Editing Hellenism (modern religion) (section)

== Relationship to ancient Greek religion ==
{{further|Polytheistic reconstructionism}}
The majority of modern historians agree that the religion practiced by the ancient Greeks had been extinguished by the 9th century CE at the latest and that there is little to no evidence that it survived (in public form at least) past the [[Middle Ages]]. (In certain isolated areas it survived until the 12th century; see [[Tsakonia]] and [[Maniots]].)<ref name=survival_greece>Gregory, T. (1986). "The Survival of Paganism in Christian Greece: A Critical Essay". ''The American Journal of Philology'', '''107'''(2), 229–242. {{doi|10.2307/294605}}</ref> Greek {{Lang|el-Latn|Dodecatheon}} member Panagiotis Marinis has claimed that the religion of ancient Greece survived throughout the intervening centuries, and some claim they were raised in families that practiced this religion.<ref>{{cite video|title=[[I Still Worship Zeus]]|year=2004|people=Jamil Said|publisher=Jamil Said Productions|medium=DVD}}</ref>

The revival of Hellenic religious identity is typically only part of a larger social movement of re-Hellenizing Greek identity in a comprehensive way, not only religious.<ref name="Thykier Makeeff 20192"/> This re-Hellenization movement is the current iteration of previous attempts to revive Hellenism. The first to promote such efforts<ref>James Henderson Burns, ''The Cambridge History of Medieval Political Thought c. 350 – c. 1450'', [[Cambridge University Press]], 1988.</ref> was the late [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] philosopher [[Gemistos Plethon|Georgios Gemistus Plethon]] in the 15th century. It was in [[Mystras]], in the [[Despotate of the Morea]], that Plethon formed a 'circle' of students.<ref>{{Citation |last=Siniossoglou |first=Niketas |title=Underground Platonism in Byzantium (Chapter 1) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=piWZkdSw1C8C |work=Radical Platonism in Byzantium |pages=49–92 |year=2011 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi= |isbn=9781107013032 |access-date=2022-06-12}}</ref> It is through Plethon and his students that many ethnic Greeks today trace their teachings and practices and give credit for tradition's survival to the present day.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1057123394|title=Hellenic ethnic religion: theology and practice|date=2018|others=Hellenic Council YSEE of America|isbn=978-0-692-08477-9|location=New York|oclc=1057123394}}</ref>

Two notable students of Plethon include the historian [[Laonikos Chalkokondyles]] and [[Bessarion]]. Bessarion, educated in neoplatonism, was considered for the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Pope|papacy]] twice. In a letter recounting the news of his teacher's death, Bessarion says that Plethon has left to "dance with the Olympian Gods" ({{lang|el|να χορέψει μαζί με τους Ολυμπίους Θεούς}})<ref name="George Gemistus Plethon 1858">{{Cite book|first=George Gemistus |last=Plethon |editor-first=C. |editor-last=Alexandre |translator-first=Augustin |translator-last=Pellissier|url=http://archive.org/details/plthontraitdesl00pellgoog|title=Traité des lois|date=1858|publisher=Firmin Didot frères, fils et cie|others=Harvard University|language=French}}</ref> and honors Plethon by claiming him to be the reincarnation of Plato based on the "teachings of the Pythagoreans and Plato about the endless ascent and descent of souls" ({{lang|grc|διδαχές των Πυθαγορείων και του Πλάτωνα περί ατέλειωτης ανόδου και καθόδου των ψυχών}}).<ref name="George Gemistus Plethon 1858"/>

