Morals and Customs Targeted for Deconstruction

Archimandrite Philip Hamargias,
Protosyngellos of the Holy Metropolis of Messinia

With sorrow and great surprise I read the news:

“An appeal to block Tsiknopempti in schools sent to the Minister of Education by the Federation,” and then the justification of the Panhellenic Federation NEMESIS, which, as stated on the same website, “sent letters to the Ministry of Education asking that a ‘brake’ be put on the now-established school events with grills and souvlaki.” Continuing in the article, we see the same Federation presenting the following reasons:

1) Tsiknopempti is not a school holiday and events of mass meat consumption within school premises are irregular and unlawful, with possible legal consequences for those who organize them,

2) it violates the pedagogical role of education,

3) it creates pressure and exclusion for students with different dietary choices,

4) it conflicts with the principles of inclusion, non-violence, and animal-welfare education.

Saint George the Drunkard, Saint George the Poor, Saint George the Sower

Throughout Greece on November 3rd the Orthodox Church celebrates a second feast of Saint George the Great Martyr and Trophy-bearer, whose main feast is on April 23rd, which honors the translation of his relics from Nicomedia where he was martyred to Lydda of Palestine, where his sacred relics rest to this day. Because Saint George, whose name means "farmer" in Greek, is such a venerated Saint by the Greeks, and this feast falls around the time of the harvest in Greece since ancient times, rural Orthodox Christian farmers have appropriated ancient pagan festivities to November 3rd.

Some Orthodox have even gone so far as to create an entirely new Saint George to distinguish him from Saint George the Great Martyr and Trophy-bearer, and for this reason they call this other one "Saint George the Lesser" (του Μικρού), and what this Saint George celebrated on November 3rd by these rural and poor Orthodox Christians is known for is tilling and sowing the land and getting drunk on the new wine. This is why he carries the epithets of "Saint George the Drunkard" (Μεθυστής), "Saint George the Poor" (του Φτωχού) and "Saint George the Sower" (Σποριάρης). Therefore, in many parts of Greece, sowing is done on November 3rd, and the barrels with the new wine are opened on this day.