Spotted on Filopappou hill this weekend. A group of people in a circular dance, moving in unison, dancing to violin music, blended with the birds' song and the priest from a nearby church chanting. It is said that the Orthodox hymns are derived from the ancient Greek hymns, prayers to the gods performed in ritual, which must have included movements like these.
Below some verses from Euripides' Bacchae on the healing power of ecstasy:
"Blessed and happy
Is he who knows the rituals of the gods
He that purifies his life
and in the company of others finds ecstasy
and secret purification
in the mountains."