SEPTEMBER 2018 Tel. (02) 9559 7022 Fax: (02) 9559 7033 E-mail: vema@bigpond.net.au

THE GREEK AUSTRALIAN

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ÏÏ 1133ïïòò ÅÅððßßóóççììïïòò ××ïïññüüòò DDeebbuuttaanntteeôôïïõõ ÊÊïïëëëëååããßßïïõõ ““ÁÁããßßùùíí ÐÐÜÜííôôùùíí”” ,, ÓÓýýääííååûû

The oldestcirculating

Greeknewspaper

outsideGreece

Lydia Koniordou puts the return of the Marbles back on the table

Kea

The ancient trails of the westernmost of theCyclades are an ideal way to explore its variedhistorical and natural attributes.

PAGE 16/32

The Hellenic InitiativeAustralia funds regionalPaediatric facilities in Greece

OUR ARCHBISHOP’S VIEW

PEOPLE AND COMMONWEALTHPAGE 5/21

Greece’s Culture Minister Lydia Koniordouhas sent out a letter pushing British authoritiesto re-assume talks for the return of the Par-thenon Marbles to Greece.

PAGE 6/22

The Hellenic Initiative Australia has funded amajor upgrade of two regional Paediatric Trau-ma Centres in Greece through a new partner-ship with Paediatric Trauma Care (Pedtrauma).

PAGE 4/20

$649,693RAISED

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia reached out to its parishioners for do-nations managing to raise an impressive $649,693.40 for the victims of the devastat-ing wildfires in the outskirts of Eastern Attica on 23-24 July which cost the lives of 99people.

Page 2/18

for victims of Attica fires

BY THE GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AUSTRALIA

The Greek Australian VEMATO BHMA2/18 SEPTEMBER 2018

The Greek Orthodox Monastery of St George of Yellow Rock in the Blue Mountains has long been a place of pilgrimage for Orthodox Christians in Sydney. However, the fire which swept through the surrounding Monastery region on Thursday 17th October 2013, caused devastating damage to the Monastery and the grounds became too dangerous for public access. The catastrophic fires in 2013 not only destroyed buildings, but also all the utilities and services that were above ground. Following the 2013 fires, new Blue Mountains Region Building restrictions were instigated to address safety concerns in the event of any new fires. Each building structure must have adequate sprinkler systems and fire hydrants in place. All structures are being built to fire-rated specifications. Substantial commencement has been made on all building structures approved by the Council. At present the Monastery area is a construction site, making it unsafe for public access. A new transformer has been installed according to current building standards. Greater water capacity pipes, electricity and telecommunication installations had to be placed underground. Most plumbing had to be redone. With the blessing and encouragement of our Archbishop Stylianos, a concerted effort is being made to raise funds needed to re-open the Monastery to the public as soon as possible. We have a group of committees comprised of nearly 40 enthusiastic and committed persons working on the many aspects of this fundraising effort.

fort will be on November 4th, 2018 with an inter-parish arish, Parramatta.

We aim to have a minimal cost function with a cost target of under 5% of total revenue.

We aim for all food and drinks to be donated; A no cost venue; Minimal cost of wages for preparation, cooking, serving and cleaning up.

We ask for your financial (including in kind) support, assuring you of the seriousness with which we undertake the running of this function with selfless dedication aiming to make the grounds of the Monastery safe for pilgrims and other visitors to come and enjoy and benefit from this holy place. A copy of proposed Restoration Works and associated costs is attached. Direct Contributions may be made to: BSB: 082 057, Account: 395 988 454 Account: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia Consolidated Trust St George Monastery 2 Please email stgeorgeyellowrock@outlook.com a copy of the remittance, along with your details and a receipt will be forwarded to you.

Yours sincerely, Abbot.Fr. Kyriakos Stavronikitianos

Let s Open St George Fundraising Dinner November 4, 2018

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australiaraises $649,693.40 for victims of Attica fires

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia reachedout to its parishioners for donations managing to raisean impressive $649,693.40 for the victims of the devas-tating wildfires in the outskirts of Eastern Attica on 23-24 July which cost the lives of 99 people.

“We would like to express our warmest and heartfeltthanks to all our Greek Orthodox faithful all across Aus-tralia, for raising this extraordinary amount, which willassist our Greek brothers and sisters,” stated BishopNikandros of Dorylaeon.

“There has been an amazing outpouring of empathyhere in Australia and we are truly humbled and incredi-bly grateful to have witnessed such solidarity and sup-port from our wider community.

This is a great reminder that the bond between GreekAustralians and our fellow countrymen remains strongand unbreakable, particularly in times of need,” headded.

According to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Aus-tralia, the $649,693.40 raised will soon be distributed tothe Metropolis of Kifisia and Amarousion as well as theMetropolis of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki and it will beused to set up temporary housing for those who losttheir homes to the fire and for purchasing building sup-plies and equipment in order to rebuild some of thehomes that were completely destroyed.

Meanwhile, Greek Australian communities aroundthe country are also joining forces to rally for the bush-

fire victims, launching urgent appeals and running ra-dio-marathons in an attempt to collect contributionsand offer assistance to those affected by the tragedy.

“July 23 will go down in history as one of Greece’s

darkest days and it’s during those times that we need toshow our unity and support towards our brothers andsisters.

“We would like to take this opportunity and thankyou all for contributing so generously to this cause,”concluded Bishop Nikandros.

At the same time, President of the Greek OrthodoxArchdiocese of Australia Inter-Communities Council ofNSW, Kosmas Dimitriou sent a letter of appreciation onbehalf of His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos, Primate ofthe Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, to thethen Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ex-pressing the gratitude of all Greek Australians for theassistance provided by the Australian Emergency Ser-vices in the affected areas of the tragic bushfires thatstruck Greece.

“We would like to extend our sincere gratitude forsending out a team of 10 Disaster Assistance ResponseTeam members from Fire and Rescue NSW and VictoriaFire and Emergency Services to conduct fire impact as-sessments in the affected areas,” he wrote.

“This heartfelt gesture once again is evidence of thelongstanding friendship and ties between Australia andGreece, for which we as Australians of Greek heritageremain steadfast and grateful,” Mr Dimitriou concludedin his letter.

Source: Neos Kosmos

The Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 3/19

Opinion

SEPTEMBER 2018

By Tom Ellis - Kathimerini, Athens

From the moment when the latest chapter opened inefforts to resolve the name dispute between Greeceand the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FY-ROM), the proponents of serious results-oriented diplo-macy have stressed the need to limit the damage thatwas wreaked in the early 1990s. It was a negative de-velopment which got worse over the next 25 years asalmost every country in the world recognized Greece’sneighboring Balkan state as the “Republic of Macedo-nia.” It was in this respect that they considered it hardbut less damaging for Greece to accept the agreement.But that decision should have been the result of abroader domestic consensus.

Unfortunately, the Greek government chose to usethe deal to maneuver the main opposition into an im-passe, with the goal of reaping political benefits. In-stead of opening lines of communication betweenPrime Minister Alexis Tsipras and New Democracy chiefKyriakos Mitsotakis (without necessarily making thempublic), and trying to get as much support for the agree-ment as possible, the government’s approach made itclear that the prime minister’s goal was to make his ri-val’s position as difficult as possible.

Given Mitsotakis’s liberal instincts, one can assumethat the opposition chief would not have adopted suchan abjectly negative stance toward the agreement if theapproach was different. As things happened, though,he was forced to reject it in order to safeguard his par-ty’s unity. The truth is its fragmentation would have in-evitably led to the formation of more extreme group-ings to the right of New Democracy, which, with fund-ing from dubious sources, would have promoted an an-ti-West agenda.

Due to its geographical position, but also these daysto its economic situation, Greece has an even greaterneed of its European partners and Western allies. As itsforeign policy is based on the respect of internationalagreements, Greece is at risk of a serious loss of credi-bility because of the prime minister’s handling of the is-sue on the basis of petty party interests. NATO Secre-tary-General Jens Stoltenberg noted recently that theinternational community expects Greece to honor itsend of the deal.

If the agreement is ratified by FYROM, which looks allthe more probable, Greece will find itself in a precari-

ous position, debating, under the “watchful eye” of theinternational community, whether coalition chief PanosKammenos will cause the government’s demise, whatdate for elections would benefit whom, and how muchdamage Mitsotakis’s image will sustain in the eyes offoreigners. This is no way to serve the country’s inter-ests. Instead, we should have come together to shape amore broadly supported national approach whose onlyobjective would have been to bolster Greece’s role inthe Balkans and protect it from other peripheralthreats.

