A Hellenic Awakening: Abrahamism is anti-Ethnismos

There is one constant, which radiates throughout abrahamic thought. A single philosophical tendency, which permeates both theistic and non-theistic manifestations. An inherent distaste for ethnic consciousness. Conceived as a kind of ‘idolatry’ in theistic abrahamism. It is viewed by non-theistic abrahamists as a malignant tumor on Humanity.

Call for Submissions!

e-Epanastasi is seeking submissions for Plethon, a demo issue of a printed Pan-Hellenic journal we hope to regularly produce in the near future. The journal is named in honor of Georgios “Plethon” Gemistos, a 15^th century Greek scholar of Neoplatonic philosophy. It is thanks to Plethon that Plato’s teachings were re-introduced to Western Europe. Submissions open January 19 and close March 1^st, 2016.

A Hellenic awakening: “Kosmotheasis” the root of our Crisis

Since 2008, many within Greece, and throughout its Diaspora have attempted to explain the causes of the devastating Depression, which has ravaged the country. However, few have ever attempted to dig deeper than the superficial causes for the partial collapse of the Greek system, which in retrospect, seemed destined to fail from its inception.

Instead, what most mainstream voices seem to do is pardon those responsible for the current situation, and provide weak solutions for merely the economic angle of the crisis. Always failing to understand that the crisis in Greece is more than simply an economic depression, but part of a much larger social crisis within Greek society.

The Neo-Shu’ubiyya: is it Hellenism’s turn?

Throughout the West, we are fed the opinion that the recent wave of demonstrations and revolutions across the Middle East constitute an “Arab Spring”, but just how “Arab” is it? What if, this false perception was the byproduct of a school of thought, which was witnessing its own demise as a result of this wave of social unrest? What if, the paradigm shift unfolding before the international stage was both a winter and a spring?

A Brief look at Anti-Hellenism in the United States, Part I

The story of Anti-Hellenism in the United States is one that is heavily intertwined with the country’s history of Nativism and Nordic Supremacy. It is a tale which begins in the early 20th century as an influx of immigrants began to come to the country from Southern and Eastern Europe. This increase in new immigrants led to some within America’s elite, specifically lawyers and academics, to begin expounding theories of scientific racism, which eventually resulted in the rise of Nativist organizations and the birth of an American Eugenics movement ^[1].

The Crusade to save Greece

Since the crisis began, I’ve heard many Greeks and Greek-Americans talk about the notion of ‘saving’ Greece. At every turn, whether it is on Greek Television or in conversations amongst friends, we are bombarded with this idealistic campaign for “national unity” during these difficult times in order to help prevent economic collapse.  In the Diaspora, they talk of investing in the motherland, raising aid for those in need, and boosting tourism.  However, just what is it, exactly, that we are supposed to be saving?

Camminando sulle orme di Platone: una discussione con una Politeista Ellenica dall’Italia

*Special Thanks to Daphne Eleusinia for translating this article into Italian 

Domandate ad un Greco cosa significa Hellenismo e potreste essere sorpresi dalla loro replica. Le risposte possono infatti variare da qualsiasi cosa che abbia a che vedere con la Cultura Ellenica, la lingua, oppure con i Greci stessi, ma a proposito di una visione del mondo? In tempi recenti, Hellenismo è un termine che è stato usato, sia dagli studiosi sia dai Greci stessi, per identificare la totalità della popolazione Ellenica e la loro cultura, includendo non solo l’antica Grecia e la sua civiltà, ma anche l’Impero Romano d’Oriente e lo Stato Greco moderno. Tuttavia, ci sono alcuni con un argomento veramente convincente che non sarebbero d'accordo con questa definizione. Per queste persone, nel momento in cui i Greci ruppero con le loro tradizioni ancestrali e adottarono la fede cristiana e, attraverso di essa, una visione biblica del mondo, nacque una nuova eredità. Questa mescolanza Greco-Romana con la cristianità ha portato alla nascita della Romiosini, che da allora si è sempre mascherata come Hellenismo.

Walking in the footsteps of Plato: A chat with a Hellenic Polytheist from Italy

Ask a Greek what Hellenism means and you may be surprised by their response. Answers could range from anything dealing with Greek Culture, language, or the Greek people themselves, but what of a worldview?  In modern times, Hellenism has been used by academics and Greeks alike, to identify the totality of the Greek people and their culture, encompassing not only ancient Greece and its civilization, but also the Eastern Roman Empire and the Modern Greek state. However, there are some with a truly compelling argument that would disagree with this definition. For these individuals, the moment Greeks broke with their ancestral traditions and adopted the Christian faith, and through it a Biblical worldview, a new legacy was born. This Greco-Roman blending with Christianity resulted in the birth of Romiosini, which has since masqueraded itself as Hellenism.

