Athens, later Director of the Department of Religion and Sociology; in 1976 became full professor and from 1983 to 1987 he was the dean of the Theological School of the University of Athens. His impressive academic résumé contains around 400 studies, including over fifteen books and countless articles, published in international and scholarly journals, in a dozen languages. 

Along with his theological studies, he got involved with Orthodox youth organizations. In 1959 he founded and directed the first inter-orthodox missionary center in Greece entitled Porefthentes (Go Ye), and three years later the eponymous "Inter-orthodox Missionary Center", from which the Greek-speaking missionary awakening began in the 20th century.

Anastasios was ordained as a deacon in 1960 and a priest in 1964. As Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis writes for the Orthodox Observer: "By the mid-1970s Anastasios was already well-known and well-respected for his solidarity with Athenian students protesting the military dictatorship in Greece and for his support of Cypriot students in the wake of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. During the same period and had established the Center of Missionary Studies in 1971. In 1972, when was elected associate professor  in the University of Athens, he has also elected as well as titular Bishop of Androussa, charged with harnessing the theological renewal of official church circles in Greece through diverse programs and publications. [...]

It came as no surprise that two of the most senior and historic patriarchates of the Christian East historic patriarchates of the Christian East—the Patriarchate of Alexandria and the Patriarchate of Constantinople—assigned to him some of the most demanding, dangerous, and even daring challenges of recent times: 1) the organization and  coordination of missionary activities in a rapidly growing East Africa; and 2) the resurrection and reorganization of the Church in Albania. Alongside these responsibilities, at least during the first period, Anastasios retained the general direction of Apostoliki Diakonia, the official publishing and missionary arm of the Church of Greece. 

And so it was that, in Africa, the archbishop inspired and supervised the construction of dozens of churches and catechetical schools, medical centers and hospital clinics, youth camps and clergy seminars, as well as educational programs and welfare projects. As head of the sacred Metropolis of Irinoupolis (that spanned Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania), he oversaw the official opening of the Patriarchal Seminary of “Archbishop Makarios III” in Nairobi, which he directed for ten years. Over sixty priests were ordained, while and another forty readers were tonsured during that decade (1981–1991)."

Revival of the Albanian Orthodox Church

Following the fall of the communist regime in Albania in 1990, Anastasios was sent to the country to rebuild the Orthodox Church, which had been devastated by decades of religious persecution. The communist government had banned all religious practices and expropriated the property of religious organizations. He was elected Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania and Primate of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania in June 1992. He worked to rebuild the church "from the ground up," restoring and constructing hundreds of churches, schools, and monasteries. Over 450 buildings were established, including over 150 new churches. In post-communist Albania, over 400 parishes were reorganized.

He established a Holy Synod, a new constitution and seminary, as well as numerous other institutions and programs. He ordained 168 clergy and established youth centers. He also oversaw the translation and publication of liturgical and religious books in Albanian. The church also built three hydropower projects to support its philanthropic, educational, and spiritual work. As Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis describes it: “In Albania, Anastasios inspired and inaugurated a dizzying program of reconstruction, establishing a holy synod, a new constitution and seminary; building and renovating hundreds of churches, schools and monasteries; and constructing a candle factory, printing press, kindergartens, youth and welfare centers, a diagnostic medical center, an institute for vocational training, and even a radio station and an aqueduct. He nurtured and shaped a young church—self-sufficient and self-sustaining—capable of standing as an equal to the other sister autocephalous Orthodox Churches with centuries of evolution and experience”. 

The Orthodox Church of Albania under his leadership offered humanitarian aid to victims of the Bosnian war and to Muslim refugees from Kosovo, and he helped restore a mosque in the war-torn region. During the Kosovo crisis (1999), he organized a wide-ranging humanitarian program, which helped about 33,000 refugees in different parts of Albania. He connected the Church of Albania with international Church organizations. During a period of tension between Greece and Albania, he helped to defuse it and bring the two countries closer together. At the same time, he fought for the mitigation of conflicts in the Balkans. In 2000, on the recommendation of 33 academics of the Academy of Athens and many Albanian personalities, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Anastasios was deeply committed to promoting interfaith dialogue and ecumenical engagement, striving to cultivate mutual respect and understanding among different religious communities. In the 1960s, he participated in the Working Committee of the International Commission for Missionary Studies at the World Council of Churches. Later, in the 1980s, he took on the role of moderator for the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism. His involvement continued into the early 2000s, serving on the Central Committee of the WCC from 1998 to 2006, culminating in his election to the presidium of the World Council of Churches.

He had stated that “I believe we should be present in inter-Christian dialogue, that we should not withdraw to our corner, that we should not label ourselves as some kind of distilled water. There are those who accuse me, claiming that by engaging in ecumenical dialogue, I am somehow betraying my Orthodox beliefs and principles. To those people I respond that Orthodoxy is a precious diamond, which has nothing to fear or lose from exposure to others. In fact, it only shines more brightly as a result.” 

He was a respected scholar with a vast body of work in the history of religions and missionary theology, having authored over 24 books and more than 200 studies and articles translated into 17 languages.  His publications included works on Islam, Orthodox Christianity, and mission, and interreligious dialogue. Among his translated in English books are: Mission in Christ's Way: An Orthodox Understanding of Mission,  Facing the World: Orthodox Christian Essays on Global Concerns, In Africa: Orthodox Christian Witness and Service and In Albania - Cross and Resurrection.

Archbishop Anastasios is remembered as a visionary leader, a tireless missionary, and a dedicated scholar who played a crucial role in reviving the Orthodox Church in Albania. His work focused on rebuilding the physical structures of the church, as well as fostering spiritual growth, interfaith dialogue, and social development in the country. He is described as “a candle casting light on the icon of Christ”. He was a symbol for an entire generation, and a gifted scholar, a humble servant, and a prophetic preacher. His contributions to the Orthodox Church and to the people of Albania will be long remembered.

I.L., with information from The Orthodox Observer, Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania, AP News, Kathimerini, AMNA

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Louis A. Ruprecht Jr. is the inaugural holder of the William M. Suttles Chair of Religious Studies in the Department of Anthropology, as well as the Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia (USA).  Professor Ruprecht's latest book is Reach Without Grasping: Anne Carson's Classical Desires (Rowman and Littlefield, 2022). He is currently working on a new book project tentatively entitled The Renaissance Sappho: Fulvio Orsini's Songs of Nine Illustrious Women (1568). For his work bringing ancient ideas to modern-day scholars through the Georgia State University Center for Hellenic Studies, Dr. Ruprecht has been granted Greece’s order of merit, the Gold Cross of the Order of the Phoenix. 

Professor Ruprecht spoke to Rethinking Greece* on the concept of "cosmopolitan Hellenism" utilized in the Center for Hellenic Studies at Georgia State University as a way to re-imagine the Greek experience as an essential piece of world heritage, belonging equally to everyone; on the transformative moral value of Greek tragedy and its political consequences in modern democracies; on how religious concerns with "pagan art" were transcended by belief in the the virtues of classical art; on Sappho’s understanding of the tragic and transformative dimension of eros; and finally, on the future of Classics departments in U.S. Universities. As professor Ruprecht notes, "most successful Classics programs seem to me to have moved beyond strictly philological and strictly classicizing approaches to the ancient world, and to have harnessed the resources of anthropology, among other disciplines, to enable ancient materials to speak to more contemporary concerns. Particularly noteworthy has been the application of the categories of identity to the ancient world: race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, and class."

You have been the director of the Center for Hellenic Studies at Georgia State University since 2012. What is the place of Hellenic Studies in a modern University? How can ancient Greek culture and history illuminate contemporary concerns?

The term “Hellenic” is ambiguous, but this ambiguity can be both fruitful and productive. The term is far less familiar to the North American public than “Greek,” and thus it tends to need some explanation. My own view is that the term properly encompasses everything from the earliest Bronze Age Mediterranean materials, the marvels of the Classical and Hellenistic periods, the uncanny encyclopedic celebration of Greek culture and language in the Roman period, the crowning Byzantine achievements, and so on, up to and including the modern poetic contributions of Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933), George Seferis (1900-1971) and Odysseas Elytis (1911-1996), not to mention stunning contemporary Greek achievements in cinema, music and theater. It is a rich and expansive legacy, indeed.

From an institutional perspective, this legacy has tended to be divided between Classics and/or Classical Studies departments, which cover the antiquities, and Modern Greek Studies departments, which cover mostly the previous two centuries. The Byzantine material has tended to be short-changed by such institutional arrangements.

There is a curiously religious reason for some of this, I believe. If we look at the way religious history is taught at most Protestant seminaries in the US, then we will see that there is great attention paid to origins: to the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, to early church history, and to the history of early social and institutional formation. But then we leapfrog ahead to Luther, Calvin and the moderns. The Middle Ages tend to be short-changed since, from a Protestant perspective, this period is largely seen as the history of a series of excesses and errors. You see that prejudice alive and well in Edward Gibbons’s comments about the Byzantine Empire.

When I was appointed as Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies at Georgia State University, I was concerned to work against this sort of compartmentalization. I wanted to integrate Archaeology, Classics, Film, History, Literature, Music and Theater more seamlessly in an ambitious series of public programs. I also wanted to consider Greek materials in the broadest possible terms: Bronze Age, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, Byzantine, and Modern. Of late, we have even pushed the historical frame back into the Mesolothic and Paleolithic periods, since there have been so many exciting pre-Neolithic archaeological discoveries in Greece, both on the mainland and in the islands, over the past twenty years.

In order to celebrate this range and to express our expansive Hellenic commitments, I established “cosmopolitan Hellenism” as the Center’s thematic centerpiece. The idea is a product of the vast expansion of Hellenistic culture in the wake of Alexander’s conquests. A simplified form of koine Greek became the language of diplomacy and commerce. Greek culture became a sort of “umbrella culture,” one that held an ethnically and culturally diverse empire together.

The great philosophical schools that emerged after Aristotle (who had been Alexander’s tutor)-especially the Epicureans, Skeptics and Stoics–all emerged as attempts to think philosophically in terms broader than the more narrowly Greek perspective of Aristotle permitted. Egypt, Mesopotamia and India were not only important points on the Hellenistic map now; they were philosophically significant in novel and creative ways.

Diogenes of Sinope, who died in the same year as Alexander (323 BCE), was famously complimented by Alexander for his fierce independence, autonomy, and seemingly devil-may-care moral attitudes. Diogenes also famously coined the term kosmopolitês, or “citizen of the world.” He did so in response to the question of where he was from (he was from Sinope in Asia Minor). His answer--“my city (polis) is the world (kosmos)”--was intended to escape the power and prominence of the question of where we come from. Where we are from, he suggested, was less definitive, less philosophically interesting, than where we wish to go. Our world is supposed to grow larger and more philosophically expansive. Where we begin does not limit or determine where we may end up.

