Category: Greek Religion

Greek Religion.Religion in Greece is dominated by Christianity, in particular the Greek Orthodox Church, which is within the larger.

communion of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It represented 90% of the total population in 2015 and is

constitutionally recognized as the “prevailing religion” of Greece.

Greece is officially a secular state. However, its religious and social landscape is deeply influenced by the Greek

Orthodox Church. It is estimated that 98% of the population identifies with the Greek Orthodox Christian faith.

Religious Demography. The U.S. government estimates the total population at 10.8 million (midyear 2019 estimate),

with 81 to 90 percent identifying as Greek Orthodox, 4 to 15 percent atheist, and 2 percent Muslim.

In Greece, there are several organizations supporting the revival of Hellenic religion, including the Supreme Council

of Ethnic Hellenes (YSEE), founded in 1997, the Labrys religious community, and Ellinais.

The ancient Greeks were polytheistic, meaning that they worshipped multiple deities as well as other supernatural beings.

What is Greek main religion?|What are the 3 main religions in Greece?|Do people still worship Greek gods?|

Ancient Greek Religion - World History Encyclopedia

Religious practices in ancient Greece encompassed a collection of beliefs, rituals, and mythology, in the form of both

popular public religion and cult practices. The application of the modern concept of “religion” to ancient cultures has

been questioned as anachronistic. The ancient Greeks did not have a word for ‘religion’ in the modern sense.

Likewise, no Greek writer known to us classifies either the gods or the cult practices into separate ‘religions’.

Instead, for example, Herodotus speaks of the Hellenes as having “common shrines of the gods and sacrifices, and

the same kinds of customs.

Most ancient Greeks recognized the twelve major Olympian gods and goddesses

Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Hermes, and

either Hestia or Dionysus—although philosophies such as Stoicism and some forms of Platonism used language that

seems to assume a single transcendent deity. The worship of these deities, and several others, was found across the

Greek world, though they often have different epithets that distinguished aspects of the deity, and often reflect the

absorption of other local deities into the pan- Hellenic scheme.

The religious practices of the Greeks extended beyond mainland Greece, to the islands and coasts of Ionia in Asia

Minor, to Magna Graecia (Sicily and southern Italy), and to scattered Greek colonies in the Western Mediterranean,

such as Massalia (Marseille). Early Italian religions such as the Etruscan religion were influenced by Greek religion

and subsequently influenced much of the ancient Roman religion.

Greek Religion

Greek Religion. Religion in Greece is dominated by Christianity, in particular the Greek Orthodox Church, which is within the larger. communion of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It represented 90% of…