greek orthodox archdiocese of australia - march 2015 e...

MARCH 2015 Tel. (02) 9559 7022 Fax: (02) 9559 7033 E-mail: [email protected]

THE GREEK AUSTRALIAN

VEMADISCIPLINE IN THE HOME

The oldestcirculating

Greeknewspaper

outsideGreece

Official Openingof the S.A. Greek WelfareCentre’s new premises

Amidst an air of excitement, His Grace Bish-op Nikandros of Dorylaeon of ficially blessedand opened the South Aus tralian Greek Wel-fare Centre’s new premises on Henle y BeachRoad, Torrensville, on 17 February 2015.

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TRAVEL

Diapontia IslandsThis group northwest of Corfu, wher e Ca-

lypso is said t o have imprisoned Odysseus,provides the perf ect place t o recharge yourbatteries.

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Doxology Service for the commencement of the new academic yearof St Andrew’s Theological College

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Where the Ancient Faith + 21st century media merge

SPEAKGREEK

IN MARCH

DIGITAL MOSAIC

FIVE REASONS TO GO TO GREECE THIS SUMMER!

1 A guided tour has been worked out for youbetween June 4-20, 2015, so y ou don’t have tothink of or ganising your flight with Emir ates,restaurants or hotels for 2 whole weeks.

2 Combine travel with spirituality and e duca-tion as you follow the Journe y of St P aul andvisit Classical Greek sites with pr ofessionalguides to explain everything in English.

3 Commence the itinerary with a blessing forthe group from His All Holiness Ecumenical Pa-triarch Bartholomew.

4 This is 4-star quality.

5 Join travellers who are already booking fromMelbourne, Perth, Cairns and from anywhere inAustralia, with the choice of s taying overseasfor up to 6 months on the same ticket.

For a c opy of the brochure via emai l, or f orfurther information, contact:

[email protected] phone Katrina Maggs

on 03 8488 9696

But you must be quick!

The campaign kicked off to an impressive start

The “Speak Greek in March” campaign kicked off to an impressive start on Sunday,March 1 in Aus tralia. The campaign aims to raise awareness among Greek Diasporamembers on the issue of Greek language which is slowly losing ground in the country.

FULL STORY ON PAGE 2/20

The Greek Australian VEMATO BHMA2/20 MARCH 2015

Speak Greek in March kicks off to a great startThe “Speak Greek in March” campaign

kicked off to an impressive start on Sun-day, March 1 in Australia. The campaignaims to raise awareness among Greek Di-aspora members on the issue of Greeklanguage which is slowly losing ground inthe country. According to the organisingcommittee their goal is not for Greek-Australians to speak the language only inMarch, but always.

The first steps were really encouraging.Facebook was flooded with “We speakGreek” posts, while second and thirdgeneration Greek-Australians made agreat effort to speak the language duringseveral Diaspora events, in church, aswell as in the stadium.

The campaign aims to encourage andprovide opportunities for families ofGreek origin to start using the Greek lan-guage as much as possible under every-day life circumstances: at home, atschool, in the market or social gather-ings. For example the organising commit-tee proposed that Greek-Australiansshould greet each other in Greek, listento Greek songs, or watch Greek films.Families could speak in Greek amongst

themselves during the weekend, whilechildren are encouraged to play Greekgames such as “mila” (apples) which re-sembles dodge ball.

All families and individuals are also en-couraged to use their imagination and in-spiration to think of other ways they canincorporate the Greek language into

their lives thus creating the right condi-tions for the use of Greek in real commu-nication situations.

Meanwhile Greek Foreign MinisterNikos Kotzias congratulated the GreekDiaspora of Australia for its initiative“Speak Greek in March.” The Minister isconfident that the campaign will be em-

braced by Greek-Australians across theglobe.

“I would like to congratulate you foryour collective, multifaceted action tofurther strengthen and support theGreek language in Australia, especiallyon the occasion of the national celebra-tions of March, a month during which wecelebrate our national independence.

”I am sure that the initiative ‘SpeakGreek in March,’ launched by you whoactively and dynamically represent Hel-lenism in the multicultural country ofAustralia, will have great success,” theGreek Minister said in his message.

Furthermore, he added that it will alsowork as an example for Greeks in othercontinents who wish to increase Greeklanguage use, especially in younger gen-erations. This will help spread the lan-guage in local communities and cele-brate the significance of Greek cultureand Greek education over time.

“You make us very proud with this ini-tiative. I wholeheartedly wish you everysuccess in your endeavor,” he said,adding that Greece will support the ini-tiative in any way possible.

A Greek among the richest of Australia

Only one Greek businessman managed to be included in the list of the richestpeople in Australia for 2015, issued by Forbes.

Overall, the 50 richest people in Australia have total assets amounting to 89.3billion dollars.

The richest is Gina Rinehart, which is engaged in mining and her propertyreaches 11.7 billion dollars.

On the 46th place of the list is Con Makris (pictured). He is the richest Greek ofAustralia for yet another year. His fortune is estimated at 640 million dollars.

Con Makris emigrated from Greece in the early 1960s. He settled in Adelaidewhere his sister lived and worked at a series of jobs in retail.

He built up a chain of chicken shops across South Australia and Victoria whichhe sold in the 1980s to fund the purchase of his first shopping centre. He nowcontrols a portfolio worth more than $800 million, much of it in South Australiaalthough his focus is shifting to the Gold Coast.

Art collector Ion Vorres passes awayAcclaimed art collector Ion Vorres died earlier this month at the age of 91, leaving

behind the chief oeuvre of his life, the Vorres Museum in Paiania, eastern Attica.A native of Messinia in the southern Peloponnese, Vorres fought in World War II

with the OSS American intelligence agency. He later gained Canadian citizenship af-ter studying at the University of Toronto. In Canada, he worked as a journalist andcolumnist, mainly promoting Greek culture and heritage. He organized his first exhi-bition in Toronto in 1955 and opened the Vorres Museum in 1983 with a 6,000-itemcollection covering 4,000 years of Greek history.

Vorres was awarded the Order of Canada in 2009 and bestowed the Greek title ofGrand Commander of the Order of Honor in 2014.

The Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 3/21MARCH 2015

On Thursday 19 February 2015, St Andrew’s Theolog-ical College commenced the new academic year with itsannual Doxology Service in the College Chapel of StJohn the Evangelist and Theologian.

The service was officiated by the Dean, His EminenceArchbishop Stylianos, together with the Sub-Dean, HisGrace Bishop Seraphim of Apollonias.

At the conclusion of the service, His Eminence wel-comed the faculty members, students and guests in at-tendance.

His Eminence emphasised that the purpose of theservice was to give thanks to God for the commence-ment of the thirtieth year of studies. He then presenteda copy of the Greek New Testament to the new full-

time seminarian students as a tangible sign of their con-nection to the College: Michel Nahas (Sydney) and Con-stantine Koutoulas (Melbourne).

The doxology was followed by a customary groupphotograph and a luncheon prepared by the generousvolunteers of the Ladies Philoptohos.

The Americans, ISIS, Iran and TsiprasBy Antonis Karakousis - Kathimerini, Athens

There are many who have wondered about the ma-jor American interest and many comments in favor ofthe new left-wing government in Greece. Really, whatwas the purpose of the trips of American financial of-ficers to Athens and the constant Presidential inter-ventions in Europe for the Greek case?

Some attribute the American interest to the con-cerns for the Eurozone and the effect a potentialcrack or fragmentation may have on the global and byextension the American economy. Others believe thatthe constant conflict with Germany in recent yearsover the observed economic policy in Europe is moti-vating the Americans.

The Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras himself attributedthe US interest in the geopolitical position of Greeceand the dangers of a potential financial and politicaldestabilization of our country for the entire region.The Minister of F oreign Affairs Nikos K otzias furtherexpanded and detailed Mr Tsipras’ opinion and de-scribed Greece as an oasis of stability and Democracyin a greater area of instability, from Ukraine to North-ern Africa and the Middle East.

Truly, this version seems to be closer to reality thanany other.

According to diplomatic sources, the biggest prob-lem for American foreign policy these days is ISIS. TheAmericans face the Islamic State and its offspring inSinai, Libya, Nigeria and elsewhere, as a very seriousthreat and are seeking efficient means and capable al-lies to combat them. Given that there is no chance ofthe direct involvement of American forces on theground, everything depends on the alliances in thegreater area where the ISIS fanatics operate.

They have also concluded that the only force capa-ble of facing the jihadists in Raqqa and Mosul is noneother than the modernized mullahs of Iran.

Their army is systematically preparing to take backTikrit, the birthplace of Saddam Hussein, and Mosul.In other words, Tehran’s generals and fighting forcesare going to fight the hordes of al-Baghdadi and theblood-thirsty Jihadi John on the ground.

The Americans essentially came to the conclusionthat only the Iranians can assume the operation todestroy the Islamic State and agreed, obviously withsomething in exchange, to give them the ability to at-tempt the aforementioned counter-attack against thejihadists. The question is whether the choice of theAmericans provoked other important allies of theirsin the greater Middle E ast. The Israelis directly op-pose the new role of Tehran in the region. They treatthem as enemies, fearing that in exchange for fightingISIS, Iran will be allowed to continue with its nuclearprogram.

This in turn will strengthen Hezbollah, which isbased in Lebanon and as such, the Israelis feel thatthey will be surrounded by powerful, enemy forces.These fears explain the profound stance of Ne-tanyahu, who traveled to the USA to see the Republi-cans and snubbed President Obama and the staff offi-cers of Bidden and K erry. American officials reactedto Netanyahu’s provocation by showing that they willnot change their stance on Iran being their choice tofight the Islamic State.

Erdogan’s Turkey was similarly frustrated, but fordifferent reasons. Historic reasons, as well as issuesrelated to Turkey’s pursuits in the greater region, donot allow Turkey to support ground operations a-gainst the Islamic State, but nor can it directly acceptIran’s involvement in the fight against the jihadistgroup.

In the meantime, Saudi Arabia is also againstTehran’s involvement, which considers Iran’s financialgains should it succeed in defeating the Islamic State.Should that occur, the restrictions on Iranian oil ex-

ports will be lifted, which will further strengthenTehran’s position in the international oil market,which is currently dominated by the sheikhs ofRiyadh.

As it would seem, the diplomatic puzzle in the re-gion is becoming increasingly complicated and theAmericans are in jeopardy of losing powerful allies inthe area in their effort to tackle the revival of theharshest and most primitive version of Islam.

They are, however, aware that they do not havemany options. They do not have the capabilities theyonce had. Washington admits that the CIA does nothave operators in the area and the US Army is notwilling to undertake ground operations against the Is-lamic State due to the financial, human and politicalcost. As such, it is looking everywhere for alliances.

In a way the Greek problem is related in this com-plicated geopolitical environment. The Americanstreat Greece, with all of its problems, as an oasis ofstability in an absolutely problematic area. It is a dem-ocratic country, with western institutions and func-tions, consistently pro-West, nationally homogenous,with a cohesive society and powerful armed forces.

