A ‘kind of solution’?
So, the «barbarians» really were, and remain today, «a kind of solution» – as C.P. Cavafy observed in his famous poem – to every problem, real or spurious, political or religious. Sharing this view, and aggravated by his chronic dispute with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Archbishop Christodoulos declared that the «barbarian» Turks should remain outside Europe. It is unacceptable, he proclaimed, that the «barbaric Turks» should become members of a unified Europe – those who «impaled and roasted on a spit not only (Greek war of independence hero) Athanassios Diakos but also Saint Serapheim.» He was just rehashing established opinions. But the reason behind the vehemence of his words is worth examining. The first reason that springs to mind is that he wants to indirectly belittle Vartholomaios, whom the archbishop’s staunchest followers characterize as a «yes man to the Turks.» The second thought is that the writings of the Old Testament have yet to be published in Greece. How else can we explain the fact that all the withering things Christodoulos says about «barbarians» ridicule the scriptures? Didn’t the Apostle Paul say in his famous speech at the foot of the Acropolis: «God has made from one blood every nation of man.» And in one of his letters: «There is no Greek or Jew, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free man, but Christ is all and is in all.» But perhaps Paul’s letter should not concern us because it was directed to the Colossians.