It is illuminating to imagine this as the statement of a Greek philosopher from Asia Minor. In short, Greeks had always traveled; their self-identification with a seafaring culture had something to do with that. The Greek colonization of the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts created a network of port cities throughout the Mediterranean that enabled such travel and even celebrated it. The Greek diaspora is one with a very long and very rich history indeed; cosmopolitanism is one of its chief virtues.

Today, the Greek diaspora is impressively global, of course. Toronto and Melbourne are enormous, and enormously significant Greek cities. Even Atlanta is home to tens of thousands of Greeks who have called the city home for more than one hundred years. It hosts an important and energetic Greek Consulate. It is an Orthodox Greek Metropolis with more than 70 parishes. It is, in all of these ways, a thrilling illustration of Greek internationalism and its cosmopolitan commitments.

In an historical moment when US universities have intensified their commitments to internationalism, and have opened their doors to permit a far larger percentage of their student bodies to come from abroad, then the moral commitments embodied in Hellenism, both historically and philosophically, seem uniquely well suited to the moment.

Here in Atlanta we have utilized the concept of cosmopolitan Hellenism as a way to re-imagine the Greek experience--Hellenism in the fullest sense--as an essential piece of World Heritage, belonging equally to everyone. It is here, I believe, that we find the most productive “elective affinity” between Hellenism and the modern research university.

What does “Hellenism,” “Greek thought” or what you have termed “the Greek phenomenon,” mean to you?

I provided some sense of my answer to this question in my previous response. In my own work, I have tried to sketch out the long historical arc of Hellenism, one that draws on Greek archaeology, to be sure, but that focuses more on how the tropes of Hellenism have been adapted and translated into later historical periods and other cultural environments.

In Was Greek Thought Religious? On the Use and Abuse of Hellenism from Rome to Romanticism (2002), I attempted to show how the very terms, ‘Hellenism’ and ‘Hellene’, had shifted in their Greek meanings, and been subject to varying translations in Latin and later Romance languages. Religious changes had a great deal to do with these shifts in meaning. One of the things that Hellênes and Hellênismos were later taken to mean were “pagans” and “paganism,” respectively. The shift from “paganism” to Christianity thus represents a seismic cultural shift in the history of the Mediterranean basin.

Yet what is most striking to me is how, while viewed one way, the transition from traditional Greek religion to Christianity changed everything, viewed another way, it changed very little. Christianized Greeks in the Roman Empire continued to dress, to eat, to engage in philanthropy, and to marry much as they had done before. A distinctively Christian culture that altered these traditional life-ways would not emerge until many centuries later.

What this suggests is that we will do well to attend to the simultaneous continuity and discontinuity in the long history of Hellenism. The continuities are highly suggestive to me. That is why much of my scholarly research has attended to the later iterations of Hellenic tropes in areas as diverse as art and artistic display in museums, democratic culture and democratic politics, erotic desire and moral psychology, as well as to theatrical concepts like tragedy and comedy, about which I will have more to say below.

I concluded Was Greek Thought Religious? with a chapter devoted to the revival of the Greek Olympics in 1896. The Modern Olympics seem to me to be the most dramatic and global example of a Neohellenic movement in world history. It is remarkable for this very reason that the history of the Olympic Revival has been so largely forgotten in little more than a century. Religion, as it turns out, is shot through Olympic history.

The ancient Olympics were established as a religious ritual event at the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia in (or around) 776 BCE. They were prohibited by the Christian emperor, Theodosius, for religious reasons in 393 CE. An essential part of the case for their revival in 1896 was also religious, as is clear in the speeches and writings of their “Renovateur,” Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937). In short, the Olympics were created, then cancelled, and then revived, all for religious reasons.

What those reasons were is a fundamentally historical question. As I noted above, Hellenism-viewed as a vast archive of cultural experience--also provided a spiritual foundation for modern internationalism and cosmopolitanism, alike. In the specific case of the Olympics, we may notice that sport trades in the currency of limitation: limits imposed by rules; limits imposed by lines and boundaries; limits imposed by our physical embodiment itself. It is the careful choreography of such limits that enables transcendence to come into view. We must have something to transcend, after all. This, I suggest, is one reason that athletics was an important cultural site as well as a source of reflection among philosophers and religious thinkers alike in antiquity, and why it continues to be so today. 

In your speech accepting Greece’s order of merit, the Golden Cross of the Order of the Phoenix, you noted that “Greek tragedy was intended to be a raft of democratic hope.” Could you expand on that?

The phrase, “a raft of hope,” comes from Ralph Ellison (1914-1994), in the new Preface he composed for the 30th anniversary edition of his classic novel, Invisible Man. In addition to being the author of powerful fiction examining the dynamics of race and ethnicity in the United States, Ellison was arguably the finest democratic essayist the US produced after the Second World War. Here is the passage in question:

"So if the ideal of achieving a true political equality eludes us in reality--as it continues to do--there is still available that fictional vision of an ideal democracy in which the actual combines with the ideal and gives us representations of a state of things in which the highly placed and the lowly, the black and the white, the Northerner and the Southerner, the native born and the immigrant combine to tell us of transcendent truths and possibilities such as those discovered when Mark Twain set Huck and Jim afloat on the raft.

Which suggested to me that a novel could be fashioned as a raft of hope, perception and entertainment that might help keep us afloat as we tried to negotiate the snags and whirlpools that mark our nation’s vacillating course toward and away from the democratic ideal¹."

It seems to me that what Ellison saw as the role of the novel in modern democratic societies was fulfilled in the ancient Athenian democracy by their dramatic festivals. In the Poetics, Aristotle’s reflections on ancient Greek tragedy, he observed that tragedy is an imitation of an action that is:

"serious, complete, and has a certain magnitude. It takes the form of showing rather than telling. Through pity and fear [di’eleou kai phobou] it manages the katharsis of these emotions. (Poetics 1449b25)."

There has been a great deal of discussion of that term, katharsis, which was partly a medical term that suggested a purging, or cleansing, in the medical context. That cannot be the meaning here, since tragedy does not eliminate the emotions of pity and fear. We still pity Antigone at the end of her tragedy, and we still fear the awful fate that led Oedipus to disaster. I prefer to think of katharsis as “transformation” in relation to tragedy. The Greek audience that witnessed the plays of Sophocles and others left the Theater of Dionysus with their pity and fear transformed into something else, something we might best think of as “compassion.”

That is the transformative moral value of Greek tragedy, and it suggests that tragedy explores a very particular kind of pain and suffering. Tragedy explores the full range of possibilities of what free human beings may choose to do; there is often a great deal of pain created by their choices. But pain and suffering are tragedy’s first word, not the last. Tragedy is ultimately a hopeful genre, since tragedy puts forms of suffering on display, like Oedipus’s, that can be redemptive. Sophocles shows us that, after all of his ordeals, Oedipus became a god of sorts in the sacred grove at Colonus, and his spirit became an enduring blessing to the city of Athens. His suffering was transformed into redemption, and the horror that people first felt when confronted with Oedipus’s fateful curse was transformed into compassion and care. 

The superb Broadway theater critic, Walter Kerr (1913-1996), published a ground-breaking study entitled Tragedy and Comedy in 1967. His argument sounds counter-intuitive until you think about it. Tragedy, he argues, is prior to comedy. Historically speaking, the tragic festivals in Athens were created more than one generation before the comic festivals. Kerr also insists that tragedy is philosophically prior. His reasons for saying so are complex. Comedies do not end well, and tragedies do not end badly. Tragedies, in fact, may end in all sorts of different ways; the ending is not the point of a tragedy. In reality, tragedies point beyond their endings to a new and more open future. They transcend the boundaries of the stage where they are performed. Comedy, by contrast, remains on stage and is rooted to the ground. Comedy is fundamentally cruel; it invites us to laugh at what terrifies us. Comedy offers no future; it simply grinds to a halt and the curtain closes. Without a future there can be no hope. “Tragedy is the genre than promises a happy ending,” Kerr concludes. “It is also the form that is realistic about the matter².”

I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the concept of tragedy in ancient Athens, in early Christianity, and in modern moral philosophy. I was fortunate to have been able to live in Athens for the two years that I was researching and writing. That work eventually became my first book, Tragic Posture and Tragic Vision: Against the Modern Failure of Nerve, published in 1994. I was especially struck by the way Athenian tragedy provided a model for the Synoptic gospels. There, too, we witness tremendous suffering in the depiction of Christ’s Passion, but the form of suffering placed on display, as awful as it is, was believed to point to redemption. That is the mystery of transformative katharsis, and it has both political and religious consequence. The early Jesus movement was a community grounded in compassion and reconciling love. Modern democracies are grounded in compassionate social practices designed to elevate the values of equality and fraternity, to unleash the full possibilities of all our citizens.

The ancient Athenians saw the political and religious purposes of tragedy very clearly. The city sponsored the festivals each year and attendance was considered a civic duty. I have long wondered what a modern democratic analogue to that spirit of marvelous dramatic occasion in the Theater of Dionysus beneath the Athenian Acropolis might be. Ralph Ellison, as well as Cornel West, see this spirit of tragedy alive and well in the musical tradition of the Blues. Blues music also grew out of the tradition of Gospel music. These musical notes are all tragic, which is why they are ultimately grounded in compassion and hope, and why they may lay claim to redemptive love as a transcendent value.

One of your basic fields of research is religion and you have written on the complicated relationship between religion and art. Can you tell us more about that?

An older theory of “secularization” in the 1950s and 1960s suggested that religion was destined to go away in the modern age. Somehow, it was thought that traditional religious belief could not withstand the challenges of the new sciences of Astrophysics, Cosmology and Evolution. The social scientists who believed this had a very hard time explaining the rise and renewal of political religion around the world in 1979-1980. This did not happen only in India, Iran and Israel; it happened at the Vatican and it happened in the US as well. My former professor and close personal friend, Bruce B. Lawrence, wrote the first comparative study of this phenomenon, Defenders of God: the Fundamentalist Revolt Against the Modern Age, in 1990. Another close personal friend, Jeffrey Stout, has written the finest study yet produced on the limitations of this version of secularism and secularization, in a book entitled Democracy and Tradition, in 2004.

Clearly, religion has not simply gone away.

My own view of the modern era is that it represents a revolutionary period in which religion goes elsewhere, not away. Religious impulses and spiritual energies are never strictly contained within churches, synagogues, mosques, temples or what have you. I am especially struck by the ways in which traditionally religious energies have been placed in the service of art--both for artists who produce their works and for the viewers who make pilgrimage to see them. In a word, public art museums are one of the exceptional and novel places where religion has gone in the modern period.

Few contemporary visitors to public art museums today consider the religious curiosity of the collections at their inception. From the Parthenon Marbles in the British Museum, to the Winged Victory of Samothrace in the Louvre, the Apollo Belvedere and Laocoön Group in the Vatican Museums, and the Aeginetan Sculptures from the Temple of Aphaia now housed at the Glyptothek in Munich, Classical statuary constituted the heart (if not actually the soul) of most public art museums in the first several generations of what I consider to be the “museum era” (1767-1830).

