Can you go over why hellenicfaith com also sucks? I checked their website and 😬
Y’all really want me to get anon hate, but ok, let’s go through it.
First, for a quick warm up, please consult this post, where you’ll get a bit of an idea about the person behind the website. He’s got a bad reputation, but you asked for a review of the website, so I’ll stick to that.
So the thing is, hellenicfaith is about Julian Hellenism. The Roman Emperor Julian is known as “the Apostate” and is famous for being the last pagan roman emperor. He was born and raised Christian and converted to the old faith. He reigned a very short time, between 361 and 363 AD. The historic context is essential to understand his case: the roman elite is already christianized since 312 with Constantine and measures are being taken against paganism in favour of Christianity. Julian, when he becomes emperor, embraces his new found faith fully and tries to reimplant paganism. Look, I could go on and on about this but that’s not the point. The point is: hellenicfaith guy is focusing his worship on someone who reigned 3 years and had very little, to nearly 0 impact.
Well... he did have an impact. We “owe” Julian the term “Hellenism” to refer to practitioners of the greek faith, and it is why you will see so many hellenic pagans cling to this term. Except, for Julian, there is no distinction between the Roman and Greek gods. His point of view is one of a late Roman elite emperor. Greece has been roman for over 3 centuries at this point, so he had no use to make a distinction.
However, hellenifaith decides that, while recognizing that hellenic polytheism is not an ethnic religion, he thinks that one becomes a hellene through “work” aka faith which leads us to this sentence on his website:
“Someone who is not born in Hellas and not born by Hellenic parents, but has a Hellenic education and thus has thoroughly Hellenized themselves, can be considered “more Hellenic” than someone who had the two prior but was deprived of the latter.”
Because, of course, modern Greeks aren’t Greek enough. Take away their passports and give this Canadian guy a Greek one. /s
It is thus very straightforward to understand that Hellenism was the world’s first universal religion. This makes sense as and by its very nature Hellenism reflects the reality and universal principles of the Kosmos itself, and as such it is an eternal religion.
Dude, no. That’s just imperialism.
Look, I’ve only gone 1 page of his website so far and I’m already losing it. There’s no way I can read all of it. I do want to point out the page that makes me laugh though.
The Declaration of Reversion is going to be a statement of intent which will be composed, written and sent, for the benefit of all modern Hellenes of the Hellenic Ecclesia, to the Summus Pontifex of the Ecclesia Catholica (i.e., the Pope) and the Archbishop of Constantinople (i.e., the “first among equals” of the Eastern Orthodox bishops).
It was also devised to provide a means by which modern Hellenes, who take up the Julian Hellenic mantle, can disassociate themselves with whatever influence the Christian religion(s) had on them prior to becoming a Hellene. It will be a founding document that provides a road forward and inspires future generations as a hallmark of folk genesis.
That is the ultimate goal of our Declaration, to demonstrate without equivocation, that we are returning to an original state of being. Romanitas and our religious pursuit of the Hellenic Ecclesia is to us that original state: the Pax Romana. It may not be exactly how things were, but it is a state which humbly derives from and benefits the originality of the primal Romans. We in our turn inherit the standard of the Roman Eagle.
Look. I’ve been on the pagan side of the internet for a while and I’ve seen some shit but this right here? Mindblowing. I don’t even know where to start. “The standards of the Roman Eagle” seriously?
So yeah, that’s barely 1 page and a half of this content and no, I won’t do more. If that’s not enough to convince you that all of this is a farce, then I can’t help you.
