Zeus worshippers demand access to temple

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VFA-members Zeus worshippers demand access to temple Posted by: "svc_ajay" svc_ajay (AT) (DOT) co.in svc_ajay Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:35 am (PST) http://news. / s/ap/20070119/ ap_on_re_ eu/greece_ ancient_gods

 

ATHENS, Greece - After all these centuries, Zeus may have a few

thunderbolts left. A tiny group of worshippers plans a rare ceremony

Sunday to honor the ancient Greek gods, at Athens' 1,800-year-old

Temple of Olympian Zeus. Greece's Culture Ministry has declared the

central Athens site off-limits, but worshippers say they will defy the

decision.

 

"These are our temples and they should be used by followers of our

religion," said Doreta Peppa, head of the Athens-based Ellinais, a

group campaigning to revive the ancient religion.

 

"Of course we will go ahead with the event ... we will enter the site

legally," said Peppa, who calls herself a high priestess of the

revived faith. "We will issue a call for peace, who can be opposed to

that?"

 

Peppa said the ceremony will be held in honor of Zeus, king of the

ancient gods, but did not give other details. The daily Ethnos

newspaper, citing the group's application to the Culture Ministry to

use the site, said the 90-minute event would include hymns, dancers,

torchbearers, and worshippers in ancient costumes.

 

Greece's archaic religion is believed to have several hundred official

followers, mainly middle-aged and elderly academics, lawyers and other

professionals. They typically share a keen interest in ancient history

and a dislike for the Greek Orthodox Church.

 

Ancient rituals are re-enacted every two years at Olympia, in southern

Greece, where the flame lighting ceremony is held for the summer and

winter Olympic games. But the event is not regarded as a religious

ceremony and actresses are used to pose as high priestesses.

 

Last year, the Culture Ministry, fearing damage to monuments, blocked

an initiative to hold an international track meet at Olympia. A panel

of ministry experts ruled against Sunday's ancient ceremony at the

ruins of the Temple of Zeus on similar grounds.

 

"Ancient sites are not available for this kind of event," ministry

official Eliza Kyrtsoglou said. It was not clear whether the

government had plans to block the worshippers.

 

Peppa's group, dedicated to reviving worship of the 12 ancient gods,

was founded last year and won a court battle for official state

recognition of the ancient Greek religion.

 

Those who seek to revive the ancient Greek religion are split into

rival organizations which trade insults over the Internet. Peppa's

group is at odds with ultra-nationalists who view a revival as a way

to protect Greek identity from foreign influences.

 

They can't even agree on a name for the religion: One camp calls it

Ancient-Religion, another Hellenic Religion.

 

The worshippers also face another obstacle: Greece's powerful Orthodox

Church.

 

About 97 percent of native born Greeks are baptized Orthodox

Christian, and the church regards ancient religious practices as

pagan. Representatives of the church in the past have not attended

flame ceremonies at Olympia because reference is made to Apollo, the

ancient god of music and light.

 

Christianity took hold in Greece in the 4th century after Roman

Emperor Constantine' s conversion. Emperor Theodosius wiped out the

last vestige of the Olympian gods when he abolished the

Olympic Games in 394 A.D. The modern revival of the Olympiad maintains

a slender link to ancient ceremonies.

 

"Christianity did not prevail without bloodshed," said Peppa, a

novelist and historical writer. "After 16 centuries of negativity

toward us, we've gotten something in our favor."

 

Ellinais is demanding government approval for its downtown offices to

be registered as a place of worship — a move that could allow the

group to perform weddings and other ceremonies. They threaten further

court action unless that permission is granted.

 

"There should be respect for people who want to express their

religious feelings in a different way, that is not the typical

Orthodox or Christian way," Peppa said. "We should not be stopped or

denied our rights."

 

 

 

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