Photo of the Day: Greece in Skopje

  Photo Source: Angela Bereri

Greek ladies of Skopje at lunch with Vasiliki Bakatselou-Venizelou, 

wife of Greece's Foreign Minister,  Evangelos Venizelos

during the official visit to FYROM today

Γεύμα με την Βασιλική Μπακατσέλου-Βενιζέλου,
σύζυγο του Αντιπροέδρου της Κυβερνήσεως και ΥΠΕΞ Εύάγγελο Βενιζέλο
κατά την διάρκεια επίσημου ταξιδιού στην γείτονική μας χώρα σήμερα,
από Ελληνίδες συζύγων απεσταλμένων στα Σκόπια.

At Global Greek World, We ♥ Greece...and it shows! 

© GlobalGreekWorld 2013 All Rights Reserved

From Tarpon Springs to Wellington: Epiphany Day Around the Global Greek World! Xronia Polla!

The Statue of the Cross Retriever

outside St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Tarpon Springs

 representing all those who have retrieved the cross from the waters of the Bayou

Εν Ιορδάνη βαπτιζομένο Σου Κυρίε...

Epiphany Day (Των Φώτων - Θεοφάνια)  today in the Global Greek World and the Orthodox church celebrates the baptism of Christ in the River Jordan.

The bells rang out this morning in every church in Greece - a beautiful sound calling the people to attend the blessing of the waters, the Agiasmo, commemorating the day that Christ was christened.

Despite the bad weather in Athens, Piraeus and the rest of Greece, the tradition holds strong and people flocked to their local churches  to be blessed, to get some of the Holy water to drink and to bless their homes using a sprig of basil or rosemary to sprinkle the water everywhere.

In our local church, Profiti Elia in Halandri, weather permitting, the ceremony takes place in the church grounds, a beautiful pine studded spot right opposite the Rematia Stream. You can watch a little of the ceremony here...excuse the sound, it was the best I could do as the winds were pretty strong and it started raining in the middle of the Agiasmo!




In Greece it is a public holiday, but in our communities around the world, if Epiphany Day doesn't fall on a weekend, it is usually celebrated on the closest Sunday to the actual day.

 Epiphany Day 

on a sunny summer January Day in Wellington, New Zealand

Two out of the three brave young men who defied the elements in Wellington, New Zealand 

to dive for the cross on a not so summery day in January 2010

The exception is of course  the most famous Greek Sponge Village outside Greece, Tarpon Springs, in Florida, USA where for more than 100 years Epiphany Day is celebrated as THE most important day in the church calendar and the biggest event of the year. This year is the 106th Epiphany Day celebrated in Tarpon Springs.

The whole community looks forward to the unique Epiphany Day celebrations and the Greek Festival that accompanies them.

The person who is lucky enough to find the white cross which is cast into the waters of the Bayou, gets to keep the cross he retrieved, is given a commemorative trophy cup and a gold cross to wear. Above all, however he is considered blessed for the whole of his life, holding a place of honour in Tarpon Springs for the ensuing year. The Cross Retriever is Tarpon's very own homegrown hero and looked up to by all, young and old alike and especially by the younger ones who make retrieving the cross one of their life-goals.

His name is entered on the honours memorial at the Bayou and leads the celebrations the next year.

Andrew Nikiforakis was the lucky one to find the cross in 1992

exactly twenty years ago today!

Andrew Nikiforakis

A jubilant Andrew Nikiforakis, the 1992 Cross Retriever, rejoices as his fellow contenders in the Epiphany Day dive carry him on their shoulders in his victory lap by the Bayou

 1992 Cross retriever, Andrew Nikiforakis, stands by the honours monument 

at the Bayou in 2009 as his sister proudly points to his name etched on the monument

There is something very special indeed about this annual tradition which, apart from its religious significance has become a favourite in the local community for Greeks and non-Greeks alike.

Usually the Archbishop of North America comes down from New York to officiate at the ceremony held at St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral and thousands of Greeks flock to the city.

