The Federazione Pagana, which took part to WCER congress in 2004 in Athens, worked to disprove this rumour: the congress ended with a rite in an archeological site, which is protected, and this should deny the lack of religious freedom in Greece. But the rumour showed up again at the end of March, with a news spread by Ansamed:
(ANSAmed) - ATHENS, MARCH 24 - The worship of the 12 gods of Mount Olympus associated with ancient Greece could, thanks to a decision by a first-instance court in Athens, become part of the country's contemporary culture. In a ruling made public yesterday, the court allowed the formation of an association whose members claim to worship Zeus and the other 11 gods, Kathimerini reports. "I support everybody's right to practice their faith, whichever it may be, without hindrance," said Apostolos Vrachiolidis, a journalist and one of the founding members of the association. Members of the group deny that they engage in idolatry. "We simply want to worship the gods of our ancestors freely," a member who preferred to remain anonymous told Kathimerini. (ANSAmed)
The news has been spread quickly by many pagan websites, mailing lists and groups all over the Europe and all very happy for the good news. At the end it arrived on WCER forum, where Vlassis Rassias, member of the greek organization YSEE (Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes), which is part of WCER, so answeres, disveiling also some interesting backstages:
“Too good to be true and of course it is NOT.
The report, written by a Church-reporter, is INACCURATE and MISLEADING.
A few weeks before a pre-announced YSEE's appeal to the Greek Government, a number of people, including some that acted hostile to YSEE in the recent past (one reached so far as to participate in the controlled by the Church TV rumor spreading that supposedly YSEE and WCER were... satanists, just before the 2004 WCER Conference in Athens !!!!), formed a typical cultural association "whose members claim to worship Zeus" (sic) and of course got the needed legalization before they go public, just as all the cultural associations in Greece have to do.
The open worship is already granted by the Greek State in article 18 of 2462/1997 law and since then no Court can deny approval to associations that are or claim to be religious.
The well known to us “newcomers” in the "battle", actually break in open doors. The freedom OF PRACTICE is guaranteed in Greece, this is NOT the problem (the problem is to be accepted by the Greek Authorities as a VALID entity representative of a number of Greek citizens).
Concerning only the freedom of PRACTICE, YSEE has celebrated many times INSIDE “archaeological” sites with written permission by the authorities (at Sounion –as the WCER people can remember-, at Delphi, at Ampiaraeion etc) and last Saturday celebrated again ONE MORE OPEN AND PUBLIC festival in the site of God Asclepius' Temple in Gortys Arcadia, where about 130 members of ours attended (the photos of the ritual appear in YSEE's webpage).
P.S. YSEE has already issued a press release on the case, after it received many calls from interested Greek and foreign journalists. In the release, we underline that we have no relation with the newly approved association and that we see nothing useful in just an approval of a founded cultural association that claims a restoration of worship of the Hellenic Religion (YSEE is already such a Legal Person with, of course, WIDER goals in its regulation, see
http://www.ysee.gr/index-eng.php?type=english&f=faq#1
Furhtermore we explained once more our thesis on official recognition, as stated in the FAQ of our webpage, and anounced once more our official appeal to the Government within the coming weeks.”
WCER congress rite at Cape Sounion: see Federazione Pagana's webpage
To know more about YSEE: see their website, which presents their aims (in English too).