In my book, Winckelmann and the Vatican’s First Profane Museum (2011) , as well as in subsequent articles published in 2018 and 2022, I have presented the archival evidence from the Vatican Library and the Vatican Library’s Secret Archives which confirms that Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768), better known as a Neoclassical evangelist and Art Historian, was also the semi-secret curator of the Vatican’s first “Profane Museum.” I was delighted that last special exhibition the Vatican Museums curated before the COVID lockdown focused on this story. “Winckelmann: Masterpieces Throughout the Vatican Museum” was on public display from November 9, 2018 through March 9, 2019.

Founded in 1767, expanded and completed in 1792, looted by French Revolutionary forces under Napoleon in 1796, and then later repatriated back to the Vatican in 1818, Winckelmann’s small museum first “curated the profane,” which in turn enabled the cultural and art-historical domestication of what until then had mainly been seen as “pagan idols.” I think that it is important for us to remember that these statues had not changed, in most cases, for several thousand years, except in those rare cases when they were restored. Rather, our ways of seeing these statues, the manner of our looking, has changed dramatically.

And so it was that these statues of Greek gods, goddesses and heroes, most of them rendered in the nude, were legitimated and domesticated in the symbolic capital of the Christian world (Rome). This happened in stages, but stages that were cumulative and that developed with surprising rapidity. These “pagan idols” would first be seen as “fine art,” then as exemplars of “ideal beauty,” then still later as “national treasure.” After Waterloo, all of the previous religious concerns about the Vatican’s Museo Profano had disappeared; the cardinals and the Pope simply wanted their national treasures back.

What Hans Belting has called the Era of Art, which was also the beginning of what I am calling the Museum Era, thus offers a surprising case study of the casual flirtation with pagan form that would have a very long subsequent cultural reach and influence, both in the Mediterranean world and beyond it. Religious concerns with pagan art were transcended by belief in the spiritual power of ideal beauty and the transcendent virtues of Classical Art.

Your work focuses on how Greek cultural forms have been adapted in later historical periods, and the subject of your seminar at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens next year will be Eros. How has the concept of Eros morphed since ancient times?

For many years I have taught a course entitled “Religion and Sexuality”; I think “Eros in Antiquity” might be a better name for the course, since the mystery with which I begin involves the question of how best to translate the Greek word, eros. It is striking, though unfortunate, that the term ‘erotic’ in modern English has a more narrowly sexual connotation. By contrast, the ancient Greek terms, erôs and ta erôtika, implied something like passionate and overwhelming desire, a desire that has the power to undo completely the person who experiences it.

Ta aphrodisia referred to a person’s sexual experiences in ancient Greek; ta erôtika referred to something else, something far more mysterious, and even sacred.

Sappho of Lesbos (who was poetically active sometime around 600 BCE) was famous, among other things, for her uncanny ability to coin new terms. She was the first to call eros “bittersweet” (literally, her term was “sweet-bitter,” glykypikron, in Aeolic Greek). In that poetic fragment (#130), Sappho also refers to eros as a “limb-loosener” (lusimelês).

The term is a rhetorical echo of the Homeric idiom for death, where a warrior who is struck by a javelin or a sword is said to have their limbs “unstrung.” The body collapses, no longer in control of itself, and the soul escapes groaning through the portal of the dying person’s mouth. Sappho takes this image off of the battlefield and places it dramatically within the human heart. Eros is not in our control; eros often seems to control us.

Sappho, like other Archaic Greek lyric poets, analogizes such an erotic experience to death. In her equally famous Love Triangle Fragment (#31), she says explicitly that the sight of her beloved speaking to someone else drives her nearly mad with physical symptoms, such that she seems nearly dead in her own mind. As Anne Carson puts this point, “change of self is loss of self to these poets³.”

Sappho’s genius, like Socrates’s, was to see change of self also as a form of soulful transformation. The power of eros lies in its capacity to transform us. This is a transformation that is painful, no matter how blessed it may also seem. Sappho’s term, ‘sweet-bitter’, captures this tragic and transformative dimension of ta erôtika quite well. The idea culminates in Socrates’s astonishing claim in the Phaedrus (244a-245c), that eros is indeed a madness, but that some forms of madness are actually gifts from the gods. Passionate desire is precisely such a gift, one that expands our moral and emotional horizons, generating new dimensions of compassion, and care. One can passionately desire another person; one can passionately desire a divine being. Ta erôtika possesses a vast range and a sacred symbolic dimension. Thus, even in antiquity, religion went elsewhere.

Anne Carson, whose Eros the Bittersweet I cited above, developed an entire philosophy of eros that was grounded in Sappho’s poetic fragments and Plato’s Phaedrus. She offers a lovely analogy between the wooing of knowledge and the wooing of love. Coming to love and coming to know both involve passionate desire; both necessarily transform and enlarge the self. These are experiences where the head and the heart are interwoven, and our attention becomes infinitely finer.

It would be hopelessly reductive to equate eros with sex, as some modern thinkers nonetheless attempted to do. We owe our modern conception of “sexual identity” to modern psychology, which became preoccupied with the concept in the later 19th century. The transformations involved in such a concept are extensive. Sex, after all, is something many people (not all) do. Sexual identity, by contrast, is something all people are (even “celibate” is a sexual identity).

The distinction between being and doing was a very significant one in ancient Greek philosophy. What I wish to point out is that our current version of the “culture wars,” at least in their sexual dimension, makes more sense if we pay attention to this distinction. Laws are designed to regulate activity, not identity. But the moral stakes of a debate necessarily increase when we are discussing our identity, who we are, rather than what we may or may not choose to do.

Ironically enough, when classical philology and psychology both emerged as university disciplines in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, then questions concerning Sappho’s sexuality became central, and newly controversial. Since she was from the island of Lesbos, and since she mused so passionately about the young women in her circle, the term ‘lesbian’ became associated with the new psychological category of sexual identity. Some Romantics lauded Sappho’s passions, whereas some Victorians found creative ways to de-eroticize her poetry, when they did not condemn it outright. This seesawing use of an ancient Greek poet to affirm or to counter contemporary moral views of human sexuality continued in subsequent centuries.

Michel Foucault’s four-volume History of Sexuality (1976-1984) attempted to tell that story. While it is a complicated story in Foucault’s telling, I think its moral is very elegant and quite simple. The sexual subject, Foucault concluded, is distinctively modern, a product of psychology and its interest in sexual identity formation. But the desiring subject is perennial. Sappho and Plato are two of desire’s most eloquent ancient proponents. As they knew well, eros changes the self, expanding its boundaries and its spiritual possibilities. We are rendered a larger and more encompassing self, one more capable of compassion and care.

What does the future look like for Hellenic Studies in US Universities?

In 1903, just seven years after the Modern Olympic Revival, the Sophomore women at Barnard College in New York City challenged the Freshmen women to a series of athletic and artistic competitions. Thus “Greek Games” were born at Barnard. They developed into an extraordinary cultural phenomenon, and were wildly popular with the broader public; they became one of the most sought-after tickets in Manhattan. The Barnard women dedicated the Games each year to a different Greek god, they composed music and poetry, they designed costumes, and even built chariots, all new for the competition each year.

In the revolutionary spring and summer of 1968, university students all across Europe and the US petitioned for radical changes to university curricula and other educational practices. At Columbia University, just across the street from Barnard on Broadway, university students occupied the administration buildings and held out for weeks before being forcibly expelled. Their demands were many, including: better wages for university staff; more just university practices of acquiring property in the Morningside neighborhood; disengagement of the university from its military contracts; and the creation of new curricular programs in African American Studies and Women’s Studies.

The student occupation at Columbia just so happened to begin on the week in April when Greek Games were scheduled to be held at Barnard College. In solidarity with their students across the street, the Barnard women cancelled their 1968 Greek games. The following year they cancelled Greek Games permanently, deeming them “no longer relevant” to student concerns.

At this historical remove, we can well understand what the Barnard women were thinking. They were rejecting the traditional ways in which Greek had been taught at Barnard and elsewhere since Classics was established in the 19th century and Greek Games were established in 1903. They rejected the antiquated rhetoric claiming Greek civilization as the “greatest culture” and ancient Greece as the unique “childhood of Europe.” They rejected the implicit classism and elitism of classical learning. They wished to replace these classicizing sensibilities with more multicultural and multi-ethnic ones. We have these students to thank for the creation of African American Studies and Women’s Studies departments throughout the US (and also in Europe). But one of the unintended consequences of these curricular reforms was the marginalizing of Classics and Classical Studies.

It was never an Either-Or proposition, but it began to seem that way. Now, more than a generation after those crucial curricular reforms, we are in a better position to re-frame these curricular proposals in the form of a Both-And question. There is no incompatibility between having robust programs in African American or Africana Studies, in Women’s Studies, and in Classical Studies.

For the past thirty years, the most successful Classics programs seem to me to have moved beyond strictly philological and strictly classicizing approaches to the ancient world, and to have harnessed the resources of anthropology, among other disciplines, to enable ancient materials to speak to more contemporary concerns. Particularly noteworthy has been the application of the categories of identity to the ancient world: race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, and class. Ancient Greece provides a marvelous and extensive archive of reflection on all of these concepts and concerns. I suggested an important dimension of Greece’s different-ness in its erotic reflections in my previous remarks, for example.

The goal now is to present Hellenism’s continued relevance in new terms: as decidedly cosmopolitan; and as an essential piece of World Heritage. That is how we have attempted to present Hellenism at Georgia State University under the aegis of our Center for Hellenic Studies. The proposal continues to bear fruit.

1. John F. Callahan, ed., The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison (New York: The Modern Library, 1995), 482-483, italics mine.
2. Walter Kerr, Tragedy and Comedy (New York, NY: Simon and Shuster, 1967), 35.
3. Anne Carson, Eros the Bittersweet: An Essay (Princeton University Press, 1986), 39.

*Interview to: Ioulia Livaditi

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Mount Athos, on the eponymous peninsula in Northern Greece, is the most important monastic community in the country and among the most important sites of pilgrimage for Eastern Christianity worldwide. Usually referred to as "Holy Mountain" by the Greeks, the site has been inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1988.

The region

The Athos peninsula is the easternmost -and most mountainous- of the three peninsulas of Chalkidiki, a region in Macedonia, Northern Greece, famous for its beautiful beaches and pristine waters. The peninsula is a geological continuation of the Rhodope Mountains of northern Greece and Bulgaria. Mount Athos has steep, densely forested slopes reaching up to 2,033 m (6,670 ft), with an extensive network of footpaths, many of which date back to the Byzantine period; it is home to a diverse flora and fauna, including many endemic plant species.

Status of autonomy

Mount Athos is the most important monastic community in Greece –the second most important being Meteora in Central Greece– and one of the largest Christian monastic communities in the world. It has been a centre of monastic life since at least as early as the eighth century AD, and is now home to twenty Eastern Orthodox monasteries inhabited by around 1,400 monks. Apart from the main monasteries, there are also twelve sketes (smaller monastic communities) under the authority of the larger monasteries, and some even smaller communities, called cells. The Monastery of Great Lavra is the oldest of all, founded in 963 AD by Athanasius the Athonite.