Based on all this and due to the country’s proximityto the fire zone, in no case do they want to seeGreece become destabilized. More so when they be-lieve that Greece may play a balancing role and offerits good diplomatic services between rivals or oppo-nents.

Without a doubt the Americans appreciate thegeopolitical value of Greece. Should it handle its fi-nancial problems appropriately, then this geopoliticalrole may develop and its value will increase.

All that is needed therefore is for the Tsipras ad-ministration to proceed with the country’s financialaffairs in a rudimentary way until June and then es-tablish the conditions to seek a more permanent so-lution to the financial problem from then on.

Doxology Service for the commencement of the newacademic year of St Andrew’s Theological College

Left: The customary group photograph in the courtyard of St Andrew’s Theological College. Right: The Dean, His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos and His Grace Bishop Seraphim ofApollonias, with the two first-year students K. Koutoulas (left) and M. Nahas (right)

MARCH 20154/22 TO BHMA The Greek Australian VEMA

A geologist who took part in the exca-vation of the ancient burial mound inAmphipolis in northern Greece says theancient tomb found together with a se-ries of vaulted rooms wasn’t built at thesame time, but somewhat later than therooms themselves.

Geologist Evangelos Kambouroglou al-so said Saturday that the mound insidewhich the rooms and the tomb werefound is not man-made, as archaeolo-gists had assumed, but a natural hill.

He also said that the Lion of Amphipo-lis, a huge sculpture of a lion on apedestal, which is more than 25 feet (7.5meters) tall, was too heavy to have stoodat the top of the tomb, as archaeologistshad claimed.

“The walls (of the tomb structure) canbarely withstand half a ton, not 1,500tons that the Lion sculpture is estimatedto weigh,” Kambouroglou said.

As for the box-like tomb that containedthe remnants of five bodies, possiblymore, “it is posterior to the main burial

monument... the main tomb has beendestroyed by looters, who left nothing,”said Kambouroglou. “The marble doors(of the monument) contain signs ofheavy use, which means many visitorscame and went.”

The vaulted rooms had been dated tobetween 325 B.C. - two years before thedeath of ancient Greek warrior-kingAlexander the Great - and 300 B.C., al-though some archaeologists had claimeda later date.

Katerina Peristeri, the chief archaeolo-gist in the recent excavation, had ad-vanced the theory that a member ofAlexander’s family, or one of his gener-als, could be buried in the tomb. But thediscovery of the boxy grave and the fivebodies cast doubt on that theory andKambouroglou’s announcement appearsto disprove it entirely. Some archaeolo-gists present during the announcementcriticized Peristeri’s absence and hermethods.

Alexander, who built an empire stret-ching from Greece to India, died in Baby-lon and was buried in the city of Alexan-dria, which he founded. The precise loca-tion of his tomb is one of the biggestmysteries of archaeology.

His generals fought over the empire foryears, during wars in which Alexander’smother, widow, son and half-brotherwere all murdered - most near Amphipo-lis.

Source: Kathimerini

By Ioanna Fotiadi - Kathimerini, Athens

Objects that once belonged to Greeks in Asia Minoroften make their way to the Eskici Yusuf antiquesstore in present-day Izmir.

“Many customers come here to sell Cretan divans,sculpted wood furniture, embroidery, post cards andother relics of a life that came to an abrupt halt,” theproprietor, Sadan Yusuf Durkan, whose motherhailed from K avala in northern Greece, toldKathimerini recently.

A few years ago a young woman entered the storecarrying a wooden suitcase which she had inheritedfrom her grandmother, who, in turn, had been en-trusted with it by a Greek woman who taught sewingand embroidery before having to flee Smyrna. Thebox contained samples of students’ work as well asmaterials the seamstress used for wedding gowns,mostly lace and pearls. The young woman alsobrought a wooden chest to the store filled with thedowry of an unnamed Greek woman.

“That is when I thought, with my wife who is Greek,that all these should be preserved and exhibitedsomewhere, as a sample of the traditions of Asia Mi-nor,” said Durkan. So, shortly before New Year, thecouple donated the contents of the suitcase and thechest to the Asia Minor Folk Museum in the northernAthenian suburb of Nea Erythrea (K arastamati & 2Driveti, tel 210.6209.814), an institution whichopened in 2013 in a space donated by the municipal-ity.

“Among the small clothes, we also discovered somelove letters written between a couple,” said Durkan’swife, Evangelia Kaskani, as she showed me black-and-white photographs of elegantly dressed men andwomen.

The contents of the suitcase and chest have nowbeen put on display among another 2,000 objects do-nated by families from Asia Minor to the associationthat runs the museum.

“Those who were forcibly expelled could not bringeven a fraction of their belongings with them. Butthose who came to Greece in the population ex-changes or abandoned their homes before the 1922disaster were able to bring along valuable objects

and family heirlooms,” explained the association’spresident and caretaker of the museum, K yriakosMartakis, as he showed me around the exhibits.

The first hall contains photographs by families fromAsia Minor taken when they settled in various partsof Attica, as well as handicrafts and old newspapers.

The tribulations of these uprooted people are notthe focus of the museum. Rather, it tries to presenttheir daily lives and show how they expressed them-selves through arts and crafts. The museum, for ex-ample, boasts clothing that once belonged to RozaEskenazi, the quintessential voice of the Greeks ofAsia Minor, as well as traditional wedding dressesand men’s suits.

“We are fighting tooth and nail to preserve this1750 costume from Ikonio,” said Martakis. “Here wehave an evening gown that was designed in Paris,launched at the Quai in Smyrna but was mostly wornby its owner on Stadiou Street [in central A thens],where she settled after the expulsions.”

In another hall, there are rich displays of domesticlife in 1800 and later, such as an oven, a mincer and

an ice cream-making machine, though the real show-stopper is a bedroom, complete with double bed, achild’s bed and a low dresser, as it was the custom forwomen to sit on cushions on the floor to make them-selves up in the morning.

A mirror that once belonged to Martakis’s motheris also on display in the same hall. He managed to sal-vage it from her old home, which had been turned in-to a pension. “It took a lot of diplomacy but I was ableto bring it back to Greece with me,” he explained.

The 76-year-old pensioner first visited his parents’hometown, Cesme, after his father died at the ad-vanced age of 105. Using his father’s memories of thepast as his map, Martakis eventually found his fa-ther’s family home.

An elderly Turk opened the door and said, “Finally,you’re here!”

“I got weak at the knees,” admitted Martakis. “Itwas my grandfather’s protege who had guarded thehouse and all of its contents ever since, convincedthat someone from the family would come back oneday.”

Mystery deepens over ancient Greek tomb at Amphipolis

A museum in northern Athens is preserving the memories of Asia Minor Greeks

TO BHMA 5/23MARCH 2015 The Greek Australian VEMA

Our Primate’s ViewTHE IMPORTANCE OF FASTING

“Let him that eats despise himthat eats not, and let not himthat eats not judge him that eats” (Rom. 14:3)

New epochs bring with them new habits and createnew customs. And a new mentality spreads noiselesslyand influences the majority of humankind. Old customsare gradually forgotten, sometimes they are despised oreven derided.

Those who continue to keep and to respect them arevery often characterized as being romantic if not back-ward. And if these old customs are simply folklore andman-made traditions, then the harm caused by aban-doning them may not be as great. But in the case ofmore fundamental and sacred traditions there is dangerthat we may pay dearly for their disappearance andmore dearly for their corruption.

Of course it is not sufficient simply to keep alive a tra-dition. It is significant that we should preserve it withthe same spirit and the same altitude, which our forefa-thers bequeathed to us. Otherwise traditions do notlive, and if they continue to be preserved in our midst asa matter of formality or out of ancestro-mania, they ex-ist as a ghost.

One of the more substantial religious traditions of ourpeople is fasting. Regardless of its relation to the GreatLent before Pascha, the Forty-day Advent before Christ-mas, the Fifteen day period of August or even the fewerdays before the F east of the Holy Apostles, fasting al-ways has the same significance and the same sacred-ness.

The Greek term for fasting (νηστεία) means ‘I do noteat’ (νή-εσθίω). Is it then so important for one to eat ornot to eat?

From this simple question begins the whole problemof the subject of fasting. In the course of time two er-rors have been shaped among our people and it is ourduty to combat them by emphasizing the correct teach-ing of our Church.

The one wrong attitude altogether denies whateversignificance in fasting, considering it as hypocritically ir-relevant to the deeper spirituality and virtue of the hu-man person. The other erroneous attitude certainly rec-ognizes some value in fasting, but sees it altogetherfrom a worldly and superficial viewpoint, without distin-guishing its deeper meaning. Let us see now these twoerroneous attitudes more analytically.

A.

B.

The conclusion is that food in itself is neither good norbad. It can be useful or harmful to our body and soul,depending on its good or bad usage. Because food is notan end in itself, but only a means. And similarly fastingis not an end in itself but a means to achieve a purpose.The correct teaching of our Church on fasting is to befound exactly in this distinction between a purpose anda means. The unique purpose that covers all our pres-ent and future life is our salvation.

All our efforts in this world, from the simpler andspontaneous aspects to the more complicated andplanned ones, should tend to this one unique purpose.All these efforts are a means. They are called a means,because they are found between us and the purpose forwhich we aim; serving as a bridge they lead to the finalpurpose.

Repentance is a means, prayer is a means, confessionis a means, almsgiving is a means, fasting is a means,good works are a means, every bodily and spiritual ef-fort is a means. All kinds of means receive their valuefrom the degree to which they lead us nearer to ourpurpose. And as we said, our unique purpose is our sal-vation.

If we do not make this basic distinction, if we do notlearn how to distinguish a means from the purpose,there is danger that we may idolize little and perishablethings by looking at them as great and eternal matters.The value of fasting as a means for our salvation is thatit constitutes an exercise of our will, a kind of watchful-ness, for it does not permit our flesh to overpower andsuffocate us.

Fasting serves as a bridle to restrain unreasonable im-pulses and sinful desires. But it also creates a particularatmosphere of nobility and contrition in our soul. Al-ready our ancestors used to say that: “a fat stomachdoes not give rise to refined thinking,” which meansthat from excessive heaviness you cannot expect anykind of spirituality.

Nevertheless, as a human and perishable work, fast-ing should be done in a spirit of humility and withoutdisplay. Otherwise we waste our effort and we lose oursoul. For this purpose God’s word warns us: “Let himwho eats, not become a scandal for him who fasts. Andlet him who fasts not judge him who eats.” God’s wordgoes even further: “And when you fast, do not put on asad face, as the hypocrites do. When you fast, washyour face, so that your fasting may not be seen by menbut by your F ather who is in secret; and your F atherwho sees in secret will reward you” (Mat. 6:16-18).

Source: “Ενσαρκώσεις του Δόγματος”, Domos Publ., 1996

By ARCHBISHOPSTYLIANOSOF AUSTRALIA

Those who want to find excuses and to avoidremorse when they do not keep our traditionalfast periods usually mention and always repeatthe teaching of the Gospel that “Not what goesinto the mouth defiles a man, but what comesout” (Mat. 15:11). There is no doubt that this isabsolutely correct. Not only because the Gospelsays it, but also because as a matter of commonsense we see that if one is to choose betweenslander and eating in periods of fasting, surely itis more sinful to slander, and thus preferable toeat.Yet this does not give us any answer at all regard-ing the significance of fasting, about which thesame Gospel frequently speaks, showing notonly the Apostles but also Christ Himself to befasting.

