ATHENS – Despite arrests and legal aggression from the Greek Orthodox Church, the First Hellenic Polytheist Temple in 1700 Years is now open. Located near the village of Kalliani in the Peloponnese, in the wild mountains of Arcadia, Pan is once again being honored in his native lands.
The Wild Hunt reported in Pagan Community Notes on February 27, 2025, the government and faith community have not been so supportive of Hellenic religion. A Greek court has prohibited the inauguration of the Temple of Zeus and Pan, currently under construction near the village of Kalliani in Arcadia, and has ordered a halt to all ongoing construction work.
On March 8, 2025, a new temple to Pan and Zeus was unveiled, blessed, and sanctified in Greece for the first time in 1700 years; but not without a major fight with the Greek Orthodox Church and the Greek government.
via Stato Magna Grecia – Due Sicilie [Facebook]
Our correspondent, Elyse Welles, sent this commentary on the subsequent events.
As many people may know from my personal writings, the practicing of any worship or connection to Ancient Greek deities or folk practices are condemned by the Greek Orthodox Church. As a majority religion at 98% of the population, this largely affects the freedom of religion. Worshiping at ancient sites is expressly forbidden, and there are steep entry costs to temples with no discounts or free admission for polytheists, pagans, or others who identify with these gods and goddesses. I’ve written extensively on this in previous articles, such as the experience recently with a private tour I led to Eleusis chronicled on The Wild Hunt in October 2024.
As such, it will come as no surprise that this sacred project was not without major pushback by the Greek Orthodox Church, and in turn the Greek legal system.
On February 24, police arrested Evangelos Bexis, an archaeologist and the supervisor of the creation of the Temple of Pan. They were following the orders of a prosecutor. On his social media, Bexis revealed that the prosecutor released him, although a trial date will be set.
Later, Bexis posted a video, filmed in front of the temple, explaining the reason he was arrested was to intimidate him to stop construction. Allegedly they told him to call off the entire project.
“I told the police, come and arrest me. We are many. We are strong… they will not stop us,” said Bexis.
he continued: “It is an act of aggression that cannot be ignored. We are at war in every way. They ordered us, in a state where we are supposed to have religious freedom, that… we should not celebrate in honor of our Gods because we are illegal.”
Despite filing all of the correct permits for operation, the Department of Urban Development at the last minute denied the temple be a functioning building. The only way they would allow the building to stay standing was to fill it in so it could not be entered. As you’ll see in the photos, cement blocks were put to keep the temple from being a full house of worship.
Although the legal precedence for this is sketchy at best and non-existent at worst, the Greek legal system is such that fighting it further could have caused indefinite delays. And so Evangelos Bexis, the project manager and organizer of the temple, elected to allow officials to close up the temple. The officials also demanded to be the ones to carry out the sealing up of the temple, likely to ensure it happens fully and completely.
The Ministry of Education actually stepped forward to ensure that this would not be an official place of worship.
For anyone familiar with the Greek government, or the attempt of getting any permits or any approvals in Greece for anything, you know how incredible the opposition must have been for them to pass these demands. But the Greek church and the government often act as one when able.
The local church in the town of Gortyna went so far as to denigrate the worship site in a public speech, presented at the time of the opening ceremonies of the temple, saying it is not an official place of worship. They appealed to the people “not be led astray.”
Evangelos Bexis reminded the public: “We are completely legal While this temple does not fall under the rules of church construction it is not a church, and was thus improperly sealed. We will proceed to defend our legal rights.”
Rather than delay the temple’s opening ceremonies, they decided to go ahead with the sealing of the temple. And despite all of these obstacles, Evangelos is positive about the importance of this temple. “After 1,700 years, such a building is being built with marble cladding on the walls and ceiling. There are tens of thousands of people in Greece and abroad who believe in their ancestral gods and they do not have a place of worship. An injustice of centuries is being corrected.”
The temple was constructed using the golden ratio, just like the ancient temples of the days of Pericles were. Manolis Heliotis, a doctor from Great Britain, owns the 170-acre fenced area of the temple in Kalliani, and funded the project for all who want to connect with Pan and Zeus to do so.
The opening ceremony was attended by over 1000 people from all over Greece. The ceremonies were rituals to honor and invite Zeus and Pan to this sacred place. For this many people to show up to a public event in honor of their gods is unheard of in Greece. Large events like Labrys’ Falliforia parade every February or the conference hosted by the Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes (YSEE) in 2024 never garner this many people to attend. I take it as a sign that the times truly are changing.
And to the Orthodox majority in Greece, Bexis has this response: “We are not rivals nor do we seek to be rivals with our Christian brothers, we are all Greeks. All we want is understanding for our beliefs. We demand respect from both them and the state.”
Stato Magna Grecia – Due Sicilie publically shared dozens of photos of the Temple and the ceremony on Kallani in honor of Pan.
The Wild Hunt will update the community on these events as they become available.
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