The magnificent St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Tarpon Springs

 

Inside the magnificent St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Tarpon Springs

 

Epiphany Wall Mural inside St Nicholas, Tarpon Springs 

The Spring Bayou is prepared and the small boats are readied for the sixty to seventy young boys between 16 and 18 who prepare to dive for the Cross in the calm waters of the Bayou...

The Spring Bayou, calm and quiet, days before Epiphany Day 

It is wonderful watching so many young men in their Epiphany Day tops led by the previous year's Cross retriever in the procession from the church to the Bayou and into the little boats. A white dove is set free and as soon as the Holy Cross is thrown into the water they dive into the water from the boats watched by the cheering onlookers and thousands of people wait to see who will be the lucky one!

The late Archbishop Iakovos officiates at the 1993 Epiphany Day celebrations in Florida  

Andrew Nikiforakis, the 1992 retriever, can be seen to his left in the dark suit 

ready to handover to this year's lucky young man.

It is a magnificent sight to behold, and definitely a must for any visitors to Tarpon Springs - the most famous Greek Village outside Greece!

This post is dedicated to one of Tarpon's blessed young men, Andrew Nikiforakis, who having retrieved the Cross from the Bayou in 1992, led the 1993 procession and handed over to his successor, Michael Saroukos. Most of the photos on this post are from the Tarpon Springs Epiphany Day celebrations of that year.

I was thrilled to have been there to see this wonderfully inspiring event in 1993...

1993, a time when the local Greek Community was adding its voice of support to the raging controversy of FYROM - proclaiming loudly and proudly to all that would listen, that MACEDONIA IS GREEK...

We don't have a video from the 1992 Epiphany Day but we did find this one from 1990... the ritual and the tradition entrenched in this most Holy event continue to this day.

 

Kai tou xronou and to all celebrating namedays today - Xronia polla kai kala!!! 

At Global Greek World, We ♥ Greece...and it shows! 

© GlobalGreekWorld 2009-2020 All Rights Reserved

US Vice President Joe Biden in Athens. Who's Next? President Obama Maybe?

Joe Biden - Vice President - USA

Photo Source: Wikipedia

Yesterday, US Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Athens after  visiting Turkey, where he  attended an international conference on entrepreneurship.

Of great significance we believe is his two hour visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate which included a one hour meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew, stressing the importance the US government puts on the issue of religious freedoms in Turkey.

Greek-American relations, issues of Greek interest such as the Cyprus problem, the naming issue of FYROM, religious freedom and the Ecumenical Patriarchate are on the agenda of Biden's discussions in Athens, as well as the  dire economic crisis and problems in the wider region.
 

VP Biden was met at the airport by Deputy Prime Minister of Greece Theodoros Pangalos and today will be received by the President of the Republic, Karolos Papoulias. He will also meet separately with Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, PASOK leader and former PM George Papandreou, and New Democracy (ND) leader Antonis Samaras.

VP Biden's wife, Jill, also visited Greece for the Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics held in Athens earlier this year.

It is interesting to note that first, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Athens in July this year, now Vice President Biden visits. 

At this rate, maybe Greece should start making plans for a visit by President Obama himself in the summer...   

Source: AMNA

Welcoming US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Greece - 17 and 18 July 2011

We welcome US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton to Athens today, the start of her official visit to Greece, and wish her every success.

As the First Lady of the USA Hillary Clinton has been to Greece several times but this is her first as Secretary of State, and comes at a critical moment in Greece's recent history.

Greece's economic crisis dominates every discussion at the moment but there are several issues which remain of great concern and which need resolution, so we are taking this opportunity to endorse the letter  the American Hellenic Institute (AHI) sent to  Secretary Clinton prior to her travel to Turkey and Greece, released on  July 12, 2011. 

The American Hellenic Institute is a Washington based, non-profit Greek American public policy center that works to strengthen relations between the United States and Greece and Cyprus, and within the Greek American community regularly taking significant initiatives to enhance the bilateral relationship.

