Vlassis Rassias, the General Secretary of the Supreme Council of Ethnic Hellenes (YSEE), passed away in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The co-founder of YSEE leaves behind a huge body of work, including more than 20 books and the institution he helped establish – the YSEE, a non-profit organisation that he established in Greece in 1997 for the protection and restoration of the Hellenic ethnic religion in contemporary Greek society. It is estimated some 2,000 Greeks practice the ethnic religion, while 100,000 have “some sort of interest”.
As a stakeholder in the YSEE movement, Rassias was a prolific author, speaker and activist for the restoration of the Hellenic ancestral religion, as well as an advocate for other indigenous, ethnic religions throughout Europe. He worked towards the goal of obtaining legal recognition for the Hellenic ethnic religion that existed in antiquity.
Rassias was just a teenager when Mt Athos monk Augoustinos Kantiotis penned a furious letter concerning the genitals of sea god Poseidon and the “shame of Athens” in displaying a replica of the statue at the entrance of the Ministry of Education. Another monk, Nestor Tsoukalas drove across Greece with a sledgehammer to destroy the statue. “I got a hint that Christianity was something bad,” he said in an interview with The Outline. “Hellenism is something that supports life, and puts order to the beauty. We have a different perception of gods. Whatever gives power to life is god, even death is god.”
Huge loss for the community
Andras Corban-Arthen, President of the European Congress of Ethnic Religions (ECER) released a statement following his death. “I grieve, personally, the loss of a dear friend and colleague, someone whom I deeply appreciated, respected and admired throughout the decade we worked together,” he said. “On behalf of the ECER, I send our deep condolences to his family and community — we are all so much richer for having had Vlassis as part of our lives.”
The YSEE community around the globe remembers Rassias as a man who contributed to the revitalisation of indigenous Hellenic Culture. The American chapter of YSEE said that the “pain is even greater because Vlassis was above all a great person and a great friend to those of us that had the honour of meeting him and stood next to him in this effort of raising our Ethnic Religions back up from the ashes.”
Daniele Liotta, MTR President, wrote an article remembering Rassias’ efforts to revive ethnic religion. “Dear Vlassis, let me say that your long and constant work for the benefit of the current Greek and European paganism has been essential. we hope that others will know how to seize your important baton and that they will be worthy of raising the torch high, always keeping the sacred re burning. May the Gods be favourable to your new journey undertaken, and may the ground be light for you,” she wrote.