Greek Now Ellinika tora 1+1

A successful method for an easy training on the Greek as a second language, with dialogues and texts in a living language such as it is used in the every day life. It covers levels 1, 2 and 3. The first part is dedicated at the basic structure of the ...

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Historic Boston Greek cathedral celebrates 110th anniversary

Katherine Karagianis, a 95 year-old grandmother, woke up on a recent Sunday true to a habit that lasts for 80 years. Many things have changed in her life and in Boston over the passage of the last decades, but as Karagiannis recounts, she never stopped to ...

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Notes: Move is Greek to O-line; Pollak responds off bench; Zeitler rehabs; Tez ...

Notes: Move is Greek to O-line; Pollak responds off bench; Zeitler rehabs; Tez ...Bengals.comNotes: Move is Greek to O-line; Pollak responds off bench; Zeitler rehabs; Tez, Whit limited. Posted 3 hours ago. Geoff Hobson Editor Bengals.com Follow Me Blog. a; a. The key man in the potential Bengals offensive line shuffle could be guard Mike Pollak.and more »

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Trio found guilty in Greece triple homicide

Trio found guilty in Greece triple homicideRochester Democrat and ChronicleAfter two months of testimony from 65 witnesses, a federal jury needed only three hours Wednesday to find three men guilty of a March 2010 triple slaying in Greece. The jury found Andrew Wright, Aston Johnson and Richard Emanuel Anderson guilty of the ...and more »

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Greece's Comeback Year

Greece's Comeback YearHuffington PostWhile headlines from Greece tend to focus on economic and political uncertainty, a positive trend has been largely overlooked: tourism in the Hellenic Republic is booming. According to Greek Minister of Tourism Olga Kefalogianni, 2013 has proven to be ...More people visiting GreeceOpodoall 2 news articles »

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Hagia Sophia Mosque? Turkish Leaders Call For Conversion Of Istanbul Landmark, Alarming Religious Minorities

ISTANBUL (RNS) In this ancient city, there are few sights more iconic than the dome of the Hagia Sophia, towering over the old city for more than 1,400 years. But recent conversions of former Byzantine-era churches from museums into mosques, encouraged by religious and political leaders, have caused alarm among religious minorities and Turkey’s Christian neighbors. “We currently stand next to the Hagia Sophia Mosque,” Turkey’s deputy prime minister, Bulent Arinc, remarked last month during a dedication of a museum of Caucasus carpets and rugs in the Hagia Sophia complex. “We are looking at a sad Hagia Sophia but hopefully we will see it smiling again soon.” Arinc, also a senior Cabinet minister from the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party, mentioned two recent conversions of smaller Byzantine-era museums — in Trabzon in the northeast and Iznik near Istanbul — that have become working mosques. The speech was just the latest call for the building to be converted into a mosque after a sermon in October by the imam of the neighboring Sultan Ahmet mosque. He told worshippers a conversion must take place, echoing a campaign launched by the far-right National Turkish Student Association. Reaction from the Greek Foreign Ministry to the Arinc speech was swift, calling the speech “an insult to the religious sensibilities of millions of Christians and actions that are anachronistic and incomprehensible from a state that declares it wants to participate as a full member in the European Union.” “If it is to reopen as a house of worship, then it should open as a Christian church,” the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew — the Archbishop of Constantinople — told Turkish newspaper Milliyet in February, saying that the Hagia Sophia had served as a Christian church for hundreds of years before Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. “It was built as a church and not a mosque,” he added. The Hagia Sophia has been standing since 360, when the first church was constructed soon after the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. Two more churches were built on the same site in 415 and in 532. The Ottoman conquerors refurbished the building into a mosque in 1453. It became a museum after a decree by the founder of Turkey’s secular republic, Kemal Mustafa Ataturk, in 1935. Some critics say the spate of conversions of Byzantine-era Christian houses of worship from museums to mosques reflects the government’s payback against Turkey’s former secular military elite, which has historically jailed leaders of religious parties and staged coups against elected governments. “It is mostly a challenge to the secular rulers of Turkish republic,” said Engin Akyurek, a professor of Byzantine art at Istanbul University. The government “re-converts church-mosques which were used as museums during the republican era so it is related to the domestic politics,” he said. Still, despite concerns, the conversions continue. In recent weeks it was announced that the Monastery of Stoudios — the largest Byzantine-era monastery in Istanbul — would be converted into a mosque next year. Part of the former monastery complex became a mosque in the 15th century but fell into disrepair, and after being gutted by two fires, it was abandoned in 1920. Historians say this will destroy one of Istanbul’s earliest Byzantine monuments. “To use this building for some function, a mosque or anything else, would mean to reconstruct almost 80 percent of the building,” said Akyurek. “So, it will not be a fifth-century building anymore. It will be a catastrophe for that building.” With provincial elections slated for March — and expected to be a crucial test of the government’s decade-long rule — some see the museum-to-mosque conversions as a way for the Justice and Development Party to shore up its religiously conservative base, especially in the face of large protests earlier this year challenging its conservative policies, such as a tightening of the sale of alcohol. Still, others are wary that the party’s political strategy to court religious voters will do irreparable damage to the country’s cultural and religious monuments and antagonize other religions. “Supporting the reopening of Hagia Sophia has become the litmus test of the true believer,” said Professor Robert Ousterhout, director of the Center for Ancient Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. “Protests by the academic community have fallen on deaf ears.”

