and among the fluttering roses they scatter".
In the history of mankind, the Aegean Sea, with its picturesque islands, is the most important, perhaps the most important, theater of historical events, it is, so to speak, the historical and cultural "swimming pool" of Hellenism, from the sometimes calm and sometimes stormy waters of which emerged the historical life and culture of the Greeks and, by extension, of Europe.
First is Homer, with his two masterpieces, the Odyssey and the Iliad, gifted humanity with two immortal works of genuine poetry and universal scope. In the Aegean sea, on the coasts of Aeolia and Ionia, lyric poetry first saw the light, Greek and world philosophy. In the Aegean they created their ambitious spiritual achievements, except Homer, Sappho, Pittacus, Pythagoras, Hippocrates, Thales, Heraclitus, Parmenides and others.
On the east coast, the Ionian coast, Christianity met Hellenism, there in the now extinguished seven lamps of the Apocalypse, in the person and work of the great Fathers of the Church and the decisions of the Ecumenical Councils.
The hundreds of Aegean islands characterize them ideomorphically, moral and cultural elements in language, in the songs, at the dances, in morals, in customs, in the optimistic mood and the innate search for joy – about’ this and their crowded folk "festivals"., folklore precious treasures that make up the Aegean culture and assemble our historical continuity through time.
The Aegean Sea, a usually calm sea, that bright and blue, with its sweet atmosphere and picturesque islands, it drew like a magnet all the peoples of the East and the West. Since ancient times, the Aegean islands were a safe bridge between Asia and Europe. The Aegean unites the countries that surround it and evolved into a meeting place of peoples and cultures that dominated’ throughout the course of world history.
The Aegean is of fundamental importance in the history of our country, because since prehistoric times it was a Greek sea, the Greekness of which was sealed in the younger years with the victorious ones, of Admiral Kountouriotis naval battles.
In no other part of the world are the bays and bays so numerous and deep, in no other part of the world are the islands so close together, like big stones, as if God threw them down so that people could, pressing on them to cross it. Sailors never lose sight of land and always find a place to shelter from any unexpected storm.
Each island and its Country, with Aegean architecture, the harmony of asymmetrical white houses, the castles, the antiquities, the wonderful beaches, the centuries-old monasteries, the numerous churches and chapels, the human-saving Pilgrimages, in which the multi-named Panagia of the Aegean is honored and which are protected by the Omophorio of Agios Nikolaos soaked by the oil of the waves...
In today's, Nevertheless, grim reality, angels no longer flutter in the waters of the Aegean, but souls are lost souls of men and little children, looking for a better life, away from wars, disasters, massacres, hunger and misery, a lifetime, which as people they are entitled to….
And, instead of roses, "We see the Aegean Sea blooming, the dead", we see n’ the Aegean blooms dead, according to the prophetic verse of Seferis..
And to justify, in tragic irony its name, where it came from, according to the prevailing versions, by two mythical personalities,who were lost in its deep blue waters, the king of Athens Aegeus, who fell into the sea and drowned, thinking that Theseus' son perished fighting the Minotaur, or the queen of the Amazons, Aigis, who drowned in this sea, along with her fleet…
In front of an unprecedented, for today's data, international tragedy, which comes to add to and burden our national tragedy, it is no use pointing out causes and causes, nor the measurement and attribution of responsibilities, but neither is the search for real or imaginary enemies.
For sure, Hellenism is tested, but it is not threatened by refugees and immigrants. It is tested, Nevertheless, and is threatened by his personal attitude towards us, now that we need to show Europe and Humanity the two pillars of peace, of progress and culture, Greek Humanism and Christian Love!
To remain the Aegean kingdom of Apollo and not the territory of Pluto, according to the recent expression of the President of the Republic!
† DOROTHEOS B. of SYRO and MYKON’
(Magazine "POLITICAL ISSUES", τ. 86, December 2015)