THE HELLENIC LINK, Inc.

Member Update- BULLETIN

Editor’s Note. In the November issue of the Bulletin (#111), the vitally significant for everyone matter of salvaging the environment from the threatened horrors of climate change was focused on the eternal spiritual values expressed in the Message of Patriarch Bartholomew to the International Conference held on the topic in Warsaw, Poland. In this issue, we return to the matter with a similar message of dire warning and a call to remedial environmental action, coming from a surprising yet familiar to Hellenes source: the world renowned Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis.

In this connection, we are grateful to Professor Thanasis Maskaleris for bringing to us through his systematic research the deep and articulate concern of Kazantzakis for the bleak future of Earth in the hands of the greedy and senseless, corruption-driven, contemporary man. “The Terrestrial Gospel of Nikos Kazantzakis- Will the Humans Be Saviors of the Earth?” is the Anthology of Professor Maskaleris , a comprehensive report, based on the feelings of Kazantzakis for the beautiful but threatened environment, expressed throughout his works, in Greek of course, translated into English by Professor Maskaleris. We are happy indeed to help bring to public awareness the prophetic quotations of the giant of Greek Literature, chosen for presentation in the Introduction of Professor Maskaleris’ Anthology.

The Terrestrial Gospel of Nikos Kazantzakis—
Will the Humans Be Saviors of the Earth?

INTRODUCTION
By Thanasis Maskaleris

Nikos Kazantzakis was not only the cosmic mind that absorbed philosophies and cultures and recreated them in his vast work–in visions arising from the flaming crucible of his mind-spirit. Throughout his life he was an intellectual-spiritual, political, humanistic and terrestrial human being–an inspiring exemplar for today’s un-integrated humans, fragmented by the sweeping onslaught of technological invasions.
Kazantzakis was solidly rooted in the primal ground of Nature, as the passages of this Anthology substantiate. Without this terrestrial vein he could not have composed these hymns to Nature; he could not have painted this abundant flowering of the Earth. The passages I have chosen to anthologize can only arise from his profound connection with the natural world, a connection enriched by the inexhaustible spring of Greek mythology, the Nature religion of the Minoans and, above all, by the peasant life of Crete which nurtured him during his childhood years.

Crete, until its recent, perhaps lamentable, touristic development was a primeval garden inside which its inhabitants lived, growing the fruits of the soil—Demeter’s gifts, Athena’s olive, Dionysos’ grape, the almond, the fig–and raising the donkey and the goat; here the Cretan children grew up with them as brother/sister creatures… And it was in Crete that old timers used to say: “ My grandfather planted this house in the year …” Even today we find the Cretan earth-bound mark on things: a Café bearing the name Φυλλοσοφια (Phyllosophia=leaf-wisdom}. Throughout his life, Kazantzakis thirsted for the Cretan life that he so powerfully recreated in his writings. And then there is the magnificent Cretan goat, the kri kri, chosen for the cover of this book, which embodies the Cretan survival force and perfectly symbolizes Kazantzakis’ gripping of the Earth, and his passion to “ascend”.

In 1945, on a painful journey across Crete, a homeland devastated by the Nazi occupation, he met a centenarian villager and, in conversation, asked him: “’How was your life, your hundred years, Grandfather?’ ‘Like a cool glass of water’, he answered. ‘And are you still thirsty, Grandfather?’ He looked at me intensely with his clouded eyes, raised a huge hand, and said with a cursing gesture: ‘Damned be the man who looses his thirst!’” Kazantzakis’ last words on his deathbed, as his wife Eleni tells us, were: “Water!…Water!”

