IN THE STATE OF APHROS
CONSTANTINOS TALIOTIS
My fellow Greek Cypriots, wherever I may be, I want you to know that I am
with you. My soul, my heart, my thoughts always turn towards you and
always I am with you
Archbishop and President Makarios III
Commencing from the task of the conference, the possibility of being impossible, excuse me, in advance, if I may deviate (parekklinw) quite a bit. Since one has to go beside the task itself, a task, that apart from being aporetic, is beside, beyond, past, para the means of its delivery; para-logo, using logos to approach it. Indeed, a contradiction in terms, already. Para- logo, then, beyond the logos, the logos as word, the logos as a promise and the logos as the Word of God; the truth, beyond the truth of the father then. A logos, that presupposes a deviation as a necessity, going off the truth, without a reason (logos), going towards the para-logismo. A paralogo, though, that involves and is being involved in the absurd (ab-: beyond, besides / -surd: deaf, mute); a logos beyond itself, delivered from and to beyond its purpose, to hear itself and make itself heard, to be delivered and received in distortion. A certain mistransmission is getting into play from the very beginning. Excuse me, once more, if I may paremvalo (infix) with parables in order to invade my subject. Lets begin then.
If I am to begin with the first step into my subject, with a new para-graph, this will indeed be a jump over it; I start, therefore with the second, the one, beyond the logos. Engaging with the subject, of this lecture, will begin with engagements. An engagement, though, that even before landing on my second step will be a tackling (ttakli), a stagger half way. An engagement as verbal promise, one that engages you with something and assigns you to a position of being engagé (agkazie) - a lo(go)s, (o los t athrwpou) and at the same time an engagement as hartoma [papering (direct
trans.)], one that binds, ties up, fastens you according to a written promise; usually, in Cyprus, with the perspective of a future wedding. Since, though, I am to surpass the logos, go to the para-logo, go beyond the logiasma (verbal promise for engaging with someone, in sequence it comes before the actual engagement), let me engage with the hartoma, move in accordance with the papers even though some times I might get out of tune, unwound in abattlefield of wounds, in discordance (para-phonia), in discourse with them; let me then, for the time being, pologiasw (to tell off, put on the side) the logiasma, and argue (logomahiso), with the pathkies (foot prints or the
Derridean trace) of the papers, se marmarenia alonia (in a threshing floor out of marble).
(Re)Approaching the hartosia pathkia-pathkia; after a four year period of a spectacular festival with hartoutsies (bullets), explosives and crackers some people like calling it the war of independence the potential hartoma proves to be impossible sta hartia and stous hartes; de jure and de facto. The daughter, is deceived, to use her mothers suitors terminology; the hopes for a hartoma, ENOSIS, the unification of the daughter with her mother-fatherland mitera-patrida flew away with the smell of gunpowder. And all this, with the blessings of the potential mother- fatherland, who by now is the godmother posing with the other two godparents, Turkey and Great Britain, in a picture in royal gardens somewhere in Zurich or London, as if they are Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin in those famous pictures from Yalta. Instead of a hartoma, with shiny wreaths, relevant to the fireworks of the previous years, instead of a ring and drachma notes on her dress that will bind her up with her mother, she gets a pile of hartoudkia, a proika, a constitution one for herself tziai itan oullo diko tis (one and all for her). The rest, according to Karamanlis, was aeras phreskos fresh air -; in fact, logia tou aera empty words of air
A spectacular failure (for the suitors), which was to stigmatize, to wound, to scratch, to mark the newly born daughter, with a spectacular spectre of specters. (ena phantastiko phasma phantasmatwn) for the rest of her life, a wound that remained in her wind of change as a reminiscent. An awaited hartoma, that ended up being, simultaneously, a Birth Certificate 16th of August 1960, the birth of the daughter-Republic of Cyprus, even though her birthday is celebrated on the 1st of October she had to posarantwsi first - the peras / completion of the forty first days after giving
birth, before birth registration - or maybe the governmental services were aiming on another day off, since 16th of August was already a national holiday, as the aftermath of the Assumption of Virgin Mary, the departure of the mother, (coincidence?) - an acquisition of the Orphan Status, after the denial of her mother, the imposition of three godparents / guardians / guarantors, and at last, the establishment of the since 1950, ethnarch, the father of the fathers (o papas ton papaon), the archbishop, as the father of the state. A father, who would only acquire the fatherhood status with the
assassination of the mother, and after doing so, after his enthronement in the
patriarchal position, ethtroniastike for good, psixi kai somati, with his soul, his heart and his thoughts, to eshiepei (look over), aglepei (look after) and shiepazei (cover) the young daughter. Aa! Makarios! (Glafkos Koumides, −−−−, Poupouxios Editions, Cyprus 2004, pg. 88). Thank God, she had a nice father, a god-father.
In discordance with the line followed by the suitors, the daughters umbilical cord, which was hovering for centuries hither and thither, was left unescorted. Being filled with illusionary amniotic fluids, under the drones and tambours of ENOSIS, birth marked (her and) the evaporation of any anticipations. A maternal evaporation, that overshadowed the gleam of fireworks; a potential bridge, that, yet remained and established itself as a breach.