Again there are others who see fasting only asthe doctor sees diet. You will hear them say usu-ally: “To abstain from meat for forty days ishealth. It purifies your body and it is a usefulthing. And surely this must have been the reasonwhy religion instituted fasting.” But those whojudge things in this light do not see fasting in its

essence; they emphasize with exaggeration onlythe secondary detail. Because fasting is surelyuseful also for the body, but this is its secondary,not its primary, aim. Fasting does not aim prima-rily at the body; it aims at the soul and at thespiritual world. And yet people do not think ofthe soul at all. They do not speak at all about thesoul and the spirit as if these do not exist andonly flesh exists - just as many look upon fastingas a medical diet and no more.And their error is found exactly at this point. Thefact that fasting does not aim at the body but atthe soul, appears from what St Paul says in twobasic points of his teaching about fasting. On theone hand he stresses that “neither if we eat arewe the better, neither if we eat not are we theworse.” (1 Cor.8:8) And on the other hand he reminds us that foodand the stomach are perishable things that willequally be abolished at some time by God:“Meats are for the belly, and the belly for meats:but God shall destroy both it and them.” (1 Cor.6:13).

TO BHMA6/24 MARCH 2015The Greek Australian VEMA

A story of two parents and one choice…

When an elderly nun was asked why she left theworld behind, she told the following story:

When I was a child, I recalled that my father was avery good, soft-hearted man. He was weak. Much ofthe time he was confined to bed through illness.

He was plain but blameless and spoke very little.When he was well, he was a farmer. He brought

home the products of his cultivation.He was so quiet that those who did not know him

thought he could not speak.My mother was entirely different. She did very lit-

tle. She was a gossip. She never stopped talking. Shecould be quarrelsome or just disrespectful in order tobe funny.

She spent most of her time partying. She waswasteful. She neglected her household, so that wedid not live adequately even though we had money.My father had handed over the finances to her.

Even though she lived that type of lifestyle, she ne-ver became ill or suffered in the slightest way. Shelooked after her health.

One day my father died, worn out by illnesses.What happened at his death?

A fearful storm arose. The earth trembled. Therewas constant lightning and thunder. Torrential rainsdid not let us to go outside even for a moment. Thebad weather lasted for three days. Out of necessitywe had our father unburied in our small house.

Seeing all these difficulties our fellow villagers con-demned the deceased, “My goodness, we were un-aware what a great evil lived amongst us. It’s asthough the deceased was an enemy of God. That’swhy God doesn’t even allow him to be buried.”

So that the decomposition of the body would notbegin and through its stench make our house unin-habitable, we took courage - despite the torrentialrain - and accompanied the corpse to the cemeteryfor the burial.

Now my mother had even more freedom. She gaveherself over to living an immoral life. She became sobold that she turned our dwelling into a house of ill-repute. She wasted all our wealth on her incessantluxurious life. In a short time there was nothing leftfor us.

My mother died quite some time after. I had passed childhood. One evening in my adoles-

cence I was troubled. I wondered which road to fol-low in my life.

Should I choose the life of my father and live withgoodness, with modesty and sensibly?

Even though he lived a virtuous life, he never en-joyed any good but was constantly tormented by mis-fortune. His luck was so bad that even when he diedhe didn’t have a decent burial like others. If my fatherwas so pleasing to God, why did he suffer so much?

Look at my mother. She was healthy, even if she de-voted herself to enjoyment and pleasure. That night Idecided to follow in the footsteps of my mother.

When I fell to sleep, a figure appeared before me. Itwas huge, frightening. It glared at me and asked witha thundering voice, “Tell me, what is your heart pon-dering?” I was so frightened.

That fearsome figure asked again: “Tell me, whathave you decided?”

Seeing I was paralysed by fear, he recounted all the

details I had been considering. I recovered slightly.He quietened a little – took me by the hand and

said: “Come and see where your father and motherare. Then you can choose whatever way of life youwant.”

He led me into a never ending garden. There werevarious beautiful trees, more beautiful than any de-scription. As I was walking through, I met my father.He embraced me lovingly -“My dear child”.

Engulfed by my father’s joy, I asked to stay withhim. My father answered sweetly: “It is not possiblefor this to happen now, but if you want to follow myway of life, then the time will pass and you will comehere also.”

As I begged to stay with him, the Angel took myhand and said: “Come now and see your mother, tofind which road is worth following in your life.”

He led me to a darkened place, where one couldhear loud disturbance and groaning. There was aburning furnace. E very now and then the flameswould burst forth. Several creatures stood in front ofthe furnace. They were unseemly. Panic-stricken, Isaw my mother up to her neck in the flames and tor-mented by countless weevils biting her. She wasshaking from horror. Her teeth were gnashing.

As she raised her eyes and saw me, she started tocry in a heart-rending way: “Alas, my child! My pain isunbearable! Pity me! I brought so many frighteningpunishments upon myself for short-lived pleasure.My child, have mercy on me. Remember that I nursedyou and nurtured you. Give me your hand; take mefrom here.”

Overcome by sympathy, I stretched out my arm.Just as the flame touched my hand ever so slightly, Icried out loudly.

Everyone who was asleep was awakened by mysobbing. They brought a lamp and asked why I wascalling out in my sleep.

As I recovered a little, I began to tell them what Ihad seen in my vision.

From that day I decided to live as my father. I praythat God will make me worthy in order to succeedand meet with him.

From that event I was informed what glory hasbeen prepared for those who live with respect andvirtue, and by contrast what torments await thosewho waste this life solely for temporary enjoyment.

I do not know how true this event is. I am happy toaccept it at face value but if you wish, I can considerit as an allegory. It is not intended to scare but ratherto motivate me to seek the garden in this story and toleave aside anything that does not benefit me in thelong run. I shall catch up with you next time.

Adapted from the E vergetinos, Volume 1, Topic 9,pp 142-145.The views expressed are those of the au-thor and not necessarily those of the VEMA .

The views expressed are those of the author and notnecessarily those of the VEMA.

[email protected]

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Maroubra

Ancient site of Philippi unveils candidacy for UNESCO list The candidacy of the ancient site of Philippi in eastern Macedonia, northern

Greece, for UNESCO’s World Heritage List was revealed at the B&M TheocharakisFoundation in Athens earlier this month.

The international organization’s list includes 17 Greek sites, among them theAcropolis of Athens. The country’s last entry to the list was the Old Town of Corfu.

The ancient city of Philippi was founded by Philip II in 356 BC. The site, locatedin the region of Kavala, boasts Hellenistic, Roman and early Christian periods. Ac-cording to the New Testament the city was visited by the apostle Paul in AD 49 or50.


‘One last breath’ to represent Greece at 60th Eurovision

Greece’s entry at the upcoming Eurovisionsong contest in Vienna, Austria, is “One LastBreath,” a ballad performed by Cypriot vocalistMaria-Elena Kyriakou.

Kyriakou was one of five performers who com-peted in Athens in the finals of a local contest todetermine Greece’s representative at this year’s

song contest. Kyriakou will represent Greece atthe first Eurovision semifinal on May 19. A sec-ond semifinal takes place on May 21, with the fi-nal set for May 23. “One Last Breath” featuresmusic by Efthyvoulos Theocharous and Kyriakouand lyrics by Vangelis Constantinidis and E velinaTziora.

Lemnos - Gallipoli Photographic ExhibitionThe Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee will

be holding a major new fundraising event - the LemnosGallipoli Photographic Exhibition.

The exhibition showcases forty of the most importantimages from the photographic record of Lemnos’ role inthe Anzac story.

This photographic archive is located in collectionsacross the globe, including many in Australia’s war me-morials, state libraries and private collections. It con-sists of literally thousands of images detailing the expe-rience of Anzac forces and the Allies on this vital islandin the Aegean.

Historian and Secretary of the Lemnos Gallipoli Com-memorative Committee Jim Claven has selected theseimages based on his extensive research of the Lemnoslink to Anzac and placed them in historical context inthe exhibition’s accompanying booklet.

Those selected have been sourced from various col-lections in Australia and overseas, and feature photo-graphs taken by the Anzac forces themselves as well asby other famous Allied official photographers. Amongothers, it features the work of AW Savage, an Australiansoldier with the 3rd Australian General Hospital, PhilipSchuler, one of Australia’s war correspondents at Gal-lipoli and Ernest Brookes, the British official war pho-tographer.

All images are in the highest resolution and beautiful-ly framed.

This is an important exhibition for everyone interest-ed in gaining a deeper understanding of Australia’s Cen-tenary of Anzac and its Hellenic links.

The images tell the story of Lemnos’ role in Gallipoli in

a vivid way. The base for the campaign, the place ofassembly and practice prior to the landings on April 25,the location of the Australian hospitals and their 130nurses, where the great Anzac Rest camp was built as aplace of recuperation, recreation and interaction be-tween the young Australians and the local Greek popu-lation - an interaction which continued to the waves ofpost-war migration to Australia.

The latter photographs are particularly poignant, re-vealing Australian soldiers and nurses visiting localchurches and spas, villages and cafes - and having theirphotos taken with local villagers. They show local vil-lagers helping the Allies and being tended at the Aus-tralian hospitals on the island.

“A key aim of our putting this exhibition together is tospread the word of Lemnos’ role in Anzac. There’s nobetter way to do this than by showing these photo-graphs from 1915. These pictures tell a thousandwords. Anyone who sees them will be surprised thatthey have rarely, if ever, been reproduced before. Andthe Exhibition will reinforce the need to recognize therole of Lemnos in the Centenary and beyond, in ourown public discourse on Anzac,” Claven said.

The exhibition’s launch will be held at 6pm on Sun-day, March 22, 2015, at the Thessaloniki AssociationHall, 439 High Street Northcote in Melbourne.

All Exhibition attendees will receive an accompanyingbooklet, telling the story of Lemnos and Gallipoli, andcontaining reproductions of the selected images them-selves, as a memento of their attendance.

Source: www.greekreporter

A celebration of Melina Mercouri

on Women’s DayOn International Women’s Day (March 8), the

33rd Greek Festival of Sydney celebrated the lifeand political pursuits of a truly spectacular wo-man, Melina Mercouri. In a speech by Dr PanayotaNazou, at the Greek Community Club, Lakemba.

Melina Mercouri was born in A thens, on Octo-ber 18, 1920. An early woman activist, she waselected to the Greek Parliament in 1977. LaterMiss Mercouri was to become the first woman tohold a Senior cabinet post "Minister of Culture" inthe Greek government. In 1971 she wrote her au-tobiography titled "I Was Born Greek." She wedactor Jules Dassin in 1966 and died of lung cancerin New York City, on March 6, 1994.

Melina Mercouri’s influence was felt around theworld as a political and cultural force.

The talk explored the changes Melina under-went in her development from international cine-ma star to a symbol of the persecuted artist, and avisionary able to implement political and culturalprograms nationally and internationally.

