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A term describing an eschatologist conspiracy theory, revolving around the so-called Epsilon Team, which was introduced and propagated approximately around 1997 through magazines and books whose subject is conspiracy theories and the paranormal.
According to this theory, which originally had a small, underground, cult following among conspiracy theorists in Greece, the Epsilon Team will come in the year 2011 or 2012 to liberate Greece and the whole planet from the prolonged Jewish occupation. The theory has eschatological elements resembling apocalyptic writings from eastern religions (including its Messianic expectations, or the belief in an imminent Armageddon between forces of Good and Evil), mixed with obscuria from Greek mythology, such as claims that the Olympian gods were deified humans who became immortal.
Epsilonism doesn't refer only strictly to the exact beliefs expressed by the Epsilon Team, but it's used also to refer to the whole movement or wave of people and literature that express compatible views, although not totally related to the belief to the existence of the Team. The terms Ellinokentrismos or Archaiolatreia are used for these generic movements, when the Epsilon Team is not taken into consideration.
Elements
A lot of criticisms have been voiced against the Epsilonist theory.
It has been accused of being racist by definition, as it purports that Greeks are superior to other nations, on the pseudoscientific basis of alleged DNA differentations; some of the authors promoting this theory even go so far as to claim that Greeks are actually of extra-terrestrial origin and that there are sufficient differences in the Greek skeletal structure to justify classification of Greeks onto another species of man altogether.
- Messianic, because it claims that the Epsilon Team will come as a group of saviours for Greece.
- Pseudohistorical, since it presents myths and legends of ancient culture as historical fact and stands outside the realm of scholarly historiography and archaelogy.
- Eschatologist, since, for the most part, it speaks of an end of times, in an apocalyptic manner; other versions of this theory might merely refer to a radically different "world order".
- Numerology; aka Gematria, finding philosophical and religious significancies by secret numbers produced by Greek words.
- Inconsistent attitude towareds Christianity: Some express pro-christian views (usually syncretic), but other fractions are dodecatheists and are against christianity, as a judaic religion that replaced the original Greek pantheon. However both fractions show almost uniform stance against the Old Testament, rejected as Hebrew mythology (cf. Gnosticism).
- Finally, it has been shown to follow a mild antisemitism (although not racist) via its accompanying conspiracy theories, as it reproduces long debunked antisemitic forgeries (such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion), and ascribes global plots and nefarious motives to worldwide Jewry.
Popularity
Although shunned as charlatans and ideological con-artists by serious researchers, the authors and promoters of the Epsilonist books enjoy a relative degree of success and popularity extending beyond their particular subculture and into the broad public. The promoters of these theories are usually television presenters who advertise books evangelizing Epsilonist "truth" on long, infomercial-type broadcasts. Well-known among them are Dimosthenis Liakopoulos, and LA.O.S. cadres Anestis Keramidas and Kyriakos Velopoulos on ultra-nationalist politician Georgios Karatzaferis's TELEASTY channel).
See also
External links
- Critical conservative Orthodox site Claims that Epsilonism is a neo-pagan and neo-fascist myth. (Greek language)
Epsilonism | Urban legends | Conspiracy theories | Pseudohistory
"Epsilonism"