And in the Prologue of Report to Greco he orchestrates his own ritual return to the Earth:

“I collect my tools: sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing, brain. Night has fallen, the day’s work is done. I return like a mole to my home, the ground. Not because I am tired and cannot work. I am not tired. But the sun is setting…”

“I cast a final glance around me. To whom shall I say farewell? Mountains, the sea, the grape-laden climbing vine over my balcony? Virtue, transgressions? Refreshing water? Futile, futile! All these will descend with me into the soil…”

“I extend my hand, I grasp the earth’s latch to open the door and leave, but I hesitate on the threshold just a little while longer. My eyes, my ears, my bowels find it difficult, terribly difficult, to tear themselves away from the world’s stones and grass. A man can say to himself:

‘I am satiated, in peace; I have no more wants; I have fulfilled my duty and am ready to leave.’ But the heart resists. Clutching the stones and the grass, it implores: ‘Stay a little longer!’”
All of Kazantzakis’s works contain an abundance of passages about rocks, soil, seeds, rain, air, rainbows, the sea, flowers, and flowering. Possibly no other modern writer has written as extensively about the cosmogonic energies of Nature, with as much poetic brilliance. And what is more, Kazantzakis constantly integrates the terrestrial, the material womb of life, with human life in all its manifestations–and this with insights and a dynamism that only mythology can surpass. Human life, he passionately declares, is rooted in the soil and its growth parallels the essential life of Nature.
For Kazantzakis, the central drama in Nature–seeding, growth, fruition–is the supreme model for human development; and the agrarian life, because of its closeness to the earth, is the best teacher for humans and their communities; cultivation of the soil–cultura in Latin–is the most the authentic culture. Earth life provides both the impetus and pattern for human growth–for health and excellence. And Kazantzakis passionately seeks this nurturing source:

“Ι condense into a lightning moment the seeding, sprouting, blossoming, fructifying, and the passing of every tree, animal, man, star, and god. All earth is a seed planted in the coils of my mind.” (1) Recalling his earliest experiences of the soil, the sea, mother/woman, and the starry firmament he writes:

“And now still, in the deepest moments of awareness, I live inside me these four marvelous elements–in the same unchanged way I did when still a baby. And furthermore: each emotion of mine, even the most abstract and intellectual activity, contains these four primordial elements of my life; and the most serious metaphysical problem acquires a vital physical quality that smells of the sea, the soil and human sweat. Logos, in order to touch me, must first become such flesh. (2)

This catalytic absorption of Nature, that began with the Cretan landscapes in Kazantzakis’s childhood, led to the frequent presence of the Cretan natural environment in many of his writings. Two of his greatest works — Freedom or Death and Zorba the Greek — teem with Cretan life, from fragrances to garments, olives, peasant breads, and weapons in the struggle for freedom. And Kazantzakis’s connection with the natural world was broadened and deepened as he turned his vision to the world of mythology, where the primordial images of the terrestrial realms abound, along with the creative evolutionary leaps of the planet’s and humankind’s epic transformations. The Minoan religion was another rich Cretan source that Kazantzakis mined with un-diminishing passion; the religion that deified the snake–because its entire body touches the Earth at all times–and the “natural culture” it spawned became for him a rich source of inspiration.

One of the central themes and life-long preoccupations in the life and work of Kazantzakis is the ethical principle of becoming–evolving/”ascending.” Here again, he establishes the basis of this principle, and its vitality, on a natural base. Speaking about the future of humanity in one of his letters he writes:

“…but on into the future, the most remote moment will be supremely luminous. I am certain the human race has not yet actualized all the rich inside it possibilities; the womb of the earth is still full of eggs…and these eggs must be saved.” (3)

The gifts of the Earth, as Kazantzakis depicts them, are boundless: there is the great joy of the senses, the heart and the soul, as they take in her beauty; then there is her gift of nurturing all living things and sustaining all growth. But Kazantzakis does not stop there; he derives from Nature, and especially from those who work the soil, essential lessons that can become foundations in building individual character and communal life. Together with the fruits of the Earth comes the earth-hewn wisdom of farmers, shepherds, artisans, and all those who work the Earth’s infinite matter. As one of his critics has observed: “The literary creation

of Kazantzakis always has reality as its source; it is based on observation of the environment and reflection on the relationship
Of man and the earth.” (4)