Dr Nazou teaches Greek language, contempo-rary Greek literature and culture at the Universityof Sydney.

TO BHMA8/26 FEBRUARY 2015The Greek Australian VEMA

A BIG THANK YOU TO ST GEORGE!February 9 saw the first training course

of Scripture Teachers in New SouthWales for this year.

It was held at St George Greek Ortho-dox Church at Rose Bay.

With the blessing of His Grace BishopSeraphim and the warm welcome of RevFr Gerasimos, more than 35 teachersmade their way to the easternmostGreek Orthodox parish in Sydney.

The day started with prayers in thechurch. Together with Fr Gerasimos, wewere blessed with the presence of FrConstantine of the church of St Stylianos,who represents the Orthodox Church onthe Inter-Church Commission on Reli-gious Education.

A show of support was provided by theattendance of Fr Prohoros from thechurch of Sts Raphael, Nicholas andIrene, Liverpool and Fr Christodoulosfrom the church of St Nicholas, Mar-rickville. Their presence added greatly tothe value of the day.

A unique aspect of the course, was aspecial request to Fr Gerasimos. He wasasked to explain the symbolism of thenewly erected stained-glass windowsthat decorate the church. These were amajor donation from a parishioner.

They are a unique feature of thechurch. Fr Gerasimos took teachers on ahistorical and religious tour of the win-dows. These stained glass windows rep-resent Orthodox dogma about each ofthe sacraments. They combine naturalelements, Christian symbols and intricatepatterns. It was a valuable opportunityto experience another aspect of ourfaith. Participants were impressed by theunique Orthodox perspective. E veryoneagreed that they are a magnificent trib-ute to the parish.

After prayers, the guided tour and a

group photograph, it was down to theChurch Hall to commence the day’straining. Ms Patty Pserras introducednew teachers to the arrangements andorganisation of Scripture in StateSchools.

Mr Louis Chambers outlined the childprotection awareness aspects of teach-ing.

Ms Vicky Tsomis introduced the cur-riculum for 2015. She showed teachers

the new illustrated worksheets that havebeen produced as a booklet for 2015.

Mrs Kandia Taglalakis called upon twovolunteers and young Miss K atzakis todemonstrate how to use role play andother techniques in delivering a lesson.

Mrs Evangelia Vasili took teachersthrough aspects of classroom organisa-tion and group management.

Throughout the day teachers receivedthe warm hospitality from the hard-

working Philoptochos of the parish. Par-ticipants felt grateful for the friendly re-ception. Together with all the other ele-ments this added immensely to the suc-cess of the course.

Many remarked that it was their firstopportunity to visit the parish. Overallthe involvement of different parishes inthe program has brought a new dimen-sion to the training of teachers.

Over 130 teachers are involvedin thevoluntary special religious education pro-gram of the Archdiocese. Altogether theysee more children each week than anyother missionary activity of our Church.The special religious education programprovides a structured introduction to theOrthodox faith.

The teachers provide tangible evidencethat the Church cares for its children andreaches out to them.

Anyone interested in being involved inScripture teaching should discuss thiswith their parish priest. Young universitystudents who may act as an assistant areespecially welcome.

A spokesperson for the Archdiocesementioned that training programs can beorganised for small groups at a local lev-el if required.

It is now a formal requirement fromthe Department of E ducation that allteachers receive basic training and arecleared for a Working with ChildrenCheck. This aspect is covered in the BasicAccreditation Course.

The opportunity to visit the church ofSt George and to undertake this trainingwas considered a great blessing. As oneparticipant said: “Today I really feel Or-thodox. I feel part of something great. Itis good to be able to give back some ofwhat I have been blessed to receive.Thank you to St George, Rose Bay.”

Participants at the Basic Accreditation Course 2015

Reverend Fr Gerasimos, Fr Constantine,Fr Christodoulos and Fr Prohoros

Fr Gerasimos explaining the details in eachstained glass window

University stresses benefits of donkey, goat breeding“Donkeys and goats, so overlooked in

the past few decades, are the source to-day of value-added products,” stressesGeorgios Arsenos, an associate professorof veterinary medicine and head of theAnimal Husbandry Laboratory at Thessa-loniki’s Aristotle University.

The academic firmly believes that pro-moting the breeding of these two ani-mals provides an opportunity for innova-tion in Greek livestock farming, and he isdoing just that at his lab and at a barnthat has been set up right in the middleof the northern port city.

Experts estimate that in 1950 Greecehad a robust population of some 500,000donkeys. By 2000 that number had nose-dived to 15,000 and now stands atearound 12,500. However, in some partsof the country, donkeys are making acomeback, but not as beasts of burden,which was their traditional use in thepast. A number of farms are breedingdonkeys for their valuable milk anddairies are processing it for other prod-ucts. There are currently 15 such farmswith a total of 600 jennies.

“Donkey’s milk can be used in the cos-metics industry as well as for human con-

sumption once pasteurized,” says Ar-senos.

The selling price of products containingdonkey’s milk is a good indication oftheir superior qualities: A simple bar ofsoap goes for 5 euros, anti-aging soap for6-8 euros, shower gel around 20 euros,moisturizing cream at 16-20 euros, foodsupplements at 55 euros and liqueur for20 euros.

Goats are also an important resourcethat have been overshadowed by thewidespread breeding of sheep, cows andpigs, though Greece does breed thelargest number in Europe.

“Greece has the highest goat popula-tion in Europe, breeding around 5 millionheads. And even though Greece also has47.6 percent of the Europe Union’s milk-ing goats, breeding goats is the least de-veloped area of animal husbandry in thecountry,” says Arsenos.

To help the cause of the country’s don-keys and goats, the Aristotle has createda 200-square meter barn as part of theHelexpo fair, where animals will bemilked on a daily basis.

A small dairy attached to the barnshows the potential of processed donkey

and goat milk. Experts are also on handto answer questions regarding the prod-ucts and the facilities needed to breedthe animals.

“The barn, the equipment and animalspresent an environmentally friendly andsustainable breeding model,” explainsArsenos, urging potential breeders to re-ly on their own strengths rather thatseek subsidies.

“Subsidies, and more precisely the way

they were implemented, effectively de-stroyed Greek agriculture and livestockfarming,” argues Arsenos. “A subsidyshould be a tool for growth and not amotivation for idle minds. No form ofsubsidy should be given out in an uncon-trolled and horizontal fashion, as was thecase in the past, but only under specificconditions that are linked to the quantityand quality of the product being pro-duced.”

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Four Greekbeaches among

the best in Europe

Trip Advisor presented, after a vote a-mong the website’s community, a listwith the 25 best beaches in Europe for2015. Four Greek beaches are includedin the list. Elafonissi is on number 3,Eggremni beach in Lefkada follows atnumber 9. Another beautiful Cretanbeach, Balos, is seen on number 12 andfinally on number 13 we find St Paul’sBay in Lindos of Rhodes.

The 25 best European beaches of2015 are:

1. Rabbit Beach Lampedusa, Islands of Sicily

2. Playa de Ses Illetes – Formentera,Balearic Islands

3. Elafonissi Beach, Greece 4. Woolacombe Beach

United Kingdom 5. Iztuzu Beach Dalyan, Turkey 6. Fig Tree Bay Protaras, Cyprus 7. Cala Rossa Favignana, Aegadian

Islands, Islands of Sicily 8. Weymouth Beach United Kingdom 9. Eggremni Beach Lefkada,

Ionian Islands 10. Playa de Bolonia Tarifa, Spain 11. Rhossili Bay Rhossili,

United Kingdom 12. Balos Beach and Lagoon

Kissamos, Greece 13. St Pauls Bay Lindos, Greece 14. St. Brelade’s Bay Beach St Brelade,

United Kingdom 15. Playa de las Catedrales Ribadeo,

Spain 16. La Pelosa Beach Stintino, Italy 17. La Concha Beach San Sebastian -

Donostia, Spain 18. Porthminster Beach St Ives,

United Kingdom 19. Cala Mariolu Baunei, Italy 20. Praia Dona Ana Lagos, Portugal 21. Praia da Falesia Albufeira, Portugal 22. Kaputas Beach Kas, Turkey 23. Cala Comte Ibiza Town, Spain 24. Jurmala Beach Jurmala, Latvia 25. Cote des Basques Biarritz, France

Elafonissi Beach Eggremni Beach Balos Beach

St Paul’s Bay


Left: His Grace Bishop Nikandros of Dorylaeon, Hon. Ian Hunter MLC representing the Premier of South Australia and Dr Michael Ikonomos, Chairman of the Centre. Right: Guests, volunteers and members at the Of ficial Opening.

Matt Williams MP, Federal Member for Hindmarsh with His Grace Bishop Nikandros

Above and below:Volunteers and team members at the Official Opening

Official Opening of the S.A. Greek Welfare

Centre’s new premisesAmidst an air of excitement, His Grace

Bishop Nikandros of Dorylaeon officiallyblessed and opened the South AustralianGreek Welfare Centre’s new premises onHenley Beach Road, Torrensville, on 17February 2015.

The Centre, a not-for-profit organisa-tion providing care programs designed tomeet the needs of the Greek community,has been proudly serving the wider-Ade-laide community for 36 years. The relo-cation to new premises signifies the cur-rent Board of Management’s commit-ment to the strategic development andgrowth of the Centre, which has experi-enced significant expansion recently inregards to its community services andclient base.

Well known in the Greek Australiancommunity, the Centre’s reputation forexcellence in program delivery and serv-ice was the primary driver for the reloca-tion with the new, larger premises pro-viding greater accessibility of servicesand the ability to expand its programs.

The new centre-based day care pro-grams, launched last year under the ban-ner of KIPSELI, aim to provide care cur-riculums for the elderly and include asuite of creative activities. To date, theKIPSELI program has been enthusiastical-ly embraced by the broader community,and the Centre is looking to expand itsprograms further this year.

The Centre has been publically com-mended for its programs, which includeState and Commonwealth home andcommunity care programs along with re-search projects, with much of the Cen-tre’s success attributed to the significantcontribution of its volunteers.

The Centre is closely aligned with theVolunteering Strategy for South Australiaand, as a leading organisation, continues

to raise the status and profile of volun-teering in the State by increasing oppor-tunities for those willing to be involvedin giving back to the community.

In addition to the new premises, theGreek Welfare Centre launched its newand expanded website. The site now of-fers a one-stop information hub for allsupport services and information for theCentre, as well as the opportunity forpeople to register their interest as a vol-unteer.

It is the Centre’s ability to be flexible intimes of change that has seen it lead theway in community services within theageing sector. There is strong beliefamong the Centre’s team that being re-silient and open to change will enablethe continuing delivery of exceptionalcustomer service to its clients and the a-bility to contribute positively to the com-munity well into the future.