The mountain and most of the Athos peninsula are governed as an autonomous region in Greece. This autonomous status has been officially recognized since the Byzantine times, and is guaranteed by the Constitution of Greece: in Article 105, it is proclaimed that, "in accordance with its ancient privileged status", Mount Athos is a self-governed part of the Greek State (remaining under its sovereignty).

In the Constitution it is also established that Athons is "spiritually" under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate (and is hence exempt from the authority of the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece), and that "all persons leading a monastic life thereon acquire Greek citizenship without further formalities, upon admission as novices or monks".

In Greek orthodox tradition, the peninsula is the "Garden of Panagia (the Virgin Mary)" who, according to the legend, claimed it for herself for its unique beauty, and wished that no other woman ever steps on it. Women and children are indeed prohibited from entering the monastic enclave; in practice, this probably originated in an effort to help the (exclusively male) monks and anchorites residing Athos to distance themselves from all worldly thoughts and interests and adhere to the rule of celibacy.

Cultural value

Besides its religious stature, the Holy Mountain is also a site of great artistic importance. As UNESCO points out, the "transformation of a mountain into a sacred place made Mount Athos a unique artistic creation combining the natural beauty of the site with the expanded forms of architectural creation". Moreover, its monasteries hosts impressive works of Christian art ranging from Byzantine murals to portable icons, artifacts and illuminated manuscripts of great historical and aesthetic value. The religious art produced on Athos has had lasting influence throughout the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The monasteries of the Holy Mountain are typical examples of Orthodox monastic architecture of the medieval period, with fortified buildings encircling the katholikon (the equivalent of a conventual church). All the monasteries are well preserved through ongoing restoration projects, and the materials used for restoration are traditional and environment-friendly.

The restoration and conservation work, co-financed by the European Union, is being carried out by the Hellenic State, and there is ongoing cooperation between the monastic community and the responsible departments of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the General Secretariat of Culture and other ministries.

The life of the monks

Over the years, the monastic community of Athos developed great influence and the monasteries accumulated wealth thanks to important Greek and international benefactors, from Byzantine Emperors –such as Nikephoros II Phokas, John I Tzimiskes and the Palaiologos dynasty– to Russian czars and, later, even Ottoman sultans, such as Murad II and Selim I.

The monks’ everyday life consists of praying (either in common services or in private), common dining, working (according to the duties of each monk, often in rural occupations) and rest. During religious celebrations, long vigils are typically held. Their diet is simple and mostly consists of bread, olives, oil, wine, pulses and vegetables. Pilgrims and visitors are often accommodated in the guesthouses, and have to follow the same lifestyle for as long as they are lodged.

N.M. (Sources: UNESCO; Monastic community of Mount Athos (Wikipedia); Monte Athos - Stato Monastico Autonomo del Monte Athos (Punto Grecia); intro image: Simonopetra Monastery © UNESCO, by Christian Manhart

Read also via Greek News Agenda: Meteora, the hanging monasteries of Greece; The Monastery of Saint John the Theologian and the Cave of the Apocalypse on Patmos; The historic Sumela Monastery in Trabzon

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John Zizioulas, Elder Metropolitan of Pergamon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and internationally regarded as one of the greatest Christian theologians of his time, passed away this February 2023 at the age of 92. In a letter of condolence to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed deep sadness. “His theology of communion and his research on conciliarity will continue to guide the work of the "Faith and Order" Commission, and of the World Council of Churches in general, as we are preparing for the celebration of the first ecumenical council of Nicaea in 2025,” wrote Pillay. “Metropolitan Zizioulas remains in the prayerful memory of many Christians across the globe as one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century.”

Rev. Dr Susan Durber, moderator of the WCC Faith and Order Commission, said that, for many people among the Protestant churches, Elder Metropolitan Zizioulas was someone who revealed the wonder of Orthodox theology, in ways that were deeply compelling and attractive. “His influential book ‘Being as Communion’ gave us a profoundly theological way to resist the individualism that can sometimes distort Western culture, as well as a renewed vision of the church,” said Durber. “His writings, his presence, and his voice profoundly impacted the work of Faith and Order in the WCC and his work continues to be celebrated and debated among all the churches. For me personally, his writing opened ways of understanding the divine that I have learned to appreciate and love.”

Rev. Dr Kuzipa Nalwamba, WCC programme director of Unity, Mission, and Ecumenical Formation, reflected on his deep contributions to the ecumenical movement.  “Elder Metropolitan Zizioulas was an astute theologian and a prolific writer who has left a legacy of his reflections for posterity in the ecumenical movement,” said Nalwamba. “His reflections on the unity of the church and the role of the bishop in Orthodoxy took the content of the ‘Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry’ study document further, nuancing it to bring the Orthodox position into dialogue with, and for mutual enrichment within, the ecumenical movement.”

In the early 1980s, the great Dominican theologian Yves Congar already called him "one of the most original and profound theologians of our time". Precisely because of the inexhaustible richness of the sources of faith from which he drew his theology, Zizioulas also became a key figure in the theological dialogue initiated after the Second Vatican Council to remove doctrinal obstacles to the restoration of full communion between Catholics and Orthodox.

In the obituary written by theologian dr. Dionysios Skliris for website In.gr we read: John Zizioulas was one of the leading proponents of existential discourse in theology and the most influential Christian theologian of his era, with over 200 doctoral and diploma theses published on his work. From this point of view, he could be considered as one of most important Greek thinkers in the international academic community, although in Greece most of his work remains unpublished. His great influence is due to the fact that his thought goes with clarity to the essential, as he expresses in a simple but profound way the meaning of the building blocks, of the human condition, such as freedom and love.

The life of Metropolitan John Zizioulas

John Zizioulas was born in Greece, in the village of Katafygio at the north-western region of Kozani in 1931 and he studied at the Theological Schools of Thessaloniki and Athens. At Harvard University, he studied with the existentialist thinker Paul Tillich and the Russian Father Georges Florovsky, as well as with the classical philologist Werner Geiger. He worked as a fellow at the Harvard Foundation for Byzantine Studies, Dumbarton Oaks. At the Theological University of Athens, he submitted his doctoral thesis "The Unity of the Church in the Eucharist and the Bishop during the first three centuries" (1966), which is considered a milestone, as it reintroduced the central importance of the event of the Divine Liturgy for the establishment of the Church, putting to question the overly institutional understanding of church institution.

From 1967 he worked as Secretary of the "Faith and Order" Commission of the World Council of Churches, active in the dialogue of the different confessional Churches. From 1970 he taught doctrinal theology at the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, from 1984 at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and from 1989 at King's College in London. In 1986, he was ordained Metropolitan of Pergamon and was the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the inter-Christian dialogue, while from 1993 he was a member of the Academy of Athens. In 2002 he served as the President the Academy of Athens, being the first Cleric President. He was vice-president of the Commission for Dialogue between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, as well as Director of the Representation Office of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Athens. He represented the Ecumenical Patriarchate in several international assemblies.

The Work of Metropolitan Zizioulas

His seminal works are three: (a) Being as Communion (1985) in which he deals with the question of what it means to exist because you love (this is the theological meaning of "communion") arguing that existence itself is based on love, and that love is not a mere addition to existence, but its component, (b) Communion and Otherness (2006) where the reflection concerns being grateful to every other being and finally to God himself, the ultimate Other and 'the author of all otherness’. (c) the third work of his life, his magnum opus, unfortunately remains unpublished so far. A potential title could be "Remembering the Future: An Eschatological Ontology" and deals with the theological question of what it would be like to remember not one's past, but one's future, a future, however, that has already entered history through the resurrection of Christ. The original and paradoxical combination of term "eschatological ontology" by Zizioulas means that real existence is revealed at the end of one´s being and not at its beginning, and in this sense the future interprets and explains the past instead of the opposite.

The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church in Crete in 2016, which renewed synodal consciousness and activity of the Orthodox Church after many centuries, was largely his work. The turn of the Ecumenical Patriarchate's interest towards the ecological problem as early as the 1980s, was also his inspiration and it meant a shift in values, according to which the damage to the natural environment, animals and plants can be considered as a "sin" of man. John of Pergamum, however, mainly emphasized the need to transcend the ecological issue not through a new paganism, but viewing man as a minister of nature hwo has to safeguard it for God.

John Zizioulas' thinking on personhood focuses on how the person is a unique and unrepeatable identity that results from the also unique and unrepeatable relationship with others. Zizioulas uses the work of the Fathers to make an important distinction between the person, who is defined by a community, and the individual who defines himself in isolation from others, and who sees community as a threat to his freedom. Zizioulas argues that God is the origin of freedom and community, and that the Christian Church is the place in which the person and freedom come into being.

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The Secretary-General for Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy, Prof. John Chrysoulakis, sent a powerful message on dialogue, peaceful coexistence, and respect for cultural diversity within the framework of the International Conference on “Islam and Human Rights in the European Union” that was recently held in Thessaloniki, Greece (23-25 September 2021). The conference was co-organized by the European Consortium for Church and State Research, the School of Law, the Jean Monnet Center of Excellence “European Constitutionalism and Religion(s)”, and the School of Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

John Chrysoulakis started his keynote speech by stressing that the topics chosen for this year's conference could not be more relevant with what is happening in our area nowadays. More specifically, Mr Chrysoulakis noted:

“This side of Europe, Middle East, and North Africa are associated with common history with Greece for thousands of years. Cultures, religious and philosophical systems that were born and flourished in this region were mutually influenced but they were also the basis for the further development of the countries in the wider geographical area. Even the most diverse cultures and religions coexisted and found fertile ground for further development. Muslims, Christians and people of older religions formed multicultural and multi-religious societies in some areas. Nowadays they are threatened by extremist ideas which invoke extreme religious projects and try to turn back times of history reviving forgotten animosities and rivalries.

As it happened in the case of Turkey’s decision to convert to a mosque two brilliant examples that are timeless symbols of the coexistence of peoples, cultures, and religions, the Hagia Sophia and the Church of Chora. Monuments that received, especially for their symbolism, the designation of World Heritage Sites. In fact, Turkey itself, by its own actions was characterizing these two monuments as museums, for almost 80 years, recognizing their inter-religious and intercultural character. However, today regrettably, they cut themselves off from this role and use it for political exploitation, by provoking hostilities and rivalries that had faded many years ago.

Indeed, Greek and Islamic cultures are two elements that are clearly recognized in the history of the Mediterranean Basin. Their contacts and interactions have created historical and cultural ties between the two cultures to such an extent that we could hardly study the historical course of one from the 8th-century onwards, without direct or indirect reference to the other.

