From Pythagoras to Salt Lake City
by
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Salt Lake City and the Olympics
The world had a chance to see Salt Lake City recently in the Winter Olympics. For this grand event we had the opportunity to see the light which so remarkably represents the beauty of the Greek ideals, being carried to Salt Lake City.
. . . . .
(English Translation of the Olympic Anthem)
Immortal Ancient Spirit, pure father
Of the beautiful, of the great and of the true,
Come down, appear and shine over here
In the glory of your earth and heaven.
In the running and in the fight and the throw,
Shine in the fury of these noble games,
And crown with the never-fading branch
And shape the body to be strong like steel and worthy.
The fields, the mountains and the seas shine with you
Like one purplish-white grand temple,
And are running unto you here as your worshipers,
All nations, Oh! Immortal Ancient Spirit.
In the first two lines, who is addressed by the poet of this song? Who is the Immortal Ancient Spirit? Who is the father of the beautiful, of the great and of the true? There is only one being in my estimation that encompasses all these proclamations. And that one can only be our Heavenly Father or His successor and beloved son Jesus Christ. And the latter fits better, as He was, according to John 1, the “Word from the beginning.” He is the one who is expected to come again, someday, in the glory of His earth and His heaven. The author then is pleading with Him to come down and appear and shine in the glory of these noble games and is asking Him to shape the bodies of the participants strong like that of steel, and worthy. Definitely He is that ancient spirit, the one who came down on earth and asked all of us to be worthy, even as He was when He was among us. In the following two lines the author testifies to us that the fields and the mountains and the seas, or in other words, the whole earth in His presence do shine like one purplish-white grand temple and to Him we (all nations) are running as His worshipers. And in the end the author proclaims Him again: “Oh! Immortal Ancient Spirit”. The whole hymn, without actual reference to Jesus Christ, only appears as an incoherent rambling of beautiful words, but when you recognize that only one person fits that description, the hymn then becomes miraculously beautiful and prophetic.
There are no more beautiful words to address our Savior and Redeemer with and there is no more glorious and beautiful light which is emanating to the whole world as is the light of Jesus’ gospel, especially in the way the gospel is presented by this Church which is based in Salt Lake City.
The Right Place
As in the ancient days, a modern prophet of the Church, Brigham Young, took his people from Nauvoo, Illinois, and although ill in his wagon, as his caravan was descending toward the Salt Lake, he was inspired to rise up and declare to his people that they had arrived finally at “the right place.” The next forty years found them not only building their homes in that desert-like land, but also building the grand, out of granite stone, House of the Lord and our Living God. The fields, the mountains, and the seas in Salt Lake City so graphically and prophetically are shining today with the true light of God, and many pilgrims and pioneers from the 1850’s on have been running there constantly to reverently worship the Most High God.
The song is a modern one but the one who wrote it had to be an inspired and a sincere man. Although Paul had taught the people of Athens regarding the unknown God, for the Greeks of our day, the True God, even the Great Jehovah is still an unknown God, although not a fault of their own. The poet spoke of noble games but our life on this earth is the noblest game there is. We all here have to prove ourselves and show that we are good and honorable and not merely spectators of the games. It is noble and infinitely rewarding to learn for ourselves and teach all people that our life on this earth is noble and beautiful, however hard it is at times. Never before in the history of this earth, had any other group come so close to fulfilling the prophetic words of this beautiful song as has happened in Salt Lake City. The deserts of Utah are becoming fertile and the lights gloriously give colorful beauty to the fields and the mountains of the desert. But more importantly, our young and inspired missionaries by the thousands unselfishly strive to bring the glorious light of truth to the beautiful hearts of all the nations. The Olympic Games as they were inspired by the ancient Greeks brought a lot of peace to the nations of the ancient world and it still has its good effect today. But no other organization is fulfilling so remarkably the prophetic words of the Olympic Anthem. SALT LAKE CITY is teaching effectively the noble hearts of humble people. It was this Salt Lake City which sent the missionaries to me and showed me the glorious light of God that is still alive to shine magnificently in the hearts of all nations.
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About the Book
Here is an expanded perspective of Greek History and aspects of both old and Modern Greek history that you would not find elsewhere. Greek and Hebrew languages and writing have nothing in common, yet their alphabets are identical. What does this mean? Where was the Greek language developed? Was it developed in Athens? No, not really. Pythagoras left his country to learn. He learned mathematics to teach us even in our days. But he also found the existence of a true and caring God and wanted his people to know it also. As Pythagoras of old in a similar fashion, the author of this book left Greece and immigrated to the United States to learn electronics. He used to think that religion was the knowledge of stories about good men God loved, but only in the old days, not today. Two young missionaries knocked on his door and taught him that a true religion is a set of principles we needed to strive to learn and follow. How can a person know if a church is true? The author's life combined with the discovery of such principles gave him a happier way of life and his children are blessed because of it also.
Faith, humility, honesty, integrity, and many other principles are what our world is in need of today and are well documented in this book. These principles make everyone a better person, a happier person in a better society. Is Salt Lake City a good milestone? It has been for this author and for many other people from all walks of life.
About the Author
John Andreadakis was born on Samos, a small Aegean Greek island, at the beginning of World War II. He was taken by family to the Holy Land for two and half years, and then returned home to post-war struggles and to find his family home destroyed. He was raised in a farming family among seafaring people. His hometown was an archeological site with a long history, both old and present. Both his grade school and high school training were a mixture of religion, history and a lot of mathematics. He seized the opportunity to become a navigating officer with the Greek merchant ships, and in the process was excited to see the world, learn languages and electronics. Disappointed by a sailor's life, he immigrated to the United States to study electronics. Insecure at first in forming his own family, he found confidence in the example of two young missionaries. For the first time persons from the scriptures jumped off the paper as living personages, and revealed for him that these old stories were real and true, and have great significance for our lives today.