The letter written by AHI President and COO, Nick Larigakis, raises issues of great concern to the Greek American community (and to the Global Greek Community, we would add) :

issues that exist in southeast Europe and the eastern Mediterranean and which are problematic in the context of the Greek American relationship;

issues which are based within the universally accepted principles of the rule of law and international law, including U.S. laws;

issues which include Turkey's Occupation of Cyprus, the suppression of religious freedom and violation of the minority communities, as well as FYROM's continuing intransigence and irredentism which makes resolution of the name issue a near impossibility...

 The first page of AHI's 9 page letter to Secretary Clinton

 To read the rest of the letter, download AHI’s letter to Secretary Clinton, here

We were pleased to see that Secretary Clinton's schedule included a visit to the Patriarchate in Istanbul (Constantinople). Photos below are from an independent blog on Hillary Clinton http://secretaryclinton.wordpress.com/

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I

at The Patriarchate, Fanari, July 16, 2011.

REUTERS/Ahmet Dumanli/Anatolian

Misappropriation of National Symbols: United 'Macedonia' Diaspora Issues VISA Card With Alexander the Great Portrait

 VISA Card - United 'Macedonian' Diaspora

Source: www.Defencenet.gr

The pictured VISA card appears to be the latest provocation by an increasingly intransigent FYROM in its continuing battle with Greece over what it sees as its exclusive right to appropriate the name 'MACEDONIA' , by claiming the great Hellene, Alexander the Great as its own, and by so doing putting another obstacle on the road of any possible resolution of the name dispute.

Alexander the Great has been a feature of Greek history, art and culture, even coins and notes for a very, very long time, long before the establishment of FYROM and  its historially unfounded claims, that its inhabitants are the direct descendants of one of our most glorious Global Greeks!

It appears that the US  based United 'Macedonian' Diaspora has had this VISA card issued (we don't know the bank) featuring the detail above from the famous floor mosaic below.

Floor Mosaic - Battle between Alexander the Great and King Darius III

Source: Wikipedia

The mosaic depicts a battle between the armies of Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia, and was found at the House of the Faun in Pompeii.  The portrait of Alexander shown sweeping into battle at the left of the mosaic on his famous horse, Bucephalos, is one of his most famous and internationally recognised and acknowledged. The breastplate he carries in the battle depicts Medusa, the famous Gorgon, and his wavy hair is typical of royal portraiture as established in Greek art of the fourth century B.C.

As negotiations continue between Greece and FYROM on a long-term-one-name-for-all-uses solution, FYROM knows that without an acceptable solution it will be very difficult if not impossible for FYROM to be admitted to the European Union and NATO, as well as other International Organisations, yet they continue to create obstacles to this. 

This weeks' EU report on accession progress effectively said that FYROM cannot join the EU until the name dispute with Greece is resolved, but it doesn't seem to worry their leader Gruevski at all.  

If it hadn't been for President GW Bush and the US fanning FYROM's over inflated ego, by  recognising it as 'Macedonia'  for reasons known only to them, FYROM would have been obligated to put some water in their irredentist wine by now.

As it is, each such move by FYROM or their 'friends' just aggravates an already difficult situation. 

As Alec Mally *, a former US Diplomat in the region commented recently,

'I can only say most of the time we have engaged, we tilted badly towards Skopje and failed. They move deeper into self created purgatory with each new statue and renamed airport. Skopje has lost a lot of time. Gruevski was elected on a highly nationalistic platform, and he deserves zero support from Washington or Brussels....in fact he should be snubbed. I hope the Greek lobby in the US can make it clear to Secretary Clinton that US re-engagement is a waste of energy.' 

The Greek lobby should indeed act quickly to nip this particular provocation in the bud but let's all help! 

It is up to us in the Global Greek Community, and especially the Greek American Community to point out the futility of such moves by FYROM who have every reason to want a resolution to the name dispute but seem to be doing everything they can to sabotage it.

There's nothing like a bit of pressure  so ACT NOW!

Mobilise all of our sitting Greek American representatives such as Olympia Snowe, John Sarbanes, Niki Tsongas, Zack Space, Dina Titus, Gus Bilirakis, Charlie Christ,  Suzanne Kosmas and Shelley Berkeley  all members of the Hellenic Caucus.  

