CHAPTER X
Greek-American-Christian-Association
It is said, by Him who never told a lie, that every tree is known by its own fruit, and the confirmation of the statement is conclusive to the student of natural and human history.
It was an idea of King Maximilian of Bavaria, to transmit to history a reminder of his reign. He instructed the architects of Germany to design a new style to be named after him. Such a style of Maximilianesque was created. An architect—it was Semper, if I am not mistaken—when asked to take a part in this creation of the so-called Maximilian style, answered that such a thing could not be made to order, that a style of building is the consequence of the history, the culture, life, and doings of a great period of people. If such be the case with a style of architecture, how much more must it be the case in regard to religion?
The history of this style of Maximilian's is, that it has no history, and consequently all efforts of pursuing eminent architects to adopt the Maximilian style failed. This short history is that of the attempts to create a very much needed world religion. It is not the dogma nor the doctrines or the profession that will make it possible for all right thinking minds to unite efforts in building a universal religion, sufficient to satisfy the intellectual want of every people and of every time. Attempts, all-powerful, such as Papism and Mohammedanism, failed in their egotistic purposes to enforce upon the world an exotic structure. Neither the fires of Torquemadas, nor the sword of Islam could deter the bravery of civilization. The blood that was spilled by the millions of martyrs of the lowly Nazarene served to make the history of the man who died upon the Cross, more effective and heartfelt world-need for the only aristurgimatical shrine in which all human families may live in peace and prosperity.
At a time when the world was imperilled by the treatment accorded to Galileo for believing in the motion of the earth; and though 69 years of age he was cast, by the tools of Vatican, into a dungeon, where he lost his sight and ultimately his life; and Copernicus was facing the same fate, for accomplishing a noble astronomical discovery; and Martin Luther was persecuted by the Roman Catholic church, for trying to bring the people nearer to God. The Greeks, a brave people, who, in the face of starvation, for lack of food, and horrified by the sword of the conqueror, dishonored in their holiest sacreds, pure maidens slain after being used in the most beastly way, mothers put to death after their children were torn off into shreds of flesh under the sword of the barbarous Turk, young people and old aged having no rescuing place to escape from horror and death; when all crowned heads of Europe should bow on their knees and kiss the slipper of the holy father before they could attain their rights to the throne of their own kingdoms; when all the known world was trembling equally in the name of Mohammed and Pope, these people (the Greeks) stood up, and with all the strength that was left in their lungs, they cried out, "we prefer political slavery rather than to be the slaves of the Pope," and for more than three centuries the Greeks suffered such a martyrdom which if only printed it would be more than a human heart could bear.
The history of Greece shall remain until the end of time, and as the peoples of the world grow intelligently and intellectually more enlightened they will come to the appreciation of the fact that the Greek people has contributed more material in paving the way to the spiritual freedom and the individual liberty of the world than any other nation on the face of the earth, and that the Greek spirit is still living and ruling in principle in the very heart of the civilized world.
It is essential that every nation in making up the list of its benefactors should give the first place to the most distinguished one. In accordance to the general law the Greek nation of today not only owes its literary language, in part at least, to the exertions of the great patriot Korais, but to him is accredited the prophecy, that, "the Greek nation shall never be great again, unless regenerated in Christ."
Adamantios Korais was born April 27, 1747, in Smyrna. From early youth he devoted himself to the study of old and new languages. In obedience to his father's wishes, he followed a mercantile career during the year 1772-78, without, however, neglecting the sciences. From 1782-88 he studied medicine in Montpellier and established himself as a practising physician in Paris. From there he worked incessantly for the education of his compatriots, and endeavored to awaken a favorable opinion of his nation in the Occidental countries. In 1800 he received the prize of the Academy for an edition of the writings of Hippocrates, but before this time he had attracted the attention of the world of learning by his ability, and Napoleon the Great conferred upon him many honors and titles and appointed him the medical adviser of the Court. Later on he gained fame by his Greek translation of Beccaria's work on crimes and their punishments. This was followed by a work entitled "De l'etat actuel de la civilization en Greece" (Paris, 1803). This was the first publication in Europe which gave true information on the intellectual and moral conditions of the new Greeks. During the period from 1805-27 he published a collection—twenty volumes—of old Greek classics, with critical explanations and prolegomena. In the latter he gave his patriotic teachings and advices. His greatest merit consisted in his promoting the Greek morals and the Greek language; he eliminated as much as possible all foreign elements, but retained all that was good and useful from all centuries, rejecting the one-sided retention of the old words and forms as not compatible with the understanding of the people. He above all, helped to establish a noble literary language. On account of his old age he could take no part in the rising of his fatherland in 1821, but aided it greatly by his patriotic pen. When Greece had gained her independence he took an active interest in the new formation of his country. In 1830-31 he attacked the government of Kapodistria in two publications. He died in 1833. His autobiography appeared in Paris in the same year. The name of Adamantios Korais will never die from the memory of every patriot Greek, and yet his sincere opinion that "the Greek nation shall never be great again, unless regenerated in Christ," had little effect upon the hearts of the people, or rather upon the hearts of the leaders of the people.