Monte posted an announcement this morning explaining that Temenos Thessaly has canceled the Hellenic Revival Gathering for all too predictable reasons:
Our coming out and offering of our temenos grounds for a generic gathering of Hellenists was done purely out of our belief that this type of activity is necessary and beneficial to the community as a whole. However, we have come under the fire of several people and groups who seem to feel that our actions have some sort of tyrannical motive in which we seek to become THE ruling group. For the record, let us say this – “Thessaly Temenos does not have, nor did it ever have, any desire to be anything other than an organization which promotes a spiritual and temperate society for its students, citizens and clergy. We are a very small, but well organized and educated society that has very strict rules of conduct and admission.”
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The next situation arose just a few weeks ago. We began to receive emails regarding the presenters at the festival. Some people seemed to feel that having certain individuals present rituals and/or lectures at the HRF would be detrimental to the Hellenic Polytheistic Community. So, of course, we received the whole, “If they are presenting, then our group will not be there.” We also had a couple of presenters back out because they felt that their presence would upset the community. Now while I feel that their decision to back out was honorable and they have earned our eternal respect, it is NOT the policy of Thessaly Temenos to bend to the wishes of the unwashed masses.
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Are we upset? Yes. Are we angered by this lack of unity among our own? You have no idea how much. So here is where we let the community understand where it is that we stand. We here at Thessaly Temenos will NOT bow down to the wishes of the few, nor to the wishes of the many. We will NOT compromise the sacredness of our traditions and we will NOT tolerate prejudice, slander, disloyalty, dishonor or any other form of bullying, shunning, judging or passive-aggressive childishness whether those actions be directed towards us or towards our friends and/or allies. It is obvious that the community as a whole is not ready for this type of event and we are therefore cancelling the Hellenic Revival Festival as a show of solidarity towards those who we do respect – but who are disrespected by those who seek to mold the community into a vision of their own while chastising others for worshiping the gods in their own way. For those of you who have reserved tickets, we do apologize and please know that our temenos is still open to individuals who would like to come and visit and honor the gods in respect. Our temple is here and we will continue to endure as we always have, but we are afraid that we must revert back to those things that have served us well in the past. We are going back into the shadows. For those of you who have donated to the Theoric Fund, your refunds are already being processed.
Tagged: hellenismos