In the first steps of Islamic civilization, most of the literary achievements of the Hellenistic world were translated into Arabic, expanding in this way the vocabulary and idioms of the Arabic language. Through this meeting of cultures and the assimilation of the achievements of Greek culture, the spiritual curiosity and enthusiasm of the intellectuals of Islam develop and give new impetus to fields such as medicine, mathematics, philosophy, astronomy, architecture, and alchemy. A typical example of this interaction is the exact rendering of Hippocrates' oath in Arabic in the 9th century, as long as the core of Arabic medicine comes from Greek medicine and physiology. Following this tradition path, Arabic medicine has been developed and evolved, promoting science and then dominating through Latin translations in European medicine until the 16th century.

Basic elements of Greek philosophy, found enthusiastic supporters and translators among the intellectuals and philosophers of Islam, who attempted, in the 9th and 10th centuries, to balance between the truth of religious faith and the truth based on the study of human reasoning.

This is reflected exactly in the love for the hoarded knowledge that Greek culture bequeathed to the Arabs. The first organized libraries of the Arab world in the 9th and 10th centuries are centers of study and promotion of science, according to the standards of libraries of the Hellenistic period (Alexandria, Pergamon, Caesarea, Palestine, etc.), thus helping to develop a kind of Arab-Islamic cultural consciousness. At the same time, this contact gave the opportunity to save extracts of the ancient Greek tradition, whose originals were lost, due to their translation into Arabic.

It is interesting to remind that during the time of the great Arab philosophers, Al-Farabi, Al-Ghazali, Avicenna, or Averroes, it was not easy to find adequate philosophers of that caliber in the West. As a consequence, they began to turn to great personalities of antiquity, who had begun to become accessible thanks to the extensive translation work of Syrian and Arabic translators. Therefore, Islam can be considered, in many respects, as an interlocutor of Greek antiquity and Byzantium playing a particular role in the preservation and cultivation of the Greek cultural heritage for the rest of the world.

The belief in human reasoning skills which has the potential to use its knowledge to organize the human life, on the basis of rights and obligations, which consist the heart of Aristotle’s and Plato’s works, created the core of shaping the concept of human rights in the Islamic world, too.

Islam has recognized basic Human Rights and almost 14 centuries ago, it set up guarantees and safeguards. Unfortunately, based on socio-historical reasons (such as the descent of the Mongols and the destruction of Baghdad and the House of Wisdom in the middle of the 13th century), the cultural expansion was halted against Islam after the 13th century, the religious structures hardened and philosophy was gradually subordinated to theology and formalist jurisprudence, giving the dimension of the attribution of any rights to God.

Thus, the latter tends to become the center of attention even in our days. However, Muslim states aim to promote critical scientific thought, human rights, peaceful coexistence, freedom of religion within the limits set by the principles of that religion. They are slipping indeed in acts that led to the shrinking and introversion of Islam, depriving their countries of every possibility of scientific, political, social, and economic development. The contemporary Islamic practice, in many respects, does not conform to the true principles of Islam. The implementation though of international human rights norms in any society requires thoughtful and well-informed engagement with religion (broadly defined) because of its strong influence on human belief systems and behavior. Let us hope that the public discussion on the issue will bear fruits in the near future.

The contemporary Islamic practice in many respects does not conform to the true principles of Islam. The implementation though of international human rights norms in any society requires thoughtful and well-informed engagement with religion (broadly defined) because of its strong influence on human belief systems and behavior. Let us hope that the public discussion on the issue will bear fruits in the near future.

At that point, Mr Chrysoulakis invited the conference attendees to recall in memory the legacy and practical advice of a powerful personality, whose contribution was a turning point in the history of protection of human rights that consist the fundamental principle of Democracy: the first chairperson of the UN Commission on Human Rights, Eleanor Roosevelt, who as early as 1958, has stated:

“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home -- so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person: the neighborhood he [or she] lives in; the school or college he [or she] attends; the factory, farm, or office where he [or she] works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world. Thus we believe that the destiny of human rights is in the hands of all our citizens in all our communities”.

In conclusion, after wishing every success to the Conference’s work, Mr Chrysoulakis expressed his confidence that it will trigger many fruitful thoughts in the future. It should be undoubtedly, a common and peaceful future for all the people of the region. As Greeks, he added, we fully understand this way of thinking because the interaction of our culture allows us to communicate with our neighbor and leads us to a constructive dialogue between us. A fact that effortlessly reminds us of a basic condition that is none other than respect for cultural diversity”.

Read also via GNA: Secretary-General for Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy John Chrysoulakis on promoting Greece to the international public; Hagia Sophia: The violation of a symbol

E.S.

The post “Islam and Human Rights in the EU”: Sec Gen for Greeks Abroad and PD, J. Chrysoulakis, sends a powerful message on dialogue, peaceful coexistence, and respect for cultural diversity appeared first on Greek News Agenda.

Reverend Dr Andreas Andreopoulos is Reader in Orthodox Christianity at the University of Winchester and a priest of the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain. His research and writings cover the study of the Fathers of the Church, Christian Iconography and Symbolism, the study of Liturgy, and modern Orthodox thought. His  publications include Metamorphosis: the Transfiguration in Byzantine Theology and Iconography (SVS Press, 2005), Art as Theology: from the Postmodern to the Medieval (Equinox, 2007), This is my Beloved Son: The Transfiguration of Christ (Paraclete, 2012), and Christos Yannaras: Philosophy, Theology, Culture (ed.) (Routledge, 2019). He has been leading the study of Orthodox theology at the Master's and PhD level in Winchester University, and he recently founded a book series, based at Winchester University Press, dedicated to the study of modern Orthodox thought, titled Modern Orthodox Dialogues.

Rev. Dr. Andreopoulos spoke to Rethinking Greece* on how the Orthodox tradition and its ideals of forgiveness and communal being can help us navigate and reflect on the problems of the modern world; what attracts many Westerners to Orthodoxy; on the Orthodox liturgical worship and its power to transmit a knowledge beyond words; the relevance of Greek philosopher and theologian Christos Yannaras' thought today; iconography as a way to express the inexpressible; Greek Diaspora and the Ecumenical tradition of Orthodoxy; the need for meaningful interfaith contact; and finally, on why the meaning of the Scriptures could be summarized in one phrase: "love is stronger than death".

One of Christos Yannaras' most famed texts in Greece is Finis Graeciae (1986), where he laments the prevalence of “western/Enlightenment” values such as the market, economic relations and the pursue of personal interest, over the more communal values of tradition, historic memory and cultural identity. Do you think his criticisms are still valid today? What could a true Orthodox faith and practice mean in modern Greece?

I am afraid that texts like that are even more relevant now than they were 35 years ago. The voice of Yannaras was not the only one warning us of such dangers. There have been many other critiques of our times and the challenges we are facing, both within Greece, as well as internationally. Overall, there is a great concern that we are moving towards a new era of barbarism, something we see with the international decline of education, language, the arts and the humanities. Likewise, the Western political and cultural paradigm sacrifices the values of historical memory and cultural identity, not so much for the sake of transcending ethnic and cultural differences, but either responding to a collective guilt for the sins of colonialism (something that applies also to cultures with no Enlightenment colonialist past, such as Greece), or striving towards a consumerist value system, for which spiritual values (in both understandings of the word ‘spiritual’, as in ‘the human spirit’ and as in ‘spirituality’) are an impediment.

The answer to such challenges can never be to turn back the clock, in a hopeless and meaningless atavism. Nevertheless, as technology and the media, (traditional media and social media) change our life more rapidly than we could ever anticipate, philosophical and spiritual reflection on the way forward is vital. This suggests that it is necessary to identify and address many of the causes of the current crisis, politically, spiritually and culturally. This kind of paradigm examination may take us back a few centuries, when the system that today we recognize as cruel, consumerist, mechanistic, based on exploitation, was founded, and could not overcome such problems in spite of the impressive advancement of technology.

Many characteristics of Orthodox Christianity, such as its insistence on a more-than-rationalistic gnoseology, its stress on communal being, its ideals of forgiveness and personal asceticism, may be extremely useful to us today

There is much in the Orthodox tradition that can help in this direction. Undoubtedly, several elements of the structure of the Christian tradition express only their times, and as such may not be relevant today. Nevertheless, the foundation of Christianity as the meeting between God and his Creation, and the Orthodox tradition as the strand that is probably less tainted by the reductive Enlightenment rationalism than the other Christian traditions, can help us find a way forward. There are many characteristics of Orthodox Christianity, such as its insistence on a more-than-rationalistic gnoseology, its stress on communal being, its ideals of forgiveness and personal asceticism, that may be extremely useful to us today.

Yannaras has been proclaimed as “one of the most significant Christian philosophers in Europe” by Rowan Williams, theologician and Archbishop of Canterbury (2002-2012). International interest in Yannaras’ thought has been on the rise lately: in 2020 two English-language books on Yannaras were published: “Polis, Ontology, Ecclesial Event: Engaging with Christos Yannaras’ Thought” and “Christos Yannaras Philosophy, Theology, Culture” (edited by you and Demetrios Harper). What are the aspects of his thought you believe are more salient today from an international perspective?

I believe that the contribution of Yannaras can be considered at an international perspective, even if in some cases it may be necessary to locate touch points between the Greek tradition, which Yannaras knows very well, and other traditions. Some of his great themes, that are expressed in several ways throughout his work, and can be great entry points in considering our position as a Greek, a European or a global culture, include:

a. The pursuit of knowledge and understanding in a way that does not separate the truth as an experience and its empirical confirmation, from reason – a demand that may be found in most of the Orthodox Christian tradition. In many ways the separation between experience and reason that took place some time in the Medieval West and has defined since then what is now international consumerist culture, has led to the autonomy of reason, to rationalistic absurdity. The greatest political totalitarianisms of our time, for instance, communism and fascism, are examples of such impositions of ideologies – separated from empirical confirmation – on human life and values. Yannaras, in many of his books explores the space between what can be articulated in rational thought – the effable – and what may be experienced but may not be articulated – the ineffable.

b. The understanding of society as having a much more profound foundation compared to what we experience today. Yannaras often distinguishes between the Greek concept of koinonia (the word that is normally translated as society) and the Latin-based societas, with its conceptual descendants in modern European languages. Whereas koinonia implies a common life and existence (something that may be seen by the fact that it is the same word for sacramental communion), societas (and society) are primarily associations of individuals that wish to promote their common interests, very closely related to what we would now call a commercial association or company. This distinction between koinonia and societas shows two fundamentally different foundations and/or directions of civilization. Much of the political thought of Yannaras is based on this.

