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Greece

From Bahaipedia
 Greece
Bahá’í youth at Winter School, Patra, Greece, 1980.
Location of Greece
National AssemblyGreece
Statistics:
Total Population
 -  UN 2021[1] 10,445,365
Bahá'í pop.
 -  Bahá'í source  
 -  Non-Bahá'í source 173
History:
Firsts
 -  Local Bahá'í 1956, Costas Kyriazis 
 -  Pioneers 1953, Amín Banání
1953, Sheila Banání
1953, Carole Allen
1953, Dwight Allen 
 -  Local Assembly 1957, Athens 
 -  National Assembly 1977 
Official Website http://www.gr.bahai.org/
Related media
Categories: Greece • People

The Hellenic Republic, commonly known as Greece, is a country in the Balkans in Southeast Europe. Greek is the official language and Christianity is the predominant religion.

In recent history the region was part of the Ottoman Empire as of the Fifteenth Century but became recognized as an independent nation in 1830.

The Bahá’í Faith was first proclaimed in Greece in the 1920s and 1930s and the first pioneers arrived in 1953 with a small community being established. The community began to develop in the 1970s and remains active to the present day.

History[edit]

In 1928 Martha Root visited Greece staying in Athens where she studied Esperanto and received a diploma to teach the language and she also visited Salonika where she delivered a talk on the Faith at a university.[2] She returned to Greece in 1934 and stayed in the country for six weeks during which she arranged for Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era to be translated into Greek and delivered several talks on the Faith.[3] She made another visit in 1936 and attempted to arrange an audience with the King of Greece but was unsuccessful although she was able to meet with the Mayor of Athens.[4]

When Shoghi Effendi launched the Ten Year Crusade in 1953 establishing a Bahá’í community in Greece was set as a goal for the global Bahá’í community and establishing communities on the islands of Crete and Rhodes were also set as explicit goals. Amin and Sheila Banani volunteered to pioneer at the Stockholm Intercontinental Conference in July, 1953, and were advised to settle in Greece by the German National Spiritual Assembly and they arrived in Athens on August 2, 1953.[5] They were soon joined by Dwight and Carole Allen who arrived on September 15.[6] At the time of their arrival the Greek Orthodox Church was the official state religion and converting to other religions was forbidden as such the pioneers did not teach unless others raised the subject of religion first however they were able to hold firesides in their home with contacts who had expressed interest.[7]

In October, 1953, Rolf Haug settled in Crete, passing through Athens where he visited the Banani's,[8] and Elizabeth Bevan settled on Rhodes in January, 1954, with both also experiencing difficulty in teaching due to governmental restrictions.[9] In March, 1954 the Banani's had to leave Greece temporarily as Amin had a Persian passport however they returned in September after Banani secured U.S. citizenship.[10] In August, 1954, the Allen's had to return to the United States for Dwight to complete military service and Kenneth and Roberta Christian pioneered to Greece to replace them at the post.[11]

In 1956 Costas Kyriazis became the first person in Greece to become a Bahá’í and in early 1957 George Kroustis and Niklos Mavromatis declared. In addition to the declarations the community grew in 1957 when three pioneers arrived allowing for the establishment of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Athens during Ridvan that year. In 1958 there was a change in government in the country which adopted a policy of opposing non-Orthodox religious groups and as a result the Banani's were forced to leave Greece in July, 1958.[12]

In the 1960's the Bahá’í community of Germany was responsible for assisting teaching efforts in Greece,[13] and as of 1964 Greece had maintained one Local Spiritual Assembly and Bahá’ís also resided in two other localities,[14] although by 1968 the Assembly had lapsed.[15] Bahá’í teaching work in Greece began to find success in the 1970's and the first Summer School of Greece was held in 1975.[16] The community grew considerably in the early part of the decade and in 1976 the Universal House of Justice to announce that the National Spiritual Assembly of Greece was to be established in 1977.[17] After the announcement the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany appointed a National Coordinating Committee for Greece to help prepare the countries Bahá’ís for establishing a National Assembly.[18]