In 1458, just a few years after the death of Plethon, [[Michael Tarchaniota Marullus]] was born near the site of ancient [[Sparta]] in the [[Despotate of the Morea]] or in [[Constantinople]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/55657407|title=Classical love poetry|date=2004|publisher=J. Paul Getty Museum |first1=Jonathan |last1=Williams |first2=Clive |last2=Cheesman |isbn=0-89236-786-5|location=Los Angeles|oclc=55657407}}</ref> Both of Marullus's parents were Greek exiles who had fled from Constantinople when it [[Fall of Constantinople|fell to the Turks]] in 1453, and he always proudly called himself a [[Greek people|Greek]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/briefbiographica00inhole |title=A Brief Biographical Dictionary |last=Hole |first=Charles |publisher=Hurd and Houghton |year=1866 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/briefbiographica00inhole/page/271 271] }}</ref> Marullus was a poet and [[Stratioti|stratioti-soldier]]. Among his works, Marullus composed a collection of hymns, the ''Hymni naturales,'' in which he celebrates the [[Olympian pantheon]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Valeriano|first=Pierio|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/40948402|title=Pierio Valeriano on the ill fortune of learned men: a Renaissance humanist and his world|date=1999|publisher=University of Michigan Press|translator-first=Julia Haig |translator-last=Gaisser|isbn=0-472-11055-1|location=Ann Arbor|oclc=40948402}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Marullo, Michele Costantinopoli 1453–1500, hymni naturales, hymni naturales hymn. hymnorum naturalium libri (A. Perosa, 1951), section 2|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2011.01.0589|access-date=2021-07-16|website=perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> [[Bartolomeo Scala]], his father-in-law, was a member of the [[Platonic Academy (Florence)|Platonic Academy]] in [[Florence]], Italy.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Korovilas|first=Stilian "Ariston"|date=21 August 2020|title=Michael Tarchaniota Marullus (1458–1500): Hymn to Hermes|url=https://hellenismos.org/2020/08/21/michael-tarchaniota-marullus-1458-1500-hymn-to-hermes/|access-date=2021-07-16|website=Hellenismos|language=de-DE}}</ref>

{{poemquote|So, my good king of the gods,
the gloomy fate, unfortunately, I could not escape,
to practice as a Hellene
the cult of my fathers
in a non-Hellenic language,
(Hymn to [[Hermes]])<ref>{{Cite web|last=Korovilas|first=Stilian «Ariston»|date=2020-08-21|title=Michael Tarchaniota Marullus (1458–1500): Hymn to Hermes|url=https://hellenismos.org/2020/08/21/michael-tarchaniota-marullus-1458-1500-hymn-to-hermes/|access-date=2021-07-16|website=Hellenismos|language=de-DE}}</ref>}}

Validating the relationship between Hellenic ethnic religion and the [[ancient Greek religion]] for 'continuity' is difficult as an outsider to the tradition, argued [[Vlassis Rassias|Vlassis G. Rassias]]:

{{blockquote|In the 19th century, many, especially German scholars, who were otherwise remarkable scholars, made the huge mistake of reconstructing a [[theology]] from the works of [[Homer]]os, who is only a poet. [[Hesiod]]os, on the other hand, who also engages in [[theogony]], can also be seen as theology. But his works are not set in stone either. We see that when we look at [[Gemistos Plethon|Georgios Gemistos-Plethon]], at the beginning of the 15th century who is the link between the ancients and us, and who demonstrates an underground continuation that has never been broken. In one of his invocations to [[Zeus]], Plethon presents him – to the surprise of all who see things statically – as the father of [[Poseidon]] and [[Cronus|Kronos]]. The German scholar of the 19th century or modern man, who doesn't even know what tradition means, begins at this point to muse and wonder over Plethon's words. In the end, many of them come to the crazy conclusion that Plethon must be assessed as a heretic.<ref>{{Citation|title=Tradition and ontology in Hellenismos (ENG SUB)| date=21 November 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgNFBOG31Tg |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/hgNFBOG31Tg| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|language=en|access-date=2021-07-16}}{{cbignore}}</ref>{{better source needed|reason=YouTube being user-generated content is an [[WP:RS|unreliable source]]|date=August 2023}}}}

