The only time Greek soldiers officially bow and lower their weapons is on Good Friday during the Epitaphios (Christ’s Tomb) procession, what do you think of this tradition and does your country do the same or something similar for religious ceremonies?
Posted by Starfalloss@reddit | AskBalkans | View on Reddit | 83 comments
Citaku357@reddit
I am genuinely surprised by how religion is so integrated into Greece society and politics.
freddo_expresso@reddit
Christianity is part of Greek Culture. That's actually the case in many European countries. Italy is no different.
Ujemegaz@reddit
Also Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel.
freddo_expresso@reddit
Also England, Denmark, and Iceland.
Ujemegaz@reddit
Whatever floats your boat, pal.
freddo_expresso@reddit
They literally have state religions, look it up.
Ujemegaz@reddit
Monarchies as well.
MB4050@reddit
The Italian state is by no means as religious as the Greek state
Greece has a state religion for God's sake. Italy doesn't. You won't see Italian soldiers taking part in religious celebrations on official duty.
freddo_expresso@reddit
The Italian state is massively under the influence of the Church, much more than Greece.
The Catholic church is politically too powerful, more powerful than the government itself in many cases.
historydude1648@reddit
"The Italian state is massively under the influence of the Church, much more than Greece"
no. objectively not
Citaku357@reddit
I get that, but majority of European countries have become more secular.
P-l-Staker@reddit
Balkan European or just European?
Citaku357@reddit
Just European but also some Balkan countries
P-l-Staker@reddit
Yeah, there's a key difference there. Europeans spent centuries fighting amongst themselves for who's right (religiously) and who's not. It's safe to say that in this day and age, they've more than had enough.
Namely?
Citaku357@reddit
Kosova and Albania for starters Bosnia as well
P-l-Staker@reddit
Aren't they all Muslim majority countries? It's a different matter for Orthodox ones.
bruhmanbruuh@reddit
Every year that passes since 1974 , the Greek state becomes more secularised de facto.
There is more church meddling in other Eastern Europe countries compared to Greece.
StPauliPirate@reddit
Especially as a Greek, it must suck that your great culture is overshadowed by a middle eastern religion. That would be at least my worry as a secular/atheist dude
freddo_expresso@reddit
The New Testament was written in Greek, and Jesus Christ himself could speak the Greek language.
Christianity as we know it was created in the Byzantine Empire, specifically the Council of Nicaea. The first great church of the faith is Hagia Sophia.
Greeks have influenced Christianity deeply, not just the other way around. This has been our religion for millennia.
pitogyros@reddit
Jesus PROBABLY spoke Greek , it’s a speculation not a fact.
Greek was the international language of Middle East following Alexander the Great and most locals could understand it / speak it to interact with foreigners during Roman period , but regarding Jesus himself there is no proof that he actually spoke it.
He probably did but presenting it as a fact is wrong in my opinion.
Lothronion@reddit
He even makes poetic wordplay and puns in Greek.
https://tyndalehouse.com/2020/11/27/did-jesus-speak-greek/
In the meantime, it has often been supported that Christ often quotes the Septuagint, as opposed to the Evangelists translating his Aramaic quotation into Greek.
DnDevrim@reddit
is not it Eastern Roman Empire ?
P-l-Staker@reddit
In the time of jesus, no.
Hell, even later, no. There was always 1 empire, sometimes with multiple Emperors ruling as equals.
freddo_expresso@reddit
The Roman Empire, in Greek we call it Romanía.
P-l-Staker@reddit
That's debatable at best. Maybe within the Eastern Orthodox Church only.
Citaku357@reddit
Why was it held in Nicaea?
Ujemegaz@reddit
Jesus spoke Aramaic. Allegedly many of his followers spoke Greek.
IRLMerlin@reddit
im not a christian but from a historical and theological standpoint, Christianity is uniquely greek or at least has a lot of greek influence
historically christianity took root in the eastern med, in the centuries following alexanders conquest and greek had a huge influence in the region because of that. not only was it a lingua france and a language of culture, there were tons of greek settlers, to the point that a lot of syrians today have lile 10% greek dna, even more than turks
theologically, the new testament was written in greek and a lot of christian theology is just neoplatonism. it is crazy to find out how much of christianity is just plato. islam is also influenced by neoplatonism but not to the extent of christianity.
christianity did not replace greek culture but rather is just another aspect of it. personally i dont like it and would prefer to live in the greece of plato rather than of christ but yknow, what can you do
oh and last thing christianity also has some influence from the cult of alexander the great. following the conquest alexander became a sort of god for the eastern med and in the following centuries men with wavy hair and light coming off their heads were really in fashion
bruhmanbruuh@reddit
Christianity took shape and form in the Eastern Mediterranean basin , a heavily Hellenized region back in the day. It is strongly influenced by classical Greek philosophy. Therefore , it is by default, a Greek religion too, as it accumulated a lot of things from the cults of its time, as well as the Roman Empire.
