Ever since Christos Pandion Panopoulos posted his piece on blood sacrifice in ancient Hellenic life, and bringing the practice back in modern times, it's been on my mind. I've been thinking about it at least once a day, trying to figure out my position.

By now I am quite certain that society is not ready for the practice to be brought back. Very few people are willing or able to see past the obvious thoughts of animal abuse, and view the practice in the spirit of holistic living. In the spirit of being one with nature, raising cattle specifically with the purpose of sacrificing, and then doing so in a well-trained and humane manner, with respect to the animal, the humans involved in the rite, and the Gods to whom the animal is sacrificed.

There is animal sacrifice in the modern world, but it's either tied to the Islam (which is problematic in this time of fear and phobia against the religion), or fringe religions like Voudon and... well... us. And those are problematic in their own right as they have a large amount of 'boogie boogie' according to the Regular Joe's of this world. But not even Christianity is safe when it comes to animal sacrifice. I read this news article a few days ago, about the St. Paul’s Church in Patra, the Peloponnese, and their Easter sacrifice of a lamb. In it, it reads:

"St. Paul’s Church in Patra, the Peloponnese, has its own Easter time-honored traditions. For starters, there is the ceremony of throwing red eggs to the faithful and offering a live lamb to a parish family after a draw. This year, the lamb in question stood in the parish courtyard throughout the church service. Miserable and evidently distraught the lamb was uneasy throughout the service, possibly understanding the fate that would befall it.
A group of animal rights activists decided that the time had come to put an end to the barbaric custom that has been observed for decades. Taking legal action against the church, they called for police intervention citing animal abuse. They were opposed to the church’s callous display of the suffering animal at the courtyard as a 'show' for the children who attended the Holy Saturday service and wondered what sort of principles the church was instilling in these young people by offering such an attraction."

Of course, the circumstances are different, but the basic premise remains the same: killing animals for a religious purpose is both shameful and outdated. So what does that say about any need we may have to bring the practice back? Should we give up on it because society is not ready or should we kick until society has been made ready? Is this the battle we should be fighting right now? Is this what our focus should be on?

Personally, I think we are not ready to revive the practice of animal sacrifice. We are small, scattered, and divided on many things. We have no set or standardized practice--and we even differ on the opinion if we need one. I think we have quite a lot of other things to sort out before we can form a united front that can declare--unambiguously--why we need to perform animal sacrifices to fully practice our religion, and set up rules, guidelines, and classes to make these a reality in a legal, responsible manner.

I think we can and should bring back the practice, but not now. Not yet. Perhaps in ten years or so, maybe twenty. Once we are secure, once we are more recognised, once we are done chipping away at ourselves from the inside out. Perhaps then we will be able to bring back something so very important to the ancient Hellenes and the Gods we love so much.