A brief history of Elaion
From Hellenismos to Threskia to Dodekathiesm
Michael, 2005
In late 2004, I was part of a group of people that came together to discuss our shared concerns about the state of the ancient Greek spiritual revival. It was a serendipitous moment; half a dozen online iconoclasts bumped into one another, and found they had a great deal in common. Some of us had been longstanding contributors on Hellenic mailing lists. Others were new to Hellenic spirituality, and concerned about what was available for them online.
We felt that the traditional nature of the Hellenic religion had been compromised. Existing mailing lists, websites and online organizations were effectively ‘owned’ by a small number of people. The range of permissible views was increasingly narrow. Ethics, philosophy, poetry and art – once central to our religion – had been marginalized. Under the guise of ‘reconstructionism’, occult doctrines had come to take center-stage, where once they had been a fringe practice. The internet was flooded with Hellenic oracles, mantics, prophets, soothsayers and high priests, and there was very little substantial discussion about theology and right living.
Robert, 2005 to 2025
Elaion was founded on traditional Hellenic polytheism We decided to create a new religious organization, one that considered ethics and piety to be central to spirituality. Initially, this was a way of life that we called ‘Traditionalist Hellenismos’. In 2005, this was a term we hoped would capture the mainstream and community-minded nature of our religion. At the time, there wasn’t a place available online to discuss the ethics-based religious life that had
once formed the backbone of Hellenic spirituality. We felt that ‘Traditionalist Hellenismos’ was the term to demarcate a space apart from the esoteric monopoly.
We set up a website and two mailing lists, and Elaion was created. To our delight, the mailing list took off, and Elaion embarked on a series of ambitious projects aimed at enriching the spiritual life of members. Our first thiasos was formed in early 2005. We began to develop our own internal culture and identity as an organization.
In that process, the word ‘Hellenismos’ became increasingly problematic. Campbell had referred to the works of the Emperor Julian as historical precedent for the use of ‘Hellenismos’ in this context, however, Campbell had misunderstood the subtleties of translation. The word essentially means ‘the Greek way’ – which, in the 4th century, included the Greek religion. However, in the modern day, ‘the Greek way’ can be interpreted as the tradition of the modern Greek nation and the Greek Orthodox Church.
‘Hellenismos’ was not only historically and linguistically inaccurate, it also represented the imposition of an alien theology into Hellenic spirituality. The ancient Greeks did not have a ‘name’ for their spirituality. In fact, they had no word for ‘religion’ at all. They did not conceive of their religious lives as being fundamentally separate from their day-to-day lives, or from the spiritualities of neighboring countries and cultures.
Thresekia
In searching about for an alternative, Elaion hit on the ancient word “threskeia” – meaning the practice of worship. This was the central term used by the ancient Greeks when referring to religious life. ‘Threskeia’ became the focus of what we think and do, rather than who we are. It recaptured the pre-Christian ethos in which a religion was more a way of life and thought then a pre-fabricated identity.
It enabled a sense of sense of spiritual solidarity that comes from the communal spiritual practice of prayer, ritual and right action.
The use of “threskeia” also subtly changes the boundaries around how we approach religions and cults beyond our own. By removing issues of ‘identity’ and ‘purity’ it allows us to engage more creatively with other spiritualties. We can, for instance, consider the similarities between Mithras, Attis, Apollo and Dionysus more freely.
Threskeia, as a way of doing/thinking, places us within the realm of spiritual thought. We are polytheists, pantheists, henotheists, even monotheists … in the end we are simply ‘theists’, and we are only separated from other theists by our focus on specific currents of spiritual tradition.
Dodekatheism
“Threskeia”, however, had some drawbacks. The word itself doesn’t designate ancient Greek religious practice, it simply means “worship”. We looked at incorporating ‘threskeia’ into specific phrases to identify our religious practice.
As one member, Carolyn, pointed out that, if we were looking at a name for our religion, we had to be practical.
The word ‘Dodekatheism’, already in circulation, to describe those who worship twelve ancient Gods. The most common criticism of the word is that it ignores a number Gods, Goddesses, heroes, and ancestors. At the time, Elaion promptly embraced it.
Some members of Elaion will speak of ‘Greek religion’, some of ‘threskeia’, and some continue to use ‘Hellenismos’. What is important is our shared values and commitment to the Gods and Goddesses of ancient Greece, and to one another.
Today, twenty years later, we recommend Hellenic polytheism as more accurate.