The criticism of the West by Yannaras, is a self-criticism, an attempt to recover the spiritual and cultural ontological foundations of our own culture

c. Modern Western thought since at least Nietzsche, has deconstructed critically much of the intellectual edifice of Christian spirituality, and it has attacked the institutionalization of Christianity. While this may seem like an attack on religion, several Orthodox theologians, such as Christos Yannaras and Nikolaos Loudovikos, have engaged constructively with Nietzsche’s thought. The crux of this engagement is at the same time a critical examination of the past, and a pursuit for the ‘lost Christianity’ that Nietzsche did not experience. Through books such as Countergift to Nietzsche and Against Religion, Yannaras incorporates post-Nietzschean philosophical thought to his exploration of modern theological thought.

d. Related to the previous point, Yannaras often criticizes modern Western culture. This is often mistaken for an anti-Western (anti-American, anti-European) position, similar to a pro-Eastern (pro-Russian, pro-Oriental) political stance, with reference to a Cold War understanding of what is West and East. The reference of Yannaras to East and West however, has to do with the Greek, Greco-Roman or Byzantine (Eastern and Western) culture vs. the Latin/Gothic roots of modern culture, to which we inevitably belong. The criticism of the West by Yannaras, is a self-criticism, an attempt to recover the spiritual and cultural ontological foundations of our own culture, rather than an attack on a foreign, invading culture.

e. In relation to Christianity, Yannaras often laments the collapse of the Christian spiritual tradition to what may be compared to political parties – a criticism that includes the Orthodox Church. Christianity was never meant to hold any absolute measure of the truth – if nothing else, the Truth in the Gospel is one of the names of Jesus Christ. The elevation of Scripture (for Protestants), the Magisterium (for Roman Catholics), or of the formality of the past (for the Orthodox) to absolute measures of the truth, misses the point. Instead, Christianity is meant to define itself as a living community, where the measure of truth is relationship – with each other as well as with God.

f. Finally, in terms of the state of the Christian Church today, while as a model of gathering, the ancient Christian Church, following in the footsteps of the ancient Greek polis and the ecclesia tou demou, put forth an ecumenical invitation, where every possibility of the human existence was recognized – and therefore for several centuries in the East and the West the Church transcended ethnic, cultural and linguistic divisions – at some point after the Reformation the Church became subservient to the state. Thus, we have the foundation of ethnic churches. This situation and mentality has unfortunately passed also to the Orthodox Church. While the Patriarchate of Constantinople, despite several mistakes, still stands as a beacon of ecumenical (today we would say international, or global) Christianity, much of the politics in the modern Orthodox Church is shaped according to local, ethnic and narrowly political lines. Yannaras often talks about this loss of ecumenicity and the need to redefine Christianity as an ecumenical community.

You are responsible for postgraduate degrees in Orthodox theology at the University of Winchester. What are the backgrounds of your students? 

Today we live in a difficult time in regard to the humanities, all over the world. Yet, it is touching that in the last fifteen years, which is how long I have been in the UK, and I have been teaching Orthodox theology at the undergraduate, the postgraduate and the doctoral level, there is a thirst of non-Orthodox to learn and understand the Orthodox tradition. Most of my students are not Orthodox, and of course as I teach at what may be described as a secular university, as opposed to a seminary, there is no expectation of faith compliance. Many of my students are people who are exploring the roots of (their own) Christianity, or who face dead ends in modern Western Christianity and are looking for ways to address them. In the course of their study, some of my non-Orthodox students converted to Orthodoxy.

My goal as a teacher is to make sure that the Orthodox voice is heard and understood clearly, and that it is taken seriously in the wider Western spiritual context

Nevertheless, my goal as a teacher is not to suggest that Orthodoxy should confront and replace Western denominations. Instead, it is to make sure that the Orthodox voice, inspired by the tradition of the Fathers, the liturgical tradition, and the thought of modern Orthodox thinkers, is heard and understood clearly, and that it is taken seriously in the wider Western spiritual context.

In one of your interviews you say that “for the first time in centuries, many Westerners look to Orthodoxy for a glimpse of an alternate way of worship, prayer, and living”. Why do you think that is? What does an Orthodox approach to worship entail?

I would like to answer this by recalling something that happened a few years ago, when I was working in a small community in Wales. Since everyone knew everyone else in that small place, and there two Anglican churches, one Methodist, one Presbyterian, one Baptist and one Roman Catholic Church, along with the emerging Orthodox Church, the local priests and ministers had the custom of visiting each other’s churches at the beginning of Holy Week, as a sign of Christian fellowship. This was the first time they invited me, as the representative of the Orthodox Church which had just been founded in the area. I remember it was a lively and friendly group of people (eight to ten, perhaps). We visited all of these churches saying a prayer in each one of them. On the way from one church to another we were a jovial group, talking a lot. At the end we went to the Orthodox church, which was simply a rented space, the vestry of the Presbyterian church, where we had erected a primitive iconostasis. As they entered, the group immediately stopped talking. I cannot say if it was the lingering smell of incense, the icons, but the whole echo of the liturgical worship of the Orthodox church is something they all felt immediately, which staggered them. They stayed in complete silence for a few minutes, I sang a hymn of the Holy Thursday service, and we left.

As we were leaving, I was thinking that the contribution of the Orthodox Church in the West is precisely this. If the question is social work, activism, knowledge and so forth, other denominations are doing fine, much better than us. But if the object of worship is to manifest a different way of being, to live something of the Kingdom of God, not just as an ideological abstraction but as an experience, if the point is to manifest the presence of God among us, then the Orthodox liturgy is unparalleled – something that brings us back to the Russian envoys to the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople in the 10th century, when they reported to their leader that “We no longer knew whether we were in heaven or on earth, nor such beauty, and we know not how to tell of it. We only know that God dwells there among the people, and their service is more beautiful than the ceremonies of other nations.”

If the object of worship is to manifest a different way of being, not just as an ideological abstraction but as an experience, then the Orthodox liturgy is unparalleled

Such incidents are indicative of what many Westerners miss in their own tradition, and they often find it in Orthodoxy. Too often the liturgical services in Western churches feel like a rational exercise, or they are centred on the sermon – very often the same kind of Biblical analysis that I would do at the university, or, worse, a moralist exhortation that does not scratch the surface of the ontological drama of the meeting between humanity and God. Very often, Westerners are enchanted by what they perceive as the ‘mystical’, or the ‘mysterious’ Orthodox Church. Although I understand what it is they sense, the terms ‘mystical’ and ‘mysterious’ are not correct, at least not in the way they are understood usually in this context. Instead of an undefined and somewhat nebulous ‘mysticism’, the Orthodox liturgical worship has the power to transmit a knowledge beyond words, to make manifest the presence of the Holy Spirit, and to allow the people to enter the way of life that includes the life of God. This is not automatic of course, it depends on each one’s participation, but at least the possibility is offered.

The liturgical language, which has been shaped under the influence of ancient drama, and has developed it further, including the development of the language and symbolism of icons, is the most complete way we know to transmit the experience of the sacred, and to facilitate the meeting between God and humanity. While not every member of the church may participate in the same way or to the same degree, they all sense this in some way.

The Orthodox tradition is firmly grounded on the liturgical worship tradition, although it is possible to make similar observations about the ascetic prayer as it is practiced within the monastic circles. Much of the thought and culture of Orthodoxy is fed and informed by it, much more than we can say about Western denominations. While other denominations may be more successful in terms of social work or administration, I believe it is precisely this foundation of intense worship that allows Orthodoxy to carry a theological and ontological depth that is not found in them.

You have studied iconography-as-theology, and talked about how art can express spirituality and even thoughts better than words. Could you tell us more on that? What are some examples of Greek iconographers that engage with this tradition?

In many ways art is more privileged than philosophy or systematic theology, when it comes to expressing things that cannot be put to words. This is certainly the case with the spiritual experience, which exceeds our rationale – an entire branch of Orthodox theology is dedicated to this kind of experience-overcoming-words, known as the apophatic tradition. Iconography, more than any other spiritual art (second perhaps only to liturgy, which nevertheless may not be shared outside its time and place) has been developed as a way to express the inexpressible. People formulated their theological thought while they were facing an icon, praying. In the history of iconography we have several examples where a theological idea is first expressed in iconography and only years or even centuries afterwards it is expressed in words. In addition, the exploration of spirituality through iconography (or all kinds of art, for that matter) connects the pursuit of spirituality with the pursuit of beauty. For this reason the aesthetic experience that nevertheless points to its spiritual foundation, is something that may be shared and perhaps also understood also by people who may not identify themselves as faithful.

Iconography, more than any other spiritual art, has been developed as a way to express the inexpressible and connects the pursuit of spirituality with the pursuit of beauty

There are many examples of ancient and Byzantine art that is still extant, and although we have some names of famous iconographers, the vast majority remains unknown to us, because they did not care to make themselves known, or to sign their works. More recently however, we can see a regeneration in iconography. One very interesting observation here is that while other aspects of church art (music, architecture, liturgy) remain quite conservative, and do not show signs of dramatic development, iconography in the 20th and the 21st century has become quite daring, and experimental.

In the Greek tradition this starts with Photis Kontoglou, who turned, for the first time after centuries, the interest of people to traditional iconography, and was the teacher of some of the most famous modern Greek painters, such as Yiannis Tsarouchis and Nikos Eggonopoulos. I do not think that the contribution of Kontoglou has been recognized for what it is, yet. It was he, in the beginning of the 20th century, who captured the theme of the Greek identity, as a Greek artist in Paris, having experienced two successive migrations. He later transplanted this theme to Karolos Kuhn, the founder of modern Greek theatre, who recognized his debt to Kontoglou. It is precisely this milieu that made it possible for artists such as Hadjidakis and Theodorakis to turn their attention to the Greek tradition and to create what later became known as the artistic boom of the 60s. Modern Greek culture owes much to Kontoglou.

Other than that however, there are many Greek iconographers today, who have internalized the theological demands of their generation (such as those we explored in Yannaras), and express them in an aesthetic that follows firmly in the older tradition, yet with a daring way that makes it relevant today. Some of these iconographers are Rallis Kopsidis, George Kordis, Markos Kampanis, Stamatis Skliris, and my personal favourite Michalis Vasilakis from Crete, who died recently.

For Greeks and other Christian Orthodox peoples, their religion is bound to their ethnicity. This is especially true of Greeks living abroad. Could you talk to us about Orthodoxy and Diaspora, as you yourself have lived in many countries around the world?

I think the best way to consider this is by remembering that traditional Orthodoxy was ecumenical, i.e. it respected the language and the customs of a people and did not try to change them, as was, unfortunately, often the case with Latin missionaries. The greatest example of this is perhaps the Christianization of the Balkans. In order to transmit Christianity to these populations who did not have a written language, the Greek missionaries invented an entirely new alphabet for them (Cyrillic), so that the Gospel and the liturgical books could be translated and written down for them. This, of course, became the alphabet that most Slavic nations still use.

Likewise, Greeks for many centuries, were almost by definition cosmopolitans, citizens of the world. In this way they would feel comfortable and they would make a good home in any place, such as Alexandria, Iasi, Vienna, or London. It is only fairly recently, after the 19th century that Greek migrants were mostly destitute and uncultured, the people who could not make it back home – although the present financial crisis seems to have changed this. Be that as it may, the Diaspora in the past, and perhaps also in the future, was a cultured elite, quite integrated to the place in which they lived. Likewise, Orthodoxy as the expression of ecumenical, rather than local Christianity, can help people create a spiritual identity that transcends their ethnic background.