Turkey and its place inside the Ellino-Amerikaniko Themata

It was once typical to discuss such issues as Imbros and Tenedos, or the Aegean as a whole, when speaking of Turkey within the confines of our traditional ethnika themata. Today however, such conversations seem to be primarily fixated on issues concerning Orthodoxy and U.S. Foreign relations with Turkey. More specifically, the struggle for religious freedom for the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the reopening of the Halki School of Theology, and the re-examining of the “Turkish Model” as a means of spreading democracy throughout the Middle East. The problem with this, however, is that these are not true ethnic issues.

Greek America and developing our own National Issues

I suspect many who may have read my previous op-ed are questioning my intentions; perhaps even manipulating my arguments to paint my proposal as outrageous. However, the development of our own Greek-American Issues does not necessarily mean the abandonment of the ethnika themata we have all grown to know. In fact, what I am proposing is simply that our perspective needs adjusting. Perhaps we should gear our attention towards issues and positions that will preserve our community as an ethnic enclave of Hellenism. As well as set us apart from the established centers of our ethnos that are in decline so that we may be an autonomous beacon of hope and Hellenic culture, thus allowing us to defend Hellenism globally.

Changing the Greek American Paradigm

We have all heard of the Ethnika Themata, a series of issues, which concern Greece, ranging from the continued illegal occupation of Northern Cyprus to the ongoing name dispute with FYROM. These issues, which have been imported from the motherland to the United States, have been adopted as key concerns of our community when advocating on behalf of our ancestral homeland.

The Birth of the Republic of Turkey and the story of the Pontian Muslim

Born out of the ashes of a Theocratic Empire consumed by war and Genocide, the “Turkish” nation, is the child of an ideological struggle that took place within the multiethnic millet-i-hakime of the Ottoman Caliphate. Roughly translated as “the dominant or governing people”, this social group was made up of the Empire’s Muslim subjects, while non-Muslims, were referred to as the millet-i-mankume, which translates to, “the dominated people” or “those born to be governed” ^[35]. These two social groups are associated with what is called the Millet system. Established after the conquest of Constantinople by Sultan Mehmet II, this system was adopted by the Ottoman Empire and grouped people not by nationality or ethnicity ^[1], but rather by religious affiliation ^[2].

21st century Italy and the remanence of its indigenous heritage

“I am from Sicily, in other words from Magna Graecia and there still exists a lot of Greece in Sicily…I am of the same Hellenic heritage, even if from another place. Yes, don’t be surprised. My family name is Pirangellos. The Pirandello is the phonetic alteration of it, Pirangello-Pirandello…” 

Luigi Pirandello to Kostas Ouranis --“Nea Estia” No. 191, December 1934, Kostas Ouranis Foundation, Athens, Greece www.idrimaurani.gr/

 

The Risorgimento, known to English Speakers as the Italian Unification, was a movement, which some argue was simply a Tuscan colonization of the Apennine Peninsula, resulting in the creation of the modern nation-state of Italy. However, what many fail to realize is that the Risorgimento also represents the final fall of the Frankokratia in the Hellenic World. For those that do not know what the Frankokratia was, it is a term used to refer to a period in Greek history after the Fourth Crusade (1204). When, Western European nobles occupied the Greek-Speaking Eastern Roman Empire, and established various Crusader states in its place. This was in part brought about with the signing of the Partitio terrarium imperii Romaniae ^[1] treaty after the sack of Constantinople.

Greece and the Right to Revolution

Editor’s Note: This article and its proposals are a direct response to the recent video produced by former SYRIZA candidate for the A’ Section of Athens Ifikratis Amyras in the May 6 elections. In his video, the former candidate laid out his plan for Revolutionary War. 

10 Ways to get the Greek Economy back on track – An initial Road map to a true patriotic recovery

As the Greek Crisis worsens and political instability threatens to destabilize Greek society, the average Greek must come to the realization that, “if I do not do something, no one will”! Greeks cannot look to the corrupt, political parties that caused the crisis for salvation. It is up to the Greek people to force change and establish a road map to a true patriotic recovery if Greek society is to survive and thrive. To accomplish this Greeks need to shed themselves of old political allegiances and come together as one.