Showing their support for the Centreand attending the launch event were theHon. Ian Hunter ML C, representing thePremier of SA, along with Vincent TarziaMP, representing the State LiberalLeader, and the F ederal Member forHindmarsh, Matt Williams MP. Also in at-tendance were current and former mem-bers of Parliament and Local Govern-ment together with Mr Andreas Con-stantinos Gouras, Consul General ofGreece in South Australia, Dr MichaelIkonomos, Chairman of the Greek Wel-fare Centre, as well as Volunteers and In-dustry Stakeholders from MulticulturalAged Care, Multicultural CommunitiesCouncil of SA , and Volunteering SA/NTand others.

For more information and contact de-tails for the Greek Welfare Centre andits services, please visit their new web-site at www.greekwelfaresa.org.au.


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TO BHMA12/30 MARCH 2015The Greek Australian VEMA


Greece awarded as“Destination of Year 2013”

Greek Diaspora of Sydney offers

unique artwork toNSW State ParliamentOn the occasion of the 100th anniversary since

Anzac forces arrived on the island of Lemnos,Greece, on March 4, 1915, the Greek Diaspora ofSydney offered a unique artwork by NikolasFoteinos to the New South Wales State Parlia-ment, in the presence of Australian MPs andGreek community members.

At the initiative of the Consul General of Greecein Sydney, Stavros K yrimis, a painting inspired bythe photo depicting the arrival of Australian nurs-es in Lemnos in August 1915 was offered to theState Parliament.

In his address, Australian MP Andrew Frasercongratulated Foteinos as well as the Consul Gen-eral for his initiative. He said that the painting is asignificant addition to the Parliament’s collectionand it will be presented in a public space duringthis year’s anniversary.

Liz Kaydos, a member of the “Lemnos 1915”commission, mentioned Albert William Savage,the Anzac forces’ photographer in Lemnos. Hispriceless heritage collection includes 140 photo-graphs of Anzac forces in the Gallipoli battlefield.

Socrates retried andacquitted in AustraliaThe Hellenic Museum of Melbourne “resurrect-

ed” Socrates for a retrial. Almost 2,400 years afterthe famous Greek philosopher was sentenced todeath by poison, he was once again put to trial inAustralia, in the presence of some of the country’sgreatest legal minds.

Socrates changed Western thinking and inspiredsome of history’s greatest minds, however, duringhis time, a jury of his peers found him guilty ofimpiety and corrupting the youth.

The Hellenic Museum of Melbourne hosted a re-trial on Saturday, March 7, featuring significantlawyers and judges from Australia, such as JulianBurnside, Nicholas Papas, Ronald Merkel, Eliza-beth King, Supreme Court of Victoria justices Emil-ios Kyrou and Lex Lasry, and District Court of Vic-toria judge Felicity Hampel. The event was attend-ed by 300 people who took on the role of jurors.

Greek-Australian actor Tony Nikolakopoulostook on the role of Socrates while Greek-Aus-tralian actor Lex Marinos played the role of Mele-tus, who is mostly known for prosecuting Socratesin the trial that led to the philosopher’s execution.

This time around, Socrates was found innocent,a fact that must have brought some peace to theminds of historians and philosophers across theglobe.

Greeks in Melbourne impressed by Aboriginal Academic’s Lecture

Distinguished Aboriginal academic and activist DrGary Foley (pictured) called for the Parthenon Marbles’and Australian indigenous artifacts’ return from theBritish Museum to their rightful place, in his lectureduring a series of seminars on Greek History and Cul-ture, organized for the fifth consecutive year by theGreek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria.

The successful event took place earlier this month atthe Greek Centre for Contemporary Culture and was at-tended by more than 200 people. Foley spoke about hisfirst encounter with Greek-Australians and the supporthe received from the community in his campaign forthe indigenous artifacts’ return from the British Muse-um.

Greek Community President Vasilis Papastergiadismade his speech in Greek, as part of the “Speak Greekin March” campaign. He stressed that the Communityappreciated the significance of F oley’s participation inthe seminar and the topic of his lecture. Furthermore,he noted that copies of the Parthenon Marbles willsoon be placed in front of the community building.

Introducing Foley, Professor Nikos Papastergiadisfrom the University of Melbourne, spoke about his ac-tivities and struggles for the rights of Aboriginals.

On his part, F oley spoke about the British Museum’s

refusal to return the artifacts to the natives of Victoriaand noted that several of the items have been stored ina British Museum closet for more than 150 years.

He then stressed that Greeks have a right to requestthe Parthenon Marbles’ return. He also commented onthe fact that the marbles are often called “Elgin Mar-bles,” noting that it is outrageous for the statues to becalled after the man who stole them from Greece.

Greek businesswoman among most successful in Australia

For the second consecutive year, 30-year-old Greekbusinesswoman Dimitra Markogiannaki (pictured) wasnamed one of Australia’s top female entrepreneurs un-der 40.

Dimitra “Demi” Markogiannaki was born and raised inAthens, though her parents originated from K alavry-taand Chania. Six years ago, she arrived to Australia forher postgraduate studies at Melbourne University, andstarted working in the country. Meanwhile, one of herfriends said that she should create a website for peoplewho wish to learn more on trades, such as cooking,photography and painting.

For six months they worked on the project and in theend they created WeTeachMe, a community platformwhich provides tips for creating and promoting newbusinesses. Only a few years later, Markogiannakis wasplaced 29th on the list of the top 50 female entrepre-neurs under 40 in Australia, published by Startup Dailymagazine.

“We talked with at least 100 professionals from vari-

ous fields, teachers, artists, people who made jewelryor taught cooking. We wanted to know what thebiggest problems they face in their work were, to seehow we could help them. Most of them explained thattheir businesses were experiencing serious financial dif-ficulties, since they were unable to meet the costs forstaff. After a certain point they would do it all on theirown, which was exhausting, until they were finallyforced to close their businesses,” noted Demi Marko-giannaki.

The young Greek entrepreneur along with her part-ners met the need of the Australian market. “Our sitehosts up to 12,000 different courses. We just bring theteacher in touch with the prospective students. Afterthat, they arrange how and when they want to meet,since the courses are not online. We earn 3% of theteacher’s fee. We provide an automatic integrated elec-tronic secretarial program to businesses that offer thecourses and pay a monthly fee to the site,” she ex-plained.


Crete top destination for AustraliansAustralians placed the Greek island of Crete on the

top of European island destinations. According to thecountry’s most popular tr avel website, traveller.com.au, a close a ssociate of TripAdvisor, the mos tbeautiful island in Europe is Crete, which “is both thelargest and most varied” among the Greek islands.

“Historical sights are topped by the ruins of theKnossos Palace, the pinnacle of the Minoan civi lisa-tion. It’s just to the south of Crete’s capital, Iraklio (al-so called Heraklion). There are also some tremendousbeaches – particularly Elafonisi in the south-w esterncorner – while Samaria Gorge offers one of the conti-nent’s great canyon hikes,” noted the website.

Furthermore, Crete is also lar ge enough t o have“substantial mountains, dotted with picturesque mo-nasteries such as the culturally symbolic Moni Arka-diou,” traveller.com.au added.

The travel website’s “Six of the be st: European is-lands” list also include d Ibiza, Spain; Malta; Sky e,Scotland; Hvar, Croatia and Sicily, Italy.

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greekislands, and the fifth-lar gest island in the Me diter-ranean Sea. The main island and a number of sur-rounding islets constitute the r egion of Cr ete. Thecapital and the largest city is Heraklion.

Crete forms a significant part of the ec onomy and

cultural heritage of Greece, while retaining its own lo-cal cultural traits, such as its own poetry and music. Itwas once the center of the Minoan civilization, which

is currently regarded as the earliest recorded civiliza-tion in Europe.

Greek director Diagoras Chronopoulos

passes away at 76Famous Greek film and theatre director Diagoras Chronopoulos

(pictured) passed away at the age of 76 after a long battle with can-cer. He was the Art Theatre director from 2004 to September 2014and until his death, he was the Greek Art Theatre School’s director.

Chronopoulos was born in 1939 in Jerusalem and s tudied law atthe University of Athens, while simultaneously studying at the ArtTheater. He participated in numerous plays as an actor but also inGreek films.

In 1965, he tr aveled to Paris where he studied and acted at thePeople’s Theater in France. During the Greek Military Junta, he wasimprisoned for his p articipation in an independen t resistancegroup.

He has directed ancient Greek and c ontemporary plays at theHerodion and Epida vros theaters, as well as films, TV serie s anddocumentaries for Greek public broadcaster ERT.

He has been honored for his overall contribution to theater bythe Cultural Events Association in Patras. As the Art The atre direc-tor he always supported young artists’ efforts.

Google ‘s online tourism initiative reaches

more Greek destinationsGoogle has announced the expansion of the

program aimed at helping Greek tourism grow,according to a recent press conference. The ini-tiative “Grow Greek Tourism Online” s tartedearly in September 2014, in Crete, where morethan 650 local tourism businesses were trainedin online tools to enhance their tourism growthrates throughout the year. The initiative, organ-ized by Google in c ollaboration with the GreekMinistry of Tourism, GNTO and SETE, wi ll beexpanding in Peloponnese, Cyclades, the IonianIslands, Macedonia, Dodecanese and Attica.

Tourism is Greece’s most profitable. In 2014,it was estimated that tourism yielded about 17billion euro in the Gr eek economy, accountingfor more than 20.5% of GDP and 20% of em-ployment. The opportunity f or further growthin the industry through online activity could in-crease Greece’s GDP by 3%, gener ating up t o100,000 new jobs, not ed Google’s partnershipdirector in Greece, Dionysis Kolokotsas.

The internet is now part of people’s everydaylives, with 5 1% of EU households using it f ortheir travels. In Gr eece, only 10% of in terna-tional tourist arrivals are booked via the In ter-net, because of Greek tourism businesses’ lowweb presence. At the same time, whi le onlinesearches for holidays in Gr eece remain highduring most of the year, approximately 70% oftourist arrivals take place during the summermonths, allowing the possi bility of incr easingarrivals beyond the main tourist season.

The initiative aims to help Greek companieslearn about the international search trends notonly in k ey tourism markets interested inGreece but in e ach individual de stination, as

well as the best techniques to showcase theirbusiness on the internet. In addition, the com-panies will learn how to use internet marketingtools to strengthen their pr e-sence in se archresults and Google Maps, as well as promotingtheir offers.

Google is expanding the initiative with eventsin Kalamata and Mykonos on March 23 and 27,respectively, as well as in Corfu, The ssaloniki,Rhodes and Athens on Apri l 16, 21, 24 and 29respectively. All local enterprises directly or in-directly related to the tourism industry can en-roll and a ttend the fr ee events through thewebsite g.co/GrowGreekTourism.


Prokopis Pavlopoulos sworn in as the 7th President of the Hellenic Republic

Newly elected President of the Hellenic RepublicProkopis Pavlopoulos was sworn in on Friday March 13at a ceremony in the country’s Parliament, amid heavyrain. The new Greek President took the traditional oathadministered by Archbishop Ieronymos. Pavlopoulos,who is Greece ’s former Interior Minister in Kostas Kara-manlis’ cabinet, is the seventh President of the HellenicRepublic.

