Supreme Council of Ethnic Hellenes

Supreme Council of Ethnic Hellenes

Formation	1997
Type	Non-profit, Hellenic Ethnic Religion
Location	Athens, Greece
Membership	2,000
Key people	Vlassis Rassias
Website	http://www.ysee.gr/

YSEE's Spring Equinox 2016 ritual at an ancient temple of Goddess Artemis in Peloponnese.

The Supreme Council of Ethnic Hellenes (Ύπατο Συμβούλιο των Ελλήνων Εθνικών, Ýpato Symvoúlio to̱n Ellí̱no̱n Ethnikó̱n), commonly referred to by its acronym YSEE, is a non-profit organisation established in Greece in 1997. Its primary goal is the protection and restoration of the Hellenic Ethnic Religion in contemporary Greek society. Since its founding, YSEE has distributed over 300 letters of protest and press releases aimed at increasing religious freedom for followers of the Hellenic Ethnic Religion. It has also hosted over 800 rituals and educational events.

The group itself estimates that some 2,000 Greeks practice the Hellenic Ethnic Religion and another 100,000 have "some sort of interest",.^[1] The followers of the Hellenic Ethnic Religion face varying degrees of discrimination in Greece,^[2][3][4] which has an overwhelmingly Orthodox Christian.^[5] population. One of YSEE's main goals is to obtain legal recognition for the Hellenic Ethnic Religion.

YSEE is a founding member of the European Congress of Ethnic Religions (ECER) and hosted its seventh Congress in June 2004. YSEE has also been member of the European Union's action program to combat discrimination.

Outside of Greece

In 2007 members of YSEE in the United States founded the Hellenic Council YSEE of America which is now a recognized non-for profit organization based in Astoria, a New York neighborhood with a large Greek-American community.

See also

• Religion in Greece
• Separation of church and state in Greece
• Persecution of ancient Greek religion
• European Congress of Ethnic Religions

Notes

1. "Letter From Greece: The Gods Return to Olympus". Retrieved 2007-11-26.
2. Smith, Helena (2006-05-05). "Greek gods prepare for comeback". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2007-11-26.
3. "International Religious Freedom Report 2004". Retrieved 2007-11-26.
4. "International Religious Freedom Report 2005". Retrieved 2007-11-26.
5. "Greece". Retrieved 2007-11-26.

External links

• YSEE homepage
• Hellenic Council YSEE of America homepage
• YSEE's piesthood Homepage
• MSNBC clips featuring YSEE members
• Wojciech Jan Rudny interviews YSEE on behalf of the polish «GNIAZDO» magazine

References

• A Beginner's Guide to Hellenismos (2007) by Timothy Jay Alexander ISBN 978-1-4303-2456-0 (Page 16)
• The Pagan Man: Priests, Warriors, Hunters, and Drummers (2006) by Isaac Bonewits ISBN 978-0-8065-2697-3 (Page 32)
• Hellenismos Today (2007) by Timothy Jay Alexander ISBN 978-1-4303-1427-1 (Page 20)
• The Gods of Reason: An Authentic Theology for Modern Hellenismos (2007) by Timothy Jay Alexander ISBN 978-1-4303-2763-9 (Page 25)
• THE ENGLISH LEXICON OF STANDARD TERMINOLOGY FOR HELLENISMOS From <<Θύραθεν>> ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΙΚΟ ΛΕΞΙΚΟ by Vlassis G. Rassias http://www.ysee.gr/download/TELOSTFH.pdf