About the ethnic Greek rite I attended

2026-07-27

Yesterday I attended an ethnic Greek (i.e. polytheistic) rite. The event took place at the outskirts of Lemessos (Limassol), on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean. There were about twenty practitioners, while I was told that there are many others in different parts of Cyprus who could not join us for one reason or another. I took photos for my personal archive, which I will not share because I did not ask for the consent of those present. There is only a selfie that I have published: https://protesilaos.com/selfies/2026-07-26-reaching-seaside/.

The rite itself was modest. I think this is how rituals ought to be, to direct people’s attention towards the substantive teachings rather than distract them with the glitter of material riches and the inevitable greed those engender.

We found a rock on which we placed all the gifts people brought. I offered samples of the two types of sage I have right in front of my room (salvia officinalis, salvia fruticosa) as well as some lavender. Others made offerings of wine and fruits. All gifts are symbolic, therefore it is appropriate that they are unassuming. Again, gifts that are spectacular misdirect the attention towards themselves, cultivate materialism, and ultimately idolatry.

The priests read out Orphic hymns. Going off of memory, those were addressed to the goddess Hera, the goddess Nike, the goddess Hestia, the goddess Athena, the goddess Mnemosene, the god Apollon, and the god Zeus. Most of the hymns were read in ancient Greek. There was also a modern Greek version. We even had hymns in Italian, to accommodate the Italiots present there. This, for me, is an important detail because it shows that we are interested in the substance, not the surface-level features of the hymns, such as that they supposedly ought to be read out in their original tongue.

Ethnicity is about the cultural framing of the people. It is a state of mind. One’s bloodline is not a predictor for what kind of person they will be. There are plenty of Greeks “by blood” that are not Greeks culturally, for example. And there can be biological non-Greeks who embed in their quotidian life the values of Greekness. This to me is what ethnicity is about, as opposed to nationality: the latter is a legal arrangement, while the former is a worldview that manifests as a way of living. To this end, I am Greek because I live the Greek life.

I had the chance to talk with everyone and introduce myself. In a small religious community like this one you get the sense that you are one among equals. I had in the past tried to join a more established group, which I do not want to name here, where I felt I was not wanted because I did not show up with fancy clothes, shiny shoes, and so on. Those other groups are de facto materialistic and idolatric even though their claims are to the contrary (and I would say the same for Greek polytheists who shifted their focus on the magnificence of temples, the quality of marble statues, and so on, which made them greedy and distracted them from spirituality). In that established group, it is a common secret that if you pay more, you enjoy greater approval. Their rituals are contests where people compete with each other over prestige and social standing. In this small community I am accepted for who I am, not rhetorically through virtue signalling but practically through camaraderie.

This is what I want to get out of such religiosity: the community of equals. I do not need anyone to tell me about the divine or, indeed, anything at all. I am the theologian here, I am the philosopher that will flesh out the relevant corpus of thought. I am the luminous star that emits light. Thinking things through is the easy part for me. And I realise that I am mistaken in even calling myself a “philosopher” because people assume that I am an instructor who presents the ideas of Platon, Aristotelis, and so on, or that I am interested in talking about the various schools of thought. No, I am an original thinker and I only speak for myself without appealing to anybody’s authority. I neither accept nor need such authority. The descriptor I should apply to myself is not important right now because, anyway, people who have not dived deep cannot estimate and thus appreciate how deep those obscure waters are. What matters are the deeds. I always talk through my actions. And I have a lot to do.

Going forward, I will meet again with those people. It is difficult for me to travel around the country, but I will do my best whenever I can. The gist is I am keen on contributing to the common good and I met people who have the same outlook.