The National Spiritual Assembly of Greece was established with its seat in Athens in 1977 and it immediately oversaw efforts to develop the community establishing Summer and Winter Schools, initiating conferences, and instigating Bahá’í youth activities.[19] In 1982 the Bahá’í community of Iraklion, Crete, was granted permission to hold meetings by the Ministry of National Education and Religion.[20] In 1985 Bahá’í youth made visits to homes for the aged and orphanages to provide support in honor of the United Nations naming the year the International Year of Youth,[21] and in 1991 the European Bahá’í Youth Council organized teaching projects in Greece in collaboration with the National Assembly.[22]

In 1995 the Local Spiritual Assembly of Athens created a poster to commemorate the United Nations International Day of Peace which included a quote of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.[23] In 1996 a spring school for Bahá’í children was held,[24] and a spring school for youth and children was held on Crete.[25] In 1998 the Bahá’í Faith was portrayed positively in an article in the best-selling newspaper of Greece on interfaith activity.[26] In 1999 Arsis, a Greek organization dedicated to providing social support for youth, collaborated with the Thessaloniki Bahá’í community to hold a seminar on youth rights.[27]

In 2001 the Greek Bahá’í community participated in a symposium on social exclusion and trafficking of women,[28] and the first NGO Fair of Volunteerism and Humanitarianism held in Athens.[29] During the year a Greek youth arts group called Phoenix Theater toured Greece with a play on human rights with the encouragement of the National Spiritual Assembly,[30] and in 2003 the Bahá’í Flame of Unity dance troupe performed at a meeting of nongovernmental organizations and at the Palia Vouli in Athens receiving positive reactions.[31]

In 2022 grassroots local Bahá’í conferences were held across Greece to consult on applying spiritual principles to issues and challenges in society.[32]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ "World Population Prospects 2022". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  2. ↑ M. R. Garis, Martha Root: Lioness at the Threshold, George Ronald: Oxford, 1983, p 296
  3. ↑ M. R. Garis, Martha Root: Lioness at the Threshold, George Ronald: Oxford, 1983, p 401
  4. ↑ M. R. Garis, Martha Root: Lioness at the Threshold, George Ronald: Oxford, 1983, p 413
  5. ↑ Earl Redman, The Knights of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 2017, p 361
  6. ↑ Earl Redman, The Knights of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 2017, p 365
  7. ↑ Earl Redman, The Knights of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 2017, p 367
  8. ↑ Earl Redman, The Knights of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 2017, p 372
  9. ↑ Earl Redman, The Knights of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 2017, p 370
  10. ↑ Earl Redman, The Knights of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 2017, p 363
  11. ↑ Earl Redman, The Knights of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 2017, p 368
  12. ↑ Earl Redman, The Knights of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 2017, p 364
  13. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1976). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 15 (1968-1973), Pg(s) 280. View as PDF.
  14. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 134. View as PDF.
  15. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 165. View as PDF.
  16. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1978). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 16 (1973-1976), Pg(s) 298. View as PDF.
  17. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1978). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 16 (1973-1976), Pg(s) 287. View as PDF.
  18. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1978). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 16 (1973-1976), Pg(s) 298. View as PDF.
  19. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1981). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 17 (1976-1979), Pg(s) 192. View as PDF.
  20. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1986). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 18 (1979-1983), Pg(s) 437. View as PDF.
  21. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 19 (1983-1986), Pg(s) 173. View as PDF.
  22. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 356. View as PDF.
  23. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1997). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 24 (1995-1996), Pg(s) 91. View as PDF.
  24. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 25 (1996-1997), Pg(s) 60. View as PDF.
  25. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 25 (1996-1997), Pg(s) 68. View as PDF.
  26. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2000). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 27 (1998-1999), Pg(s) 115. View as PDF.
  27. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2001). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 28 (1999-2000), Pg(s) 92. View as PDF.
  28. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2003). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 30 (2001-2002), Pg(s) 78. View as PDF.
  29. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2003). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 30 (2001-2002), Pg(s) 94. View as PDF.
  30. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2004). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 31 (2002-2003), Pg(s) 63. View as PDF.
  31. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/260/
  32. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1601/
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