I am an atheist too but there is no need to lie or spread bullshit. There are better , actual reasons to not like Christianity.
Ujemegaz@reddit
Yeah, that is Levant, part of middle east.
Monotheist religions strongly influenced by Greek philosophy? Zeus Christ...
🤣
eucalyptus-d@reddit
If the majority of your compatriots transition to atheism over the years, will that overshadow your culture? If yes, how do you feel about contributing to that?
StPauliPirate@reddit
My culture was already overshadowed by Islam
karalyok@reddit
Christianity is a continuation of the philosophy and culture Greeks and other ancient peoples in the region studied practiced and followed including Armenians, Assyrians, etc. It’s not imposed nor overshadowing. It is the great culture…
Lothronion@reddit
This has nothing to do with politics. If anything, it is categorically the opposite, as by law the Greek military is strictly apolitical, and its members are not supposed to express any political opinion, a legacy of the 1970s law reforms, as an answer to the Greek Junta of 1967-1974 AD heavily politicizing the military.
historydude1648@reddit
looks like ISIS or Taliban
Sasayego@reddit
Seeing this as a Turk, I hate the secularists in my country. They have a big aspirations towards the west and "seculairism", that they became anti-Religion, or lets say more anti-islam. Our religious traditions have been mostly lost due to this idiocracy, it is reviving of course, but such a pain in the ass to loose tradition and culture, because some people like blond hair and blue eyes. Inferiority complex to its core.
P-l-Staker@reddit
Nah, that can fuck right off! The church has way too much influence and meddles way too much in secular politics. Even in the UK.
Son_of_Macedon@reddit
Don't worry, soon (probably already) the mosques will have the majority influence. Then you won't have to worry about the church at all.
P-l-Staker@reddit
That's a quite deluded take at best.
Son_of_Macedon@reddit
Deluded?
Churches Built (2001-2026) • Net: ~1,500 new (mostly evangelical plants, not traditional buildings) • 2010-2015: 2,900 opened, 1,400 closed • Overall decline trend
Mosques Built (2001-2026)
• Net: ~900-1,000 new/conversions • From ~1,200 (2001) to 2,166 (2026) • +423 active (2015-2026); ~30-50/year
Sources:
https://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/news/our-research [page:1] https://www.thetimes.com/uk/religion/article/reform-fact-check-church-mosque-uk-77gd8z3v7 [web:7][page:0] https://www.muslimsinbritain.org/statistics/statistics01.php [web:12][page:0] https://prophecytoday.uk/comment/church-issues/item/160-changing-britain-openings-and-closures.html [web:27][page:1] https://bytescraper.com/b2b-database/list-of-churches-in-united-kingdom [web:5] https://bytescraper.com/b2b-database/country/United-Kingdom/list-of-mosques-in-england [web:18] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_Kingdom [web:1] https://fullfact.org/online/muslims-in-the-uk/ [web:9] https://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/everychurchcounts [web:11]
P-l-Staker@reddit
Yes, my dear rage bait account. Deluded. At best
Nothing from what you've shown above shows institutional power and influence.
Son_of_Macedon@reddit
I'm not rage baiting. If you're experiencing an emotional response to what I wrote, then that is a personal problem. I'm just trying to have a genuine conversation, and I try to support my opinions with facts.
P-l-Staker@reddit
Yes, my dear rage bait account. Deluded. At best
Nothing from what you've shown above shows institutional power and influence.
yamankara@reddit
also, even if true, just another aspect of the same problem.
Son_of_Macedon@reddit
Yes, Christianity and Islam are exactly the same. Especially in a place like the United Kingdom. Absolutely no difference at all.
Elmalukat@reddit
No we don’t. Having a state religion is only for forcefully created identities of ethnostates. Weird stuff comes out of Greece every day
kodial79@reddit
Greek, Christian and proud of it. The Bronze Age Achaeans were my ancestors, the Classical Hellenes were my ancestors, the Byzantine/Ottoman Rhomaioi were my ancestors. We have lived for thousands of years in this land, we shall live for thousands more. We will win in the end. We will protect our children from your corruption and your kind will die childless.
Tsitsiripitsitsiri@reddit
Be nicer
kodial79@reddit
Won't be nice to someone who denies our very existence.
Elmalukat@reddit
I hope your children have at least 1.5x your IQ otherwise life will be difficult for them
kodial79@reddit
And I hope you're able to match your dog's IQ because that's all the family you're gonna have.