FYROM name deal with partisan gains in mind

FIRST MEDIA RELEASE IN ENGLISH

The Serbian Orthodox Church-School Community of «St Archdeacon Stephen», Plumpton/Rooty Hill, Sydney,

invites all the Greek & Serbian Community and other friends to the

th Annual Greek-Serbian & Pan-Orthodox Cultural &

Friends on

Sunday 23rd September 2018

259 Hyatts rd (corner Woodstock ave)

PLUMPTON / ROOTY HILL (near the suburb of Blacktown Western Sydney)

*** 25 years, or ¼ of a century of Greek-Serbian & Pan-Orthodox friendship in Sydney! ***

The program will commence at 9.00am with the Holy Liturgy at the Serbian Orthodox Church. From about 12.00pm lunch will be on sale with a wide variety of freshly cooked foods & cold drinks in the large Serbian Orthodox Parish Hall next door. From 12.30pm until approximately 6.30pm, the annual & established colourful music & dance program will take place with the appearance of many Serbian & Greek dancing groups and those of other Orthodox communities of Sydney in the Parish Hall in the presence of many officials from the ecclesiastical authorities, the diplomatic missions, members from both communities as well as other communities. General Entry: $15 For more information, those who are interested may contact the following numbers during afternoon & evening hours: 0410 189 286 & 0414 714 807.

Requiem for an establishment

By Alexis Papachelas - Kathimerini, Athens

Senator John McCain’s funeral was a landmark event. Someone wrote that it re-sembled a massive tweet against Donald Trump as eulogies by politicians and pun-dits were laden with innuendoes aimed at the American president.

Others saw an effort by the US establishment to fight back against Trump’s anticsand ever-sliding political standards. The speeches by former presidents George W.Bush and Barack Obama bore the hallmarks of a different America that is very seri-ous about its global role and which recognizes that, tough as it can become, the po-litical game comes with certain limits that must be respected. All that was whatMcCain most probably had in mind as he organised every detail of his funeral manymonths prior to his passing. After all, everyone was present at the ceremony butTrump.

Others have a different interpretation of events. It has been said that the cere-mony resembled a requiem for an establishment which senses it is on its way out.Its representatives have been unable to beat Trump’s unprocessed nationalist pop-ulism and get back in touch with the big chunk of the nation that still backs thepresident. Most importantly, this outgoing establishment is having trouble comingup with a new figure who could score a comfortable victory against him.

Time will tell which interpretation is more accurate. Trump could just be a symp-tom of a superpower in crisis and decline. In other words, the American system maynot have the necessary strength and wisdom to get back onto the right path as itdid after the turbulent decades of the 1920s and 1960-70. Nevertheless, observerswho have faith in the United States predict that while “episode Trump” will leaveopen wounds and a major global imbalance, the country will eventually recover.

Watching McCain’s funeral, one could see the contrast between the two Americ-as. It was particularly interesting that the country’s political elites overcame bipar-tisan lines to convey a strong message that another political path is possible.

As Obama said during his speech, as president he might have had unbridgeablepolitical differences with McCain, who was more of a hawk on foreign policy issues,but when the two of them held private conversations at the Oval Office in Wash-ington they knew that “when all was said and done, we were on the same team.We never doubted we were on the same team.”

This is something that is sorely missed these days – and not only across the At-lantic.

The Greek Australian VEMATO BHMA4/20 SEPTEMBER 2018

For some time we have known that the number ofpeople who are religious has been declining consider-ably in Australia. This trend is occurring across gener-ations and religions.

People who were once Orthodox might now self-identify as non-believers or be ambivalent about theirfaith. These groups are now called “unaffiliated”.

The findings from a US survey shed some light onthe unaffiliated. Mostly they are younger (born 1980-1996). In America, almost one-in-five drift from beingChristian to having no religion.

What reasons do people give for not identifyingwith a religion? A representative sample of more than3000 Americans were asked why they did not chooseto identify with a religion.

The most common reason was the questioning ofreligious teachings. The second most common reasonis opposition to the position of churches on social is-sues. Some do not like religious organisations (41%).Many do not believe in God (37%). Others considerreligion irrelevant (36%) or dislike religious leaders(34%).

These results are not unexpected. They speak to adecline in the importance of faith in a western soci-ety. Added to this, around one in every 11 say thatthey were raised in a home without a religious faith.

These findings might come from another time andplace but they are still relevant to Orthodox in Aus-tralia. It is a call to increase the internal missionarywork of the Orthodox Church in Australia. For in-stance, we cannot sit back and allow our children toremain uninformed about their faith.

We have children who thirst for contact with theirChurch. There are young people who want to knowabout Orthodoxy, to say its prayers, to chant itshymns, to learn its history or receive its sacraments.

We see children who struggle to make the sign ofthe Cross and - through no fault of their own - knowvery little about their Orthodox background.

Already we lost most of the post-war generation ofbaby boomers. This was when our migrant churchwas trying to establish itself in a new land. If we wishto avoid another generation of unaffiliated, then aprogram of religious education through each parish isessential.

We already do a marvellous job through our Greeklanguage schools, the Sunday Schools and our full-time colleges under some very difficult circum-stances. No claim is made that this is perfect. Never-

theless, we still reach only a minority of Greek Ortho-dox children.

The statistics are alarming. In New South Wales,our Orthodox Church has some sort of formal contactwith only 40% of children aged 5-18 years. If it werenot for the program of special religious education inState Schools then this proportion would fall to 23%.In other states, the percentage of contact with chil-dren is likely to be far less. No wonder our youngadults are unaffiliated and uninformed. It is not theirfault.

What can we do? Firstly, we must pray. But we canalso act. We have the resources and we have the peo-ple.

For the first time in our history, we have an excel-lent (yes - excellent by any standard) religious educa-tion program. It covers Kindergarten to Year 12 withover 300 topics. It has been produced over a periodof some 50 years and is distributed to all parishes atcost.

In New South Wales for example, parishes offer itfreely to over 3500 children in State Schools through165 volunteer teachers. Other States are adoptingthis curriculum for their Sunday Schools.

It is time to decide that no family, school, town orlocality in Australia that has Greek Orthodox childrenshould go without some religious instruction. Thisway we can offer future generations a true purpose intheir life with long-lasting happiness. We will avoidthe sad situation where so many people are unin-formed and where they might one day say: “Hello, myreligion was Greek Orthodox!”

The views expressed are those of the contributor and notthose of the VEMA or St Andrew’s Press

letterfrommaroubra@gmail.com

Letterfrom

Maroubra

THE HELLENIC INITIATIVE AUSTRALIA FUNDSREGIONAL PAEDIATRIC FACILITIES IN GREECEThe Hellenic Initiative Australia has funded a major

upgrade of two regional Paediatric Trauma Centres inGreece through a new partnership with Paediatric Trau-ma Care (Pedtrauma).

The first centre was officially opened in the northerncity of Kastoria on Friday 7 September, at a ceremonyattended by Dr Helen Zorbas AO, CEO of Cancer Austra-lia and Board Member of The Hellenic Initiative Aus-tralia.

The $48,000 grant to Pedtrauma funded the purchaseof key medical equipment for the Paediatric Clinics andNeonatal Units at the General Hospital of Kastoria andthe General Hospital of Ioannina, in northwestern Gree-ce.

“The Hellenic Initiative Australia is proud to be sup-porting Pedtrauma, which is equipping hospitals throu-ghout Greece with the facilities to provide criticalhealth care to children,” said Nicholas Pappas, Presi-dent of The Hellenic Initiative Australia.

“Thousands of children who pass through the hospi-tals in Kastoria and Ioannina every year will have accessto these necessary facilities and lifesaving care,” MrPappas said.

Since 2010, Pedtrauma has spent more than €1.5 mil-lion establishing 18 Trauma Centres and upgrading 20Paediatric Departments and Clinics in public hospitalsthroughout Greece.

Welcoming the grant from THI Australia, PedtraumaPresident Natasha Clive-Vrecossis said Pedtrauma was

working through a growing waitlist of urgent requestsfrom hospitals requiring specialised medical equipmentfor treating children.

“We are delighted that The Hellenic Initiative Aus-tralia is supporting our organisation and has assistedwith these two regional hospitals in critical need,” MsClive-Vrecossis said.

“Our role is to support the hospitals and give themwhat they need to save our children’s lives becausethat’s what they are doing. Hospital by hospital, ma-chine by machine, we have managed to fill this gap in

Greece during very difficult times, but we still have along way to go,” she said.

Through mapping and prioritising the needs of hospi-tals throughout Greece, Pedtrauma aims to provide ac-cess to urgent medical care for all children who are se-riously injured.

“If there is a serious accident, a child has to get to ahospital very quickly. This is the ‘golden hour’, the first60 minutes that a child has to be stabilised, otherwisethey can lose the battle with life very quickly.

“Our goal is to upgrade all the hospitals in Greece andon the islands so that all children are within that one-hour radius to get to a hospital with the right facilities.”

