Posted by Nikolas on April 23, 2002 at 09:12:40:
In Reply to: For Panos,and others..re orthodoxy posted by sotiria on April 23, 2002 at 08:13:32:
I agree whole heartedly. Brilliant
: The religious feeling of ancient Greeks is continuing within Orthodoxy. The Empire of New Rome (Romania or Byzantium as was later used to be called), with Constantinoupolis being the New Rome (11/5/330 A.D.) was the new post Roman world. It was based on, Hellenic Education (Paedia) and Christianity -Orthodoxy. The entire Empire functioned, in the minds of its citizens, as "Church", that is an in-Christ gathering of believers with Orthodoxy serving as the common linking element among them. Orthodoxy was determining their nationality, so the state name Romeios had the meaning "citizen of the New Rome: Orthodox". Constantinople figures prominently in the mind of the Romaic Greek, it is in this holy city, that everything about the Greek people is revealed. Bosphorus, The Sea of Marmara, Golden Horn... are words that touch the heart of true Greeks.
: The spirit of the Romeios or Romaic Greek still lives in the hearts of true Greeks. Romios would rather die than give up Eastern Orthodoxy or Hellenism. Greeks, no matter how west tries, will not forget their language, their history their religion. Ottoman tyrrany of 4 centuries could not make Greeks abandon their faith, and it is Orthodoxy that preserved greek language and greek ideas.