Antisemitism 31

“All the mankind knows and admits that two peoples, two races are singular among all the others: the Greeks and the Jews. They stand out by their religiosity and their mentality. That’s why the second are fighting against us, they loath us. An atheist spurns all the religions. The Jews spurn Hellenism, who is identified with Orthodoxy. Because the two of them [Hellenism and Ortjodoxy] have an extraordinary power, when they go hand in hand”.

Μητροπολίτου Γόρτυνος και Μεγαλοπόλεως Θεοφίλου, «Η ουσία της γιορτής της Χριστιανοσύνης», Τύπος της Κυριακής, 22/4/2001   [Theophilos, metropolitan of Gortyna and Megalopolis, “The essence of the Christiandom’s feast”, newspaper “Typos tis Kyriakis”, 22/4/2001]

Theophilos, metropolitan of Gortyna and Megalopolis (1970-2006), born Athanasios Kanavos (1921-2006).

This quote reflects very well what can be called “banal antisemitism” (after the paradigm of Michel Billig’s “banal nationalism”): a way of thinking shared by a large number of ordinary people, not the usual loudmouthed antisemites of the Far Right. Metropolitan Theophilos, for example, was a mainstream, conservative prelate; “Typos tis Kyriakis”, the newspaper that hosted his article, is not a fascist outlet but the Sunday edition of the mainstream conservative “Eleftheros Typos”, a newspaper identified since 1984 with the New Democracy party. Theophilos’ article was published on the occasion of Easter and dealt mostly with the allegedly “anti-religious” policies of the PASOK government then in power. The previous year, the Greek Orthodox Church had mobilized its followers against the removal of religious affiliation from the citizens’ new ID cards. This measure had been attributed by the right-wing faction of New Democracy, who had just formed the LAOS party (Popular Orthodox Rally), not only to “international Jewish pressure” on the Greek government but also to an imaginary “Jewish descent” of the Greek Prime Minister of those days, Kostas Simitis.

Δημήτρης Ψαρράς, Το κρυφό χέρι του Καρατζαφέρη. Η τηλεοπτική αναγέννηση στης ελληνικής Ακροδεξιάς, Athens: Alexandreia, 2010, pp.104-108.

2001