Are Greeks Christians ?

Question

or still worship the 12 ancient Greek gods?

Answer 1

We are Greek Orthodox,some Catholics and Muslim.Yes there are  few that worship the12 ancient gods.Yia sou.

Answer 2

Greek Orthodox =Catholic Light

Answer 3

well dear,

most of the Greeks are orthodox christians...

Answer 4

most Greeks are Orthodox Christians. Orthodox is a word meaning correct belief. In the 11th Century a split took place between Catholics in the West and Orthodox in the East, and this split was hardened with the 4th Crusade's sack of Constantinople and later the loss of the same city to the Ottomans. However, some historians persist in giving a precise date for this split but the reality is that the split or schism was not complete until some time in the 18th century. Efforts to reunite the Church, for instance at the Council of Florence were largely rejected by the Orthodox. Since the 12th Century, both Churches have developed conflicting theologies but they remain united on central issues, and so both qualify unreservedly as "Christians".

Regarding the degree of practice in modern Greece- most younger generation Orthodox do not attend Church, and many of their parents seem extremely confused by a liturgy which operates in Byzantine and Koine Greek, both of which are very inaccessible to modern Greeks. Indeed, I have given monks advice in reading St Paul's letters- notoriously difficult.There have been calls for an updating of the liturgy esp as "Greek" is not regarded as a sacred language (unlike Latin in the catholic church). However, the pull of nationalism, championed so vigorously by Christodoulos, has been difficult to resist and indeed I know that he refused to let Clergy celebrate the liturgy in other languages, even when the congregation was largely non-Greek speaking. I asked Christodoulos to support and I arranged for an english-speaking liturgy in Athens, which was initially very successful and served by a Scottish priest resident in Crete, but I gather it has now stopped.

Other contributors have mentioned the muslims in Greece, who still lack a mosque (they must have the permission and backing of the local Greek Clergy according to law). TYhere is a sizeable muslim minortity in Thrace with its own mosques and traditions, a remnant of the 1922 agreements between Greeece and Turkey. There is also a small Jewish community, tho nothing like the massive Thessaloniki and Cretan communities wiped out during the 2nd World War. The institution of ID cards and the inclusion on them of religious identity, instituted by Metaxas, meant that Jews were easily identified and taken to slaughter. It is a shameful story and not made much easier to digest because of the recent ARchbishop's lunatic obsession with restoring the religious affiliation clause to the new ID cards. I am delighted to report that he failed.

The Olympian cult has seen a revival recently as also some indian cults and a very pro-active but essentially small Mormon community based in Ag Paraskevi. They can be found singing most days uin the centre of Athens. Victims of the absurd religious laws prohibiting proselytising, they have regularly told me they have been arrested. In contrast some rather shameful baptisms have been broadcast on state news channels showing Albanians and Kurds standing naked in the font. As we know, many foreigners adopt Greek names, or have them imposed by a population that is largely uneducated and sadly gets confuserd by names that do not seem familiar. Amusingly, I met a number of people when I lived in a Greek village in the Peloponnese who insisted that my name must be Dimitris and not Timothy. It took alot of careful explaining to get them to recognise that Timothy - a recipient of 2 letters from St Paul in thye New Testament, and former Bishop of Ephesus, is a genuinely Greek name, that predates Dimitris, though it is far from popular at the moment.

And as for the still worshipping the 12 gods, a cursory glance at Plato will tell the questioner that the ancient Greek dedication to the 12 gods was a fairly fluid thing.

I hope this answers the question.

Answer 5

Greek Orthodox

Answer 6

of course we are Christians.

Answer 7

The New Testment was written almost entirely in Ancient Greek. 95% of Greece, is Greek orthodox.

Answer 8

Yes, most Greeks are Greek Orthodox Christians but you'll hear some nationalist idiot talking about Christianity not being a Greek religion and a religion for Greeks should be Greek going on to wax lyrical over the Olympian gods.  There used to be state sponsored persecution of such things...even to mention such things brought censure.

Answer 9

most of the greeks are Christian orthodox.

HOWEVER there are still people in greece who honor the 12 olympians, myself included. you can see from the other answers that the majority of christians do not acknowledge us,causing problems to our everyday lives...

if you don't exist you can't live,pray etc etc etc...

Answer 10

greeks believe in jesus christ his mother and god. 12 gods? thats when the world was a panasia whatevr its called..was along time ago when jesus was born everyone believed in 1 god after! what century do u live in seriously?

Answer 11

Yes Greeks are Cristian, Orthodox like me but I'm not a Greek

Answer 12

LOL , you are little retarded...  are christians many years... well before 1000 years the christians divided to orthodox and catholic,,,  greek part was the orthodox and catholic the roman part.... thats why all east europe are orthodox and west catholic...

Answer 13

Most Greeks are Christians, Greek Orthodox (about 98% of the population). But yes, there are also a few people who worship the ancient gods.

ADDED: LOL, somebody came here to rant... :)

Answer 14

12 ancient Greek gods? plaka mou kaneis etsi?

We are Christians Orthodox!! pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Answer 15

of course, last night i placed jewelry in Athena's temple, and sang to her a poem that i wrote. Seriously man what century do you live in ? of course we are Christians.

Answer 16

99% of Greek citizens are Orthodox Christians..

Answer 17

Christian Orthodox, although there are some people who believe in the 12 ancient Greek gods...

Answer 18

Greeks are Greek-Orthodox, but there are also some Catholics, a few Protestants, some Muslims, some Buddhists, certainly a few Hindus, about 5000 Jews, some Atheists and for sure a number of pagans.

But in general, Greece is a Greek-Orthodox country.

Why would a modern European society like Greece still worship the 12 ancient Greek gods?

Answer 19

Yes, we are Christians!  AND those of us in the U.S. believe in the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and Valentines Day!  

90 % of the Greeks in Greece are Eastern Orthodox and 10% are Protestant.  The 1st Bible was writen in Greek and the Chruch of the Nativity in the Holy Land is supported mainly by the Greek Orthodox Church. In the Bible, St. Paul's writings Cortinthins I and II was written to the Greeks of Corinth, Greece. So one might say with our history,yes we have a rich history deeply rooted in Chrisitianity.

Answer 20

Absolutley we  are .greek orthodox christians... ...

Answer 21

Only a handful of them remains, if I am not mistaken, they acquired their right to worship in temples only a few years ago but their situation still isn't perfect. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/628539...

I guess from your Egyptian username that you are interested in ancient religions in general, but surely, you must know that a great majority of Greeks are Orthodox.

Answer 22

We are Orthodox Christians.