The Greek President recited the following religiousoath before the Parliament: “I swear in the name of theHoly and consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity to safe-guard the Constitution and the laws, to care for thefaithful observance thereof, to defend the national in-dependence and territorial integrity of the Country, toprotect the rights and liberties of the Greeks and toserve the general interest and the progress of the GreekPeople.”

After the ceremony, Pavlopoulos laid a wreath at theTomb of the Unknown Soldier in downtown Athens andthen went to the Presidential Mansion to assume hisnew responsibilities, replacing Karolos Papoulias, whoheaded Greece for 10 years.

The former New Democracy Minister was nominatedfor the Greek Presidency by newly elected Prime Minis-ter Alexis Tsipras last month. Pavlopoulos was electedin his new post on February 18 with 233 positive votes,while he needed to secure over 180 out of 300 votes inorder to win the election. He was elected for a five-yearterm. Pavlopoulos’ nomination was also supported byNew Democracy and junior coalition partner Independ-ent Greeks (ANEL). The second candidate, nominatedby opposition party “To Potami” and supported by PA-SOK was Nicos Alivizatos.

The Greek Parliament had failed to elect a new Presi-dent three times in late 2014. The last attempt wasmade on December 29, 2014, and in line with the GreekConstitution, a general election was held in the countrywithin a month of the failed vote. On January 25, leftistSYRIZA won the snap elections.

Who is Prokopis Pavlopoulos?

Sixty-four-year-old Pavlopoulos was born in Kalamataand attended the Law School of the University of

Athens in 1968. In addition, he studied law at Universitede Paris II on a French Government scholarship and wasawarded his postgraduate studies Diplome d’ etudesapprofondies (DEA) in 1975 and his doctorate in PublicLaw in 1977 with honorable mention. From 1978 to1979 he served his military service in Greece. He waselected a Lecturer at the University of Athens in 1980and was promoted to Reader in 1981. In 1983, he be-came Assistant Professor and was later promoted to As-sociate Professor in 1986. In 1989, he was elected Pro-fessor of Administrative Law.

In 1974, he was appointed as secretary of Greek Pres-ident Michail Stasinopoulos. He first served as an Alter-nate Minister for the Presidency from November 1989to April 1990 and was also the spokesperson ofXenophon Zolotas’ ecumenical government. From 1990to 1995 he was the legal adviser of President Konstanti-nos Karamanlis.

He was elected as MP for the New Democracy partyin the 1996 parliamentary election. He was appointed

as New Democracy’s Press and Information Spokesmanby party President Miltiadis Evert on April 1996. In2000, 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2012, he was nominatedand elected as MP representing the Athens First Elec-toral Constituency. He became New Democracy’s Par-liamentary Spokesman in April 2000. Following theMarch 2004 general elections - won by N. Democracy -Pavlopoulos became Interior, Public Administration andDecentralization Minister in the new government ofPrime Minister Kostas Karamanlis on March 10, 2004.Following the 2007 general elections, won again byNew Democracy, the Interior Ministry merged with thePublic Order Ministry, of which Pavlopoulos becameMinister.

Pavlopoulos is a member of New Democracy’s CentralCommittee and in 2004 was designated as a member ofthe party’s Political Council, as one of seven MP candi-dates.

He is married to Vlassia Pavlopoulou-Peltsemi and hastwo daughters and one son.

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Katerina + Kyriacos Mavrolefteros

Top 10 job positions

young Greeks wish forThe Greek Generation Y would like to

work for a multi-national corporationwith good pay, job security and a goodbalance between work and personal life.

According to a survey conducted bythe Athens University of Economics andBusiness in conjunction with kariera.gr,eight out of 10 young Greeks would pre-fer a big international corporation as anemployer. The other two would like towork for the former public telecommuni-cations company — Cosmote – OTE, nowowned by Deutsche Telekom — or theNational Bank of Greece which is partlyowned by the Greek state. The firstchoice is the Google corporation.

It should be noted that unemploymentfor young Greeks is almost 50 percent,while the latest total unemployment fig-ure was 26 percent.

Almost 2,000 Greeks aged 18-30 par-

ticipated in the study that was called“Career and Generation Y.” They were alluniversity students or graduates fromhigher education institutions all overGreece. The average pay they desiredwas 1,040 euros per month in the publicsector and 1,090 euros in the privatesector. However, no public sector jobwas on the top 10 list of preference.

Specifically, young Greeks would liketo work for the following companies:

1. Google2. Coca Cola3. Procter & Gamble4. Microsoft5. Cosmote - OTE6. Unilever7. Mondelez (formerly Kraft)8. PricewaterhouseCoopers9. Nestle10 National Bank of Greece

Newly elected President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos was sworn in on Friday March 13 at a ceremony inthe country’s Parliament.


Best described as ‘Generative Soundscapes’ and‘Algorithm Music, ’Jim John Marks has devel-oped a style of sound that goes beyond main-stream, taking the listener to a place they knewexisted.

Jim’s entire life seems to have a soundtrack playingalong as he experiences it. His current music library fea-tures music from every place except Antarctica, severalcenturies of composition and over sixty genres rangingfrom the serenely ethereal to the brutally aggressive. Infact, he can only name two genres of music with whichhe struggles to enjoy listening, and he is almost alwayslistening - unless he’s making music himself.

His earliest memories include his parents listening torecords while painting a room in the house and failedattempts at lessons on the family piano. School broughtwith it the recorder orchestra in fourth grade, a failedattempt at saxophone in fifth grade band, and choralsinging which began in junior high. Church brought withit the rich tradition of the Wesleyan hymns sung byMethodists, more singing with the choir and (in the ear-ly 90’s, while in college) and a brief flirtation with non-denominational “contemporary” worship.

He was given his first guitar at age twelve and beganto take his progress with the instrument seriously whilein college (Gordon College, located on The North Shoreof Massachusetts, class of ’91). Teenaged efforts at po-etry gave way to song writing, and following in the foot-steps of so many other young men, Jim’s college yearswere spent focusing almost as much on “the band” asthey were on studies.

In 1998, Jim formed his first professional band in theBoston music scene. This group cut three albums overthe course of the next eight years, and performed hun-dreds of concerts, including opening for nationally tour-ing acts. Band member participation in graduate schoolbrought this effort to an end, and Jim formed a sideproject with the audio engineer who had recordedthose albums for the band. This produced three live in-stallations and two albums in just three years - at whichpoint life circumstances found Jim moving back toChicago.

These bands had brought another instrument intoJim’s soundtrack alongside the guitar and his voice:electronic sequencing. During the professional band eraof his life, Jim also participated in a number of improvi-sational and collaborative electronic music projectswhich sought to explode the stereotypical boundariesof repetitive, straight rhythm-based music so often pro-duced by sequencers.

While in Chicago the second time, without collabora-tors for the first time in his musical life, Jim began toturn inward. He became fascinated with growing possi-bilities with computer produced music that allowed forthe introduction of a random element to disrupt therepetitions. With the capacity to ensure these devia-tions remained not only within a given key, but alsowithin a given set of chord progressions, Jim began towonder if one could produce generative, algorithm-dri-ven music which could be improvised over, live, in realtime, by skilled musicians without fear of a “crash”caused by an unexpected note. E arly experiments withdeveloping how this would be possible resulted in cof-fee house performances in Chicago which began with asingle note that was manipulated over the course of anhour into entire song structures without the addition ofany new notes. Despite this, the results were not yetmature enough to facilitate solos by live musicians.

Circumstances again conspired to relocate Jim toHouston Texas in 2009. Within six months of arriving, anearly 20 year journey reached its culmination whenJim began attending St George Antiochian OrthodoxChurch. Almost immediately recruited into the choir,

and shortly after being chrismated, his life was nowplaying out to a whole new kind of soundtrack. Instru-ments and computers were set aside for some years asJim put all his focus into learning the music of the One,Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Jim met iconographer Nick Papas late in 2011 whenhe also moved to Houston Texas. A fast friendshipformed, and something prompted Jim to suggest theidea of a “collaboration” in the mode of the artists’ sa-lons of centuries past. The collaboration came to benicknamed Cenobimono, a portmanteau of cenobiticand kimono. Jim liked the idea of harkening to themonastic communities and their deeply internationalways of living. Nick wanted to avoid an overtly Greekname for the group. Jim joked (referencing My Big F atGreek Wedding) that all words were Greek words, evenkimono is a Greek word. Not wanting to take them-selves too seriously, the name has stuck. Little did Jimknow how much the soundtrack of his life was about tochange once again.

Unsure at first what this would even mean in a practi-cal sense, little resulted until the middle of 2013 whenNick suggested a focused effort on the Western (post-schism) saint Drogo the Ugly. Deeply inspired by thiscompelling life, the two produced an event, hosted inNick’s studio, in F ebruary of 2014 which featured adozen large scale abstract canvases and nine sound-scapes representing roughly three hours of music whichwere improvised,live, by fellow St George parishionerAlan Richards on his rare and evocative Gittler guitar.After seven years of wandering, Jim’s vision for a non-repetitive, live electronic music completely in sync withimprovising musicians was realized! The canvases andsoundscapes (sadly without Alan’s amazing contribu-tion) were exhibited a second time, in June, at Lone StarCollege’s Cyfair campus where both Jim and Nick wereable to speak to students about the work. A second col-lection of work, exhibited at Nick’s studio on F ebruary6, 2015, focused on the new theme of the vesperalPsalm of creation “103/104” and features the work ofadditional collaborators.

While there are days that his soundtrack needs a sadsong, an angry song, a song of triumph or a song of fail-ure, there is never a day where his soundtrack excludesthe hymns of the Church which always bring peace, joyand hope.

You can listen & download his music at: jimjohnmarks.bandcamp.comsoundcloud.com/jimjohnmarks

If you’re a filmmaker or artist who lives an Orthodox Christianlifestyle, feel free to contact me, Chris,on 0423 273 803 to discussways to promote your work.

Digital MosaicWhere the Ancient Faith + 21st century media merge

Where the Ancient Faith + 21st century media merge

By Chris VlahonasiosFounder & DirectorOFA blog + B yzanfest + THE MOVINGICON

Greek shipping tycoon offers to pay Amal Clooney fee for Parthenon Marbles’ returnAn unnamed Greek shipping tycoon has offered to

pay the fees of Amal Clooney and the law firm sheworks for, Doughty Street Chambers, in order to helprepatriate the famous Parthenon Marbles from theBritish Museum.

Last October, Amal Clooney, lawyer and wife of fa-mous actor George Clooney, visited Greece in order todiscuss the legal aspects of bringing back theParthenon Marbles with the Greek government.

According to a London Times report, a former GreekCulture Ministry official said that a shipping magnate,who operates in both Athens and London, and prefersto remain anonymous, offered to pay the legal feesfor the endeavor.

The former official declined to say who approachedwho. He said the government had deemed the fees“too extravagant”.

The official quoted by the British newspaper workedfor former Culture Minister K onstantinos Tasoulaswho had started a campaign to claim back the Greeksculptures from the British Museum and had invitedthe team of lawyers in Athens.

“The arrangement came immediately after MrsClooney and her boss, Geoffrey Robertson, visitedAthens three months ago,” the newspaper quotedhim as saying. He claimed the offer of outside aide al-lowed the Greek government to sidestep a public ten-der for the work, which he said would have been

“controversial for both sides.” The Greek shipownersaid his involvement is a patriotic gesture for Greece.