The upgrade of the Ioannina General Hospital fundedby The Hellenic Initiative Australia is expected to becompleted in October.

ABOUT PEDTRAUMA

Founded in November 1995, Pedtrauma is a non-pro-fit, non-governmental organization which aims to raiseawareness of children’s accidents in Greece, reducetheir number and severity and to improve care once anaccident has occurred.

Pedtrauma’s main objective is to open Trauma Cen-ters in all the major Public Children’s Hospitals inAthens and throughout Greece. Pedtrauma also runstrauma prevention programs in schools and providesspecialist paediatric trauma training for doctors. It isfunded entirely by private donations.

TO BHMA 5/21SEPTEMBER 2018 The Greek Australian VEMA

Our Primate’s View

PEOPLE AND COMMONWEALTH

By ARCHBISHOPSTYLIANOSOF AUSTRALIA

Perhaps only few Orthodox around the world knowthat September is not just the ninth month of the year,but that it is primarily the commencement of the ecclesi-astical year or of the Indictos, as it is referred to in thelanguage of our Byzantine forefathers.

For this reason, on September 1, even to this day, ma-gnificent and formal celebrations are held at the Ecume-nical Patriarchate (including the Patriarchal and SynodicalLiturgy, the addresses and re sponses between the Synodand the Patriarch, the signing of the relative Act in thecodex etc). Within the perspective of this festive charac-ter which September has for the Church, the universalExaltation of the Precious and Life-giving Cross, celebrat-ed in the middle of the month, takes on a radical andaxiomatic significance. So, a wealth of sacred symbolism(which, in the Church, is the most powerful form of real-ism) assists us in viewing the Cross of Christ as the heartof the world. St Maximos the Confessor therefore saysthat “all phenomena need the Cross”.

This central and fundamental operation of the Cross inthe life of the Church and of the faithful we could expressepigrammatically by saying that three adjectives charac-terize the essence of the decisively: Cross‐named, Cross‐forming and Cross‐ minded. Let us examine these threedescriptions a little more analytically.

1. The Church is Cross‐named not only because hername is derived from Christ (the letter X in Christ’s Greekname Χριστός is, of course, a Cross) but also because theterm ‘Church’ or ‘Ecclesia’ - which means assembly, en‐counter, communion - contains within it the meaning ofthe Cross. Don’t we call the meeting point of variousroads a ‘crossroad’? Don’t we also call the encounter oftwo genders for the perpetuation of their species ‘cross -breeding’? The Cross therefore is an encounter and everyencounter is a type of cross or crucifixion.

2. The Church is Cross-forming because all things cele-brated and effected in the life of the Church are sanctifiedby the sign of the Cross. We don’t only commence the dayby making the sign of the Cross. We also make the sign ofthe Cross before and after every serious activity - and yetthe monks of Mt Athos don’t even drink a glass of waterwithout making the sign of the Cross! Moreover, we usethe Cross as a mark of distinction on our buildings, on ourvestments, in our liturgical movements and on Churchvessels. A Cross is formed not only by ‘cruciform churchbuildings with a dome’ but also by ‘basilica-style’ rectan-gular churches whose longitudinal interior liturgicallybranches into the holy Altar, the right and left Choirs andthe Narthex. Furthermore, we see the Cross on the ‘multi-crossed’ materials of holy vestments, and even in themanner with which they are girded and worn - from thestole of the Deacon (orarion) to that of the Bishop(omophorion). Don’t the Bishop’s liturgical candles(dikirotrikira) also form a Cross? When the fingers of aPriest or Bishop join in order to give a blessing, don’t theyform a Cross? Therefore the structure of, and movementin, the Church is cross-forming, just as our body is natu-rally cross-forming when we extend our arms. For thisreason, finally, even our sleep in the tomb is guarded byan upright Cross which keeps vigil like an armed soldier.

3. The Church is Cross‐minded. In other words, notonly are her name and form cross-like, but also her mind,her conscience (phronema). If the Cross of Christ was the

medium through which God effected the reconciliation ofman, then there is no doubt that everything in the life ofthe Church aspires to and is dictated by this reconcilia-tion. From this we understand why that which in the NewTestament is epigrammatically characterised as “the min-istry of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18), assumes such a cen-tral position. So Cross and reconciliation are almost equiv-alent meanings. Consequently, the mind of the Churchcan also be called cross-like. This fundamental truth isexpressed excellently in the Dismissal Hymn of theExaltation of the Holy Cross, where ‘the people of God’and their ‘commonwealth’ become directly dependent onthe precious and life-giving Cross:

“Save, O Lord, your people,And bless your inheritance,Granting victory to our kings over enemies,And by your Cross protecting your commonwealth.”

Analysing the basic truths expressed in this DismissalHymn as simply and plainly as possible, we observe thefollowing noteworthy points:

1. The people belong to God - not to anyone else, noreven to themselves. And the people are God’s not onlythrough the act of Creation but also through the act ofAdoption. The first act renders the people God’s creation;the second act renders them His inheritance.

2. The Church recognizes and respects the particularmission of Civil Leaders and therefore prays separatelyand officially for them.

3. The ‘Commonwealth’ is for Christians not a form ofrule or government (whether democratic, oligarchic, tota-litarian etc) but above all a way of thinking and living - inother words a mind and conscience (phronema) whichprejudicates the ‘life and conduct’ of each of us.

From these three fundamental observations it can bededuced that the basic jurisdiction of rulers and thoseunder their rule is demarcated in the presence of God forWhom all of us constitute His people and inheritance. Inother words, in the Christian Commonwealth where allthings are placed in a new order (“in the new common-wealth that bears your name” - Kontakion hymn of theHoly Cross), rulers avail the Cross as a weapon of peaceand thereby become crusaders for a reconciliation fardeeper and far more substantial than could be promisedby any economist, statesman or politician in the world. Insuch an order of affairs, neither the rulers nor thoseunder their authority dare to shake the foundations therewhere, since the creation of the world, Christ is the foun-dation and cornerstone (Eph. 2:20).

All these matters are very contemporary for our faith-ful people who are the blessed ‘inheritance’ of God; espe-cially in recent times when, because of the entry ofGreece into the European Union, and because of otherrelated socio-political experimentations, the people mustremember that their ‘citizenship’ is God-given and God-protected.

Therefore we will never cease to pray:

“Save, O Lord, your people...by your Cross protecting your commonwealth.”

From Paronda kai Epiousia (in Greek), Domos publications.

The Greek Australian VEMATO BHMA6/22 SEPTEMBER 2018

Greece’s Culture Minister Lydia Koniordouhas sent out a le�er pushing Bri�sh au-thori�es to re-assume talks for the returnof the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.

The le�er was addressed to the UK cul-ture secretary and stressed the culturaland moral dimensions of the issue as LordElgin, who removed the statues now ex-

hibited in the Bri�sh Museum from theParthenon, claiming that he received per-mission from the authori�es of the Ot-toman Empire, who occupied Greece atthe �me, to take them.

Koniordou went on to highlight the recentcall for dialogue by UNESCO’s Intergovern-mental Commi�ee for Promo�ng the Re-

turn of Cultural Property to its Countriesof Origin or its Res�tu�on in case of IllicitAppropria�on (ICPRCP).

“The Parthenon sculptures are the legalproperty of the Bri�sh Museum. They arefree of charge to view and are visited bypeople from all over the world. Decisionsrela�ng to their care are taken by the

trustees of the Bri�sh Museum, free frompoli�cal interference,” a spokesperson forthe Bri�sh government said.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Bri�shMuseum argued that “the Parthenonsculptures are a part of the world’s sharedheritage and transcend poli�cal bound-aries” and were a part of “the story of cul-tural achievement throughout the world”which the ins�tu�on’s exhibits tell.

“The Acropolis Museum allows theParthenon sculptures that are in Athens(approximately half of what survives fromthe ancient world) to be appreciatedagainst the backdrop of Athenian history.The Parthenon sculptures in London arean important representa�on of ancientAthenian civilisa�on in the context ofworld history. Each year millions of visi-tors, free of charge, admire the ar�stry ofthe sculptures and gain insight into howancient Greece influenced and was influ-enced by the other civilisa�ons that it en-countered.

“The trustees firmly believe that there isa posi�ve advantage and public benefit inhaving the sculptures divided betweentwo great museums, each telling a com-plementary but different story,” the state-ment concluded.

Notably, and contrary to the Bri�sh Mu-seum’s statement, a poll regarding the re-turn of the ‘Elgin’ Marbles which wasconducted in the UK back in 2014 showedthe Bri�sh public mostly back the mar-bles’ return to Greece or are largely am-bivalent, the Independent reported.

