essay: What is Hellenismos

[Quintus Aurelius Orcus]

Salvete

Before we can start describing why we chose our faiths, we could try ask the questions "what is Religio Romano?" and/or "What is Hellenismos?"
Sannion, a Hellenic Pagan from the yahoogroup Hellenic Pagan wrote an essay on the last question: what is Hellenismos. And it is worth reading. I have downloaded this from Sannion's website called Sannion's Sanctuary http://sannion.bravepages.com/ and i do have the permission to post his article here. We owe this guy alot because most of his work is very good. If he ever decides to join SVR, we will have another valuable member. Maybe we can put this on the site aswell. If the Aediles wishes to do so, please contact me. Anyway enough with the rambling. Here it is:
What is Hellenismos?

Hellenismos is one of the names for the religion that I practice. Other terms are Hellenism, Hellenic or Greek Reconstructionism, Olympianism, Dodecatheism, Greek Paganism, Greco-Roman Paganism, Classical Paganism, or simply Paganism. I prefer Hellenismos because it is the most accurate description, as it encompasses the whole complex of Greek ethnicity, language, culture, religion, and way of life. For the ancients, there was no word which corresponded completely to our modern concept of religion. The closest word is eusebia which means "pious interaction with the Gods." Obviously, we mean a great deal more than that when we speak of religion. When we ask someone "What religion do you practice?" we have an idea that their "religion" will refer to a specific kind of lifestyle, to a normative creed that codifies one's basic beliefs about
God(s), man, ethical existence, and the afterlife, and that they will only
belong to one religion at one time.
For the ancients, however, this was not the case. Religion wasn't something that you chose. It was something that had been passed down from a very long time ago
- perhaps even from the beginning of time - and everyone had always done it this way. Your great grandparents, your grandparents, your parents, you, your children, your children's children all formed part of an unbroken line that united the past with the future. Religion did not consist of a collection of proper ideas about things, but in the proper performance of the ancient rituals. Certainly there were basic ideas about the Gods, and life, and our place in the kosmos that most people shared in common - but there was also a lot of room for divergent opinions on the matter, and indeed people were encouraged to think these things out for themselves. But this - and properly so - was the concern of philosophy, not religion. Within this system there was also room to worship many Gods. In fact, impiety came from not worshipping the Gods. One could not only be a devotee of many different Gods, but also a priest in the Cult of various Gods. This was because priests merely officiated at the rites of large festivals. Most small rituals, such as daily devotions and libations, and funerals and marriages, could be performed by the individual, or by the head of the household if it was of great importance. The priest generally officiated at large, civic functions and performed the sacrifice or led the choral dance or song. It was often an elected position and lasted only a short while. There were, however, exceptions to this - such as the Priesthoods of Dionysos, the Two Goddesses, and some who presided
over Oracle centers. Religion, then, was about daily life. About performing the proper rituals, observing the cyclical changes, maintaining the ancient practices and customs, and passing them down for future generations. There was a seemingly endless series of rituals that one performed, covering every aspect of life. Birth, youth, adulthood, marriage, having children, growing old, and dying - all of the major life stages had specific rituals attached to them. Throughout the day, there were a number of libations, prayers, or sacrifices which were customarily performed, and on feast days there were extravagant celebrations.
For the ancients, religion was intimately linked with culture. We, as Hellenic reconstructionists, recognize that fact, and try to learn as much as we can about how the Greeks lived and thought, so that we can make our practices as valid as possible. "Why bother?" Some might say. "After all, two thousand years separate you from the ancient Greeks." This is certainly true, and even the staunchest reconstructionist will grant that his practices are not exactly like those of the ancients. Further, how we view the world, how we live in it, and interact with our fellows, is radically different than it was back then. But in a sense, we are still the same. The basic facts of our existence remain unchanged. We go through the same life changes. We have the same fears, hopes, aspirations that they had. Rituals which were created to deal with these things still have relevance, can still move us. If you have any doubt of it, read some of the ancient playwrights - particularly Sophokles, Aiskhlyos, and Euripides. While these men wrote for contemporary audiences, their words resonate across the ages, and stir our souls even to this day. Religion, which is a kind of artform, does so with even greater power. And, of all ancient peoples, we are probably the closest to the Greeks. Our art, drama, science, mathematics, philosophy, architecture, and politics we owe to them. Many of our dearest ideas were first given expression by Greek lips. Western civilization has been indelibly stamped with a Greek impression. So it is not all that great of a culture shock to practice the Greek religion.
While we may differ from the Abrahamic faiths in that we value orthopraxy (right practice) above orthodoxy (right belief) there are a number of beliefs which are common to those who practice Hellenismos.
more to follow