“Ever since, billing fees have been going straight tohim,” the former official said. When asked, Robertsonsaid their fees would be paid by “a group of philan-thropists at no expense to the Greek people,” thenewspaper reported.

UNESCO is the mediator in the negotiations be-tween Greece and the British Museum. The museumholds the sculptures since Lord Elgin sold them in theearly 1800s. Athens has been trying to get them backfor years.

The London lawyers are due to present a long reportto the Greek government in the coming weeks.

Jim John Marks: now inspired by the hymns of the Church


Greece awarded as“Destination of Year 2013”

New archaeological findings in Vergina,Northern Greece

Clay figurines and other important findings wereunearthed by archaeologists in the Tsakiridis sectionin the centre of the ancient Greek city Aegae inVergina, northern Greece.

The artifacts were presented as part of the Archae-ological Conference on the 2014 excavations in Mace-donia and Thrace, which takes place at Aristotle Uni-versity of Thessaloniki.

According to the archaeological team statement,excavations in the Tsakiridis sector began in 2005-2006 and since then they take place in small time pe-riods, with little financial means. “During the short ex-cavation periods we have come across several inter-esting findings from the city’s late Hellenistic and Ro-man era,” noted the archaeologists.

Twenty-one graves were found in the necropolis ofAegae, six of which had not been looted. One of themost impressive findings in the necropolis was abeautiful mirror, which was found in the tomb of ayoung girl (4th century BC). Her parents had buriedher along with gold ornaments, earrings and beads,and a small, bronze masterpiece, a mirror with Erosand Dionysus carved on the lid. Eros (Cupid) is depict-ed as a young child that flies to embrace the ancientGreek god of lust and passion (Dionysus).

The richest tomb in the necropolis which had unfor-tunately been looted contained fragments from a fu-nerary bed which was decorated with clay carvedplaques, depicting the ancient Greek goddess A thenawatching a battle between Greeks and barbarians.

A wine lover's paradise on Mount Vertsikos

By Tassoula Eptakili - Kathimerini, Athens

“The silence will hurt your ears,” master distillerAnestis Babatzimopoulos (pictured) warns me from thedriver’s seat as we head from the plains of Langada upthe winding roads of Mount Vertsikos in Central Mace-donia, northern Greece. As soon as I step out of the carwhen we reach our destination, I get what he was talk-ing about. I look out at well-tended vineyards, while be-hind me is woodland with stately oak, beech and chest-nut trees.

Only the fluttering of a bird or the passage of somesmall animal through the leaves upsets the absolute si-lence in this 55-hectare paradise.

“I have plenty of friends here: geese, wood pigeons,hares, storks, herons, deer and foxes,” my host says,laughing. “And above all, I have my vines. Look at them!Isn’t it wonderful how this plant has the power to growmore beautiful by the day? I see this and it gives me somuch vigor. I know nothing of weariness and age, eventhough I’m 74.”

It is a delight to listen to Babatzimopoulos tell his sto-ries, be they of his family – which hailed from Constan-tinople and created a famous brand of raki – or of hisown personal journey.

“A few days ago a group of elementary school chil-dren had come for a visit. We have a lot of school visitsall year round,” he tells me. “I gave the children a bit ofgrape must to try in a plastic cup. Then we climbed upthe hill and they filled their cups with dirt – after writingtheir names on them – and planted an acorn in them.When they come back in the spring, we will take theshoots and plant them in the woods. That’s the onlyway they will understand the cycle of nature, and oflife.”

Babatzimopoulos came across the location of his fu-ture estate while working as a delivery man for a fami-ly-owned distillery that made ouzo and tsipouro.

“Most of the fields were abandoned because many ofthe area’s young people had emigrated to Germany. Itbroke my heart,” he says. He bought his first parcels ofland in 1970 and started planting his vines in 1974.

“From an easygoing life in Thessaloniki, dancing andhanging out with my friends, I found myself diggingholes on Mount Vertsikos.”

Babatzimopoulos was fortunate to draw the attentionof Stavroula Kourakou, a great lady of Greek wine.

“Her advice was invaluable,” he says. “With time Ilearned to respect the vines. I did a lot of reading andstarted discovering the wealth of foreign varieties. I be-

gan planting Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardon-nay.”

Today, beside these international varieties, he alsogrows lesser-known grapes such as Ugni Blanc and Gre-co di Tufo, as well as Greek staples like Xinomavro,Roditis, Malagouzia, Moschofilero and Malvasia.

The vineyard is at an altitude of 620 meters and en-joys an ideal climate: cold winters, fresh springs andmoderate summers. The grapes are grown organicallyand yield around 150,000 bottles a year. The on-site oe-nologists are Christos Vavatsis (Babatzimopoulos’s ne-phew) and Malama Giatreli, both well-educated youngscientists who love their work and the estate in particu-lar.

Babatzimopoulos finished building his winery in 2000and then embarked on the business of wine tourism,adding a restaurant-cafe to the premises. The twobuildings are made of local stone sourced from theproperty itself. “It gave the vines some air and I didn’thave to pay anything,” says the entrepreneur.

Museum shows there’s more

to Greek music than bouzouki

Tucked away in a corner of Athens’ historic Plakadistrict is a small museum showing that there ismore to Greek music than “Zorba’s Dance” and“Never on Sunday.”

In fact, the Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instru-ments, or MELMOKE, contains barely any bou-zoukis, the quintessential Greek instrument thatoften accompanies the smashing of plates in over-seas Greek restaurants.

Instead, visitors are treated to rows of wood andbone flutes, pottery drums called toumbeleki, andgaida - bagpipes made of sheep or goat skins.

On a recent Saturday, the basement was echoingto the sounds of students learning to sing and playold-style, including using a santouri, a type of ham-mer dulcimer.

“Traditional music was live until recently,” saidPetros Moustakas, a musicologist at MELMOKE,which is designed to protect the heritage and keepthe old way going.

Modern Greek music is very popular in Greeceand unlike many European countries the local faretends to outnumber English and American importsin music shops.

It is more like pop and disco, but Moustakas saysit still uses the “modes” of traditional music, albeitin a far more urban way.

Other forms of Greek music do too, such as rem-betika, nearly always called Greek blues because itwas first played by the poor around the Piraeusdocks.

But the MELMOKE is primarily about raw, ruralsound from Greek’s mountainous mainland andscattered islands.

Most of the roughly 1,200 items owned by themuseum come from the collection of critic and mu-sicologist Fivos Anoyanakis, who died in 2003. Theydate from the 18th century to the present day, al-though there is scant sign of anything commercial -and certainly not electric.

The oldest item, according to Moustakas, is a1743 lyra from Crete, a small teardrop-shaped,three-stringed instrument with a head carved withvarious symbols. It is played by a bow with bells onit.

One of the more magnificent objects on display,meanwhile, is a 19th century laghouto, or lute, in-laid with ivory and tortoise shell.

It is said to have been made by luthier ManolisVenios of Constantinople (present day Istanbul), amaster craftsman whose works now sell for manythousands of dollars.

Tafelmusik: Art and MusicBy Dr Imogen Coward

Although ‘classical’ or art-music performances are to-day often marked by stultifying clinical removal of any-thing that may distract from the music, including theperformers talking to the audience, or clothing morecolourful than all black, the concept of linking the Artsto enhance the audiences’ engagement with the mate-rial being presented is one that has been recognisedsince Ancient times. It has a long and fascinating historyand the melding together of these - in particular Poetry,Music and Painting (often referred to in the 18th centu-ry as Sister Arts) - lies at the core of the artforms of The-atre, Opera and Film, bringing together words, musicand visuals.

It was not uncommon for a play to have incidentalmusic, including to allow for scene changes and to en-hance the emotional impact of the drama. Opera, whichhistorically places music as its principle focus (over dra-ma or visuals), can be traced to 16th century experi-ments in reviving the Greek dramatic style. These re-sulted in the development of ‘stile recitativo’ and facili-tated the composition of dramatic music and the devel-opment of Opera. Film, in many ways is an inheritor ofboth of these artforms, but has visuals as its main pre-occupation. Increasingly today, classical music ensem-bles are incorporating non-musical content and art-forms into their concerts, such as the major Australiansymphonies’ recent movie music shows, and the Aus-tralian Chamber Orchestra’s collaborative projects withvisual artists.

As part of Musica Viva’s international artist season for2015, Australian capital cities were recently treated toperformances by the premier Canadian Baroque or-chestra Tafelmusik, as they toured Australasia withtheir new multi-media production House of Dreams.

For Tafelmusik a multimedia presentation is not en-tirely novel but, as lutenist Lucas Harris shared in an in-terview for the Vema, it is a departure in many waysfrom the bulk of their performance season which is pre-sented more traditionally in their home venue, Trinity-

St Paul’s Centre, in Toronto, Canada. On the one hand, Tafelmusik is very much focused on

historically informed performance practices, utilisingthe instruments (or replicas) that would have been usedin the Baroque era, and the players each being special-ists in historical performance practice. On the otherhand, their thorough engagement with research intothe historical times also served as a basis for a concertformat that is both inspired by the Baroque, but thor-oughly modern in it’s use of multimedia.

A far cry from your usual concert performance, Tafel-musik’s House of Dreams was designed by Alison Mack-ay (who is also Tafelmusik’s double-bass/violone play-er), set around five historical houses and the artworksand music associated with them, with the title of theconcert coming from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. A selec-tion of movements from works Baroque composers waspresented as part of a narrative constructed around artand history of the times, including the highly recognis-able paintings by Canaletto, Watteau, Vermeer and oth-ers.

While some elements of a more ‘traditional’ art musicconcert were retained (such as the performers wearing

all black, and the ‘fourth wall’ dividing the audiencefrom the performers) the use of a narrator, projectionsof paintings and photographs of the houses, stage light-ing, semi-theatrical stage set up, choreography to cre-ate two theatrical Acts with each act being a seamlessunit, made for a very different experience.

The challenge of marrying elements that were not ori-ginally created to function together as a cohesive unit,and are derived from different art-forms, is one whichAlison Mackay and Tafelmusik clearly relishes. It is alsoperhaps a natural extension of what the ensemble’s di-rector, violinist Jeanne Lamon, defines as a feature ofhistorical performance ensembles, namely their role incontextualising the music from the Baroque period for amodern audience.

While this way of presenting music is something thatperhaps takes getting used to, the skill and artistry ofthe musicians was very much present in full force, aparticular feature of the programme being that it wasentirely presented from memory. No music, no musicstands for any of the 17 performers on-stage; a featwhich, according to Lucas Harris, was both liberatingand, at the same time terrifying, requiring supremememory skills (and as any musician can relate to, also agood deal of extra rehearsal).

If that wasn’t enough, the choice of music was arollercoaster through the late 17th and 18th centuries,sampling some of the ‘best bits’ of the large composi-tional output from composers like Handel, Vivaldi andBach. The sense of team-work, the genuinely impro-vised embellishments (especially by Olivier F ortin -harpsichord, and Lucas Harris - lute) and the fact thatvirtually all the performers had at least one item wherethey took the role of soloist brought the high-calibre ofall the members of the Tafelmusik into the spotlight.

