Finding Works by Photios Kontoglou?

[Barbara]

Oh NO ! I have several of his books, those old editions. I never knew what to think about him exactly.
This explains WHY !

What he wrote was PREPOSTEROUS !

I totally agree that the Greeks should NOT have revolted against the Ottomans. They would have been WAY BETTER OFF just working with the Ottomans, who were not evil as depicted so often.

Greece would be stronger today.

Remember how Lord Byron was wildly romanticized by the British for traveling to Greece to help this revolt ?

Things like that contributed to that false image of a 'sacred revolution', at least from a Western viewpoint.

Byron actually died there, in Missolonghi, Greece, of fever. Certainly a BAD sign for the "holy war". I just looked up the date : April 19, 1824.

What a waste !

[Cyprian]

Confronting Greeks and challenging them to reconsider the motives, question the actions, as well as recognize the detrimental ramifications of the revolt against the Ottoman Turks, in addition to their ill-advised celebrations of Greek Independence Day, is akin to challenging Americans to question their thoughtless celebrations of the Fourth of July.

It's not going to be well received. It is tantamount to heresy, to dare to question the established dogma. Even the old calendarist Greeks also join in the celebrations along with the new calendarists.

I noticed Constantine Cavarnos, in his 'Modern Orthodox Saints Vol. 15: Saint Athanasios Parios,' completely passes over, neglecting to mention the saint's outspoken entreaties to the Christians of the Balkans not to revolt against the Turks. He lost my respect when he covered up the saint's teachings.

It has been drummed into our heads that revolution, waged in the name of a political "freedom" of the body, is virtuous and good. What the revolutionaries really desire, is the freedom to indulge their passions and sinful desires unhindered, rather than waging a struggle in the freedom of the soul from enslavement to sin, which is what the Fathers champion.

The notorious ecumenist Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens, back in 2002, even proposed to the Synod that all fighters in the revolution against the Turkish yoke should be canonized. The Synod did not accept his proposal, but one can observe to what heights of delirium one can get carried away, when one succumbs to the passion of super-patriotism or egoistic chauvinism.

Even more problematic, is that the Greeks, who want the world to recognize the supposed virtues and rightness of their revolution, in turn feel the obligation to recognize the revolutions of others. After all, it would come off as hypocritical if the Greeks championed revolution only for themselves, but not for others.

So, Greek leaders send congratulations, or even participate in, celebrations of the bloody and atheistic French Revolution, for example.

Putin many times has sent the French congratulations on Bastille Day as well, showing he is not all that different than any other atheistic Western leader.

[Barbara]

Thank You ! GREAT !
I had no idea that any Greek Orthodox Saint, this case St Athanasios Parios, had exhorted his followers to NOT rise up against the Ottoman rule

Now I will say what also outrages people, but the Ottomans were fair and just rulers !

One can read the attempted slander of Ottoman Pashas, pretending that they dipped Greek Orthodox citizens into candle wax or whatever to make them renounce their faith

But the Ottomans weren't LIKE THAT !
They knew the Greek population was Orthodox, under its Patriarch, and it didn't bother them at all.

At the absolute minimum, the Ottoman rulers didn't waste time trying to convert a single Orthodox person, man or woman, to Islam. They accepted that the Greeks were going to their Orthodox churches, and only demanded that the Greeks did not ring the church bells in public places, like large cities such as Istanbul.

Greeks are the biggest complainers I have EVER seen !
If a 1% problem was done to them, they shrilly claimed that 100% was done by the Turks [i.e. martyrdom] in order to defame their former rulers to Westerners. Later, it reminded me of the is not realis talking about Palestinians. Completely lying.

Thus all the fake stories of "the Ottoman Yoke". These read like a child's attempt to paint the Ottoman era as the most horrendous time in Greek history.
When it wasn't at all.

I always tell the story that when my sister and i were traveling on a Greek island, ready to take a boat to Turkiye, the Greeks shouted that the Turks were going to cut off my sister's ponytail, so we shouldn't go.

It was the most PATHETIC attempt to dissuade us.

I didn't trust the Greeks' theatrical displays - and went.

The Turks were the NICEST people I had found traveling to almost every country in Europe on that same trip !
Friendly, hospitable, respectful.
No one's pony tail was attacked.

I was on an overseas program in France from my college. That was the 1st time I had met any Greeks. I never trusted them ever afterwards as a result. They aren't remotely balanced as far as the Turks are concerned.

If they can't be fair about that topic, how are they trustworthy on any other ?

I completely agree about the diabolical French Revolution, one the most shameful episodes in the last 2000 years, at least.

Maybe Putin doesn't realize how evil it really was. American textbooks are primed with brainwashing praise for it, so why not Russian ones TOO ? Maybe his generation grew up thinking that it was the predecessor of the 'October Revolution'.

Better if he could avoid such gaffes that way in future years, I completely agree !

PS Sorry to hear that about Constantine Cavarnos. He has some good material. But that Greek nationalism is too extreme for anyone else.

Cavarnos should have reported what the Saint had stated ; otherwise he was manipulating history in favor of a false Greek ideal.

Recall that the British govt and populace were wildly in favor of the Greek revolution, with Lord Byron dying in Greece while trying to help the Greek rebels. This immortalized the poet ever after in the eyes of Europeans

"Lord Byron died in Missolonghi, Greece, on April 19, 1824, at the age of 36, from a fever during the Greek War of Independence, which he joined to support the cause.

He succumbed to complications after contracting a severe cold, leading to convulsions, delirium, and fever,
though his doctors' treatments, including bleeding, likely hastened his death." [NOTICE THAT PART !!!]

[Barbara]

See what I mean ???
Have to see the video to believe how crude the Greek "Prime Minister" is in showing disrespect to the Turkish leader of today

Nothing changes there...the hostility is nearly all on the Greek side too.
Turks are more realistic and normal in their attitudes toward the Greeks.

" Unusual:

The Greek Prime Minister "mocks" Erdoğan and places the handkerchief he used "to wipe" his nose between the pages of an official agreement file.

https://x.com/mog_russEN/status/2021948815834771570