“The presence of Hellenism in the contemporary being”

1st International Congress on "The Romiosini through the centuries"
Amphitheatre of the War Museum of Athens
Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st of May 2009

Introducer: Mr. Constantinos Holevas, Political Scientist, Writer

Subject: "The presence of Hellenism in the contemporary being"

The presence of Hellenism in the contemporary being is determined by the spiritual composing elements as, : The Hellenic educational and cultural continuity, the Orthodox Christian Faith and tradition, the Byzantine-Roman Law, the feeling that "Romanesque although has passed, still flowers and goes on as signs the Black Sea coming lamentation for Capture.

The conviction that "Hellenism (Romiosini) should not be lost even of the world disappears", according to a speech of Archbishop Cyprianos, that has been written in a poetic grace the Cypriot bard Basil Michaelides. The sacred trust of the Saint Emperor of Nice John the 3rd Batatzis, who has written to Pope Nicholas the 9th in 1250 saying that his title is the King of Romans.

The emotional remembering of Constantinos Palaiologos to the last defenders of the King capital that "we are descendants of Greeks and Romans", and just for that we must fight for our Faith, Motherland and our relatives.

Even the timely emphasis of the late father John Romanidis that the Roman does from time to time alliances for the benefit of Nation, but he does not become a slave of allies, nor he believes in the fusion of civilizations.

The presence of Romiosini is tracked and has to be even more dynamic in the following areas:

1) Cultural identity

The Hellenic-Orthodox Romiosini respects the right of all people in order to have their own national, religions and cultural identity, but mainly fights to save guard its own identity. It studies the other cultures and its own properly self-identity. It studies the other cultures and has contracts with them. It is taught by Basil the Great to stand choicingly in front of every flower and takes the essence avoiding the thorns Recognizes the meaning of the European effort for a closer cooperation among the people, and avoid the conflicts an addition pushes such a cooperation in order to diffuse its own culture in Europe and denies to betray its own identity under the pretext "that it is being imposed by Europe". Romiosini believes that the European effort to keep on going positively of only complies with itself and is registered officially on its writings, that is the respect to the national and cultural particularity of each one people.

Hellenism understands all people of Western Europe are differing culturally as they have passed through the process of the Enlightment and are influenced, others a little and others much more, from the mundane elements of the European Enlightment Hellenism coexists today harmonically with the western European people, but knows very well that the Frankish and Enlighting elements of the western in heritage are not fully compatible with the Hellenic culture. It teaches its children the Human Rights, but also remembers them their obligations to God as well as to the co-human. It agrees that we ought to utilize some positive elements from the cultural inheritage of Western Europe.

He reminds, on the other hand, that we the Romanesques did not wait the Western Enlightment to conciencise on the Human Rights. In the Constantinople of 1100, during the Comninos period, the Hospital of the Monastery of Pantocrator had foreseen women doctor in medicine, so the byzantine Ellenwood did permit for the girls acquire the highest education.

After 700 years the first Constitution of the French Revolution establishes the obligatory public instruction only for boys. So, we have not to see, with a complex of inferiority the western civilization. We do respect even an every other civilization, but we firstly take care to get to know and utilize our own inheritance.

2) Universality and Motherland

Hellenism rejects the nation racism, the racism, the Imperialism and colonialism. But equally rejects the unpatriotic personalist world culturalism, the materialistic internationalism as well as defeatism. And has neither a foreign mania nor a foreignfobia. Insists on an emphatilly sound patriotism as well as the cultivation of an unfanatical historic concience. It does not use war pleasantly slogans but on the other hand it does not accept in the name of a so as to say pacific coexistence to blow out History, to write off genocides, to defame the role of the Church and to tarnish the memory of the Neomartyres, heroes and fighters. Hellenism has always in mind that in his Presbyter born Patriarchates live and coexist with big groups of people belonging to the Muslim religion.

On the other hand, it does not accept to be the battering ram in counter Islamic crusade and does not equally accept the Islamic fanatism. It forwards the dialogue and not the conflict of Civilizations and demands at the same time on the part of the other people to respect its Faith, his History and its own lands.

Hellenism does not believe that the Orthodox Faith is Ecumenical and the message of Our Lord Jesus Christ is all mankind. In any way it understands that Ecumenism does coexists and does not counter tell with the healthy patriotism. Saint Demetrius, for instance, is honored in our Church as the "Ecumenical Ardent Supporter" (Recessional hymn) and is really Ecumenical, is he is respected and being bowed before all Orthodox Slavs and Ambicspeaking Greeks. At the same time he is also a patriotic Saint. He has being saving and salvaguarded, as has been written in the byzantine texts, his own city, Salonica, from incursions and irruptions and so he is honored as "savingmotherlander and savingmothercitizen" as well as "great Salonican guardian". Another characteristic example of coexistence of the Ecumenical with patriotic element is the Onseatited Hymn. It is sung with respect to Our Lady by all Romanesquescses ecumenically. But it also contains a patriotic content: the thanksgiving towards the Over battling General for the salvation of the Queen of Cities Avars. And just due to such a healthy patriotism, that one that really knows and respects the other people patriotism, as describes the Saint Gregory the Theologist in his 37th Epistle: "Mother honoring the sacred. As a mother of even another person common of all of us is motherland".

