ZOE MOVEMENT

ZOE MOVEMENT. Begun at the turn of the century, Zoe (Life) sought to reinvigorate the Church of Greece through an emphasis on Scripture (q.v.), particularly insisting on attention to the literal word of the sacred books and on the cultivation of personal morality. Its core was, and remains, a kind of quasi-monastic brotherhood, clergy and lay theologians pledged to a life of strict obedience to Christian norms and meeting annually for a period of some weeks. Its influence has been, on the whole, positive, although its puritanical emphases and unfortunate involvement with the military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974 appear to have compromised it in the eyes of most younger Greeks.