Mobilise the Greek American organisations, AHEPA, AHI, the Pan Macedonian Association and others. 

Write to your local congressman/woman or senator, to Secretary Clinton even, pointing out that this is an unacceptable move by a US based organisation and that appropriating your neighbour's national symbols and passing them off as your own is not exactly conducive to peaceful coexistence, on any level!

PS You could also contact VISA asking them what it was thinking of to allow one of its partner banks to issue a card with a 'forged' identity? 

Ask VISA what they would it do if someone decided to issue a card with the word VISA written on it but without getting the proper authorisation? 

Maybe then it will get the message that it should never have allowed a card with misappropriated symbols to be issued! 

 *Alec Mally is currently Executive Director for Global Economics at Foresight Strategy and Communications, Athens.

South Australian Premier Mike Rann - Macedonia is as Greek as the Acropolis - Cleared of Racism by Human Rights Commission !

 SOUTH Australian Premier Mike Rann has been cleared of 'racially vilifying' the people of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The Human Rights Commission found Mr Rann had no case to answer for claiming that FYROM was stealing Greek history and culture, an accusation the Premier made in a speech at a Greek festival in Adelaide last year, along with the statement that 'Macedonia is so much Greek like the Acropolis'.

In the speech, Mr Rann also accused FYROMian President Gjorge Ivanov of "stirring up trouble in a most dangerous way" with Greece.

The comments sparked a complaint to the HRC by South Australia's Macedonian community but judge Catherine Branson ruled it to be "lacking in substance".

"I stand on my record of racial and ethnic tolerance. I will not be intimidated by anyone from speaking forthrightly on behalf of historical truth," Mr Rann said.

Read more from  The Australian 

Thank you Premier Rann, for telling it how it is! 

History cannot be hijacked or changed...

Have You Heard of Monkeydonia? We Hadn't ...Until Today!

Photo Source: SAE-World Council of Greeks Abroad

We discovered a new land called Monkeydonia on our travels through cyberspace today and thought we would share it with you...We look forward to your comments!

'Monkeydonian is a person who holds the view that by renaming a potato to apple, the potato will then taste like an apple. In other words, it is the person who thinks that by renaming a country's name from 'Vardaska' to 'Macedonia', in the mid 20th century, he can include in its identity, all Macedonian history that took place even as far as 2000 years before the name change. This is really a script for Aristofanes..

Monkeydonian is someone, who when it comes to history and historical perspective, can not count up to three, but at the same time will make arguments which he will firmly support, even if all evidence would point, or even shout, against him.

Monkeydonians are all those who went to school after 1991 in FYROM, and have fallen victim of revisionist education, Gruevskis' cabinet agenda, and other nationalist propaganda.

Finally and most importantly, Monkeydonians are those who are actively involved in any sort of deliberate, organized, intentional attempt towards world history falsification, so as to achieve their own goals and interests.

Being Monkeydonian does not include all those FYROM citizens that agree with the above, have a sense of historical perspective, take pride in their real past, and are thus more honest and true to their ancestors and their history.

Also excluded are the all innocent children that have fallen victim of their educational system, and who I personally sympathize with the most.

One can not blame one, for what he does not know!

So lets start with education.. 
Read the rest of the article at www.monkeydonia.blogspot.com

A very interesting blog with a wealth of information for those who really want to learn...we know you will find it enlightening.

Global Greek Issues: MACEDONIA - What's In A Name???

Photo Source: SAE-World Council of Greeks Abroad

Negotiations are continuing on a long-term-one-name-for-all-uses solution.

Without an acceptable solution it will be very difficult if not impossible for FYROM to be admitted to the European Union and NATO, as well as other International Organisations.

Recently, while the Prime Minister of FYROM, Mr Gruevski was in Australia, another front in the battle for survival was opened up, with Bulgaria this time. Why?

Doesn't FYROM want a solution?

Why don't it's leaders sit down and work out something with it's neighbours for the benefit of all parties concerned, but primarily for the benefit of it's own people? What is there to gain from such an intransigent attitude?

Click on the photo to read what Greece's position is.