Dorrough Smith/Hijacked, 5. The Political Utility of the Past

This essay discusses the northern Greek tradition of fire-walking, a practice that the Greek Orthodox Church has attempted to officially ban as inconsistent with church tradition at the same time that it insists on the legitimacy of its own set of rituals. Since there is no division of church and state in the Greek context, this makes the rhetoric of “proper religion” and “proper citizen” all the more crucial.