Our Temple Denomination
Temple Of The Greek Gods is an ancient Hellenic organization that welcomes all who worship the Greek Gods, no matter how they themselves may particularly practice, and as such, we have different kinds of Hellenic practitioners in our organization; from Neo-Pagans to Reconstructionists, and we do not close our organization off to any ancient Greek city-state or culture from the times of the original Greek Gods. It has been said that we are a Temple that can celebrate an Athenian festival, pray to Korinthian Heroes, and adopt a Cretan myth. While modern Hellenism today is greatly focused on ancient Athens, and our Temple does indeed celebrate the Athenian calendar and adopt much of ancient Athenian philosophy, we love to practice the entirety of Hellenism as far as possible. One could think of it as a book with many different chapters, all relating to the same concept, but with a wonderful amount of spiritual and religious variety, and a long list of virtues and ethics to shape one's life as greatly and fittingly as possible. This is like the ancient Greek city-states and the idea of Hellenism that we follow. Therefore, our denomination is considered PanHellenic, which simply means "All Hellas or All Hellenic." As a whole, we do not reject any part of ancient Greek religion, but incorporate it into our public and private lives. We pride ourselves in the fact that every kind of Hellenist or ancient Greek worshiper can find a home here.
Our History
Temple Of The Greek Gods was founded by Chris Aldridge on July 8th, 2010 in High Point, North Carolina, as a place of worship, education and support for people like himself who still follow ancient Greek religion. In February of 2011, the Temple was moved to Thomasville, North Carolina where it received its first ever public worship space. Chris and his wife Anastasia obtained a house and property large enough to host the Temple grounds and thus they created an indoor worship area as well as outside sanctuaries. The Temple held its first public event that year, the Gaia and Dionysus Earth Day Festival. On April 27th, 2011, the State of North Carolina approved the Temple's application for legal state incorporation as a religious organization, giving it all the rights and protections as any other church or religious group. In Thomasville, the Temple became historic as the first ever open Polytheistic Temple to have a physical location in the city's 150 year history. In late 2012, the Aldridge family moved to Northern Illinois where the Temple now operates centrally; its main office being in Elizabeth, IL at present time. The Temple was also legally incorporated into Illinois in 2013. Chris remains the Head Priest of the Temple, and his wife the Head Priestess. The Temple has two kinds of people who are part of it; those being Initiates (official members), and Associates (those who are simply friends and supporters of the Temple). The Temple's outreach spans the globe today.
While the Temple has had many physical locations and interacted with many localities, groups and individuals, the Temple also remains an idea; a concept which can be adopted and lived by, and that lives universally as a heartbeat of ancient Greece wherever one may be.