I believe that as Greeks and as Orthodox, we preserve a tradition of being, thinking and worshipping, for the sake of the entire world, and not just for our own sake

Having said all this, perhaps this point is the most immediate problem faced by modern Orthodoxy. While there was always a connection between religion, culture and identity, in the last century these concepts became exclusivist, inward, rather than inclusivist and ecumenical. It is sad, for instance, to see that for the first time ever, as we saw in 2016 in the Crete council, Orthodoxy defines itself as a communion of ethnic churches. Perhaps this is something that we will overcome. The challenge for modern Orthodoxy is to make a choice of direction between a narrowly defined ethnic church (Greek, Serbian, Russian, Romanian, etc.), which will lead us to further division and will marginalize us in the West, and an ecumenical version of Christianity, a communion that preserves some of the principles of the ancient Church before they were distorted by the Western Renaissance and Enlightenment, which can dialogue with confidence with the big questions of our time. The bottom line, I believe, is that as Greeks and as Orthodox, we preserve a tradition of being, thinking and worshipping, for the sake of the entire world, and not just for our own sake.

Due to globalization, immigration/refugee flows and other socio-economic factors, most modern societies are multi-cultural and multireligious. What role could Orthodox Christianity -Ecumenical by definition- play in this context and how could it contribute to interfaith dialogue?

This question follows naturally from the previous one. There has always been a dialogue among cultures and traditions, but in our times this dialogue is more intense and faster than ever before. Throughout history some cultures disappear, while others emerge. At this time, within global history I believe it is essential to offer to the world the best parts of our culture and tradition, the challenges and the riddles that we have collectively gathered throughout the centuries. It may be difficult to encapsulate the entire Orthodox tradition in a few short phrases, but the ecumenical spirit we find in early Christianity, the ecclesiological model of consensus through dialogue (instead of decision by vote of majority), the image of the priest and the bishop as the father of his community instead of its administrator, the liturgical and worship foundation of every other activity, and finally the demand for a metaphysical and ontological depth in our theological language, are some of the most important gifts that Orthodoxy may bring to the global spiritual community. Naturally, these points are ongoing challenges for ourselves, to begin with, instead of givens that we possess. But at least they are clear as directions, I will dare say as ascetic directions in our tradition and in our practice.

 An act that would go down with a bang and would offer to interfaith trust more than two centuries of diplomacy for instance, is an extended visit of the Pope to Mount Athos 

As for interfaith dialogue, I believe that it is not sufficient if it is conducted simply at the level of exchange of ideas. The rift between the East and the West (and likewise, between the Roman Catholic Church and the several Protestant Churches) is primarily psychological rather than theological. There is a lack of trust and a fear of the Papacy by many Orthodox, because the memory of the Fourth Crusade is still strong, after nine centuries, despite the apology of Pope John Paul II during his visit to Greece. I believe that for a meaningful interfaith contact we need to see daring movements that go well beyond the standing dialogue committees. One such way may be for Western leader to try to understand the nature of this ‘anti-ecumenical’ reaction to interfaith dialogue. An act that would go down with a bang and would offer to interfaith trust more than two centuries of diplomacy for instance, is an extended visit of the Pope to Mount Athos, where he would have the chance to hear some of the most serious and respected anti-ecumenical concerns, to understand something of the spirituality of that place which is, in many ways, the conscience of much of the Orthodox world, but at the same time such an extended visit (despite any conditions that may be placed on him by the Athonites) could be the act of humility that only a true leader and caring father would be able to demonstrate. It is only after some sort of establishment of trust that we may start a meaningful interfaith dialogue.

What are the main challenges facing Orthodox Christianity today? How can faith be kept alive in an increasingly secular world?

There are several challenges that we could mention in relation to the operation, the administration and the culture of the Orthodox Church. I am sad when I see that a good part of Orthodox faithful express an ideological kind of Christianity, or Orthodoxism (as opposed to Orthodoxy) that is marked by fear, hate, distrust of science and outsiders, and precisely the kind of legalism that the Gospel came to liberate us from. Nevertheless, I believe that this is a loud minority, and does not reflect the true content of the Church.

At any rate, this is perhaps not the most important challenge for us. I believe that what is even more important, in our time as it always was, is to consider the great challenges of humanity, such as death and immortality, life in the Resurrection, love for those who make it difficult for us to love them. The Church is primarily a workshop of love, a continuous examination of how we can live for, in and with a God whose name is love.

The Resurrection tipped the ancient balance of love and death; therefore I believe that the meaning of the entire Scripture in one phrase can simply be “love is stronger than death”.

If we were to condense the meaning of the entire Old Testament in one phrase, I believe it would be the phrase “love is as strong as death”, from the Song of Songs. And if we were to condense the meaning of the entire New Testament in one event, it would be the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the God who is love, and whose Resurrection showed the world that he could not be bound by the physical limitation of death. In this way, the Resurrection tipped the ancient balance of love and death. Therefore, I believe that the meaning of the entire Scripture in one phrase can simply be “love is stronger than death”. If we start by considering Christianity, our life, our relationship with each other, our relationship with our planet and our environment, at that level, if we demand that we consider social, environmental, financial, political problems, in the context of the eternal ontological drama that involves and bonds God and humanity since the dawn of time, does it not bring a different perspective to our mundane problems? I believe that this is why secularism is not enough. It is too limiting a worldview, too uninspiring and uninteresting as a way of thinking, and I hope that it will collapse under its own weight, when humanity realizes that it is staying away from the really big questions of our existence. Nevertheless, this also shows what the responsibility of Christianity is – precisely to remind us of these big questions with the immediacy and the directness that we can find in strong love and in death itself!

* Interview by: Ioulia Livaditi

The post Rethinking Greece | Andreas Andreopoulos on Christian Orthodoxy as an expression of the Ecumenical, modern Orthodox thought and the Church as a workshop of love appeared first on Greek News Agenda.

The small island of Patmos, part of the Dodecanese complex in the central Aegean, is known, above all, as the location where John the Apostle received his visions and recorded them in the Book of Revelation, the final book of the New Testament. An impressive monastic complex, dedicated to him, was founded there in the early 11th century.

The monastery stands on the site where Saint John is believed to have written his Gospel, including the Book of Revelation (also known as the Apocalypse); it is also located near the grotto where the apostle is said to have received his Revelation, hence called the Cave of the Apocalypse. Both the Monastery and the Cave, along with the rest of the historic centre of the island’s Chora (main town) have been declared a joint World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999 as an "exceptional example of a traditional Greek Orthodox pilgrimage centre of outstanding architectural interest".

The Cave of the Apocalypse

The island of Patmos was first settled by Dorians and then by Ionians. When it became part of the Roman Empire, it served as a place of exile, along with other small islands of the Aegean.

John the Apostle, traditionally identified by the Eastern Orthodox Church with John the Evangelist, and referred to as "John the Theologian", is considered to have been exiled to Patmos during a time of persecution under the Roman rule of Domitian in the late 1st century. According to tradition, while residing in a cave on the island, he received a series of prophetic visions which he recounted in the Apocalypse, the last book of the New Testament (a word coming from the Greek apokálupsis, "unveiling, revelation"); he is hence also known as John of Patmos and John the Revelator.

Mosaic above the entrance to the Cave of the Apocalypse (by Njaker via Wikimedia Commons)

The site of the revelatory visions, known as the Cave of the Apocalypse, is situated halfway along the road linking the port with the Chora (main town), which sits on top of the island’s mountain. The Holy Cave of the Apocalypse has been transformed into a place of worship, where visitors can see the dent on the wall of the cave, where the Evangelist was said to lay his head; according to tradition, the Voice of God could be heard coming from a cleft of the rock, which is also still visible today. The southern part of the cave has been turned into a church dedicated to Saint John the Theologian, while later a Chapel of Saint Anne (mother of Mary) was added, incorporating the cave, which is now entered through the chapel.

The Monasteryof Saint John the Theologian

In the 7th century, Patmos was ravaged by raids of Saracen pirates and remained virtually uninhabited for the next two centuries. In 1088, Abbot Christodoulos Latrinos (now known as Saint Christodoulos the Blessed of Patmos), who had already founded monasteries on Leros and Kos, presented himself at the court of emperor Alexius I Comnenos in Constantinople, proposing a plan to repopulate Patmos by creating a monastic community; Alexius indeed granted sovereignty over the deserted island. In 1091, Christodoulos began the construction of the monastery Saint John the Theologian, over the ruins of a fourth-century basilica also dedicated to Saint John.

Interior of the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian (by Thanasis Christodoulou via Wikimedia Commons)

The monks were chased off by pirates in 1093 but returned a few years later to resume the works, bringing with them the relics of Christodoulos, who had died on the island of Euboea. The monastery was heavily fortified for fear of pirate attacks; through the years, it received various contributions from the emperors Alexius and Manuel Komnenos. Following its establishment, the repopulation of the area was encouraged, with a settlement evolving around the monastery’s walls. In 1204-1261 the monastery was affiliated with the Empire of Nicaea and acquired many territories in Asia Minor.

Inside the monastery, the main church features impressive icons and frescoes, while the Chapel of the Virgin, outside the main courtyard, has the oldest frescoes. The monastery houses an extensive library of 330 manuscripts (267 on parchment), including 82 manuscripts of the New Testament; it also houses important relics, including the skull of Saint Thomas the Apostle. Asteep flight of forty-three steps leads from the monastery to the Cave of the Apocalypse.

According to UNESCO, "there are few other places in the world where religious ceremonies that date back to the early Christian times are still being practised unchanged"; this includes the Byzantine ritual of Niptir ("Maundy"), a reenactment of the symbolic event of Christ washing his disciples’ feetahead of the Last Supper, which takes place on the Thursday of the Holy Week (also called Maundy Thursday). In accordance with this 4th-century ritual, after the Divine Liturgy takes place at the monastery, a solemn procession leads to the town hall square, where the monastery’s abbot (hegumenos) washes the feet of 12 priests.

Interior of the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian (by Yiannis Theologos Michellis via Wikimedia Commons)

The Chora

The Chora (main town) of Patmos, located 4 km from the small port of Skala, has continuously evolved since the 11th century, when the founding of the monastery transformed it into an important place of pilgrimage. In its centre, on the mountaintop, the imposing monastery of Saint John the Theologian with its grey fortified walls dominates the area. According to UNESCO, it is among the oldest and best preserved main townsof the Aegean islands, and is also the only example in Greece of an organised settlement which has developed as a supporting community around a fortified monastic complex. Still today, the Chora is a quaint town with white-washed houses, narrow arched streets and some picturesque small plazas.

UNESCO also cites as an important criterion for the inscription of the site the fact that Patmos’s Chora "is one of the few settlements in Greece that have evolved uninterruptedly since the 12th century", adding that "the authenticity of the settlement is also ensured by the retention of its morphological features and its building techniques with the use of similar or even the same, as far as this is possible, traditional methods and materials in building new constructions".

