Wednesday, March 30, 2016

A Historical Chart of Modern Western Thought


Click on picture to enlarge.

Friday, March 25, 2016

The Church of Panagia of Finikia and Lord Byron


Near the site of Lord Byron’s house in Messolonghi and the Garden of the Heroes, which is a memorial garden commemorating the Philhellene Europeans who fought in the Greek War of Independence, is the island Chapel of Panagia of Finikia (Panagia of the Palms). Lord Byron especially loved this place and would often come here to rest and enjoy an evening equestrian excursion. The church was built in 1804.

Monday, March 21, 2016

The Story Behind a Fascinating Photo of Archbishop Michael of North and South America


The photograph shows U.S. Army General James A. Van Fleet kissing the hand of Archbishop Michael, head of the Greek Orthodox Church of North and South America following the Greek Independence Day Parade in New York City in 1953. On the left, holding his hat, is Spyros P. Skouras, motion picture producer and president of 20th Century Fox, who also was a major contributor to the establishment of Hellenic College/Holy Cross School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Was Gregory Peck An Irishman of Greek Descent?

Gregory Peck in The Gunfighter

The late, great, actor Gregory Peck was half Irish. He grew up with tales from his grandmother of their "Black Irish" ancestry. A mostly antiquated term, "Black Irish" was used predominately in the U.S. and Canada referring to people of Irish descent who have black hair. The Black Irish were long regarded in folklore as having descended from sailors of the Spanish Armada shipwrecked or otherwise seeking refuge on the Irish coast, and indeed looked rather different from their blond or red-headed Celtic countrymen. Yet Spyros Skouros, the former president of 20th Century Fox studios, had a different theory.

Monday, March 7, 2016

Voltaire and Atheism


By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

The French writer and philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778) is known as an enlightener, and many who consider him an enlightener assume he was an atheist, that he didn't believe in God. But this cannot be observed in actuality.