Magic Johnson Visits Saint Dionysios in Zakynthos

On June 28, 2021, former professional basketball player Magic Johnson visited the island of Zakynthos with his family. Previously he had visited Kerkyra and Ithica, sailing Greece’s Ionian Sea aboard his $150 million luxury yacht. His travels can be seen on video and through photos on his social media.

 

When visiting Zakynthos, he had the chance to pay his respects at the Church of Saint Dionysios. This is what he wrote on Instagram:

The Hobbies of the Hierarchs of Greece

Manou Haralambakis

October 9, 2015

Romfea.gr

Whenever Archbishop Ieronymos finds time off, he rests and relaxes by looking after the animals in the Monastery of Saints Theodores in Zaltsa of Boeotia. Metropolitan Maximos of Ioannina spends his free time listening to music on YouTube. Metropolitan Dionysios of Corinth takes walks in the mountains, while the Metropolitan of Mantineia is a farmer whenever he is not occupied with his ecclesiastical duties.

Most Metropolitans - due to their cassock and position - are considerate and dedicated to their duties. They spend endless hours at the offices of their Metropolises and participate in liturgies and sacraments. They are committed to serving God and the faithful, although they also have another side, more human.

Many spend their limited free time on their favorite hobbies. They listen to music, read literature, exercise, grow plants and deal with new technologies.

Eirini Merkouri Testifies To Her Orthodox Faith

Eirini Merkouri is a famous Greek singer who in an interview a few years ago on Greek television gave her testimony of her deep faith in Jesus Christ and the Saints who have helped her in her life. She speaks in the video above of her deeply pious mother who raised her and her four siblings in the Orthodox Faith and named her after St. Irene Chrysovalantou; her birth name was Chrysovalantou but she calls herself by her middle name Eirini. Living near the Monastery of St. Irene Chrysovalantou in Athens, her mother would take her there weekly for the Divine Liturgy. When she was 16 her mother died of cancer at the age of 49. Now, inspired by fellow Greek singer Nikos Kourkoulis, who also recently gave his testimony of his deep Christian Faith and the miracles in his life (see here), she also decided to go public with her testimony.

The Geopolitics of Greece: A Sea at its Heart

The ancient Greek period is the last time that Greece had some semblance of political independence. It therefore offers insights into how Greek geography has crafted Greek strategy.

July 8, 2010
Hellenes Online

Throughout the history of Greece, its geography has been both a blessing and a curse, a blessing because it allowed Greece to dominate the “known Western world” for a good portion of Europe’s ancient history due to a combination of sea access and rugged topography. In the ancient era, these were perfect conditions for a maritime city-state culture oriented toward commerce and one that was difficult to dislodge by more powerful land-based opponents. This geography incubated the West’s first advanced civilization (Athens) and produced its first empire (ancient Macedon).

However, Greek geography is also a curse because it is isolated on the very tip of the rugged and practically impassable Balkan Peninsula, forcing it to rely on the Mediterranean Sea for trade and communication. None of the Greek cities had much of a hinterland. These small coastal enclaves were easily defendable, but they were not easily unified, nor could they become large or rich due to a dearth of local resources. This has been a key disadvantage for Greece, which has had to vie with more powerful civilizations throughout its history, particularly those based on the Sea of Marmara in the east and the Po, Tiber and Arno valleys of the Apennine Peninsula to the west.

Greece, Orthodoxy and Geopolitics

Greece, Religion and Geopolitics:

A Hint of Civilisations Clashing

Erasmus

January 28, 2015

The Economist

AS MY last posting noted, the first edgy thing which the new Greek government did was to downgrade, albeit very politely, its relations with the church. The second thing was to upgrade a relationship whose historic roots are at least partly religious, with Russia. On his first day in office, prime minister Alexis Tsipras met the Russian ambassador, and then distanced Greece from an EU statement which protested over Russian actions in Ukraine and threatened further sanctions. He then named a foreign minister, Nikos Kotzias, who enjoys cordial relations with the religious-nationalist segment of the Russian elite.

Lots of questions arise. Is this a great historical paradox - the consolidation of a sentimental tie based on common Orthodox Christianity, under a secular Greek government and a stridently pious Russian one? That would be an interesting reversal of the cold war. Or is the relationship more cultural and historical, based on common memories of shimmering mosaics and swirling incense, rather than actively religious? If that is true, then it is not particularly dependent on what people on either side now believe.

Edgar Allan Poe As A Philhellene

By John Sanidopoulos

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston on the 19th of January, 1809. In 1822 he entered the University of Charlottesville where he studied Greek and obtained distinctions in Latin and French in 1826. His love for the Greek language, Greek mythology and ancient Greece are clearly evident in his poetry.

When James Bond Went To Meteora

By John Sanidopoulos

For Your Eyes Only (1981) is the twelfth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It marked the directorial debut of John Glen, who had worked as editor and second unit director in three other Bond films.

The Church and the "Civil Society"

By His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos 

of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

It is known from various studies that the European Union in its final functional form, either as a federation or as an Intergovernmental Union of States or in any other form, will necessarily have to assign new roles to the State, the regions and the European Union. The combination of these three factors is what will determine future developments.