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Europe's Way to Destruction (?)

Having recently had a most interesting interview with the European Commission's president, José Manuel Barroso, I realized how much Europe struggles to tackle contradictory interests and views in a unified framework of solidarity among European members' states. What I noticed then was that the word "solidarity" was mentioned several times by Barroso while we were sitting across from each other. He seemed determined to give no excuse to countries, like Germany, which are not utterly devoted to the efforts of keeping Europe a common union. A common union in which rules are not imposed by the one who is politically and economically in charge. However, Barroso avoided referring to the real problem that Europe has been facing for a long time, making people throughout the european continent feel very frustrated. The current image of the Troika-led Europe, managed by Brussels-based bureaucrats with no constant accountability to people, has nothing to do with the real goals and priorities of Europe when it was founded more than half a century ago. Every day the quality standards of living for millions of Europeans is affected today by hard austerity policies which are not defined by the respective national governments but are imposed by few non-elected and well-paid bureaucrats in Brussels. During the period of time I was working there as a foreign correspondent, I realized that what is called "European family" is actually just a "clique" consisted of employees enjoying special privileges and doing a lot to broaden the gap that exists between the European institutions and people. I was taken by surprise last year when I was walking over the European Commission building and I saw there a lot of its employees be on strike and protest against cuts on their wages paid by the European budget. Pay close attention to this oxymoron: the European Commission employees refuse to accept reduction in their salaries when at the same time their institution introduces austerity policies for public and private sector employees in many European countries in the name of "competitiveness." Europe is suffering not only by a lack of democracy in the way of its internal function, but also by a lack of morality. It is immoral for the European Union to be working under blackmail and ultimatums to member states, as we have seen this happening in Greece and in other countries which are under a bailout program. It is unethical from the European Union economic policy issues to be managed by some appointed technocrats in "Troika," who are behaving like local dictators in the countries replacing the role of elected national governments. Greece is an example since the so-called Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and the New Democracy-PASOK governmental alliance do not actually rule the country, as the Troika is that which takes the decisions. Ιt is immoral the European Union to divide its member states between economically strong and weak, between superior and inferior countries. I went to Brussels as a pro-European, but I left much more euro-skeptic than I have ever been. If Europe wants to stop its dismantling, it should start from scratch. But I have my reservations whether there is time for that or Europe's way toward its self-destruction is simply irreversible.

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