More specifically, YouGov revealed that 37per cent think the statues should go backto Greece, 32 per cent did not mind eitherway, while 23 per cent said they should re-main in Britain. Seven per cent said theydid not know.

“To sin and not repent is blasphemy

against the Lord”, Anonymous

Issue 19

Portion 19.1 The Tenth Commandment. With this issue we conclude our coverage of the Ten Commandments. To review each of the Ten Commandments refer to Issues 10-19.

The Tenth of the Ten Commandments, combining the Old and New Testaments, can be stated in summary as follows: Tenth Commandment: Do not covet the things of you neighbor. Portion 19.2 Transgressions of the Tenth Commandment. According to Saint Nicodemus: “In this Tenth Commandment transgressors are those who though in act may not take something belonging to others, but in their soul and heart desire to have it, whether it is a woman, livestock, a property, or something else.”

Portion 19.3 Reference points for the Tenth Commandment. According to Saint Nicodemus: “Perhaps you desired the wife of another, or his house or his field or his livestock or any of his things? Perhaps you desired the glory, the distinctions, the pleasures, or the wealth of another?”

Portion 19.4 Further points for the Tenth Commandment. According to Monk Damaskinus: “Do not desire the wife of your neighbor. For he who loves another man’s wife rather than his own is both a fornicator and an adulterer. Beware not to be drawn by the beauty of the woman. Recall how many were destroyed by such things.” According to Saint Gregory Palamas: “Do not covet; neither the land, the money, the glory, or anything else of your neighbor. For covetousness produces sin. Rather you should give from your own things to the needy, and rejoice for the good fortune of your neighbor.” Written by Metaphrastis

Lydia Koniordou puts the return of the Marbles

back on the table

The Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 7/23SEPTEMBER 2018

Greek scientists at New York University School ofMedicine led a research team that has found promisingdrug targets against blood cancer, a medicalxpress.comreport says.

Dr. Iannis Aifantis and Dr. Nikos Kourtis lead the teamthat found a signaling pathway that helps promote nor-mal cell growth which impacts a form of leukemia bytaking control of another pathway better known forprotecting cells from biological stress.

The discovery that the NOTCH1 pathway takes con-trol of heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1) signalingin T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or T-ALL, sug-gests that blocking one or more genes in the HSF1 path-way could represent a new approach in treating the ag-gressive disease, the researchers say.

According to the medicalxpress.com report, resear-chers say their study is the first to directly link activa-tion of HSF1, which is critical to the production of do-zens of other proteins, including HSP90, to any leuke-mia.

“Our study shows how the NOTCH1 pathway hijacksthe heat shock transcription factor 1 pathway to pro-mote tumor growth,” says study senior investigator Dr.Iannis Aifantis, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Depart-ment of Pathology at NYU Langone Health and its Perl-mutter Cancer Center. “The cancer cells are sending in-to overdrive a system that helps healthy cells respondto stress.”

A drug blocking HSP90 is at a trial state. Dr. Aifantissays if further tests prove successful, the experimentaldrug, labeled PU-H71, could be quickly adapted for tri-als in T-ALL patients.

Researchers found through tests of the drug in ani-mals and human cells show that blocking HSP90 kills on-ly cancer cells. Therefore, Dr. Aifantis says its use is like-ly to have fewer side effects than current T-ALL treat-ments, such as chemotherapy, which kills both normaland cancer cells.

“Having a targeted therapy that kills only cancer cellscould really boost our efforts to treat T cell acute lym-phoblastic leukemia, which affects mostly children,”says study first author Nikos Kourtis, Ph.D., a postdoc-toral fellow at NYU Langone. Kourtis says currently onein five children treated for the disease relapses within adecade. Attempts at blocking NOTCH1 directly havefailed, he notes, because of adverse effects on healthycells connected to the pathway.

The team genetically blocked HSF1 in mice induced(through increased NOTCH1 activity) to develop T-ALL,killing all cancer cells but not the mice. This evidence

showed that HSF1 was essential to the survival of T-ALLcancer cells. The study also found that no adverse ef-fects resulted and healthy blood cell production wasnot interrupted when HSF1 was removed from mousebone marrow stem cells.

Further laboratory experiments in T-ALL mice and hu-man cells showed that silencing the gene behind pro-duction of HSP90 efficiently killed leukemia cells, espe-

cially those with the highest NOTCH1 and HSP90 activi-ty, the report says.

Dr. Aifantis says his team next plans to evaluate theeffects of another eight proteins produced by genes ac-tive in the HSF1 pathway to see if any show promisinganticancer activity in T-ALL. The team also hopes tolaunch clinical trials using HSP90 inhibitors againstT-ALL.

Greek scientists find cell response mechanism promising drug targets for blood cancer

‘Let’s Go Greek’ – The festivalthat amazed Sydney

The Greek Orthodox Parish and Community of Parramatta Saint Ioannis in Sydney successfully organisedthe Let’s Go Greek Festival.

This year’s attendance was tremendous: More than 25,000 Greeks, Australians, and tourists visited thefestival that is organized in a way that is friendly to families with young children as well as adults.

Tens of different activities took place and offered a great taste of entertainment…the Greek way!BBQs, fresh Mediterranean recipes, delicious dishes, dances both traditional and contemporary as well as

exhibitions, history corners, Greek music and kiosks with Greek gifts and souvenirs gave the opportunity toanyone who wanted to live the Greek experience in Sydney to do so.

Dr. Iannis Aifantis

Visible threatThe revival of nationalist populism poses a serious

threat to Western democracies. Unfortunately, thesecountries currently appear to be deficient in the kind ofstrong personalities that could act as a bulwark againstthe rising wave of extreme ideologies.

In contrast, the forces of nationalist populism are rep-resented by leaders who are both charismatic and am-bitious.

The rise of the internet and social media has un-leashed forces that have swept through the postwarstructures. It will take a lot of effort in the West tomaintain the unity of the European Union and keep ex-treme voices at bay.

This challenge also concerns Greece. Those currentlyin charge of the country must understand that by im-plementing required reforms but at the same time con-tinuing with their supposedly anti-systemic talk theyare pushing part of public opinion into the arms of Eu-rope’s and democracy’s most extreme enemies.

The Greek Australian VEMATO BHMA8/24 SEPTEMBER 2018

TO BHMA 9/25SEPTEMBER 2018 The Greek Australian VEMA

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Proudly hosting the Greek Welfare Centre Walkathon.

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O N L I N E H S C C O U R S E SOnline Distance Course

HSC Modern Greek Extension

For more information visit www.stspyridon.nsw.edu.au

We offer students across New South Wales, an online option for studying

HSC Modern Greek Extension as part of the New South Wales HSC. Students can

access the online course via the internet from their schools or homes.

The College will provide :

• All course materials online with designated tasks due.

• Opportunities to interact with the teacher and other students undertaking

the course via email, skype, course seminars, and other online activities.

The online student will be required to have:

• Internet connection

• Use of computer installed with Greek fonts

• Use of telephone

FEES

Year 12, 2019 Modern Greek Extension Course - $500

Begins Term 4 2018

Online Distance CourseHSC Classical Greek Continuers

We offer students across New South Wales, an online option for studying HSC

Classical Greek Continuers, as part of the New South Wales HSC. Students can

access the online course via the internet from their schools or homes.

The College will provide :

• All course materials online with designated tasks due.

• Opportunities to interact with the teacher and other students undertaking

the course via email, skype, course seminars, and other online activities.

The online student will be required to have:

• Internet connection

• Use of computer installed with Greek fonts

• Use of telephone

FEES

Year 12 2019 Classical Greek Continuers - $800

Begins Term 4 2018

ENROLMENT ENQUIRIES:

Mrs. M. Faletas, Curriculum Leader Languages

Email: mfaletas@stspyridon.nsw.edu.au

Tel: (between 3.10pm 4.30pm) 9311 3340

Enrolments close: 2 October, 2018

The Greek Australian VEMATO BHMA10/26 SEPTEMBER 2018

Are you flying with Qatar Airways from Australia? How about trying traditional Greek dishes,signed by the famous Greek – Australian chef George Kalombaris?

This is the news of the year regarding gastronomy in aviation, as the famous chef George Kalom-baris and Qatar Airways are going to work together to create delicious dishes inspired by Greece,not just for passengers of First Class but also for anyone who will be flying with Qatar Airways fromSpring next year onwards.

The new choices of the menu will be introduced gradually, commencing with the route from Do-ha to Perth, Sydney and Adelaide, with Melbourne being the immediate next destination to includethe brand new delicacies.

This is not the first time that the aviation giant from the Middle East is cooperating with GeorgeKalombaris, one of the most famous chefs in Australia and the world. George created dishes in-spired by his Greek, Cypriot and Italian heritage back in 2017 to celebrate the introduction of theroute between Melbourne and Doha with the amazing A380 airplanes.

