About 14 years ago, I commented in a thread that Xenia — and more importantly Philoxenia — was DEMANDED in Hellenismos. I was challenged on what my source was (I was actually basing it on how even MODERN Greek culture remembered Xenia, but that is not how I ended up defending my stance). How I ended up defending it was through using two LONG passages from the Odyssey and a story about how poor mortals hosted the Theoi in disguise when rich mortals had refused to.
Fast-forward to today when we are having racists, ablists, and homophobes trying to dictate to us who may or may not approach the worship of the Theoi. This is WRONG in too many ways for me to count. This is why as an individual, I find it imperative to be a signatory to The Xenia Declaration. This declaration states that we will not be gatekeepers between worshipers ant the Theoi. It also states that we WILL NOT TOLERATE BIGOTRY in the name of our religion and our Theoi.
And it is long overdue….
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