Christian subversion and missionary activities

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<b>Modern pagans honor Zeus in Athens</b> <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Christianity rose to prominence in Greece in the 4th century after Roman Emperor Constantine's conversion. Emperor Theodosius wiped out the last vestige of the Olympian gods when he abolished the        Olympic Games in A.D. 394. Several isolated pockets of pagan worship lingered as late as the 9th century.

<b>"The Christians shut down our schools and destroyed our temples," </b>said Yiannis Panagidis, a 36-year-old accountant at the ceremony.

<b>Most Greeks are baptized Orthodox Christians, and the church rejects ancient religious practices as pagan. Church officials have refused to attend flame ceremony re-enactments at Olympia before the Olympic Games because Apollo, the ancient god of light, is invoked.</b>

<b>Unlike the monotheistic religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, the old religion lacked written ethical guidelines, but its gods were said to strike down mortals who displayed excessive pride or "hubris" — a recurring theme in the tragedies of Euripides and other ancient writers</b>.

<b>"We do not believe in dogmas and decrees, as the other religions do. We believe in freedom of thought,"</b> Stathopoulos said.
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