[Quintus Aurelius Orcus]

this is the second part:
The first of these is polytheism. Polytheism is literally the belief in many
Gods. It can take a number of forms, from the hard polytheism found in Homer to the softer polytheism of later Greeks, like the Neoplatonists. Hard polytheism suggests that there are a number of divine beings, each one distinct and independent of the others, and further, that this number is potentially infinite. The softer kind of polytheism is sometimes called hypostatic monarchialism because it says that there is only one God (monarch), but that this God manifests itself through a number of different personalities (hypostases) or masks. Both of these are extreme points on the spectrum, and the average Hellene probably fits somewhere in the middle. The Hellenic pantheon is a rich tapestry that includes a multitude of divine beings. At the top of the pantheon are the Olympians, headed by Zeus.
They are twelve in number - although there is no hard and fast agreement as to who those Twelve are. Some include Hestia, while others include Dionysos, but generally speaking, the Dodecatheoi are Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Hades, Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaistos, Athena, Ares and either Hestia or Dionysos. Other important Gods are Gaia, Persephone, Pan, Hekate, Hermes, Eros, the Muses, Helios, Selene, and Asklepios. There are also many nature divinities such as the Nymphs and Satyrs, the Gods of rivers, mountains, springs, and forests, the Titans, as well as the underworld spirits, daimons, angels, heroes, and
personifications such as Tyche (chance), the Moirai (fates), Eris (discord),
Horai (seasons), Kers (vengeance), and so on. Some foreign Gods such as Adonis, Kybele and Attis, Isis and Osiris, Mithras, and the Thracian Horse-man were worshipped by the Greeks, but they tended to be more conservative in this regard than the Romans. At it's height, the Roman pantheon swelled to almost 33,000 Gods.
As Hellenic reconstructionists, we tend to honor only those Gods known to
the Greeks, generally speaking, from the time of Homer to the end of the Delphic Oracle in history. It's not that we don't believe in the Gods of all of the other pantheons, or that we find those Gods in some way inferior - it is simply that they are not a part of the divine family of Zeus - whereas most of the Greek Gods are - and so they have no real place within Hellenism. There is an insurmountable chasm which separates humanity from the Gods. Although the Gods are wiser, stronger, more beautiful and perfect than us - that's not what separates mankind from them. Rather, we are mortal, and they are the Deathless Ones. Our days are numbered, finite, a mere drop in the vast ocean of time. They will live forever. No matter how high we aspire, we will be brought down. Even the greatest of kings and philosophers must feel the bitter sting of death. It stalks us the whole time that we live, shading everything that we do. We try to deny it, push it back, pretend like it won't claim us.
But it always does. Traditionally when death takes us, our soul or psyche is separated from our material body. Our soul is then led by Hermes Psychopompos to the river Styx, which girds the Underworld abode. If we have received proper burial, and have coin to pay Kharon, the ferryman, we are allowed to cross over into Hades. If we don't, we are forced to become one of the restless dead, and may return to wander the earth. Hades, which is named after it's ruler, is a gloomy abode, a place of darkness and despair, where the souls survive as mere shades of their
former selves. In Hades, the souls neither have energy or memory, or much of anything else. They must first be placated with offerings of blood, the vital force, before they are able to speak, and remember. This is the fate of the average person, although the Underworld had two other sections - Elysium, which was reserved for exemplary souls, heroes, and those who had undergone Initiation, and Tartaros, which was a place where only the most wicked of people, and those who fought against the Gods, such as the Titans, went.
There were some - the Pythagoreans, and those in the Orphic or Bacchic mysteries for instance - who held out the notion of metampsychosis, namely that the soul passes from one body into another. Others, such as the Neoplatonists, held that with the proper magical incantations and ascetic practices apotheosis - the elevation of the soul to divine, and hence immortal, status - could be attained. Still others - like the Epicureans - held that after death, the soul dissipated, and there was nothing.
More to come

[Quintus Aurelius Orcus]