A few examples from the body of his earth-hymning passages would reveal more than my description or assessment of this Kazantzakian realm. In a letter, written when he was 65, he observed: “I look at the world from these two little windows and never get enough of it. What a miracle this world is!” (5)

“The day shone like a diamond in the rough. As we climbed the soul climbed too, cleared up. Once again I was experiencing the value for the soul of pure air, of easy breathing, of the great expanse of the horizon. You would think that the soul, too, was a wild animal with lungs and nostrils, needing lots of oxygen…”

“How perfectly everything is harmonized on this earth, I thought! How well the earth is harmonized with the human heart!” (6)

“My children,” cried priest Fotis, “it is here on this rough mountain-side, that with God’s strength in us we shall take root…Man is like a tree; he needs soil. This is where we will plant ourselves, will take root again…” (7)

“Last night he {St. George} came in my dream; he stretched out his arm and placed in my hand the seed of a village–a tiny village in my palm, with its church, its school, its houses and gardens–and he said to me: “Plant it!” (8)

“All this time the earth below and the sun above were working without rest to ripen the grain. The ears of corn, swollen with milk, began to harden. The plain had turned red with poppies. The singing birds had gathered hair, straw and mud and had built their nests; the female, with outstretched wings, was warming up the eggs. In front of her, perched on a branch, the male sang to give her courage. From time to time longed-for, rare showers brought some coolness, but soon the sun re-appeared and, chasing away the clouds, went on with his task, old as the world, of helping men and birds.” (9)

These quoted passages, and the rest that follow in this Anthology, are a part of Kazantzakis’ “terrestrial gospel.” They were written more than a half century before concerns about the effects of climate change and the need to save the earth surfaced. And what he expressed came from his own profound reverence for Nature and his humanistic vision, not from external alarms. Yet what he tells us constitutes a relevant and valuable standpoint for ecological meditation and engagement, if we relate to its spirit.

Let us reflect: too many people on our planet live in cities, cut-off from Nature’s healing presence. Our environment and many people across the globe live in extreme conditions, plagued by severe poverty or threatened by disasters caused by climate changes. Flooded with excessive, soulless technology and driven by greed, our world desperately needs the teachings of Kazantzakis: the harmonization of people and Nature, guided by his humanistic ethical principle that is based on dutiful service and responsibility (χρέος και ευθύνη). Every kind of organized mobilization is needed in the struggle to reverse the present catastrophic course. Passages like the following from: Spiritual Exercises: The Saviors of God may significantly spearhead a new wave of ecological concern and much needed environmental action:
“ This vineyard, the earth, is ours–our own flesh and blood. We cultivate and prune it, we gather and tread its grapes, we drink its wine, we sing and weep; ideas and visions rise in our heads.” (10)
“Every man has his own circle made up of things, trees, animals, humans, ideas – and he is duty-bound to save this circle. He, and no one else. If he does not save it, he cannot be saved.”(11)
“Live deeply, not as ideas in your head but as flesh and blood.

You are a leaf of the great tree of humankind; keep feeling the soil rising from the dark roots, becoming branches and leaves.

What is your goal?–the struggle to keep firm your grip to the tree; and–whether as leaf, flower or fruit– to keep the entire tree inside you, breathing and renewing itself.”
“ Love responsibility. Say: It is my duty, and mine alone, to save the earth. If it’s not saved, then I am to blame.” (12)

I hope that you, Reader of this “terrestrial gospel” of Kazantzakis, will be touched by his reverence for Nature, by the beauty of his hymns to Her, and will be inspired to join the environmental struggle that our planet needs today to attain its survival. Kazantzakis, the great combatant, would certainly join today’s fighters for our Earth, since he believed that “the saviors of God” must first be saviors of the Earth.
Perhaps, only if we feel reverence and love for the Earth, as fervently as Kazantzakis did, we will be able to save Her.

