read much later
As I read through this long piece, I was itching to post a refutation of what Yannaras was writing (and wondering if this was really Yannaras) until I got to this:
"Nevertheless, the most positive sign in the history of Orthodoxy in Greece over the last century must surely be the progressive weakening and ultimate disintegration of the pietistic movements. It is extremely encouraging how the Orthodox consciousness has reacted to this foreign intervention in its living body. Over approximately the last two decades, the pietistic movements have undergone a relentless series of internal problems; they have suffered splits and lost their followers, and have really ceased to be a substantial presence in the spiritual life of the country. At the same time, there has been an awakening of theological consciousness in the Church in Greece, and the initial fascination which pietism exerted over a majority of lay theologians and clergy has been significantly curtailed.
This awakening is summed up and expressed in a truly unique manner, and in organic continuity with the Orthodox patristic tradition, in a text which is among the most important products of modern Greek theology and spirituality. This is the declaration of the "Holy Community" of the Holy Mountain on the academic approach to theology independent of the Church's experience, and the pietism of the religious organizations which corresponds to it."
This has been my experience. Zoe and pietism as movements are pretty much dead in Greece, replaced by a renewal of a true Orthodox sense of "liturgical community", an understanding that we live our lives as Christians and hopefully progress in theosis with and as part of The Church. A dramatic example of this is the astonishing increase in the growth of monastic vocations. On the down side, though, urban Greece is becoming increasingly secular and, as Yannaras says, Europeanized. But it is still the most religious country I've been in in Europe, at least the equal of Poland which is the most Catholic place I've ever been.