this is the third part and final part.
When a death occurs in the family, the people are ritually impure, and have a spiritual pollution, or miasma around them. Other things which can cause this pollution are murder, contact with birth, blood flow, sexual fluids, or the insane, as well as blasphemy, breaking ritual proscriptions, and among certain groups such as the Pythagoreans and Orphics, eating beans or animal foods.
Before one can enter the temenos or sacred precinct within the temple or take part in sacrifices, one must undergo ritual purification. It is important to note that this concept of purity is very different than the Christian concept of sin. In most cases, miasma comes from unintentional contact with natural forces. It is generally not a moral condition, although it can arise from immoral actions or associating with such people. If one dies while under the taint of miasma, it will have no effect on their future existence. Nor is it necessary for any God to die for miasma to be taken from us. Certain ritual actions - prayer, oblations, and aspurgings - will suffice. In extreme cases, such as when Herakles killed his family, and sought purification at Delphi, more may be required, and the Orphics traveled around, offering more complex rituals - but those are certainly unique instances. Likewise, there is no original sin, or the concept of man's fallen nature in Hellenismos. Although the Greeks were well aware of man's baser tendencies, his capacity for cruelty, violence, and ignorance, they held that these were aberrations in his character, which was essentially good, noble, and wise.
Through reason, discipline, and hard work, we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, and lead a perfectly happy, moral, and rewarding life. The Greeks didn't have a guide for this kind of life handed down to them from on high. Instead, they reasoned this out among themselves, producing some of the wisest, and best moral philosophy that mankind has ever seen. The Tenets of Solon, the Ethics of Aristotle, the Golden sayings of Pythagoras, the philosophy of Epicurus and the Stoics, and, perhaps best of all, the Delphic Maxims. Although these inscriptions were made at the holiest temple in all of Hellas, and were filled with the spirit of Apollo, they were acknowledged as the work of mortal man, the wisdom of the Seven Sages. The most famous of these sayings is "meden agan" nothing in excess, and "gnothi seauton" know thyself. They appear so simple, yet whole books of commentary have been written on them. To know one's
self, is to be aware of who one really is. To know what one is capable of, and what one is not. To get past the masks, and excuses, and all that stuff we build up between us and our true selves, and to start living from a place of authentic existence. When we do that, we seek no more than what we need. Nothing is bad in its entirety. Even things like war and death are necessary, but only within their proper bounds. When we go beyond that, it becomes a great evil. Look at all of the social ills we face. Crime in the street, the devastation of our environment, rape, murder, war. Why does this happen? Because people have no idea who they really are, so they have no idea what their true needs are.
Therefore they take and take and take, trying to fill the void, but they fill
the wrong holes, because they are still aliens to themselves. A man rapes, not because he wants more sex, but more power. We wreak ecological havoc, not because we need to, but so that soccer moms can drive their SUVs to the mall and buy neat consumer goods they have no need for. If more people followed the golden mean, this would be a far better world. Another important Hellenic concept is the role of society and community. Aristotle said that man was the city-building animal, and that only wild beasts or philosophers could live in total isolation. A series of complex social bonds govern our interaction with our fellows. We owe greatest loyalty to our family - particularly our parents - and then our friends, comrades, members of our tribe and city. To strangers, we also owe xenia which is hospitality. To turn away a stranger at our door is a grave offense, since Zeus is the God of Strangers, and all those who are strangers are sacred to him. However, the Christian commandment to "love thy enemies" is not a part of the traditional Hellenic ethic, as one sees in Homer. If someone does you wrong, they are your enemy, and
it is proper to reciprocate. Further, if they harm your family or friends, it is the same as if they had harmed you. Failure to rise to the defense of those you have social bonds with is considered a severe lapse, and brings shame on you.
Shame is the greatest deterrent among the Greeks. Value comes from how you are perceived by your community. When you do great things, such as show bravery in battle, or produce a wonderful play, you receive time or glory, acclaim from them. However, when you do something wrong, such as act with cowardice, or steal, you receive aidos or shame. Fear of aidos is the greatest motivation for ethical action. This is probably the biggest difference between Hellenismos and other modern Pagan religions. Many of them - particularly Wicca - tend to have strong liberal, counter-culture, "do your own thing" attitudes, with a very personal morality. Hellenes, on the other hand, value tradition, and community,
and believe in shared ethics. Perhaps this is the cause of the other great difference between Hellenismos and Wicca. Hellenismos is not a magical religion. For the ancients, witchcraft and sorcery were seen as destructive forces that threatened to upset the social order. Laws were enacted against their use in Athens and Rome, and Plato repeatedly condemned the practice, for instance, in the Laws 909b and the Republic 363B. The purpose of Hellenic rituals are to honor or propitiate the Gods, not necessarily to get anything from them. We don't raise energy, perform
spells, or call the Gods down into the officiating priest. There are Hellenes
who practice magic, and there were traditions of magic among the ancients.
But in both cases, this is something that is viewed as supplemental to the religion, and not a part of it. There is so much more that could be said on the subject of Hellenismos, and I intend to do so in future articles. But I believe that you now have a better understanding of what my religion entails, and that, my friend, was the whole purpose of this piece. If you are interested in further study, I would recommend visiting the links section of my web-site, and checking out the Hellenic material. I would also recommend Drew Cambell's wonderful book, Old Stones, New
Temple and Walter Burkert's Greek Religion.
Bye