Greek-Orthodox Religioscapes as Domains of Migratory Integration and Hybridisation in Germany and Great Britain:A Comparative Study

This paper aims to introduce an alternative research approach in dealing with migrant communities as religioscapes, from the perspective of religious aesthetic. Namely, it focuses on the Greek and Greek-Cypriot migrant communities in Germany and Great Britain and examines their religiocultural symbolic constellations in the public sphere, particularly, those which illustrate aspects of their self-perception and migration narratives. In both cases churches serve as arks of culture and identity. In the lapse of time, community and church, being closely knit, jointly constructed their migrant narratives of de- and re-territorialisation, cultural adaptation and hybridisation, essentially their own distinct sense of being and belonging. Therefore, one observes the phenomenon of interwoven migrant and church narratives. The particularities of these constantly under construction identities are manifest in the architectural, hagiographical/iconographical themes, aesthetics and concepts of their churches. It is typical, however, of the Byzantine iconographic tradition to include and demonstrate the socio-political conditions of its time and place; and, those visual manifestations, as part of a sociocultural reality, possess a contextual dimension in their symbolic content, while being an act and a medium of communication in their own right. It is therefore feasible to decode their aforementioned content and articulate the narrative therein

Hellenic Republic: Voluntary National Review on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, High-level Political Forum on sustainable development, July 2018

no abstrac

Intra-European mobility, emigration and new dynamics within Greek-Orthodox religioscapes

The limited opportunities of the immensely contracted Greek economy since the eruption of the 2009 debt crisis gave rise to emigrational tendencies, particularly towards European countries. Europe was considered more approachable due to the freedom of movement, a fundamental EU principle. Notably, increased numbers of both unemployed Greeks – of varying levels of skills and training – as well as well-educated and employed Greeks wishing to pursue better social, working and economic conditions and rewards, relocated to several destinations, with Britain and Germany predominantly among them (Labrianidis & Pratsinakis, 2016). After emigrating, many sought to integrate within existing, relatively coherent diasporic ethnocultural and religious formations. Many utilised these social networks while seeking employment, being in part motivated by the social role of the parish as it has been embedded in the collective imaginary. In this framework, the question this paper asks is whether these migrants, being embedded in already existing religio-cultural networks, are being exposed to attitudes, value-systems and social practices anew. Namely, if and to what extent the predominantly collectivist cultural traits of the Greek emigrants/expats interface with the individualism-infused ones of the Greek-Orthodox diasporic communities. The question thereby arises as to whether constellations such as religioscapes, as forms of social organisation, inform and edify the newly-arrived on the particularities of the host culture within a context of an ‘old-new Diaspora’ discourse. From a sociocultural perspective it is neither uncommon nor new for the Greek Diaspora to engage in such exchanges and produce new and/or hybrid predominant cultural patterns within the framework of its religioscapes and communities, which are to some extent transferrable back to the homeland

Hellenic Republic: Voluntary National Review on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, High-level Political Forum on sustainable development, July 2018

no abstrac

The Vision of the ‘Byzantine Commonwealth’ as Model for Religiocultural Diplomacy and the Case of the Greek Orthodox Church under Archbishop Christodoulos (1998–2008)

Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Christodoulos (1998–2008) sought to co-shape the European Union. Seeing the EU both as a project and as a cultural-civilizational family of common integral, constituent elements of identity, he wished to affect the process of Europeanisation by enhancing the influence of its Eastern Orthodox flank. The emergent pattern of his aspiration resembled that of a unitary Eastern Orthodox bloc within the EU, functioning in concert so that to be able to exert influence and co-determine the direction of the Europeanisation process along the lines of its own values. That culminated in the archbishop’s exclamation that Russia should eventually join the EU: thus, a rhetorical reminiscent of the ‘Byzantine Commonwealth’ would counterbalance the Westernist overarching model, to no avail though; after all, all Orthodox Churches pursue their own individual/national agendas at a European level. However, creed is a central element of identity perception and even though the Orthodox Church of Greece has significantly readjusted its policies, the deep-rooted religiocultural element of identity, evidently, was expected to have a sway during Christodoulos’ era, and that the Greek-Orthodox collective imaginary would conflate a sense of kinship to Orthodox Russia, with a vague, romanticized geocultural strategic agenda

When plants produce not enough or at all: metabolic engineering of flavonoids in microbial hosts

