Posted by Evanthia on April 15, 2002 at 17:04:35:
In Reply to: Re: Christianity and Ancient Greek Culture a contradiction? posted by Ibrahim on April 15, 2002 at 09:12:54:
Firstly I did say that it was my own PERSONAL observation of Germans in my experience. As for doing a lot to come to terms with their history, that is a matter of opinion. There are Greeks living in Greece still waiting restitution for German damage and murder enacted during WW2, but that's another matter. As for the Orthodox church resenting its 'loss of power' after independance and as Greece moves towards being a more secular society, the very power of the Church in the Greek community was as a direct result of the Ottoman taking of Constantinople in 1453. The Ottomans selected the Patriach and monks and priests to rule over the natives of the city, a cynical decision that excluded any member of the previous Greek ruling class and most importantly for the Ottomans - any military leader or general. It served the Ottomans that all administration of the locals be done through the church althoug unwittingly for the Ottomans, that decision returned to bite them: the Greek language, religion of the time, traditions and will for independance stayed alive and the Church wisely used its influence to spur and organise the Greek peoples finally to independance. It appears that ancient politics was as complex as contemporary.