Though when Plethon's presentation of Zeus as the 'father' of Poseidon and Kronos is compared to the [[Derveni papyrus]] (discovered in 1962), Plethon appears less the heretic. The Derveni Papyrus recounts an Orphic cosmology, one in which the world of today is Zeus' creation.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2 November 2020|title=Ioanna Papadopoulou, An Introduction to the Derveni Papyrus|url=https://chs.harvard.edu/ioanna-papadopoulou-an-introduction-to-the-derveni-papyrus/|access-date=2021-07-17|website=The Center for Hellenic Studies|language=en-US}}</ref> The new order of the world arises from Zeus after he swallows the severed [[phallus]], the last act in a series of overthrowings of the ruling figure. In doing this, Zeus contained all things within himself and remade the world and regenerated all the Gods and Goddess once more, being King and 'father' to all things.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Betegh|first=Gábor|title=The Derveni Papyrus: Cosmology, Theology and Interpretation|url=https://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/the-derveni-papyrus-cosmology-theology-and-interpretation/|access-date=2021-07-17|website=Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews|date=16 September 2006 |language=en}}</ref> This aligns with the writings of Plethon. In the Book of Laws, Zeus "existed from all eternity", "not born of any other&nbsp;... he is self-father [αὐτοπάτορα]&nbsp;... has no other father than himself&nbsp;... he is the father and the eldest creator [δημιουργὸν] of all things."<ref name="Opsopaus">{{Cite web|last=Opsopaus|first=John|date=12 June 2020|title=Plethon's Book of Laws|url=http://opsopaus.com/OM/BA/PBOL.html#a__CHAPTER_5__-_General_Principles_on_the_Gods|access-date=2021-07-17|website=opsopaus.com |language=en-US}}</ref> The other gods in the Greek pantheon are divided according "to divine nature [{{lang|grc|θεότητι}}] into the second and third orders, the first of which are the children of Zeus, his creations, and the second are the children of his children, the creations of his creations."<ref name="Opsopaus"/>

Emically speaking, "revival" accurately describes the religious activity occurring in Greece and around the world since one of the main hallmarks is group gatherings and public festival celebrations. Etic observations from a distance by classical scholars, describe contemporary practices as inauthentic and therefore irrelevant or remain open on the issue. British classicist [[Mary Beard (classicist)|Mary Beard]] criticized Greek Hellenist worshippers, saying, "until these eager neo-pagans get real and [[Animal sacrifice|slaughter a bull or two]] in central Athens, I shan't worry that they have much to do with ancient religion at all", later commented that, "I think I was really responding to the claims made by this group that they were reviving ancient paganism. I am absolutely ok with the idea that religions change. I was reacting to their claims to be a modern version of ancient 'paganism'."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hays|first=Jeffrey|title=Ancient Greek Religious Beliefs, Rituals and Sacrifices|url=http://factsanddetails.com/world/cat56/sub405/item2027.html|access-date=2021-02-25|website=factsanddetails.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wildhunt.org/2007/01/pagan-news-of-note_29.html|title = (Pagan) News of Note – Paganism| work=The Wild Hunt |date = 29 January 2007}}</ref> American classicist, [[Sarah Iles Johnston]] affirmed contemporary practice. "The bricolage and re-imaginings of contemporary Pagans is not entirely different from that of ancient Greek religious culture and that even classical scholars inevitably re-imagine the gods."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Johnston|first=Sarah|title=Whose Gods are These? A Classicist Looks at Neopaganism|url=https://www.academia.edu/3667375|website=Academia.edu}}</ref> Revivalists view the tradition as a living, changing religion. Hellenic Revivalism allows room for practitioners to decide what feels right to them, and to adapt historical religious practices to modern life.

Hellenists and other self described pagans/polytheists typically engage in [[Polytheistic Reconstructionism|reconstructionism]], a methodology that attempts to accurately base modern religious practice on the imitation of culturally and historically genuine examples of ancient religious practices. The term is frequently used in the United States to differentiate between [[syncretism|syncretic]] and [[eclecticism|eclectic]] [[Neopaganism|Neopagan]] movements, and those based on the traditions, writings, history, and [[mythology]] of a specific ancient polytheistic culture. The [[Supreme Council of Ethnic Hellenes]] have made a clear distinction between themselves and the Neopagan movements, and identify some 'Hellenic' groups as "simply disguised as 'Hellenes' for reasons that exist hidden within the depths of their own minds."<ref>{{cite web|title=Wojciech Jan Rudny interviews a constitutional member of the Supreme Council of the Ethnikoi Hellenes (YSEE) on behalf of the polish 'GNIAZDO' magazine|url=http://www.ysee.gr/index-eng.php?type=english&f=rozmowa_en|access-date=26 September 2010|work=YSEE}}</ref>