This was Musica Viva’s second invitation for Tafel-musik to tour Australia - the first being four years ago,with their initial multi-media presentation The GalileoProject. In May 2015 they will premier their next mem-orized programme designed by Alison Mackay “Bachand the Circle of Creation”, in Toronto, Canada.


Arts, Food & WineEditor: Imogen Coward

Tafelmusik House of Dreams © Keith Saunders courtesy of Musica Viva

© Glenn Davidson


By Fanny Andre - Kathimerini, Athens

Forty years after Cyprus was divided bya bloody conflict, the island’s Greek andTurkish communities are trying to over-come their differences and find an un-usual common cause: halloumi cheese.

Efforts to have the increasingly popular“squeaky” cheese granted a protectedEuropean Union status have raised fearsthat Turkish Cypriot producers will be ex-cluded.

But cheese-makers on both sides arefacing increasing competition from out-side producers and are looking to setaside their divisions to protect their busi-ness.

“If we collaborate, if we can come to-gether and find a solution for this prob-lem it will help to find a solution for theCyprus problem also,” said Ali Cirali, thehead of the Turkish Cypriot chamber ofindustry.

“This will bring the producers togetherfrom both communities, because bothsides will win.”

Once a niche food, the rubbery hallou-mi has now become a staple in many k-itchens outside Cyprus, especially inBritain and the United States.

Made traditionally from a mixture ofmilk from sheep and goats, the cheesehas become a favorite of the barbecueseason, its high melting point allowing itto be grilled or even fried.

The cheese has been made in Cyprusfor centuries by both its Greek and Turk-ish communities, who have been dividedsince 1974 when Turkish troops invadedand occupied the island’s northern thirdin response to an A thens-engineered

coup aimed at uniting it with Greece.The country is split from west to east

by a UN buffer zone known as the GreenLine and - while tensions have eased inrecent years - peace talks have failed tobring the two sides to a long-term settle-ment.

The internationally recognised govern-ment in the Greek-speaking southernhalf of Cyprus, which joined the Euro-pean Union in 2004, last July asked theEU to grant halloumi its Protected Desig-nation of Origin (PDO) status.

As with Italian mozzarella or Greek fe-ta, this status means that only a product

produced in a certain area and using cer-tain methods can use the name.

“What we are expecting is more pro-tection on the name so that other coun-tries will not copy it - like in France theyhave Roquefort cheese, we will hopefullyhave halloumi,” said Yiannos Pittas, aGreek Cypriot whose family has pro-duced the cheese since the 1930s.

Halloumi has already become Cyprus’ssecond-largest export, bringing in 76 mil-lion euros to its recession-hit economy in2013, and producers hope that register-ing the name will lead to a major boostto foreign sales.

Building bridges with cheese in divided Cyprus

An employee works at the Pittas Dairy Industries halloumi factory on January 15, 2015 inthe Cypriot capital Nicosia. Forty years after Cyprus was divided by a bloody conflict, theisland’s Greek and Turkish communities are trying to overcome their differences and find

an unusual common cause: halloumi cheese.

The NSW Wrestling Championchips were held atHornsby Police Citizens Youth club Sunday 15January.

The Greek community was well represented withGreek Australian Athletes winning many medals.

Results are:Christos Yiangou Gold 70 kg Free-styleMihalis Costantinou Gold 76 kg FreestyleMichalis Kordakis Gold 120 kg FreestyleVeteransKostas Papaioannou Gold 74 kg Freestyle and Gold 75 kg Greco RomanThomas Zekirias Bronze 74 kg FreestyleKostas Papadakis Gold 87 kg FreestylePanagiotis Zakis Gold 97 kg Freestyle and silver in Greco RomanLazaros Papadopoulos Gold 120 kg Freestyle and Gold 120 kilos Greco RomanThe winners will compete in the Australian champi-

onchips to be held at the Institute of Sport in Canber-ra in April 18-19.

The World Championchips for Veterans will be heldat Hannia, Crete in October.

Gold for Greek Australian athletesat the NSW Wrestling Championships

US: 2500 yearsold AncientGreek coinsdiscovered

2,500-year-old gold and silverGreek and Roman coins were redis-covered in the University at Buffalo.The priceless collection consists of40 silver Greek coins, three goldGreek coins, and a dozen Romangold coins. They range in date fromthe fifth century B.C. to the late firstcentury A.D. The Greek coins werestruck by some of the most power-ful city-states and rulers of the an-cient world, such as Athens, Corinthand Alexander the Great.

Classicist Philip Kiernan of TheState University of New York at Buf-falo, heard a rumor that there wereGreek and Roman coins housed inthe archives at the school’s libraries.Three years later he found the col-lection.

“I must have been the first personto touch them in almost 40 years,”he said.

The coin collection, which also in-cludes coins from early America andEngland, had been donated to theUniversity at Buffalo Libraries Spe-cial Collections as part of a collec-tion of rare books in 1935. However,it wasn’t until Kiernan examinedthem out of curiosity that the cur-rency’s rarity and value were real-ized.

It’s the first time the coins will beextensively studied, and Kiernanand his class will publish their find-ings.

The Greek Australian athletes who competed in this years NSW Wrestling Championships

TO BHMA20/38 MARCH 2015

Travel

BY HARIS ARGYROPOULOS

The Diapontia, comprising acluster of three small, verdantislands and a number of rocky,uninhabited islets, fade intothe haze off the northwesterncoast of Corfu. Until recentdecades, Erikoussa, Mathrakiand Othoni - the westernmostpart of Greece - were rather in-accessible and among the lastareas to join the national pow-er grid. Tourist development isminimal and the islets areamong the most scenic, tran-quil and relaxed places tospend a holiday in Greece, ide-al for reading and walking.

Some references identifyOthoni with Homer’s Ogygia,home of the nymph Calypso,who imprisoned Odysseus in acave for seven years in thehope of making him her im-mortal husband.

More recently, historical re-cords show that the isles werefirst populated under Venetianrule in the 16th century.

During British rule, whichended in 1864, they were usedas places of exile for propaga-tors of unification with Greece.Made up mostly of skilled sea-farers, the population droppedsharply with the advent of thesteamship; transatlantic emi-gration took the biggest toll. Areversal of the trend in the last40 years or so, however, hasbreathed new life into thecommunity.

While Othoni is mostly rocky,Erikoussa and Mathraki havehilly terrains, with several goodbeaches. Pastel pink- andocher-painted houses are scat-tered amid the varying green-ery provided by olive and cy-press trees.

Erikoussa, 6 nautical milesfrom Corfu and the northern-most of the group, owes itsname to the heather (“reiki” inGreek) which grows on the hill-sides and bursts into flower inspringtime. It is the most popu-lar and most populous of thethree, with a community of700. The local port doubles asa splendid beach well protect-ed from westerly winds. Erik-oussa, with a total area of 4.5square kilometers and its high-est point at just 121 meters, isideal for walking.

One of the trails leads to FykiBay in the west (formerly theisland’s port) and another tothe vast sandy stretch of Bragi-ni on the west coast. Porto,which has one hotel and somerooms for rent, is a great placeto spend the night and enjoysome real peace and quiet af-ter the last noisy groups of

day-trippers depart. Mathraki,the southernmost and smallestof the three, is 4.5 nauticalmiles northwest of Corfu. Ithas an area of 3.1 sq.km. and apopulation of just 300.

There is no organized settle-ment here, just small clustersof houses that are separatedinto two districts, Ano Panta

and Kato Panta. Mathraki isthe least visited of the Diapon-tia, still waiting to be discov-ered by vacationers. Plaka, theport, has just four houses, atavernacome- grocery store forthe entire islet and the munici-pality bureau.

Mathraki is crossed by foot-paths offering opportunities

for walks with spectacularviews of the bea-ches, the sea,the nearby islet of Diaplo andthree satellite rock islets - ac-cording to legend, the boatand anchor of a pirate shipturned into stone when itscrew attempted to pillage theChapel of Aghios Nikolaos onDiaplo.

The nearly 2-mile-long beachof Portelo on the east side ofMathraki (facing Corfu) is thehighlight of the island. There isalso Fyki Bay in the west andApidies and Arvanitiko in thesouth.

Othoni (population 650) lies12 nautical miles northwest ofCorfu and covers an area of 10sq.km. It has a jagged shorelineand an impressive landscape,with the highest peak at 393m. The tiny port and prettybeach of Ammos lie on thesouthern coast and have mosttourism facilities. Thick vegeta-tion, rare rock formations andthe small, scattered clusters ofhouses make for rewardingwalks in the interior. Most ofthe shoreline is rocky and inac-cessible.

For swimming, head to Fykiin the north or Aspri Ammos inthe southwest. Nearby is Ca-lypso’s cave - a 20-minute boatride away from the local port.The charm of the place is suchas to make it sound more con-vincing that Odysseus was infact captivated by the placerather than held captive.

Source: ATHENSPLUS

The Greek Australian VEMA

How to get there

If you’re traveling by car, head forthe port of Igoumenitsa on themainland’s northwestern coast andtake the ferry to Corfu. Igoumenitsais at the western end of the EgnatiaHighway that crosses northernGreece. Corfu can also be reachedby air (Olympic Air, tel 801.8010101; Aegean Airlines, tel 801.1120000). From Corfu, the Alexandrosferry (tel 26610.40002/ 26314) sailsto Othoni three or four times week-ly, at 6.30 a.m. There are also boatsleaving daily from the port of AghiosStefanos Avlioton as well as boattours from Sidari.

Where to eatIn Othoni: New York, souvlaki, tav-ern and grill; Mikros, taverna-comegrocery store serving few but tastyclassic and grilled dishes; Locanda,good Italian restaurant but openingdoubtful this season; K aprokios,new taverna for fresh fish and grilledmeat. In Mathraki: Dolphins (tel26630.71853), on the port, whereSpyros has some excellent dishesand appetizers – try the cuttlefish;Yiannis (tel 26630.72108), onArvanitia beach, provides appetizersand fresh fish. In Erikoussa, thehotel has homemade dishes. Ask forpotato pie anywhere.

Where to stay In Othoni: Calypso Hotel (tel26630.71578), 60 euros for a doubleroom; K. Katehis (tel 26630.72157),rooms and studios; V. K atehis (tel26630.71586) and T. K atehis (tel6976.785.763) apartments, up to110 euros a night. In Mathraki:Christos Argyros (known locally asFilios, tel 26630.71652) and Anasta-sios Kassimis (tel 26630.71.700);free camping is allowed on the islet,with the exception of the area ofPortelo and on condition you don’tleave any garbage behind (MathrakiMunicipality, tel 26630.71200). InErikoussa: Erikoussa Hotel (tel26630.71555/71110).

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Diapontia IslandsSimply captivating

This group northwest of Corfu, where Calypso is said to have imprisonedOdysseus, provides the perfect place to recharge your batteries

greek orthodox archdiocese of australia - march 2015 e...

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