3) Hellenic-Orthodox Education

The answer of Hellenism to the question on Education takes obviously into account the contemporary conditions, needs and progresses, but at the same time is deeply rooted in the eternal and always of our own days and actual lessons of our Saints.

It is the Lessons giving of the Three Cappadocian Fathers, the School of Fathercosmas, that shall learn us for the God and Our Lady, is the Hellenic-Orthodox education that has kept us spiritually alive during the Turkish stating, are all the lessons that taught us the Saint Necodimos the Athonist who handled perfectly and in which believes the Hellenism and mainly answers to the question: What a kind of man do we want to reach to? How do we educate, that is transform characters, how do we transmit morals, ethos, moral standards and not only dry and unripe knowledge. Instruction is a very wide and broader than a profession, a job. The Learning process does not want men being robot-like beings, refilled with information, but men filled with responsibility conscience towards the God, the Motherland, the Democracy, the co-human being. The Education of Hellenism accepts also the technology and the electronic computers as well as the internet and the foreign languages, but evaluates all of them in order to promote its targets for the projection of the Hellenic-Orthodox civilization and at the same time towards the social going of our children. Hellenism today does not the young men to be closed into their shell. It teaches them or rather, tries to teach them the substantial sociality that does not is identified with slow going sociability, but with an offering feeling, of co participation and fellow feeling.

The Education of Hellenism believes in the need of reaffirming the Humanitarian Studies and the right teaching of the Ancient Hellenic Language as well as the Father Literature and the Orthodox Christian Instruction. It disagrees with the speaking decadence of our youngsters and their tendencies of sub grading the lesson of Orthodox religious education. For the Romanesques is today in force the advice of H. Th. P. the Ecumenical Patriarch Mr. Bartholomew, who talking in September of 2005 in the city of Florina stressed that the Orthodox Christian Instruction should begun since the Infant's School. In a parallel way the Education does not sub estimate the practical and commercial sciences, as it has in mind the fact that the School in Business Administration in the Eastern Romanesque was founded in 1850 by the Ecumenical Patriarchate. It was the Commercial School in the Halque Island having as his School Master a monk: Bartholomew the Cultumusian.

Hellenism respects the contribution of all sciences and occupations, but is interested mainly for the character and personality of man, who should apply each profession.

4) Society and Community

Romanesque has as foundation of his social conscience the fellowship and philanthropy - Remembers the exhortation of the Emperors of the Byzantine Romany "it has dressed up the undressed naked, and filled up the starving, sorrowed ones consoled, ill persons visit".

He also remembers that the Byzantine Hellenism has shown up as an obligation of the State the philanthropy and stated as an office the Great Orphanagist - Hellenism in front of the contemporary being is inspired from the communities of Romanesques during the Turkish stating, who constituted the extension of the Orthodox parish that cultivated the spirit of cooperation and solidarity. In front of the today international situation Hellenism rejects the obligatory collectivism, and, at the same time the limitless self centralism, the materialization of everything, the consumism and the lack of interest for the social assistance. It proposes the Communitarism towards the Hellenic-Orthodox solution instead of the various social systems, that ignore the human person, praise excessively the material and disrupt the societies.

Ion Dragoumis wrote in 1908 in the magazine NOUMAS:

"When are been met ten Greeks jointly constitute a Community. They firstly met collecting money for the Church. Following after they have built it they then call for a priest. Soon after their wifes as well. Immediately after in the collecting discs of the Church they sum money enough and so construct a school. They finally bring there a teacher for their children and just look at their community... Hellenism is a whole family of Hellenic communities... Our nation is just entire again, with families shall be governed uniquely through communities and progress".

5) Universality and materialistic Worldwiding

In his book "Universality and Orthodoxy" (Editions AKRITAS, Athens 2000) the Beatitude Archbishop of Albania Mr. Anastasios points out "Universality is inside the blood of the Orthodox people, that continuatedly is getting pure through the blood of Christ, the Redeemer of the World. Instead of a worldwiding that transforms people and human beings into a paste used for economic purposes of an anonymous oligarchy, the Orthodox living being and vision that proposes and calls to an effort for a society of social fermentations, towards the vanguard of prosperity". And we just add that Universality of Orthodoxy and Ecumenism of the Hellenic Spirit. It disagrees towards the deterministic conception of some ones that the worldwide should go forward at any rate within the today's materialistic form of it. We the Greeks do know very well determinisms are not being set by men or through political ideologies. All those who believed in that have blooded the human mankind. Determinisms are being set only by God. The God of love and peace. God who calls all Orthodox Greeks to coexist with other humans as well as other civilizations, without betraying his being Greek. Hellenism is the Orthodox counterproposal to the negative consequences of a worldwide, that flattens the national and cultural identities that push the strong ones and the religions comparativism. Our debt as Greeks that calls us to resist to the leveling not towards the ways of isolation, but in a creative spirit and disposition to play an Ecumenical role: To make widely known all over the entire humanity the civilization and the values of the Hellenic being Greek.