A NOTE ON REFERENCES:

All selected passages in this Anthology are translated by the editor from the original Greek of Kazantzakis. They are in separate groups to indicate their origin by book title. Since the editor’s intention (and hope) is that these passages are read as a poem-hymn to Nature, it was thought best not to include footnotes and specific references to sources–with the following exception:

References to quoted passages in the “Translator’s/Editor’s Introduction

1. «Παιδικα Χρονια στην Κρητη» (“Childhood Years in Crete”)
Νεα Εστια (June 1, 1942)
2. Ibid.
3. Letter to Borje Knos— In Ελενη Καζαντζακη:Ο Ασυμβιβαστος
(Helen Kazantzakis: Nikos Kazantzakis-A Biography Based
on his Letters)
4. Andre Mirambel : “Γυρω στο Εργο του Καζαντζακη” )
“On the Work of Kazantzakis”) Καινουρια Εποχη (Autumn 1958)
5. Borje Knos :«Ο Νικος Καζαντζακης μου » (“My Nikos
Kazantzakis”) Καινουρια Εποχη (Autumn 1958)
6. Βιος και Πολιτεια του Αλεξη Ζορμπα (Zorba the Greek)
7. Ο Χριστος Ξανασταυρωνεται–(Christ Recrucified/The
Greek Passion)
8. Ασκητικη–Salvatores Dei (The Saviors of God:Spiritual
Exercises)

Professor THANASIS MASKALERIS

Thanasis Maskaleris was born in Arcadia, Greece and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 17. He studied Philosophy and English at the University of Oklahoma, and Comparative Literature at Indiana University and the University of California-Berkeley. He has written original poetry in Greek and in English, and has translated contemporary Greek poetry and prose extensively.
He taught Comparative Literature and Creative Writing at San Francisco State University, until his recent retirement. At SFSU he was also the Founding Director of the Center for Modern Greek Studies and he spearheaded the establishment of the Nikos Kazantzakis Chair. One of his recent publications (co-edited/translated with Nanos Valaoritis ) is : An Anthology of Modern Greek Poetry( Talisman House Publishers)

Recently published: The Terrestrial Gospel of Nikos Kazantzakis –Will the Humans Be Saviors of the Earth?–
an anthology of passages about Nature, hymns to the Earth and to Crete, intended to inspire ecological action.
( Zorba Press ; Amazon)

Ελληνόγλωσση Παιδεία: Δρόμος μετ’Εμποδίων
Προ ολίγων εβδομάδων, συγκεκριμένα την 27ην Οκτωβρίου 2013, η Ομοσπονδία Ελλήνων Εκπαιδευτικών Αμερικής απηύθυνε ανοιχτή πρόσκληση “σε όσους αισθάνονται επιτακτική την ανάγκη να συμβάλλουν στη διατήρηση και ενίσχυση της Ελληνόγλωσσης Παιδείας” σε μία πολύ αξιόλογη ημερίδα με θέμα: “Ελληνόγλωσση Παιδεία: Λείπουν η συνεννόηση και το πνεύμα συνεργασίας. Γιατί;” Σαν κεντρική εισήγηση της ημερίδας παρουσιάσθηκε Ομιλία με θέμα “Μπροστά στα προτελεύτια της Ελληνικής Παιδείας.” O “Ελληνικός Σύνδεσμος” δεν συμμετέσχε στο πρόγραμμα της ημερίδας , εν τούτοις με την συναίσθηση ότι ανήκει σε εκείνους που από επιτακτική ανάγκη συμβάλλουν “στην διατήρηση και ενίσχυση της Ελληνόγλωσσης Παιδείας” έκανε γνωστές στους διοργανωτές απόψεις του που είχαν άμεση σχέση με την ουσία του θέματος της ημερίδας. Λόγω του γενικώτερου ενδιαφέροντος που παρουσιάζει η έκθεση ιδεών πάνω στο ζωτικό πρόβλημα της Ελληνομάθειας,, δημοσιεύομε τις εκφρασθείσες απόψεις μας προς ενημέρωση των μελών του Συνδέσμου και αναγνωστών του πληροφοριακού μας Δελτίου

