Both Dostoyevsky and Papdiamantis insist on the risk which a relationship with God involves. The risk confirms that this really is a personal relationship, an attainment of communion.
Both refuse to substitute individual self-sufficiency for relationship. For individual self-sufficiency implies an accumulation of virtues, moral achievements and the acquisition of merit.
That is why they affirm the courage of failure. The whole history of the Church is objectively one huge failure, but a failure which constitutes the Gospel of salvation.
What a better way to feel the Greek Christmas magic than by reading Greek literature. The Christmas Short Stories written by Alexandros Papadiamantis will transport you to bygone times through the writer’s remarkable imagination and matchless colourful expression. The Christmas Loaf, The Gleaner, The American, Christ at the Castle, An Idler’s Christmas are among the most tender and famous of his tales, with which many generations of Greek children grew up.
Papadiamantis’ short stories do a masterful job of recounting the traditional Greek Orthodox ethos putting him on par Dickens when it comes to extolling the virtues of Christmas. As for the characters featured in his works, there are no good and bad ones, but rather people with virtues and weaknesses, which the author nonetheless approaches with the same love. In Papadiamantis’ world – a world that is lit with the light of Christ – there is room for everyone. Each one of the characters behaves and reacts in their own unique way, not trampling upon the personality of the other, irrespective of right and wrong, good and bad.
Revered as "the Dostoyevsky of Greece" and the "Saint of Greek literature", Alexandros Papadiamantis was born on 4 March 1851 on the small island of Skiathos. His first novel, The Migrant, was printed in instalments in the Constantinopolitan newspaper Neologos, in 1879, and a further three novels were similarly published in Athens in the following years. It was also during this period that he started working as a translator for various Athenian newspapers.
It wasn’t, however, until Christmas of 1887 that Papadiamandis’s first short story, The Christmas Loaf, was to appear, marking the feast and setting a pattern for his writing. The metier of the short story subsequently became his favoured form, written in his own version of the then official language of Greece “katharevousa”. Except for two years when he returned to Skiathos, 1902–4, during which time he wrote his perhaps most powerful tale, The Murderess, he continued to live in Athens, writing and translating, until 1908. His longest works were the serialized novels The Gypsy Girl, The Migrant, and The Merchants of Nations. These were adventures set around the Mediterranean, with rich plots involving captivity, war, pirates, the plague, etc.
What a better way to feel the Greek Christmas magic than by reading Greek literature. The Christmas Short Stories written by Alexandros Papadiamantis will transport you to bygone times through the writer’s remarkable imagination and matchless colourful expression. The Christmas Loaf, The Gleaner, The American, Christ at the Castle, An Idler’s Christmas are among the most tender and famous of his tales, with which many generations of Greek children grew up.
Papadiamantis’ short stories do a masterful job of recounting the traditional Greek Orthodox ethos putting him on par Dickens when it comes to extolling the virtues of Christmas. As for the characters featured in his works, there are no good and bad ones, but rather people with virtues and weaknesses, which the author nonetheless approaches with the same love. In Papadiamantis’ world – a world that is lit with the light of Christ – there is room for everyone. Each one of the characters behaves and reacts in their own unique way, not trampling upon the personality of the other, irrespective of right and wrong, good and bad.
Revered as "the Dostoyevsky of Greece" and the "Saint of Greek literature", Alexandros Papadiamantis was born on 4 March 1851 on the small island of Skiathos. His first novel, The Migrant, was printed in instalments in the Constantinopolitan newspaper Neologos, in 1879, and a further three novels were similarly published in Athens in the following years. It was also during this period that he started working as a translator for various Athenian newspapers.
Alexandros Papadiamantis / Αλέξανδρος Παπαδιαμάντης (Skiathos, March 4, 1851 – Skiathos, January 3, 1911) is one of the most important Greek writers, also known as “the saint of Greek letters”. He wrote mainly short stories and his work occupy a prominent place in modern Greek literature. Papadiamantis was born at the island of Skiathos, which would figure prominently in his work. His father was a priest, and his family was poor. He moved to Athens as a young man to complete high school at the Varvakeios School and enrolled in the University of Athens, but never completed his studies due to financial difficulties.
He supported himself by writing anything from journalism and short stories to several serialized narratives. From a certain point onwards his works became very popular, and newspapers and magazines offered him substantial fees. However, he did not care for money and spent them carelessly. He took no care of his clothing and appearance and was known to be a recluse, whose only true cares were writing and chanting at church. Therefore he was usually referred to as “kosmokalogeros” (which means “a monk in the world”).
During his stay in Athens, he lived in the poor neighbourhood of Psyri (Ψυρρή) and his daily life was spent in this area as well as in the neighbouring Monastiraki (Μοναστηράκι). As a result, his heroes and stories were influenced not only by the island of Skiathos but also by these two areas of Athens. So let’s take a walking tour in the centre of Athens and try to trace the places where this great writer lived and wrote.
