Greek Culture

Marco Rubio, from the Pnyx in Athens, calls for a great renewal of the Western spirit. As a Greek, however, I want to speak to you about the place from which the he is giving his speech. The Pnyx was the platform of the Assembly of the People from the reforms of Cleisthenes (around 507 BC) until the late 4th century BC. From there, wars, taxes, and laws were voted on. The site was dedicated to the "Father of men and gods," Zeus, who was regarded as the great protector of the Athenian constitution. For that purpose there was also the great Altar of Zeus Agoraios. The same place was also dedicated to Zeus Hypsistos, who was given the character of a healing god. Here, in the 5th century BC, Themistocles announced the naval preparations to face the Persians and took the decisions that led to the Battle of Salamis, which saved Greek and Western civilization. Here, Aristides called on the Greeks to form an alliance even after the Persian Wars, with a common allied policy. Here, in 430 BC, Pericles delivered the famous Funeral Oration. A short excerpt from his speech: "The brave men had a sense of duty and great ambition. They did not withhold their valor from their country, because they believed that the finest common offering was to sacrifice themselves for it. Together they gave it their lives, and each of them received undying praise and a glorious tomb, not so much the one in which they lie, as the memory of those who will wish to honor them, for the tomb of the great is the whole earth, and it is not revealed by the inscription of a stele in their native land. Even in the most distant places, their memory, unwritten, remains more vivid in men’s souls, more for their courage than for the deed they performed. Taking them as an example, and knowing that happiness means freedom and freedom means courage, you must not shrink before the dangers of war. It is not true that those who are unfortunate and have no hope of a better fate sacrifice their lives more easily. Those who sacrifice them are the ones who, if they try to save their lives by avoiding the inevitable, risk suffering the greatest humiliation if they are defeated. For the brave, the humiliation of cowardice is worse than a noble and unexpected death." (Thucydides, Histories 2.43.2–2.43.6) Here, Alcibiades gave his speech in favor of the Sicilian expedition in 415 BC. Here, Demosthenes gave his speech; having been bribed by the Persians, he waged an anti-Macedonian struggle, and from the same place the Athenian Aeschines answered him, calling him a barbarian and supporting Philip as king-emperor of the Greeks. Here, in modern history as well, General Theodoros Kolokotronis, on 7–8 October 1838, urged the Greeks to support the nation, the preservation of the Orthodox Christian faith as the religion of the Greeks, education, and the struggle for freedom. A very important excerpt from the man who liberated Greece: "My children! On this ground where I stand today, wise men once stood and spoke in the old times, men with whom I am not worthy to be compared, nor even to reach their footprints .. In the land we inhabit lived the ancient Greeks, from whom we too descend and from whom we took this name. They differed from us in religion .. The ancient Greeks, our ancestors, fell into discord and devoured one another, and so first the Romans, then other barbarians, found the opportunity and subdued them. Then the Muslims came and did whatever they could to make the people change their faith. They cut out the tongues of many people, but it proved impossible for them to succeed. They would cut one man’s tongue, and another would make the sign of the cross .. When we decided to make the Revolution, we did not consider how many we were, nor that we had no arms, nor that the Turks held the castles and the cities, nor did any prudent man say to us, ‘Where are you going, to fight with wheat-boats and barrels?’; but like a rain the desire for our freedom fell upon all of us, and all of us—our clergy and the notables and the captains and the educated and the merchants, small and great—all agreed on this purpose and made the Revolution. You must keep your faith and strengthen it, because when we took up arms we said first ‘for the faith’ and then ‘for the fatherland’ .. My children, you must keep your faith and strengthen it, because when we took up arms we said first for the faith and then for the fatherland. All the nations of the world have and keep a religion. Even the Jews, who were persecuted and hated by all nations, nevertheless remain steadfast in their faith. It remains for you to set right and adorn the place that we liberated; and for this to happen, you must have as the foundations of the state concord, religion, cultivation of the Throne, and prudent freedom." From this sacred spot, today, the American Secretary of State Marco Rubio today, 7 October 2026, delivers his own speech on the revival of the Western spirit and the destigmatization of nationalism, the oldest and purest human sentiment that lives in the souls of people who want to protect their religion, their nation, and their families. Only a blind man would fail to see that humanity today is sunk in chaos. The human spirit is in a state of captivity, and at the same time it is sick with a mange that, like a cancer, eats away at its vitals and keeps mind and spirit in a subjugated condition from which they cannot rise toward higher things. The young are uneducated and uncultivated, and the greatest problem is that they themselves think they are educated and on the right side of their own imaginary history. Socrates called such people dokesisophoi, while Aristotle called them two-footed animals. Dokesisophos means “someone who thinks he is wise” but is basically stupid. Nowadays everyone has an opinion about everything. The uneducated are more persuasive to the crowd than the educated. We are in a state of spiritual collapse that leaves its mark everywhere around us: in the arts, in music, in the universities, in architecture and buildings, in politicians, in people’s occupations, and in the empty, soulless entertainment that people find interesting. The revival of the Western spirit is therefore an urgent necessity, and Greece will once again be at the center of that revival. Greece remained in darkness for a long time. But the future has been written by God and surpasses political agendas and individuals. Greece and the Greeks will once again show the way toward the light, so that humanity may come out of the darkness. A civilization that teaches its young to surpass their ancestors in virtue, courage, wisdom, and beauty ascends. One that teaches them to despise or ignore their ancestors has already begun its long descent into oblivion. - Homer Pavlos