Elmalukat@reddit
That’s actually fine. Still higher that what you have based on what you are writing.
kodial79@reddit
"Hurr durr, being Greek is fake, being Christian is bad". Seriously, you think that half assed meme way of thinking is being smart? I was thinking like that when I was 15 years old and listening to Rage against the Machine. But then I grew up and got over that infantile disease. How come you didn't? You got some kind of mental disability?
freddo_expresso@reddit
Tell me you're Albanian, without telling me you're Albanian 🥀
Citaku357@reddit
Why would you assume that?
freddo_expresso@reddit
Nobody on this green planet, not a single soul, calls Greeks a "made-up nation" but Albanians.
Fantastic-Daikon4577@reddit
The neohellenic cultural identity is constructed to present a continuity between us and the ancients, as well as a connection to the west. Before 1830, the balkan cultures where mostly homogeneous, which is why ottoman censi were conducted based on religion, not race or culture. Same thing happened in other balkan countries.
freddo_expresso@reddit
The difference is that Greek continuity is very well documented. In fact, Greek history is one of the most well documented in the world. There is no space for doubt.
What makes you doubt it, I wonder.
Fantastic-Daikon4577@reddit
Linguistically, religiously and culturally, a Greek from 1821 is completely different from a Greek from 500 bc. The intermixing with slavic and turkic cultures completely shifted our cultural identity.
freddo_expresso@reddit
Nations and cultutes evolve, they are not frozen in time. I honestly don't get your point.
Lothronion@reddit
This is simply completely wrong, as demonstrated by a myriad of primary sources of quotes of people from the 4th century AD till the 18th century AD where they directly or indirectly call themselves as Hellenes...
Ujemegaz@reddit
Homogenous? 🤥
Ujemegaz@reddit
Christianity does not belong to one nation exclusively.
Katatoniac@reddit
Guess Denmark and England are also ethnostates with forcefully created identies then....
Fantastic-Daikon4577@reddit
Yes? The Scandinavian cultures were merged until the arrival of Christianity. Also England is an amalgamation made from several cultures that were simply United by Christianity.
tkchrist@reddit
For those commenting Greece isn't a secular state I recommend searching your country in the democratic indexes, because comparatively you really need Jesus. Here is a reliable source from The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) you can start from:
https://d1qqtien6gys07.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Democracy_INDEX_2024.pdf
More_Seesaw1544@reddit
Being secular and being democratic is different things. Your country can be extremly nationalistic and extremly religious and still can be democratic country. Look at japan, they are nationalistic and racist people but they are democratic.
albo_kapedani@reddit
Korça, Albania has the best traditions for Easter season, particularly on The Great and Holy Week. On the Great Friday, all the cathedral and churches of the city meet at the main boulevard for the Procession of the Epitaph and proceed together led by the metropolitan.
Starfalloss@reddit (OP)
Sounds like what happens in some places in Greece too Thessaloniki and Nafplio being the most notable examples
veleso91@reddit
No, we're a secular state.
Final-Nebula-7049@reddit
This
NovaNightDrama@reddit
Meanwhile Erdogan:
Rise in religion in schools Promoting Islamic values Close relations with Syria and it's leader.
Turkey is only secular on 'paper', but don't get me wrong, I don't think it's possible for a islamic country to become secular at all.
Final-Nebula-7049@reddit
Yeah he'll be dead soon and we'll go back to real turkey
MoreBolters@reddit
Based answer.
driftstyle28@reddit
A "segregated" state at best
name2sayMKD@reddit
bad things heppens when you mess weapons (read army and state) and religion. Personal opinion ( no need to agre or desagree)
Ujemegaz@reddit
Shen e Premtja is some kind of peligrinage in some of towns in Albania. It is more of a picnic because the churches are in some hill.
I did not get why would soldiers keep their guns with them. Are they supposed to shoot someone 😂
UmJedenPreisErfolg@reddit
Maybe because their job is to literally hold guns
Ujemegaz@reddit
In ceremonies they do not hold guns, but i don't know the deal is in Greece.
Starfalloss@reddit (OP)
I’m sure orthodox churches in Albania have the Epitaphios procession? All Greek churches and monasteries do, but is their any kind of state involvement? Like in Greece? And the same reason police keep their guns with them…
ferevon@reddit
Individuals within the army taking part in religious activities = OK
Army itself parading for religion = Not OK
casual_philosopher02@reddit
best liturgy of the year, buuuut I think we are a week late for these posts
freddo_expresso@reddit
Epitaphios is the GOAT of Greek Orthodox Processions