Eleusis was the home of the famous in antiquity Eleusinian Mysteries. The main Goddess of the cult was Demeter. The cult was stopped by Emperor Theodosius as every non Catholic Christian cult, the temple was destroyed by Alarich and his monks and to add on this the last hierophant was a false one, he was a priest of Mithras. However a Caryatid of the demolished site remain above the earth and was venerated as the statue of Saint Demetra. There is a Saint Demetrius who is supposed to have lived in Thessaloniki, but no-one knows a Saint Demetra. Of course Greek Orthodox priests say that for every name there is at least one Saint. No Hellene however called his children after the Gods, so how come there are people who were called after the Gods, became Christians and then martyrs, is difficult to figure out. Anyhow the peasants in Eleusis believed that the statue of Saint Demeter made the soil fertile. The Orthodox Christians never use statues, but icons to depict saints, angels and the trinity of gods.
In 1800 Greece was under Ottoman occupation and an Englishman exchanged the permit of taking it away with him, with a telescope as a gift to the Ottoman governor of Athens. The abbot of a monastery in Salamis which had Eleusis under his jurisdiction at that time gave his consent as well. He had just to say that the cult was Heathen and not Christian and the people of Eleusis would have to either give in or loose they heads, as only Jews and Christians are tolerated by Islam.
However no matter how exclusive Christianity is, the article still talks about sculptures venerated by people of two different religions. Caryatids were no cult statues and how Christian can one be when one is so Heathen in his practices?
If ever a village was found where twelve saints or more would be venerated who were called after the Hellenic Gods, would theys still speak about Orthodox Christians and the transition of Hellenism to Christianity, or would they then think of Cryptohellenes?
Article in Greek
In 1800 Greece was under Ottoman occupation and an Englishman exchanged the permit of taking it away with him, with a telescope as a gift to the Ottoman governor of Athens. The abbot of a monastery in Salamis which had Eleusis under his jurisdiction at that time gave his consent as well. He had just to say that the cult was Heathen and not Christian and the people of Eleusis would have to either give in or loose they heads, as only Jews and Christians are tolerated by Islam.
However no matter how exclusive Christianity is, the article still talks about sculptures venerated by people of two different religions. Caryatids were no cult statues and how Christian can one be when one is so Heathen in his practices?
If ever a village was found where twelve saints or more would be venerated who were called after the Hellenic Gods, would theys still speak about Orthodox Christians and the transition of Hellenism to Christianity, or would they then think of Cryptohellenes?
Article in Greek
