Supreme Council of Ethnic Hellenes
Non-profit Hellenic neopagan organisation established in Greece in 1997 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Supreme Council of Ethnic Hellenes (Greek: Ύπατο Συμβούλιο των Ελλήνων Εθνικών, Ýpato Symvoúlio to̱n Ellí̱no̱n Ethnikó̱n), commonly referred to by its acronym YSEE, is a non-profit Hellenic organisation established in Greece in 1997. Its primary goal is the protection and restoration of the Hellenic ethnic religion in contemporary Greek society.
Formation | 1997 |
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Type | Non-profit, Hellenic Ethnic Religion |
Location | |
Membership | 2,000 |
Key people | Vlassis G. Rassias[1] |
Website | http://www.ysee.gr/ |
The group itself estimates that some 2,000 Greeks practice the Hellenic ethnic religion and another 50,000 have "some sort of interest".[2] The followers of the Hellenic ethnic religion face varying degrees of discrimination in Greece,[3][4][5] which has an overwhelmingly Orthodox Christian[6] population. One of YSEE's main goals is to obtain legal recognition for the Hellenic ethnic religion.
YSEE is a founding member of the European Congress of Ethnic Religions (ECER) and hosted its seventh Congress in June 2004.[citation needed] YSEE has also been member of the European Union's action program to combat discrimination. [citation needed]
In 2017, the YSEE accomplished one of their goals and the Hellenic religion received legal status and was instated the "known religion" status from Greece.[7]