One of the new recipes will be the traditional and very popular among Greeks sweet and soursoup with eggs and lemon called avgolemono as well as the mediterranean inspired tabbouleh withextra virgin olive oil.

Greek-Australian chef to create dishes for Qatar Airways

Boeing’s hypersonic vision

Australia to Europe

in just five

hoursA radical hypersonic passenger plane

that could travel at 6,500km/h (4,000m/h) and ferry passengers from Australiato Europe in just five hours has been re-cently unveiled by Boeing.

The company believes the creationcould be used for military concerns aswell as for commercial use.

The aircraft would be capable of travel-ling at almost 6,500km/h – about fivetimes the speed of sound – which woulddrastically reduce international flightsacross the globe.

The hypersonic plane would be biggerthan some of the already proposed busi-ness jets, but not as large as the conven-tional sub-sonic airliners.

‘We’re excited about the potential ofhypersonic technology to connect theworld faster than ever before,’ said KevinBowcutt, senior technical fellow andchief scientist of hypersonics.

‘Boeing is building upon a foundationof six decades of work designing, devel-oping and flying experimental hypersonicvehicles, which makes us the right com-pany to lead the effort in bringing thistechnology to market in the future.’

It appears the arms race is on betweenBoeing and Elon Musk’s SpaceX program,which also intends on creating almost in-stantaneous cross-country travel.

The Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 11/27SEPTEMBER 2018

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Champion Wrestler and Professional Boxer Kon Papaioannou teaching Hellenic Martial Arts

By ANTONIA KOMARKOWSKI

Kon “Pappy” Papaioannou has been involved in mar-tial arts all his life. He’s competed at national and inter-national levels in Wrestling, Sports Jiu-Jitsu, Pankration,Sambo, MMA, and Boxing. The former champion wres-tler and professional boxer, who was recently votedand named ‘Coach of the Year’ by the InternationalSports Karate Association, is the owner of ‘The FightLab’ a gym in Sydney, Australia.

Living in a multi-cultural Australia in the 1970’s, whe-re there was a lot of racism and violence at school, Konstarted wrestling at Newtown PCYC at the age of 15. By17 he was state champion, and by 20 he was AustralianChampion travelling around the world, competing indifferent championships.

Kon said learning and starting martial arts at a youngage “changed his life” and says “you go to school to bigkids picking you up to shake you. You are upside down,your lunch money falls out, you are drinking toilet wa-ter, people are stealing your lunch and because you aredepressed, you don’t want to go to school. I feel for allthose kids suffering from bullying. Then all of a suddenyou walk into a playground and little guys are throwingbig guys around.”

“I established the fight lab to teach Hellenic MartialArts and to give my four decades of experience to mystudents and other people- whether they want to beathletes, want to lose weight, get fit or they have low

self-esteem. I wanted to give because someone gave tome when I was a little kid.”

One thing Kon wants to highlight is that martial artsisn’t just about movements and techniques, it also in-volves mental training. “You are learning to hold yourcomposure while under duress stress, perhaps somedanger of injury, and it makes you a lot stronger. Youfind a lot of people come here for stress relief- they hada hard day at work and they wrestle with their friends(punch and kick in a safe and controlled environment),and they feel a lot better about themselves, they startto lose weight, feel a lot more attractive and their lovelife certainly improves.”

At the Fight Lab, Kon teaches Hellenic martial arts,Olympic wrestling, Greek kickboxing, and Pankrationwhich is MMA to the rest of the world. It is the mostcompetitive club with about 14-15 tournaments a year,and Kon is proud that his students do very well in com-petitions which he credits to his small classes. Noteveryone who goes to the Fight Lab is an athlete orwants to be, some people just train for the fun and so-cial aspect of it.

The former champion wrestler and professional boxertrains architects, lawyers, doctors, and people thatwould never think of getting into Pankration, and thenall of a sudden love it! Kon says one of his clients, an op-tometrist recently lost 18kg and feels fantastic becauseof his training. “He wasn’t active, apart from play sportin High School, and now in his 40’s he has turned his life

around, and even wears clothes he hasn’t worn indecades because of his confidence,” says Kon.

“What many people don’t understand is that martialarts’ goal is peace. For parents that are hesitant to enroltheir children in martial arts due to fear that it pro-motes violence, it doesn’t. If we teach children to lookafter themselves, to look after their bodies, feel confi-dent in difficult situations, more than likely people willleave them alone, and there will be peace. With martialarts, it’s about promoting health, both mental andphysical.”

For those interested in Hellenic martial arts, Kon hassome advice he would like to share with GCT followers,“Walk into my gym, change your life, you will never bethe same. We promote a different way of thinking. Ourphilosophy is so democratic, everyone has a say. Ifsomeone knows something better than me, I’m happyto listen. I myself in my 50’s are a student of martialarts… people just don’t come here to train, they join myfamily.”

“Society is pushing the individual into vanity so muchthese days that life is like fighting, it’s a team sport. Weneed each other. We need our teachers, friends, andparents. Yes in life you will go on by yourself to do whatyou have to do. Yes, a fighter will get in the ring on hisown. But all the people behind them to get them thereincludes their parents, coaches, and friends. Life is atea, sport, just like fighting.”

Source: www.greekcitytimes.com

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The Greek Australian VEMATO BHMA12/28 SEPTEMBER 2018

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WAMGLTA PL A WINNER!The West Australian Modern Greek Language Teachers’Associa�on Inc. (WAMGLTA) held its inaugural Profes-sional Learning (PL) session on Saturday 25 August at TheEvangelismos Greek Language School in West Perth. Theevent was hosted by the school, inclusive of a deliciouslunch, which was blessed by Reverend Father EmmanuelStama�ou.

The formal part of the PL session began promptly at 1.15pm with a brief welcome address by the Chair theWAMGLTA Commi�ee, Dr Angela Evangelinou-Yiannakis.It included a brief history of the Associa�on, with par�c-ular reference to the fact that it was established on 24August 2016 and exactly two years later, it was holdingits first PL session, achieving one of its cons�tu�onal ob-jec�ves.

The PL, aptly named ‘Best Prac�ce’ in the Greek Lan-guage Classroom, drew on the exis�ng local exper�se ofGreek Language Teachers from the various Greek Educa-�on Providers here in WA. With the firm belief that thecollec�ve exper�se of our exis�ng prac��oners is as goodas any ‘imported product’, an agenda was prepared thatincluded four presenters with their nominated ‘best prac-�ce’ item:

• Ms Fay Giannaris: ‘Souvlaki’ Language Game and Tic TacToe Programming for Differen�a�on

• Mrs Chris�na Panovrakou: Dicta�on and Vocabulary(handy hints for teachers to help their students remem-ber Greek orthography and lexicon)

• Mr George Anastassiadis: ‘What’s in the bag?’ Role Play

• Ms Catherine Papanastasiou: Using Music to reinforceLanguage

The presenta�ons were well prepared and hands-on intheir approach, with the use of IT and other resources tocomplement the content being delivered. The par�ci-pants not only gained insight and some ‘best prac�ce’ideas from each of the presenters, they also enjoyedthemselves whilst doing so, volunteering for ac�vi�es,role play, and even singing along with Catherine!

A humble start to WAMGLTA’s PL ini�a�ves, the 15 par-�cipants were impressed with the event. Sincere thanks

are extended to Father Emmanuel for his blessing; to MrsIrene Starr, Principal of The Evangelismos Greek Lan-guage School, for generously hos�ng the event in a warmand friendly environment; to each of the four presentersfor their willingness to share their ‘best prac�ce’ ideaswith other teachers and for the effort that went into theirinspira�onal presenta�ons; and to all the par�cipants forbeing part of this historic event.

A par�cular highlight was witnessing the first WAMGLTAPL come to frui�on and seeing representa�on from the

following Greek Educa�on Providers; St. Andrew’s Gram-mar, The Centre for Hellenic Studies (Saturday School andA�er-hours Greek School), The Evangelismos Greek Lan-guage School, and Immaculate Heart College. This is oneof the key objec�ves of WAMGLTA; to be an Associa�onfor all Greek Language Teachers from all Greek Educa�onProviders in WA.

