[easypokergonj]

Dear Father Averky, feelings are running very high at the moment because of what is happening in Iraq. Anti-American feeling here in Greece is a fact of life because of the Right –Wing Junta that was helped into power by the US in 1965.
I have to confess that I could never understand why people were so anti-American before I came to Greece but I must admit that the bombing in Yugoslavia affected me as it did most other people here. Afghanistan and Iraq have only served to reinforce the negative opinion most Greeks have of the US.

It’s a shame that we can’t look through each other’s eyes and live each other’s experiences, isn’t it? We might better understand each other if we could. I don’t think anyone can forget the scenes we saw of the attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, and I know that many, many kind-hearted Greeks contributed money and goods that were sent to New York. At the same time we are devastated by the pictures we have been seeing the last week or so and again we have sent tons of goods and medicines to the Iraqi people.

- Greeks are very complicated. They are very religious but at the same time they are very cynical about priests, and I don’t think you even want to know what most of them think of monks! They are very, very hospitable but, at the same time, they are apparently capable of acting the way you described. I’m not insinuating that what you recounted wasn’t true, just that I’ve never experienced anything like that – although one instance does come to mind. I was travelling to Kozani from Thessaloniki once and a young American monk was sitting across the aisle from me. He had been to Mt. Athos and was travelling to Kozani to stay with friends. We started talking and he told me how surprised he was by the negative reaction some Greeks had to his clothing (rassa). I think though that some Italians have the same reaction to Roman Catholic priests – even spitting over their shoulders in order to ward off bad luck. I think that this is a reaction that someone might expect from people who don’t think deeply about certain things.

- Father Averky, things have changed here in Greece in the last 20 years or so. And, as I’ve already mentioned in a previous message, I think that television is to blame to a certain extent. Yes, during summer, young women proud of their bodies tend to display a fair amount of skin, but surely that’s normal in most countries today, especially the US. In church, young people are always dressed both modestly and tastefully and they are a credit to their parents. It’s up to us not to allow ourselves to be influenced by a pretty face or an attractive body. One of the prayers I usually read at night is the Prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian to the Most Holy Spirit. In this evening prayer St. Ephrem asks pardon for sins, known and unknown, that he committed during the day. One line goes :

“……. Or have seen the attraction of someone and been wounded by it in my heart…….”

-I’m sorry that you were treated so shabbily in Greece and I apologize for the way these few poor ignorant souls behaved. Greeks aren’t like that. They are decent and warm-hearted.

-We all agree that Saddam Hussein was a vicious dictator but we disagree with the method selected to remove him. I think the fact that he abandoned his people in their hour of need says it all. If he had intended to leave he should have left before the bombing started. A lot of innocent people died unnecessarily because of his arrogance (that word again) and his cowardice.

I think that what most people are afraid of (the millions of people all over the world who demonstrated against the invasion of Iraq) is the precedent set by the US in its policy of illegal pre-emptive strikes against sovereign nations. Let’s also pray that the US is sincere when it assures us that the wealth of Iraq’s oil-fields will benefit the Iraqi people and not international oil companies.



Let’s agree that all nations and all peoples have both negative and positive attributes, shall we? Arrogance is not something that only Americans have – Greeks have their fair share of it as well.

Thank you Father Averky for your explanation and I accept your apology. I also apologize for reacting so strongly and I hope that you’ll forgive me as well.

Effie

We seem to have stirred up a hornet's nest on the forum. It's sometimes hard to keep to just one subject because one thing sometimes seems to lead to another.