Αγαπητοί Φιλοι Αγωνιστές της Ελληνικής Παιδείας,
Θερμά συγχαρητήρια για την πιστοποίηση του μεγάλου προβλήματος που βαραίνει τον Ελληνισμό, την έλλειψη συνεργασίας, την αντιμετώπιση της οποίας στην Ελληνοπρεπή εκπαίδευση επιλέξατε ως κεντρικό θέμα της Ημερίδας που διοργανώνετε!
Καθώς συμφωνώ απόλυτα με την διάγνωση και την απόφασή σας να αναλύσετε και να δώσετε λύση στο πρόβλημα αυτό, θα μου επιτρέψετε να παρατηρήσω ότι ο τίτλος της κεντρικής εισήγησης “Μπροστά στα προτελεύτια της Ελληνικής Παιδείας” συνθέτει μία υπερβολικά ζοφερή εικόνα πού δεν είναι σύμφωνη με την αγωνιστικότητά σας και με τον σκοπόν της Ημερίδας αλλά και με τα ελπιδοφόρα μηνύματα που εκπέμπει η σημερινή – ναι ,άθλια κατά τα άλλα – πραγματικότητα. Το γεγονός ότι το Αμερικανικό σύστημα εκπαιδευσης ετοιμάζεται τη στιγμή αυτή να εισαγάγει επίσημα την διδασκαλία της Νεο -Ελληνικής γλώσσας και πολιτισμού στα σχολεία της Αμερικανικής Συμπολιτείας, μας επιτρέπει αντί απελπισίας να είμαστε αισιόδοξοι, για να ανταποκριθούμε αποτελεσματικά στην θετική πρόκληση που παρουσιάζει για την Ελληνοαμερικανική κοινότητα.

Βέβαια, παραμένει το πρόβλημα έλλειψης συνεργασίας στην κοινότητά μας και πράγματι χαίρω που κάνατε την υπερνίκησή του κεντρικό μέλημά σας. Επιτρέψτε μου να είμαι αισιόδοξος στο θέμα αυτό: η περίπτωση και παράδειγμα του Ελληνικού Συνδέσμου (Hellenic Link, Inc.) μπορεί να βοηθήσει στην επϊλυση του προβλήματος. Για την υπόθεση της Ελληνικής Παιδείας, εργαζόμενοι από ετών χωρίς τυμπανοκρουσίες και φανφάρες , αλλά με συνεννόηση και πνεύμα ανιδιοτελούς συνεργασίας, μπορέσαμε να επιτύχουμε πολλους και σημαντικούς στόχους, δυσανάλογους μάλιστα για τον αριθμό συνεργατών και τα γλίσχρα μέσα που διαθέτουμε. Σκεφθείτε, πόσα πολύ περισσότερα και σπουδαιότερα θα μπορούσαν να επιτύχουν με συντονισμένη πολυδύναμη συνεργασία τους ενδιαφερόμενοι Ελληνοαμερικανικοί Οργανισμοί.

Από την αρχή της στοχευμένης εμπλοκής του Συνδέσμου μας στην βελτίωση της Ελληνικής Παιδείας στην Αμερική (δηλαδή από τις αρχές της περασμένης δεκαετίας), δεν έχομε παύσει να συνηγορούμε έντονα για μία τέτοια συνεργασία που θα πρέπει να συμπεριλάβει χωρίς αποκλεισμούς όλους τους ομογενειακούς φορείς και πρώτιστα τους επαϊοντας, τους ειδικούς δηλαδή στα θέματα της παιδείας. Πολλές φορές η συνηγορία μας έγινε σε συγκεκριμένο αρμόδιο φορέα σαν ανοικτή πρόταση για μελέτη και δράση επάνω στις Ελληνικές εκπαιδευτικές ανάγκες στη μεγάλη χώρα που ζούμε.Μέχρι στιγμής δεν έχομε δεί κάποια αισθητή ανταπόκριση. Εχομε συνεπώς μεγάλη ελπίδα και ενδιαφέρον ότι όσα συζητηθούν στην Ημερίδα σας θα οδηγήσουν σε μία ζωογόνο αλλαγή για το καλό της Ελληνομάθειας και το μέλλον της Ελληνικής πολιτισμικής παρουσίας στις ΗΠΑ.