Dr Angela Evangelinou-YiannakisWAMGLTA Chairperson

28 August 2018

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The Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 13/29SEPTEMBER 2018

The Significance of the Seven Ecumenical Councils- Part 1-

By Mario Baghos

Variously interpreted as a violent revolu-�onary, a social ac�vist, or not exis�ng atall, our Lord Jesus Christ is o�en subjectedto harsh misrepresenta�ons in the publicspace and discourse that are either exis-ten�ally damaging or have li�le or novalue for either the believer or non-be-liever. These misconstruals of the Lord areconnected to general misrepresenta�onsof God: the influence of EnlightenmentDeism has been hard to shake, and it hasresulted in an impersonal view of Godthat has nothing to do with the revela�ongiven to the Church that God is personal;that he is three persons, Father, Son, andHoly Spirit, a reality and experience dis-closed to us by the Lord Jesus. This ar�cle,which is in two parts, is supposed to re-mind us of the importance of the sevenecumenical councils of the OrthodoxChurch: for their doctrinal defini�ons con-cerning our Lord and Saviour are inspiredby God himself, and are consistent withthe saints’ experience of him. Part one ad-dresses ecumenical councils one-to-four;and part two, councils five-to-seven.

The First and Second Ecumenical Councils

Our Lord has in fact deemed that weshould know, inasmuch as humanly possi-ble, the truth concerning our providentGod for our salva�on. Although the tran-scendent God is in his innermost being oressence inaccessible to us, in his rela�on-ship to the world he can be known—andis known and experienced—within the sa-cred body of his Son, the Church. That theSon of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is alsocompletely God—sharing in the sameessence with the Father—is somethingthat the Church has always experienced inthe faith “once and for all delivered to thesaints” (Jude 1:3). Historically, however,this faith had to be expounded, or clari-fied, in response to here�cal no�ons thatdisparaged the Son’s divinity, that repre-sented him as a creature and not fullyGod. Thus, when in the fourth century theRoman Empire was ravaged by the teach-ings of Arius and his followers whoclaimed that the Son of God was a crea-ture, not sharing in the divinity of his Fa-ther, the emperor St Constan�neresponded by convoking a council of theChurch in the city of Nicaea in AD 325 toaddress the problem. This was known asthe first ecumenical council, the word ‘ec-umenical’ coming from the Greek wordoikoumene (οἰκουμένη) which meanscivilisa�on and referred to the Roman Em-pire. It was the first major council of theRoman Empire which, since Constan�ne’sreign, began to work in collabora�on withthe Church, and although the emperorconvoked the council it was a bishop ofthe church, St Ossius of Cordova, whopresided. This set the precedent for all fu-ture councils.

At the first ecumenical council held inNicaea, therefore, saints of the Church likeAlexander and Athanasius of Alexandria—supported later by Roman Pope saintsJulius and Liberius—affirmed what the

Church always held to be true: that theSon of God is “one essence with the Fa-ther,” homoousion to Patri (ὁμοούσιον τῷΠατρί),1 as enshrined in the creed that werecite every divine liturgy, which wasgiven final form at the second ecumenicalcouncil held in AD 381 in the capital cityof Constan�nople during the reign of theemperor Theodosius I. The second coun-cil, like the first, dealt with Arianism, reaf-firmed the Nicene doctrine that Christ is“one essence” with the Father—fully di-vine and fully God—and also affirmed thedivinity of the Holy Spirit.

One may consider why it is important forthe Church to promulgate the truth con-cerning its experience of the Holy Trinity,of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,as being fully God? It is because thehere�cal no�ons that rejected the divinityof the persons of the Trinity can compro-mise our par�cipa�on in God. If Christ, theSon of God, is not fully divine and thuseternal—the way that his Father is divineand eternal—then how could he save usfrom mortality and the finitude of death?Only the eternal God can raise us—whoare finite and mortal—up to eternal life,which our Lord Jesus accomplished whenhe defeated death through the cross andhis resurrec�on. How can the Holy Spiritsanc�fy us if he is not fully God, to be wor-shipped equally with the Father and theSon? Of course, we do not believe in threeGods, but one God who is three persons,each one sharing the same divinity, thesame Godhead; and this is the Chris�anGod who has saved us from death.

The Third and Fourth Ecumenical Councils

Our God has saved us through the agencyof the Son, who, while forever working to-gether with the Father and the Spirit onaccount of their shared divine essence, ac-�vity and will, became one of us by as-suming human nature in its totality, apartfrom sin. The Son did this while paradoxi-cally remaining fully God, so that in ChristJesus we contemplate the mystery of Godbecoming man while remaining God, theGodman or theanthropos (Θεάνθρωπος)as we call him. It of course follows that ifthe Son of God was born into this worldas a man while remaining God, that hisholy Mother, the Theotokos (Θεοτόκος)and ever-virgin Mary, gave birth to God in

the flesh. But in the early fi�h century thissacred truth that we revere was cri�cisedby Nestorius, the bishop of Constan�no-ple, who affirmed that the holy Virginshould not be called ‘Theotokos,’ whichmeans God-bearer, that is, the one whogave birth to God, but ‘Christotokos,’ theone who gave birth to a mere man, JesusChrist.

Nestorius was effec�vely denouncing thedivinity of Christ when he said this, for toacclaim the Virgin as God-bearer orTheotokos is to acknowledge that shegave birth to God in the flesh for our sal-va�on. But, strangely, Nestorius s�ll be-lieved in the divinity of the Son of God,just not that the Son of God was born of awoman. The outcome of his a�empt tosynthesise the man Christ, who he be-lieved was born of the Virgin, and the Sonor Logos of God who is the second personof the Holy Trinity, created a duality inChrist, for Nestorius affirmed that theman Jesus was at some point in his life as-sumed or adopted by the Son of God; thatthere were in other words two persons orprosopa (πρόσωπα) in Christ, two ac�vesubjects! This was of course an�the�cal tothe Church’s experience, for, as St Cyril ofAlexandria, who refuted Nestorius’ teach-ing on both the Virgin and Christ, de-clared: we know only one Lord andSaviour Jesus Christ; it is the one Christthat we worship, pray to, and par�cipatein in the Eucharist.2 This Christ is both di-vine and human, since he is the Son ofGod who became man while remainingGod—but he is nevertheless ‘one’ person,the second person of the Holy Trinity.

In order to maintain the unity of Christ inopposi�on to Nestorius’ rendi�on of himas two—or even three persons (for he hadsaid that when the man Jesus and the Sonof God were combined, they created anew, third person)—St Cyril used variousdevices, including asser�ng that there is“one nature of [God] the Word incarnate”(mia fusis tou [Theou] Logou sesarko-meni/μία φύσις τοῦ [Θεού] Λόγου σεσαρ-κωμένη).3 This statement would seem toimply that there is only one nature inChrist, which would be incorrect. But Cyrilused the word φύσις, commonly trans-lated as ‘nature,’ to designate ‘reality’ or‘personhood,’ meaning that we can para-phrase his saying to denote that there isone reality or person of God the Word

who became man as Christ Jesus. Anotherecumenical council was held in Ephesus in431, during the reign of Theodosius II, thatenshrined Cyril’s teaching and rejectedthe ideas of Nestorius.

But, a�er his repose in the Lord, Cyril wasmisinterpreted by his over-zealous follow-ers (Eutyches and Dioscorus), who be-lieved that the bishop, in his statement“one nature of the Word incarnate,” re-ferred to the word nature or φύσις liter-ally, so they concluded that if Christ onlyhad one nature, that must be the divineone. These were described as mono-physites (μονοφυσίτες), believing thatChrist’s humanity was overshadowed orsubsumed by his divinity. But their posi-�on was not acceptable to the Church. Wesaid above that Christ is fully God becauseonly the eternal God can save humansfrom death; but Christ, in order to save usfrom death, is also fully human, otherwisewe cannot par�cipate in the salva�on hewrought in our behalf. A fourth council,held in Chalcedon in 451, clarified StCyril’s teaching and, with addi�ons madeby the Tome of Pope Leo of Rome, cameup with the following defini�on of faith:

So, following the saintly fathers, we allwith one voice teach the confession ofone and the same Son, our Lord JesusChrist: the same perfect in divinity andperfect in humanity, the same truly Godand truly man, of a ra�onal soul and abody; consubstan�al with the Father asregards his divinity, and the same consub-stan�al with us as regards his humanity;like us in all respects except for sin; begot-ten before the ages from the Father as re-gards his divinity, and in the last days thesame for us and for our salva�on fromMary, the virgin God-bearer, as regards hishumanity; one and the same Christ, Son,Lord, only-bego�en, acknowledged in twonatures which undergo no confusion, nochange, no division, no separa�on; at nopoint was the difference between the na-tures taken away from the union, butrather the property of both natures is pre-served and comes together into a singleperson and a single hypostasis; he is notparted or divided into two persons, but isone and the same only-bego�en Son,God, Word, Lord Jesus Christ, just as theprophets taught from the beginning abouthim, and as the Lord Jesus Christ himselfinstructed us, and as the creed of the fa-thers handed it down to us.4

As Orthodox Chris�ans we believe there-fore that there is one Christ in two na-tures, divine and human; he is fully Godinsofar as he is divine and has the powerof God over life and death, and he becamefully human that we might par�cipate inthe eternal life that only he can give.