Below are 10 initial actions that must occur in order to save Greece. Although these actions alone cannot entirely fix the nation’s problems, they would put Greece in a much better position in the long term.

Living on the Cusp: 2012, the year of Global Revolution

There has been much speculation and debate over what has come to be known as the 2012 phenomenon. Many theories center on the end of the Mayan Calendar and a looming cataclysmic event. Others prefer to subscribe to the belief that the year will mark the beginning of a physical or perhaps spiritual ‘transformation’ of the earth and its inhabitants ^[1]. For those that tend to think in the latter, there is no imminent doom, but rather a ‘transformation of consciousness’ that is somehow connected to the coming Galactic alignment in 2012 and the end of the astrological Age of Pisces.

For those unfamiliar with Astrological Ages, they are astrological time periods. That match with significant developments and changes in human civilization: particularly related to culture, society, and politics. Their beginnings do not coincide with any specific year, century or millennium. Instead, it is a slow process, referred to by many astrologers as ‘the cusp’. It is at this point that many believe we currently stand, between the ages of Pisces and Aquarius, on the brink of a new epoch in human civilization. For anyone who has been watching world events over the past few years, it seems clear that something certainly is on the horizon.

The Tourkokritikoi: Our Muslim Brothers

For Generations, throughout the Balkans and Middle East, religious identity and ethnic identity have been one in the same. For the Greek ethnos, this has resulted in the alienation of many of our ethnic kin based solely on their religious affiliation. However, there are some in the region that have begun to challenge this age old notion. Not Greeks, but Armenians, cementing themselves, yet again, as true trail blazers.  The Hemshin people are ethnic Armenian converts to Islam, which have begun to gain recognition by the Armenian mainstream as their ethnic kin regardless of their religious affiliation. The question I venture to ask now is, perhaps, it is time for Greeks to do the same.

Οι χαμένοι απόγονοι του Ελληνισμού: Οι Έλληνες της Αντιοχείας

Special Thanks to NOCTOC for translating this article into Greek

Για πολλούς στη Δύση η Μέση Ανατολή είναι απλά γνωστή ως «αραβικός κόσμος». Ότι από τη Μεσόγειο Θάλασσα μέχρι τα σύνορα του Ιράν υπάρχει μόνο μία γλώσσα, μία θρησκεία, μία εθνότητα η οποία διαιρείται σε σύγχρονα κράτη. Ότι αυτά τα κράτη δημιουργήθηκαν από τις Μεγάλες Δυνάμεις στο τέλος του Πρώτου Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου, ωστόσο, είναι αυτή η πραγματικότητα; Ποιοι είναι αυτοί οι άνθρωποι που ξέρουμε ως «Άραβες»; Τί ακριβώς είναι αυτό που κάνει έναν άνθρωπο Άραβα; Η αλήθεια είναι ότι ο αραβικός κόσμος αποτελείται από ανθρώπους διαφόρων προελεύσεων καταγωγής, θρησκευτικού υπόβαθρου και ιστορικής ταυτότητας που συσσωρεύονται μαζί ως απλά Άραβες. Όταν κάποιος το συνειδητοποιήσει αυτό, μετά τίθεται το ερώτημα αν η αραβική ταυτότητα είναι στην πραγματικότητα περισσότερο μια γλωσσική, πολιτιστική ή πολιτική ταυτότητα, παρά εθνική ή φυλετική.

Hellenism must established International Congress

Throughout history, Governments-in-exile have been created as a response to occupation, civil war, or when the legitimacy of a government in power comes under fire. The question before the Greek people today is has Greece come to such a point, where the creation of an International Congress of Hellenism must be established to serve as a Government-in-Exile for the Greek Nation. Does the Papademos Government still serve the interests of the people or has the time come to establish such an entity, so as to ensure our nation’s survival? The answer is yes.

The lost descendants of Hellenism: The Antiochian Greeks

To many in the West the Middle East is simply known as the ‘Arab World’. From the Mediterranean Sea to the border of Iran, one language, one religion, one ethnicity divided into modern Nation-States. These states created by the Great Powers at the close of the First World War, however is this reality. Who are these people we know as ‘Arabs’? Just what makes a person an Arab? The truth is that the Arab world is made up of people from various different ancestral origins, religious backgrounds and historic identities lumped together as just simply Arabs. Once one realizes this the question arises to whether Arab Identity is actually more a linguistic, cultural or political identity, rather than an ethnic or racial one.