As a result of the discovery that flavonoids are directly or indirectly connected to health, flavonoid metabolism and its fascinating molecules that are natural products in plants, have attracted the attention of both the industry and researchers involved in plant science, nutrition, bio/chemistry, chemical bioengineering, pharmacy, medicine, etc. Subsequently, in the past few years, flavonoids became a top story in the pharmaceutical industry, which is continually seeking novel ways to produce safe and efficient drugs. Microbial cell cultures can act as workhorse bio-factories by offering their metabolic machinery for the purpose of optimizing the conditions and increasing the productivity of a selective flavonoid. Furthermore, metabolic engineering methodology is used to reinforce what nature does best by correcting the inadequacies and dead-ends of a metabolic pathway. Combinatorial biosynthesis techniques led to the discovery of novel ways of producing natural and even unnatural plant flavonoids, while, in addition, metabolic engineering provided the industry with the opportunity to invest in synthetic biology in order to overcome the currently existing restricted diversification and productivity issues in synthetic chemistry protocols. In this review, is presented an update on the rationalized approaches to the production of natural or unnatural flavonoids through biotechnology, analyzing the significance of combinatorial biosynthesis of agricultural/pharmaceutical compounds produced in heterologous organisms. Also mentioned are strategies and achievements that have so far thrived in the area of synthetic biology, with an emphasis on metabolic engineering targeting the cellular optimization of microorganisms and plants that produce flavonoids, while stressing the advances in flux dynamic control and optimization. Finally, the involvement of the rapidly increasing numbers of assembled genomes that contribute to the gene- or pathway-mining in order to identify the gene(s) responsible for producing species-specific secondary metabolites is also considered herein.National Strategic Reference Framework. THALES-TEI CRETE, MIS 380210 Progra

Comparative Genomics of Multiple Strains of Pseudomonas cannabina pv. alisalensis, a Potential Model Pathogen of Both Monocots and Dicots

Comparative genomics of closely related pathogens that differ in host range can provide insights into mechanisms of host-pathogen interactions and host adaptation. Furthermore, sequencing of multiple strains with the same host range reveals information concerning pathogen diversity and the molecular basis of virulence. Here we present a comparative analysis of draft genome sequences for four strains of Pseudomonas cannabina pathovar alisalensis (Pcal), which is pathogenic on a range of monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants. These draft genome sequences provide a foundation for understanding host range evolution across the monocot-dicot divide. Like other phytopathogenic pseudomonads, Pcal strains harboured a hrp/hrc gene cluster that codes for a type III secretion system. Phylogenetic analysis based on the hrp/hrc cluster genes/proteins, suggests localized recombination and functional divergence within the hrp/hrc cluster. Despite significant conservation of overall genetic content across Pcal genomes, comparison of type III effector repertoires reinforced previous molecular data suggesting the existence of two distinct lineages within this pathovar. Furthermore, all Pcal strains analyzed harbored two distinct genomic islands predicted to code for type VI secretion systems (T6SSs). While one of these systems was orthologous to known P. syringae T6SSs, the other more closely resembled a T6SS found within P. aeruginosa. In summary, our study provides a foundation to unravel Pcal adaptation to both monocot and dicot hosts and provides genetic insights into the mechanisms underlying pathogenicity

Pseudomonas viridiflava, a Multi Host Plant Pathogen with Significant Genetic Variation at the Molecular Level

The pectinolytic species Pseudomonas viridiflava has a wide host range among plants, causing foliar and stem necrotic lesions and basal stem and root rots. However, little is known about the molecular evolution of this species. In this study we investigated the intraspecies genetic variation of P. viridiflava amongst local (Cretan), as well as international isolates of the pathogen. The genetic and phenotypic variability were investigated by molecular fingerprinting (rep-PCR) and partial sequencing of three housekeeping genes (gyrB, rpoD and rpoB), and by biochemical and pathogenicity profiling. The biochemical tests and pathogenicity profiling did not reveal any variability among the isolates studied. However, the molecular fingerprinting patterns and housekeeping gene sequences clearly differentiated them. In a broader phylogenetic comparison of housekeeping gene sequences deposited in GenBank, significant genetic variability at the molecular level was found between isolates of P. viridiflava originated from different host species as well as among isolates from the same host. Our results provide a basis for more comprehensive understanding of the biology, sources and shifts in genetic diversity and evolution of P. viridiflava populations and should support the development of molecular identification tools and epidemiological studies in diseases caused by this species