1. Other notable saints present at the council includedSt Nicholas of Myra, St Macarius of Jerusalem, and StSpyridon of Trymithous, to name a few.2. Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, ed. Norman P.Tanner (Washington DC: Georgetown University Press,1989), 51.3. Translated from St Cyril’s Second Le�er to Succensusin PG 77, 241.4. Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 86.

TO BHMA14/30 SEPTEMBER 2018The Greek Australian VEMA

Arts, Food & WineEditor: Imogen Coward

Hot chocolate

By I and T Coward

The culinary use of cacao, historians tell us, extendsback more than one-thousand years, to the Aztec andMayan civilisations in central America where chocolatewas essentially for drinking. Cacao beans were roastedand ground into a paste, just as they still are today as afirst step in any chocolate manufacturing process. Thepaste was then mixed with hot water and poured fromone vessel to another, repeatedly, to produce a frothydrink. Many other ingredients could also be added, suchas ground corn, sweeteners such as honey, and spicesincluding chilli.

With the invasion of the Spanish in the early 1500s,chocolate made its way into the colonial cuisine andwas eventually exported to Spain and the rest of Europewhere it began its ascent to popularity. Chocolate wasincluded in some 17th century European royal dowries.William III of England had a room in his kitchens atHampton Court devoted to the production of chocolate,and chocolate houses (much like our modern coffeeshops) sprang up throughout England, and were placesfor the leading thinkers of the day to meet and discusspolitics.

In the process of adopting this exotic commodity, theEuropeans set about transforming the flavour of choco-late, dispensing with its original spicier palate for onethat favoured sweeter notes such as vanilla and cinna-mon as flavourings. Chocolate, however, was still verymuch consumed as a drink, and indeed one that wascommented upon by drinkers of the 18th century as be-ing ‘something like coffee but of a greasy and muchricher nature’.

It was not until the mid 18th century and the inven-tions of the Dutch van Houten family, that cocoa butterwas able to be successfully extracted leaving behind co-coa powder. This paved the way for modern cocoa pow-der, and indeed the smooth eating chocolates of ourown era. Dutch cocoa, incidentally, is more than simplypowdered. ‘Dutching’ cocoa, invented by Coenraad Jo-hannes van Houten, involves treating the cacao with analkaline. This does two things. Firstly (and least impor-tantly), it turns the cocoa powder a dark reddish hue.Secondly (and the reason why it is done), it results in apowder which, when stirred into liquid, stays evenlysuspended.

Hot chocolate, like tea and coffee, has become some-what exotic once more in our own culture, with manyvariations on offer. For example, with our obsession forchoice, it’s possible today to buy un-dutched cocoapowder. Lighter in colour, it results in a somewhat lessbitter and creamier flavoured drink, albeit one in whichthe cocoa will eventually settle to the bottom of one’scup. This is not necessarily a retrograde or inferior step,but part of the many ways in which hot chocolate canbe enjoyed today.

What we expect when we make or buy a hot choco-late drink can vary quite wildly depending on which culi-nary tradition is most influential in our region. If read-ing this in Australia, then the term ‘hot chocolate’ islikely to conjure up visions of a hot sweet, milky drink,perhaps with froth on top, and maybe a side serving ofmarshmallows. It has rather a lot in common with themodern English-style hot chocolate, though throughoutEngland it’s more likely to find hot chocolate servedwith whipped cream and piled high with mini marsh-mallows (the further north you travel, the more creamand mallows!).

In Italy however, it gets just a tad more unusual. InRome, a customer won’t be served something they canactually drink, but instead ordering a hot chocolate willresult in being served a cup containing an incrediblythick chocolate sauce, rather like a hot mousse, thatmust be eaten with a spoon, and invariably requires an-other drink to wash it down. By contrast, in Turin, yourhot chocolate will indeed be a hot creamy liquid, whilein Sicily, the chocolate is not prepared from powderedcacao, nor even from fine flakes of chocolate (as has be-come popular in Australia).

Instead, the drink is prepared from blocks of rathercoarse-ground cocoa and sugar, steeped in hot waterbefore being mixed thoroughly and then milk may beadded if required. And all this, of course, is withouttravelling to the more exotic corners of the world suchas Samoa where hot chocolate is different again, con-taining a high level of cocoa butter, being perhaps moreakin to the ancient chocolate.

But why the differences? Interestingly, while onemight be tempted to subscribe to ‘fashion’ as an expla-nation, the answer more probably lies more in a combi-nation of culinary history and regional pride.

Most obviously, the thick mousse-like Italian stylechocolate (incidentally the same as much Spanishchocolate) harkens back to pre 18th century styles ofdrinking chocolate, before the Dutch methods of ex-tracting cocoa butter existed.

Chocolate invariably still contained a considerablequantity of cocoa butter and it was common practice toadd some form of starch to bind with the butter, ratherthan tolerate a greasy film on the surface of the drink.Although the starchy, thickened style of hot chocolatewas once necessitated by technical limitations, despitechanges in what is available the style remains a valuedpart of local tradition. Indeed, if one tries to buy drink-ing chocolate in an Italian supermarket, even if it ismade by a Swiss firm such as Lindt, it will still containstarch.

By contrast, further north, Turin has a proud traditionof confectionary including the manufacture of fine eat-ing chocolate, and cocoa powder. Historically moretechnically advanced and affluent than their southerncousins, in the 19th century they imported the latestcocoa presses from France. This meant they could morefully extract the cocoa butter and create a ‘pure’ cocoapowder and with it a smooth, non-greasy chocolatedrink - what, in Australia, would be regarded as a typicalhot chocolate. Taking advantage of their technical abili-ties and local resources, Turin’s ‘national’ drink is thebicerin – a heady (and invigorating) blend of hot choco-late, espresso coffee, ground hazelnuts and cream. In-deed, drawing upon the same technology, Turin is alsoknown for its production of giandutto – a blend ofchocolate and hazelnuts which can be enjoyed in blockform, or, for the lovers of sweet tipple, a chocolateliquor.

But what of the ultimate hot chocolate? Is it the thickand rich Roman offering, with it’s nod to the conquista-dors of 16th century Spain, Turin’s technologically ad-vanced and regionally inspired concoction, England’ssugar-laden extravagance, or the more simple approachfound in Australia? Well it is, perhaps, simply a matterof taste.

Evans, S.J. Chocolate Unwrapped (Anova Books)Coe, S.D. and Coe, M.D. The True History of Chocolate (Thames

and Hudson)

The Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 15/31SEPTEMBER 2018

Forbes names Athens’Kerameikos one

of the world’s coolestneighborhoods

Greece is known for having the most beautifulbeaches in the world and the most quaint villagesin Europe, and now the country can add theAthens suburb of Kerameikos — one of the coo-lest neighborhoods in the world — to the list.

Forbes has announced that the hip, trendy andartistic neighborhood is the place to be if you arelooking for cool things to do.

The vibrant neighborhood has murals paintedon walls, new exciting restaurants with fusionconcepts and is the trendiest place in Athens tohave a drink with friends.

The hippie-like atmosphere of the neighbor-hood has caught on and even tourists check it outand hang out with the local crowds.

There are up-and-coming artists who displaytheir work at galleries, theatres, bars, and there issomething do around every corner.

Kerameikos is just a 10 minute walk from thehistoric center of Athens, and as Forbes puts it:“the laidback Kerameikos neighborhood seems tolive in a magical world of its own.”

“It’s a place where old and new, Greece’s sto-ried past and often turbulent present, traditionand forward-looking creativity all coexist happilytogether. At the weekly street market, the neigh-borhood comes alive in a riot of sights, smells andflavors. In recent years Kerameikos’s low rentsand old-time feel have lured creative young Athe-nians to the area, where they have opened inven-tive restaurants, bars and cafés along with gal-leries and theaters. Joining Kerameikos’s richtrove of existing old-school establishments, thesenew spots have helped create one of the Athens’most exciting dining and cultural scenes.”

Some other places that made the list of coolestneighborhoods include: Sants in Barcelona, Ma-boneng in Johannesburg, District 5 in Saigon,Pilsen in Chicago, and Kalk Bay in Cape Town.

Acropolis Museum in TripAdvisor's Top 10The Acropolis Museum in Athens ranked No 6 in TripAdvisor's annual Travelers Choice Awards for 2018, coming

one spot above the Louvre in Paris and one below Madrid's Prado.Designed by Swiss architect Bernard Tschumi and inaugurated in 2009, the building, says the review, “is as stun-

ning as the treasures it houses.”Topping the list of the Travelers Choice Awards for Best 25 Museums in 2018 is Paris's Musee d'Orsay, New

York's National 9/11 Memorial and Museum and Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the British Museum in London.