It is precisely within this breach between the mother and the daughter, who was left to the four winds with the wound weaved on her skin, that the paternal figure hoisted himself up the new flag pole (histos) and attempted to unfold the histos (web) of her future history, or shall I say her-story? An histos (web), plegmenos (weaved) and mplegmenos (complicated) on her; an histos (flag pole), an umbilical cord that would heal the trauma, only with the paternal dedication, who would haul the pole up,
tie the cord up. A father, to which, at last, the umbilical cord found its other end, in a knot, that the father, however, forgot to move his finger out, and since, he is tied up with her; bound with her, he is embodying (ensarkwse) her and embodied in her, through him she exists and on her, his existence depends; his thoughts, his soul, his heart; psixi kai somati soul and body, an entire entity that defined the identity of an entire country.
That was the symbolic significance of Makarios III; a pateras (father) and a papas (priest), a father of the church and a father of the state, a flag that formed, wraped and shaped her and herstory, a flag pole and a flag bearer; sinagonistis kai simaiophoros, a brother in arms and the commander in chief; the ethnarch (archi of the ethnos, commencer of the state) and the archbishop (commencer of the church), a godfather of his grandchildren and a grandfather of his godchildren; a whole parade, all in one.
And then, one summer morning, a few days before her birthday, before even her adulthood, she would wake up, once more, in orphanhood; His heart stopped, doing so, stopped Cyprus too; the flag bearer is dead, theflag is hauled down; - o simaiophoros epese / krateiste tis simaies / na min kilisoun kata gis / kai o thanatos tis parei the flag bearer is dead / keep the flags up / roll (spill) not on the earth / thus taken by death the future archbishop, then bishop of Paphos, Chrysostomos, will cry out in His funeral, in grief and agony, facing the fear of a national collapse.
It is precisely with His departure, (His, with a capital H, already, a little slip into the paralogo, a slip into para-spelling, as one can find at the epilogue of Andros Pavlidis biography of Makarios, at the end, avoiding to finish (with) Him) at the very moment of farewell, that His logos is transformed into a national paralogismo; the absence of his logos, the silence, the pologiasma; upon the fear of encountering a reality of defeat, the moment of demystification of an overwhelming shade flying away, hauled
down, defeated by Death on threshing floor out of marble (apo to Charo se marmarenia alonia); precisely emerging from this fear, that His image will transfigure into an absurd and obscure aura in the ether that will, once and for ever, linger in the atmosphere, and once and for ever His grandchildren, ta paidia tis patridas, who, as a matter of a linguistic distortion (para-morphosis), are vgalmena apo ta splachna tis patridas taken from the ethnos (daughters) entrails, instead of the womb, as one
would expect - will breath it, will breath Him.
Which is, then, this place, upon (not in, but upon) which, the father re- mained (pare-mine, kai me to para-pano) aside, apart (paramera); what is the part of His participation beyond this partition, this departure; where isthe choros of the chorismos, what is the choros given to Him in history, by His chora and herstory? How much is actually the price of the tax, the phoros timis for the simaiophoros, the tax that needs to be paid for His honour; a price (phoros) for his price (timi), to keep his price (axia) up. What took the place of His place and His logos?
I am heading towards recording the records; for a while, though, a deviation will get into play, go a bit off the record, in discordance, and instead head towards the records of the recordings; in fact, the recording itself, the re-cording. In the moment of danger, the fear of the umbilical cord remaining cordless, was present, present through His absence; the question then, was one of remaining in line, of re-aligning; staying corded in the very choros of chorismos. Re-corded, then, once more, since ever; synchronized with the beat of His heart, a beat, upon which, the salvation was dependant oso i kardia mou ktipaei, oi palmoi tis tha einai palmoi agona gia ti sotiria
tis Kiprou (as long as my heart beats, its beats will be struggling beats, for the salvation of Cyprus) (20th May 1977); a heart, though, incompetent of remaining aligned with its own self, a heart, for the sake of which, a whole nation would walk with broken hearts, since. A re-cording, in accordance with His cordis (heart). Simply, the reminiscent of thoughts and soul, of fresh air, was not enough, so the decision was to keep His heart; a cordis per se, beyond the re-. For the record; off the recorder.
It is here, that the paralogismos begins; in an attempt to avoid the evaporation of His logos, in the danger of becoming logia tou aera empty words of air that the replacement begins, in other words or through the words of the others; an alteration of His logos, to a paralogic mythology. And then, otan ta logia eixan sterepsei when the words dried up - we buried Him.
We buried him with a slogan that everyone knew by heart: O MAKARIOS ZEI. And we buried him, with no words that could accord his value; sinxorese me () ean mikreno to megalio sou, me ta ptoxotata tis glossas pselismata I apologise () if I minimize your majesty, with languages poor mumblings even Chryso-stomos will admit his and
languages incompetence at His funeral. A language, a logos received by the father, but incapable of reciprocating; a logos that could not talk for Him, to Him or on His behalf. The choros (place) of language was significantly small to accommodate His significance, His majesty, thus, the essential need for re-cording, became a passage to the para-logo.
