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The Greek ReligionThere is a church on every street corner and every hill top, and priests are visible everywhere. Add that each day is dedicated to the memory of a saint, and as every village, town and city has its own patron saint, there’s always a religious feast somewhere.Tiny churches like this that you see in the roadside are put up in memory of the person or persons who got killed here in a traffic accident.
The Greek religion is orthodox Christianity. The roots of the word orthodox are orthos, meaning correct and doksa meaning meaning. The Greek religion is supposed to be practiced the way it was practiced by Jesus and his disciples. The priests supposedly dress like the apostles did 2000 years ago and like the apostles they also let hair and beard grow. The main difference between the orthodox church and the western churches is that the Greek religion stresses the divine within man and the resurrection, while western churches focus more on Jesus and his love for man as well as man’s sin. Through the sacraments the Greeks are initiated to the mysteries of the church, while the western churches perform a service on behalf of the community members. Officially, there is religious freedom in Greece, and here are Muslim minorities as well as several thousand Catholics. But one thing is the law, another thing the practice. For instance, on the door of our local church the priest has posted a declaration saying Jehovah's witnesses are enemies of Christianity and apostles of Satan. My son one day came home from school asking me if Buddha was the devil – like his friends at school had told him. There is a huge Albanian minority in Greece and no doubt many of these immigrants choose to get baptized and take Greek names to make it easier for themselves, not because they suddenly started to believe in Jesus Christ. Outside Greece, the main orthodox Greek community is in USA, with its five million members, but there are also minor patriarchs in Istanbul and Antakya in Turkey, Alexandria in Egypt and Jerusalem in Israel. When on holiday in Greece you might want to visit one of the many monasteries or churches open for sightseeing. Remember to dress decently: Avoid wearing shorts (This counts also for men!) and make sure your shoulders are covered.  Custom Search Return from Greek Religion to KAIROS homepage. Crying Virgin Mary - is it an apparition? The Celebration of Virgin Mary on August 15th
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The Greek religion is very present in everyday life in Greece.There’s no doubt that Greek priests participate more in everyday community life than priests in many other countries. The priest is called upon to bless a new restaurant, hotel or any other kind of business. He always comes to school or university the first day of the new school year to bless the pupils or students and will also be present at major meetings during the year. He’ll also bless the new parliament after the elections – the Greek communists don’t take seriously Marx’ statement on religion being opium for the people. Maybe they think that count only for other religions, because you’ll see communist and socialist leaders participating in first line, just behind the priest and bishops, in for instance the parade on Holy Friday.