Greek student wins Gold Medal at the 2018 International Mathematics Competition

The 25th student competition IMC (InternationalMathematics Competition) just took place, and GeorgeKotsovolis, a student studying at the Mathematics De-partment of the University of Athens, won a gold met-al.

This is one of the most prestigious competitions ofmathematics. More than 350 students participated inthis year’s competition, the world’s largest mathemati-cal contest for students.

The event - organised by the University College Lon-don - took place in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria from July 22-28.

The International Mathematics Competition has beenrunning since 1994 with leading US and European Uni-versities taking part in the event.

Georgios Kotsovolis’s sponsor was the Municipality ofN. Ionia.

E-ticket for Greece's museums and sites gaining ground

The newly launched e-ticket for Greece's museums and archaeological sites is gaining ground, according tofigures from Archaeological Resources Fund (TAP) presented by the Culture Ministry on Thursday.

Initially launched on July 5 in pilot phase, the e-ticket is currently only applicable to 11 popular archaeolog-ical sites and museums in Attica, Crete and the Peloponnese.

According to the Culture Ministry, from July 5 to August 5, 5.5 million visitors, generated revenues of 9.3million euros at Greece's archaeological sites and museums. In the two-week period from July 19 to August 5,meanwhile, e-tickets accounted for 145,000 euros.

The Acropolis, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Ancient Agora, Hadrian’s Library, the Ancient Cemetery ofKerameikos, Aristotle’s Lyceum and the Roman Agora in Athens, together with the Minoan settlement Knos-sos and the Iraklio Archeological Museum, in Crete, and the site and museum of Ancient Messini in the south-western Peloponnese, accounted for 40 percent of all visitors and 55 percent of total revenue from thescheme in its first month of operation.

The Culture Ministry’s plans to expand the program to other sites including Olympia, Delphi, Lindos, Delosand Akrotiri by the end of the year, with the final list of locations to be announced at the Thessaloniki Inter-national Fair next month.

E-tickets can be purchased online at etickets.tap.gr.

TO BHMA16/32 SEPTEMBER 2018The Greek Australian VEMA

Travel

BY HARIS ARGYROPOULOS

In mythology, Kea, the westernmost ofthe Cycladic islands – just 12 nauticalmiles off the coast of the tip of Attica and52 from Piraeus – was once the homeof nymphs who lived in its denseforests. Due to its abundant watersources, it was known as Hydroussa.One day, a lion appeared and began tochase the nymphs, who escaped to Sir-ius – the brightest star in the sky. Sir-ius then burned Hydroussa and the oth-er Cyclades with its powerful rays – and,for the most part, deprived them of theirverdant glory for good.

The lion, however, is still there – al-beit in imposing, sculpted rock form, 6meters long at Liontas, 1.5 kilometernortheast of Hora (or Ioulida), the is-land’s capital. Kea, which has a total areaof 130 square kilometers, has also re-tained some rare and superb oakforests. The greatest part of its naturalbeauty, however, seems hidden in itswide network of mostly stone-paved oldtrails and footpaths, some 36 km in all,which make it a walkers’ haven.

Kea, also known as Tzia, flourishedin the pre-Classical period (7th-6thcenturies BC), when it comprised fourindependent and economically strongcity-states: Ioulida, Karthaia, Poiiessaand Korissia. Some of the walkingtrails date back to those times. The al-mond-shaped island’s terrain is most-ly arid and hilly, marked by deepgorges and tranquil valleys dottedwith chapels. The highest summit,Profitis Ilias, rises to 568 meters. Farm-ing is the main occupation, but in thelast decade or so proximity to Athenshas made tourism a fast-growing sec-tor, attracting many wealthy Greeks andweekenders who flaunt their boats andhave pushed up realty prices. Somecomplain, with a little exaggeration, thatKea now feels like a suburb of Athens.

Hora, about 6 km from Korissia (al-so known as Livadi), and perched on theside of a steep hill, is charming. A pro-tected traditional settlement, all motorvehicles have to be left outside the set-tlement – quite a blessing, for whetheron foot or by donkey power, it is a joynegotiating the narrow, stone-paved al-leyways that pass below arches linkingthe white houses.

At the entrance to the settlement,note the wall paintings by renownedartist Alekos Fassianos, then visit theneoclassical Town Hall and the formerschool (both designed by Ernst Ziller).Continue past the ruins of an old fortand ascend the hill toward the desert-ed windmills, once the biggest windmillpark in the Cyclades, comprising 26 in

all, that milled the island’s sizablewheat harvests.

Hora is a lively place, full of small barsand tavernas along the quaint alley-ways. If you stay out late and have toreturn to Livadi, don’t miss out on achance to walk down the stone-pavedpath under the moonlight.

Kea’s 86 km of coastline offer few butexcellent options for swimming. A rel-atively quiet and scenic beach south-west of Livadi is Xyla, about 5 km awaythrough rugged landscape. Gialiskari,an easy option some 600 m from Liva-di and shaded by trees, gets easilycrowded. About 1 km further along iscosmopolitan Vourkari. OppositeVourkari, the Kokka peninsula wasnamed after the now-ruined coal ware-houses, where cargo ships stocked upduring the flourishing interwar period.

Continue east to Otzias, the island’slargest beach, shady and almost per-fectly round, with two picturesquechapels and traditional tavernas.

At sunset, walk up to Panaghia Kas-triani – an 18th-century monastery builton the edge of a cliff and ideal locationfrom which to enjoy the view. Just 300m from the monastery, follow thewide stone path uphill that will take youto Hora in about 90 minutes though awonderful landscape with oak forest.

Western Kea has excellent beaches– Spathi, Kalidonyhi and Sykamia – ac-cessible only by 4x4 vehicles.

Whether you are the adventuroustype or not, a visit to ancient Karthaiais a must. About 40 minutes of trekkingalong a wonderful trail from the villageof Stavroudaki and through thick veg-etation will lead you to a beautiful beachon the southeastern coast and the ru-ins of two ancient temples. “Karthaiaindeed is but a narrow ridge of land, yetI shall not exchange it for Babylon,” ex-alted Pindar, the ancient lyric poet.

KeaWalk this way

The ancient trails of the westernmost of the Cyclades are anideal way to explore its varied historical and natural attributes

Kea

Car-free zoneWhether on foot or by donkeypower, it is a joy negotiating thenarrow, stone-paved alleywaysthat pass below arches linkingthe white houses in Hora

Where to stayLocal phone code: 22880. Hotels arefew but many rooms and studios areavailable for rent. Red Tractor Farm isa busy agritourism hub in Livadi,offering accommodation and tailor-made holidays including walkingtours, boat rides and traditionalcooking lessons (tel 22880.21346,www.redtractorfarm.com); Seirii (tel22355), small neoclassical building inromantic style; Porto Kea Suites (tel22870), elegant bungalows and suitesin Korissia; St George Bungalows (tel22880.31385), in Koundouros, 25 kmfrom the port, near a quiet beach withtaverna; Keos Katoikies (tel 21661).

What to see & doThe municipal authorities organize anannual international storytelling festival(July 17-25, www.kea.gr). The AghiaMarina tower, 6.5 km southwest of Hora,is a rare 4th-century BC tower, part of alarger defensive complex. Watch thesunset from the fort in Hora or from thebalcony of the Panorama patisserie.Visit the windmill houses atKoundouros, the ArchaeologicalMuseum at Hora (tel 22079) and the twoart galleries at Vourkari, namedVourkariani and Marina Keas, and theModern Art Center. Kea is excellent forbird-watching and its flora comprisessome 3,000 species.

What & where to eatKea is famed more for its meat than itsseafood. The local speciality ispaspalas, an omelet prepared withcured pork and tomatoes. Also try localcheeses such as xyno, chloro, myzithraand kopanisti; buy fragrant honey,almond cakes and sesame candy bars(pasteli). In Vourkari Aristos (tel 21475)is famous for his lobster spaghetti;Rolandos (tel 22224), on the square inHora, has a wide range of goodappetizers and dishes; in KorissiaLagoudera (tel 21977) offers excellentoptions in Greek traditional cuisine,including moussaka, pastitsio androoster in wine.

ATHENSPLUS • FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2010

TRAVEL

The western coast of Kea is astrong pole of attraction forscuba-diving enthusiasts due toseveral large shipwrecks,including the HMHS Britannic,the Titanic’s sister ship whichwas requisitioned and operatedas a hospital ship during WorldWar I. Considered more“unsinkable” than the Titanicdue to modifications in thedesign, the Britannic sank injust 55 minutes after anexplosion caused by a Germanmine in November 1916 andwas discovered by Frenchexplorer Jacques Cousteau in1975. It is the largest sunkenocean liner in the world. Visithttp://beracuda.wordpress.com/my-kea for more.

HMHS BRITANNIC