Utter grief, then, emerging from the absence of utterance. Logos, holy logos inherited by the father, and logos, of which the father was an heir, was now poor mumbles; the body of language was incapacitative to reembody the corpse of the father. The choros (place / field) of language, was not a redeeming one; to replace and re-store perhaps un-store , then, not the father Himself, but, the gap of the trace, the trace of the mark, the depth of the scratch, in other words, to conform to His lack and reform it, will be
achieved through displacement. The metaphor, will get into play; to metapherei (transfer), to phoresei (wear), to choresei (capacitate), to defer that, which fear of evaporation, will exemplify its aporetic nature of being solidified; to maintain and record the heart was plausible, to align with thoughts and souls, with the spirit, the psixi is hauntology. The need for hauntology, though, will demonstrate the fact of being haunted.
The vis-Ã -vis haunting commences from the choros (place) that He was laid to rest. A place, that, was simultaneously (1) ta splachna tis patridas, in His daughters entrails, thus being with ta paidia tis patridas, ta splachna tis patridas His daughters children - therefore, being at once the grandfather, the father and the grandchild, as well as, after his request, (2) a choros that established his enthronement; at Throni. A grandfather, throniasmenos at Throni, gia na thorei thoroughly enthroned at Throni, in order to inspect thoroughly who is by now a grandchild, agkoni; pile, indeed, agkonistikamen ton. And the daughter, the chora, is by now, both, a mother in grief and a daughter in orphanhood.
And then, the building construction started. Hospitals, avenues, statues, stadiums, schools - just to mention a few - to record some of the records, in an attempt to receive, to accommodate, to dechtoumai in new chorous (places), that, which language could not. To re-embody the corpse of the simaiophoros, within a choros of semiology, to haul up the simaia (flag) on the histos (flag pole) through an histos (web) of simulacra and ensure a salvation (sotiria). To withhold the thoughts and the soul, the spirit, the logos, in short the air and prevent it from becoming logia tou aera
(empty words of air). To anchor His spirit with the chora; afloat upon the atmosphere.
This will trigger off the alteration; from logos to mythology, from the simaiophoros (flag bearer) to the metaphor, from the simaia (flag) to the simadoura (buoy). An histos (web) of simadoures (buoys) that will demark and remark the remarkable paternal mark left behind; one that will keep Him afloat upon His descendants, as well as, one on which the floating of His descendants will depend on, rescue them from drowning, in the moment of danger. Simulacra, then, that remind Him and re-member Him; that
metaphor(e) (metapheroun), re-store (or un-store), refer to His trace, to his
pathkia.
Off (the) cross (of his tomb) and of(f) course, the choros (place) of burial (death) and mimesis (simulations), inevitably (as I will mention later on) is limited for His vitality. The simadoures (buoys) that sustain and maintain, demark his thoughts and soul, are essentially small to withhold Him; but by now, whether His spirit fits in the simadoures (buoys) or once more, spills off their course, is beyond any reason (paralogo) of discourse. The very fact that the simadoures (buoys) beckon him, and especially that
what beckons him, what targets (simadevei) him, can be perceived in a metaphorical way as simadoures (buoys), traces the actuality of an attempted demarcation of his aura, becoming a receiver of the marker and the marked. Inside-Out; an attempted demarcation that marks both his remarkableness, defines his mark, as well as de-marks, re-moves, re-places and dis-places only to re-veal and un-veil, every time a new monument monumentalizes it / Him - the mark from here to there, from the real to the simulation / simulacrum, just to become one that, being a simadoura, traces (apart from Him being traced by / in them) a self demarcation; in an attempt to remark
Him, ta egkonia tou (which includes Him, or in which He is included, includes Himself to be more precise) are being marked in (markaristikan), marked themselves within Him, thus fenced from Him, overshadowed (once more) and over protected (once more) by his specter. It is Him all one can see far beyond from within, Him, too, from outside.
Upon His descendants, then, to keep them up; na men pan pu kato to prevent them drowning, going underneath; a founder / foundation and a corona, a dome. A web of references made to refer to and defer Him, but in fact, establish Him as a referee; one to be referred and the one that refers. And through the choros of references his logos will attempt to re-turn; return at the moment of the referendum as a referee. It is through the logos of the present day president - a president who was the youngest of the sons in the first family meetings, the first ministers cabinet - through his, anyway poor mumbles, ho(a)rse (vrachna and a-loga) mumbles, that He will be recalled
once more, in an attempt to re-invent His position in language; a president who will attempt, in the moment of danger, in the moment of the referendum or in the name of the referendum, to re-present Him, talk on His behalf, and through Him confirm his acts, reason (dikaio-logo) them. Thus spoke, he on His behalf: He would have said No, if He was alive (31st July 2005, during the official mnemosyne of the Father). Yes, indeed, His never said No aligns Him (once more) with the majority of the chora, a chora (country) that has not yet missed the plot, and walks along the line that He
marked, along the marks of His line. And He, as a referee is still here, (psixi kai somati / soul and body), sinagonistis kai simaiophoros (brother in arms and flag bearer) as well as there, a simulacrum to confirm and reason His daughters decisions.