The property is protected by the provisions of the Archaeological Law 3028/2002 "On the Protection of Antiquities and Cultural heritage in general", and by separate ministerial decrees published in the Official Government Gazette. Protection and management are carried out by the Ministry of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs through the responsible regional service (Ephorate of Antiquities of the Dodecanese). Effective site management is also achieved through cooperation between secular and ecclesiastical authorities in all areas of common concern, to ensure that the character of the settlement will not be tainted by tourism.

Read also via Greek News Agenda: The Monastery of Daphni: retracing the city's Byzantine past; The historic Sumela Monastery in Trabzon; The medieval ghost town of Mystras; Early Christian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki

N.M. (Based on an article published on Punto Grecia; intro photo: Chora of Patmos and Monastery of Saint John the Theologian [by Valeria Casali via Wikimedia Commons])

The post The Monastery of Saint John the Theologian and the Cave of the Apocalypse on Patmos appeared first on Greek News Agenda.

Greece has long been a destination for religious pilgrims and lovers of Byzantine art and architecture, featuring sites of great importance for faith tourism, such as Mount Athos and Meteora. Yet, not many are familiar with the important religious sites that can be found in Attica, where tourists can combine their visit with a tour of the country’s most important monuments of classical antiquity. Such places exist not only on the outskirts of Athens, but even in its very heart. In this feature, we list some of the most important monasteries that can be visited in the region of Attica.

Petraki Monastery

The Monastery of the Holy Incorporeal Taxiarchs (Hagioi Asomatoi Taxiarches, i.e. the Archangels Michael and Gabriel), commonly known as Petraki Monastery, is located in the centre of Athens, in the neighbourhood of Kolonaki. Its katholikon (main church) is a cross-in-square church that dates back to the 10th century. It was renovated in 1673, when the monk Parthenios Petrakis, to whom it owes its current name, bought and restored the byzantine building. Six members of his family carried on with his endeavors to preserve Orthodox estates around Athens, which was then under Ottoman rule. Several monasteries on mount Parnitha and over 170 private properties were acquired by the monastery during the years 1672-1819. Many Greek and foreign documents, dating between 1672 and 1820, are preserved in the Monastery archives.

The monastery is known for its remarkable humanitarian and educational programs during Ottoman rule, including free medical care and treatment, primary and secondary school education. During the 1806 -1821 period, the monastery financially supported the operation of the Ioannis Dekas School, a charity boarding school providing Greek education, while in 1812 it abbot co-founded a school offering education to poor young boys. Following the establishment of the independent Greek state, the monastery donated the majority of the significant property it had acquired to found hospitals and religious, educational and cultural institutions, thus becoming a great benefactor of the Greek state.

The Petraki Monastery is also a top monument of Byzantine Hagiography of Georgios Markou the Argeius, a prolific post-Byzantine ecclesiastic iconographer of the 18th century.

Monastery St. John the Hunter (by ΑΝώΔυΝος via Wikimedia Commons)

St. John the Hunter

The Monastery St. John the Hunter (Hagios Ioannis Kynigos), also known as St. John the Forerunner (Prodromos, an Eastern Orthodox epithet for John the Baptist) or Philosophers’ Monastery is located on the northern side of Mount Hymettus, above the suburb of Hagia Paraskevi. Founded as a friary, it nowadays operates as a nunnery.

It owes its name to a prominent family from Dimitsana (in the Peloponnese), dubbed "the Philosophers", who had founded a famous Monastery (Philosofou Monastery) in their homeland. It was founded in the 12th century, and one of its first abbots was probably a man called Vassilios Kynigos ("Hunter"), form that same family. The monastery’s katholikon is a cross-in-square two-column domed church.

The well-preserved katholikon is made of mortared stone walls, using rocks and limestone, and incorporating large fragments from previously existing buildings, including many marble fragments. Marble is generously employed throughout the monastery. Frescoes are preserved in the narthex, which was built in later years, while some Byzantine-era frescoes are partially visible in older sections of the monastery.

Monastery of Penteli (by G Da via Panoramio)

Monastery of Penteli

The Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) in Penteli, commonly known as the Monastery of Penteli, is one of the largest monasteries operating in Greece. It was founded in 1578 by archbishop Timotheos, and is located roughly 18 kilometers from the centre of Athens and is built on the southern side of Mount Pentelicus, at an altitude of around 430 m.

From its founding, the Monastery was under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople until 1858, when it came under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Church of Athens. The monastery flourished in the 17th century, and featured a rich library. In the 18th century it continued to acquire significant property. During the Ottoman rule of Greece the monastery provided education to many young Greeks. Together with the Monastery of Kaisariani and the Petraki Monastery it contributed financially to the operation of the Ioannis Dekas School.

In 1778, the holy Monastery functioned as a shelter for the against a devastating plague epidemic which decimated a large part of the Athens population. It was renovated in 1768 and in 1858 the building was enlarged in order to accommodate 120 monks. During the Greek War of Independence, many monks contributed to the struggle for emancipation, and the monastery came under attacks, resulting in the destruction of its library.

Fresco on the ceiling of the katholikon of the Monastery of Kaisariani (by Bruno Chalifour via Wikimedia Commons)

Monastery of Kaisariani

The Monastery of Kaisariani lies at a short distance to the east of Athens, on a hillside at the foot of Mount Hymettus. It is enclosed by a high wall with two gates, one on the east and one on the west side.

The Monastery’s katholikon was built in the late 11th - early 12th century and was dedicated to the Presentation of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) in the Temple. It is of the cross-in-square type, with half-hexagonal apses, and its walls are built in the cloisonné technique. A domed narthex was added in the 17th century. About the same time, the barrel-vaulted chapel to the north, dedicated to Saint Antonius, was also added.

The frescoes in the church and narthex date back to 1682, subsidised by the wealthy Benizelos family. The oldest fresco is located on the external southern wall of the katholikon that now includes St. Anthony's chapel; it depicts the Theotokos in prayer and is believed to date to the 14th century. The Monastery also features an 11th-century bath house, also built in the cloisonné technique. The Monastery complex is surrounded by the Kaisariani aesthetic forest.

Daphni Monastery façade (by Ktiv via Wikimedia Commons)

Monastery of Daphni

The fortified Byzantine Monastery of Daphni stands on the edge of the Haidari pine forest, at the foothills of Mount Egaleo, 11 km northwest of the centre of Athens. It is built on the "Sacred Way" (Iera Odos) leading from Athens to Eleusis, on the former site of an ancient Sanctuary of Apollo Daphnaios ("of the laurels"). It was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1990.

It is believed to have been established in the 6th century, while the building preserved today dates to the end of the 11th century, when it was reconstructed. Its original katholikon, a three-nave basilica, was destroyed and replaced by a cross-in-square octagonal church with a broad and high dome. It features a narthex, while an exonarthex was added later, in the early 12th century, incorporating columns from the ancient sanctuary. In the 13th century the Monastery was bequeathed to the Cistercian Abbey of Bellevaux, who added their own cloister and remodelled the narthex and the wall of the enclosure.

The monastery was protected by strong walls, square in plan, fortified with towers and featuring with two entrance gates, on the east and west sides; today, only the north wall retains the form of the original fortification. The katholikon is dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin Mary. The exterior of the church is meticulously crafted in cloisonné masonry, and its interior is sumptuously decorated with elaborate mosaics, while parts of the elegant marble revetments and other marble ornaments are still preserved. Following the destruction of the marble revetments, the lower walls of the main church were covered with painted scenes, probably dating to the 17th century, which are preserved in fragments.

Read also via Greek News Agenda: The Monastery of Daphni: retracing the city's Byzantine past; Early Christian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki; Athos Digital Heritage: Discovering the Cultural Treasures of Mt Athos in the Digital Age; Byzantine and Christian Virtual Museum; Greece, Cyprus and Italy walk in the footsteps of St. Paul to promote Growth and Jobs

M.V. (Intro image: The katholikon of the Monastery of Kaisariani [by C messier via Wikimedia Commons])

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Located on the easternmost of the three promontories of the Halkidiki peninsula in northern Greece, Mount Athos is a place where spirituality, unspoiled natural landscapes, and unique cultural treasures come together under one “roof”. For the ancient Greeks, this mountain -which descends directly into the Aegean Sea- was sacred to Zeus. Greek Mythology has it that in a clash between the Giants and the Olympian Gods, a Giant from Thrace named Athos threw a massive rock against Poseidon which fell into the sea and became the Athonite Peninsula. According to another version of the story, Poseidon used the mountain to bury the defeated giant.

This sacred area still holds a certain aura of mystery for many Greeks and foreigners. An Orthodox spiritual center since 1054 as well as a recognized artistic site, Mount Athos has enjoyed an autonomous statute since Byzantine times. It is commonly referred to as the 'Holy Mountain' (Ayion Oros in Greek) or the “Garden of the Mother of God”, as it is dedicated to one woman whom all the monks honor and pray, namely the Virgin Mary; according to this tradition and Mt Athos’ Protocol, this is why it is forbidden for women to enter by any means or stay anywhere in the monastic state (a prohibition which is called “Avaton” in Greek).

Listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site since 1988, Mt Athos consists of 20 monasteries – 17 Greek, one Russian, one Serbian, and one Bulgarian – along with their dependencies (12 skites and around 700 houses, cells, or hermitages) which are home to approximately 2,000 monks. And while the architecture and the buildings themselves may be the most striking, attracting thousands of visitors every year from all over Europe and beyond, there is also an extraordinary collection of well-preserved artifacts, rare books, ancient documents, and artworks of immense historical value.

As of December 2020, the cultural treasures of Mount Athos have become digitally accessible to all through “Athos Digital Heritage”, the largest digital culture project in Greece, completed over the course of four years. The aim of the project was to safeguard the Athonite State’s wealth of cultural artifacts, through the digitization and documentation of its historical archives and works of art, as well as to disseminate it to the global community by making it available online.

With the assistance and collaboration of over 200 distinguished scientists and experts (Byzantinologists, theologians, historians, writers, architects, and the monks themselves), the project has produced more than 2 million digital records including documents, books, manuscripts, incunabula, journals, and artifacts (mosaics, portable icons, sculptures, textiles, religious vessels, robes, coins, and architectural designs), more than 500 hours of audiovisual content, 3D imaging of monuments, digital pilgrimages and virtual tours of monasteries, as well as educational apps that enable both scientists and the public to navigate this holy land and discover its rare cultural wealth.

Part of the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation (EPAnEK), the project not only constitutes a knowledge ark that includes the cultural legacy of Mt Athos Monasteries in digital form but also “a milestone project for Greece, because the technologies and methodologies used to implement the project will be adopted as best practices for all similar projects involving preservation and digitization of cultural goods” as it was stated by Konstantinos Patseas, Head of Design and Project’s Coordinator for the Holy Community of Mt Athos. Last but not least, by giving the wider public digital access to Mt Athos' unique cultural treasures, the project marks an important step of its monastic community to connect with contemporary society.

E.S.

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