Την συνεργασία, που με επιστημονικά και επαγγελματικά όσο και εθνικά κριτήρια προσπαθούμε να καλλιεργήσουμε, θέλομε και μπορούμε να επεκτείνουμε και να μοιρασθούμε με όσους συνειδητά την επιζητούν και δέχονται.

Με τις καλλίτερες ευχές για μία λαμπρά επιτυχία της Ημερίδας ,

Κώστας Ευθυμίου, Ph.D.
Πρόεδρος Ελληνικού Σύνδέσμου
Συντονιστής Συμβουλίου Ελληνικής Παιδείας του Συνδέσμου

A New Academic Leader Joins the Advisory Council on Hellenic Education
Following the announcement in the Novembetr issue of the Bulletin that Dr. Stella Tsirka has taken her seat as regular member to reinforce the work of the Council with her experience in the Life Sciences, we are equally happy to announce that another leading academic teacher, researcher and administrator, working in New York City has now joined the Council: Zoe Petropoulou, Ph.D., Chair person, Department of Languages & Literatures, St. John’s University, Associate Professor of French, will collaborate with her colleagues in the Council, who are specialists in various fields of the Humanities, to plan and implement
innovative educational activities in their fields. Dr. Zoe Petropoulou was born in Athens, Greece. She received her BA in French and Greek Literature from the University of Athens. She received her MA in French Literature from the University of Sorbonne, Paris IV and her PhD in French Literature at the University of Paris III. She has published a book on Albert Camus, and she has presented at several Conferences in Europe and the USA. Dr. Petropoulou has received several fellowships by the French Government; also, in 1995 she received an NEH grant to pursue her research of 18th Century French literature. Her current research interests focus on the role of French women writers during the Enlightenment, and on issues of International Education at the University level. From 1996 to 1999 she was instrumental in grant-funding of Title VI grants at SJU.

From the Planning Realm of Hellenic Education
The Advisory Council on Hellenic Education of the Hellenic Link met recently in New York in its new expanded composition (for the new Members who joined the Council, see this Bulletin above and Bulletin 111). The Council’s Meeting Agenda was preoccupied by a wide array of themes, which briefly included the following:
· Report on the Byzantine Resource Guide Project, which is entering a stage of collaboration of a dozen authors and of active efforts to secure funding needed for completion.
· Consultation for development of requested proposals advising legislative action by the Greek Parliament in support of Hellenic Education abroad.
· Consideration of additional measures to advance formation of an infrastructure for Hellenic Education in America.
· Activities focused on the new era being established with the adoption of national standards for the teaching/ learning of Modern Greek language and culture in American schools.
· Opportunities to use public communication media to reach the community for purposes of its educational advancement.

The Board of Directors, The Advisory Council on Hellenic Education and all Members of The Hellenic Link, Inc. wish to our compatriots whereever they live and especially those in Greece and Cyprus, that the Peace, Joy, and Light of Christmas abide with them, and that the New Year 2014 bring forth justification to their sacrifices and struggles for a life of dignity in freedom.

On-Line Course in Modern Greek Offered Free
In cooperation with the Institute for Language and Speech Processing (ILSP)/
“Athena” Research Center, the Hellenic Link, Inc. is offering as a service to the community a series of Greek language lessons on its Web site: http://www.helleniclink.org ( on a 24/7 schedule)
On the home page of the site, upper left corner, click on “Learning Greek,”
to be introduced to a series of fifteen lessons of the philoglossia+ courseware.
Please inform anyone who would be interested in learning Greek of this service.
THE HELLENIC LINK, Inc.

A NON PROFIT CULTURAL AND SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION
OF HELLENES AND PHILHELLENES
INCORPORATED IN DELAWARE
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