I was reading some articles about the "prophecies" of a few notable Greek saints, like Kosmas the Aetolian, who lived shortly before the era of the Greek revolution of 1821. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmas_of_Aetolia), and also has the title of 'Isapostolos' (equal to the apostles), and 'Hieromartyr' (Holy martyr).
They contain a number of passages that have to do with warfare, particularly between Greece and Agarenoi (Hagarenes), namely the turks, although this is a term used in the era of the Byzantine Empire for various muslim people.
More interesting, perhaps, are the prophecies which are argued to not have been fulfilled yet (the vast majority of them are generally attributed to the Balkan wars period).
One which i find to be different than the rest, not only because it has as its subject a very distinct event, and a very dramatic one at that, but moreover due to the reference to something in the future, can be translated in the following way:
"The turks will leave, but shall return again and reach the Hexamilium. In the end they will be ousted to the Red Apple-tree. Of them one third will be killed, one third will be christened, and one third will arrive there."
There are two things i find peculiar about this, and i am approaching it from a literary point of view.
-First there is a reference to the Hexamilium, or rather "Hexamilia". Originally the scholars of the church had thought that Aitolos referred to the known place near Corinth, where the eponymus 6-mile wall was built. Hexamilium means just that, "of six miles".
But then he used plural. In greek there is a distinction between Hexamilion (singular) and Hexamilia (plural), so already there is something odd perhaps about this choice of term.
Interestingly another named Saint, Elder Paisios of Mount Athos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elder_Paisios_of_Mount_Athos) claimed that Kosmas Aitolos did not at all mean the place near Corinth, but the six nautical miles which internationally Greece currently has rights to from its islands.
There does exist a very serious issue with those, since by law of the sea a country can expand those miles to twelve, but there is a Law passed by Turkish government enabling the state to declare war on Greece if such a move is enacted. So Elder Paisios theorised that the Hexamilia was a reference to that issue.
-Secondly there is the seemingly poetic naming of "The red Apple-tree". I have read that it is believed by some scholars that this term was a common term used by Greeks of the Megali Idea (the liberation of all ottoman territories which held Greek populations, or alternatively the re-institution of the lands of the Byzantine Empire) period, and simply meant an imaginary far-away place in the heart of Asia Minor.
However as a writer i am suspecting that for such a term to come to be there should have been a very logical reason that made its use so common, as was argued to have been.
I also read that the Seljuks supposedly called every large city as "Red Apple", and that this might have been the source of the term. This has some credence from a literary point of view, since if the seljuks named all cities as "Red Apple", then logically their archetypical city would have been the creator of such a notion, and hence it would have been a Red Apple-tree.
But there is a problem with that. The term "Kokkine melia" (Red Apple-tree) does not mean a tree that produces red apples, but a red tree that produces apples.
Irregardless of what phenomena are at work for a person to be of the view that he is a prophet, and moreover of tradition hailing him as one (i am not a believer of prophecies, but at the same time am of the view that there is no thoroughly logical way to dismiss them either, same with faith in general) i still find that passage of Kosmas the Aetolian to be interesting. The Elder Paisios, a very different personality all-together, has been often said to have spoken of his own prophecies in much simpler tone, without hidden meanings. But this thread has as its focus the place of myth and prophecy in history, with the aforementioned prophecy as an example of that.
I hope you found something of interest too in this short article. At some time in my life i probably will arrive at Mount Athos, where hopefully i can discuss more about such issues with some of the scholarly and ascetic elders there. I am very interested in the literary point of appreciation of such elements of tradition
They contain a number of passages that have to do with warfare, particularly between Greece and Agarenoi (Hagarenes), namely the turks, although this is a term used in the era of the Byzantine Empire for various muslim people.
More interesting, perhaps, are the prophecies which are argued to not have been fulfilled yet (the vast majority of them are generally attributed to the Balkan wars period).
One which i find to be different than the rest, not only because it has as its subject a very distinct event, and a very dramatic one at that, but moreover due to the reference to something in the future, can be translated in the following way:
"The turks will leave, but shall return again and reach the Hexamilium. In the end they will be ousted to the Red Apple-tree. Of them one third will be killed, one third will be christened, and one third will arrive there."
There are two things i find peculiar about this, and i am approaching it from a literary point of view.
-First there is a reference to the Hexamilium, or rather "Hexamilia". Originally the scholars of the church had thought that Aitolos referred to the known place near Corinth, where the eponymus 6-mile wall was built. Hexamilium means just that, "of six miles".
But then he used plural. In greek there is a distinction between Hexamilion (singular) and Hexamilia (plural), so already there is something odd perhaps about this choice of term.
Interestingly another named Saint, Elder Paisios of Mount Athos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elder_Paisios_of_Mount_Athos) claimed that Kosmas Aitolos did not at all mean the place near Corinth, but the six nautical miles which internationally Greece currently has rights to from its islands.
There does exist a very serious issue with those, since by law of the sea a country can expand those miles to twelve, but there is a Law passed by Turkish government enabling the state to declare war on Greece if such a move is enacted. So Elder Paisios theorised that the Hexamilia was a reference to that issue.
-Secondly there is the seemingly poetic naming of "The red Apple-tree". I have read that it is believed by some scholars that this term was a common term used by Greeks of the Megali Idea (the liberation of all ottoman territories which held Greek populations, or alternatively the re-institution of the lands of the Byzantine Empire) period, and simply meant an imaginary far-away place in the heart of Asia Minor.
However as a writer i am suspecting that for such a term to come to be there should have been a very logical reason that made its use so common, as was argued to have been.
I also read that the Seljuks supposedly called every large city as "Red Apple", and that this might have been the source of the term. This has some credence from a literary point of view, since if the seljuks named all cities as "Red Apple", then logically their archetypical city would have been the creator of such a notion, and hence it would have been a Red Apple-tree.
But there is a problem with that. The term "Kokkine melia" (Red Apple-tree) does not mean a tree that produces red apples, but a red tree that produces apples.
Irregardless of what phenomena are at work for a person to be of the view that he is a prophet, and moreover of tradition hailing him as one (i am not a believer of prophecies, but at the same time am of the view that there is no thoroughly logical way to dismiss them either, same with faith in general) i still find that passage of Kosmas the Aetolian to be interesting. The Elder Paisios, a very different personality all-together, has been often said to have spoken of his own prophecies in much simpler tone, without hidden meanings. But this thread has as its focus the place of myth and prophecy in history, with the aforementioned prophecy as an example of that.
I hope you found something of interest too in this short article. At some time in my life i probably will arrive at Mount Athos, where hopefully i can discuss more about such issues with some of the scholarly and ascetic elders there. I am very interested in the literary point of appreciation of such elements of tradition
