ATHENS – The Labrys Worship Community, an inclusive Hellenic polytheist group based in Greece, celebrated Thargelia earlier this month on the night of May 4, 2025. Thargelia is an ancient festival honoring the birthdays of Artemis and Apollo. The ritual took place at the Community’s public altar on Filopappou Hill in Athens.
But in the hours following the ritual, their altar was destroyed and defaced in what community members are calling an act of religiously motivated vandalism. Accounts suggest that their altar was destroyed and defaced by Orthodox Christians, as noted by the marking left on the site.
Greece recognizes the Eastern Orthodox Church as the “prevailing religion” in its Constitution (Article 3), but it also guarantees religious freedom. Nevertheless, Orthodoxy holds a privileged status and deep cultural influence, it is not technically a “state religion” in the same way as in countries with official theocracies. Polls show that 98% of Greek citizens are registered as Greek Orthodox, according to the Pew Research Center’s latest polls.
Thargelia service [ Courtesy: Labrys Worship Community
Since its founding 15 years ago, Labrys has chosen to perform most of its rituals in an open (guarded for some hours but with free access) archaeological site in the center of Athens, on Philopappos Hill, directly across from the Acropolis, at the ruins of the shrine to the hero Museos, the poet, prophet, and priest in Greek tradition whose name is related to the Muses, the goddesses of inspiration in poetry, music, and the arts, reinforcing his connection to divine inspiration.
“To serve our worship needs and respect the site and its uniqueness as an archaeological area, we always use a makeshift altar made of stones from the area (simple stones, not fragments from the archaeological remains). We often carry out cleaning work in the wider area because, being open, some irresponsible visitors throw garbage, cigarettes, or other objects. In general we respect and take care of the site not only because it’s our ritual site but also due to its archaeological significance,” explains Christos Pandion Panopoulos, a founder of Labrys.
Our reporter notes that they have had the pleasure of participating in ritual with Labrys in the past, and so TWH contacted Christos right away when I saw the news. He explained that unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened. “Over the years, the destruction of our altar, due to its non-interventionist, non-stable nature, has become a common phenomenon, “ Christos said. “Sometimes there is minor damage due to exposure to weather conditions, sometimes complete destruction by site crews when they carry out cleaning work based on instructions from the relevant authorities, and sometimes clearly by vandals who, for their own reasons, decide to scatter the stones of a beautiful altar.”
Although they are always expecting to find some damage for the former two reasons, it’s the intentional destruction that draws the most concern. “Recently, the cases of destruction caused by the latter group of people have dangerously increased, and they have even left their mark so that we know this is due to religious hatred, the historically known monotheistic hatred against polytheism.”
This recent attack is the most harmful one in recent years, Panopoulos explains. “Not only was the altar leveled, but various larger slabs used as bases for ritual objects were found broken and thrown even onto the ancient remains of the hero shrine, which also suffered damage.”
And to really make their mark, again, on an ancient site, the vandals left a very clear message. “The Christian graffiti with the letters signifying IC XC NIKA, meaning ‘Jesus Christ Conquers,’ has been visible for some months on the stone wall of the site, a reminder that monotheistic fundamentalism is still alive and working through the cracks of our modern societies, ready to return them to a previous state of totalitarian barbarism.”
Site vandalism [Labrys Worship Community
Despite this clear opposition, it does not deter Labrys from gathering. “As always we rebuilt our altar and carried on with our ritual, the above act being a reminder to all participants during the Katharmos prayers of Thargelia that ritual cleansing wasn’t by some vice a main part of many festivals but because in human history we always have to face the various Katharmata that spread their miasma.”
The Wild Hunt is not responsible for links to external content.
To join a conversation on this post:
Visit our The Wild Hunt subreddit! Point your favorite browser to https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Wild_Hunt_News/, then click “JOIN”. Make sure to click the bell, too, to be notified of new articles posted to our subreddit.