A Novel by Nikos Kazantzakis in the Context of Impact on Social Memory

The renowned Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis was born in Heraklion (Kandiye) in 1883. During that period, Heraklion was part of the Ottoman State. Nikos Kazantzakis gained acclaim as a novelist with his work “Zorba” (1946). “Jesus Crucified Again” (O Christos Xanastavronete / Ο Χριστός ξανασταυρώνεται) (1953), translated into Turkish as “Yeniden Çarmıha Gerilen İsa,” is considered his masterpiece in the art of the novel. Kazantzakis’ works reflect the cultural heritage of the lands of his birth, his education, and his life. In “Jesus Crucified Again,” the setting is an Anatolian village during the years of the Turkish Independence War. The author explores themes such as Hellenism, Bolshevism, and Christian teachings, weaving them together. In this analysis, focusing on the impact of the literary work on the formation of social memory, I examined the novel’s time and


Introduction
Nikos Kazantzakis is known as an important Greek writer in world literature.He was born in Heraklion, Crete, in 1883 (Kazancakis, 2021:7).In 1883, Crete was Ottoman territory, and Heraklion's name at that time was Kandiye.The author's birth date, place, and biography are important in revealing the messages given in the fictional text in our study.Jesus Crucified Again (O Christos Xanastavronete) is considered a masterpiece by literary circles (Sofroniou, 2022).It is a fact that a work will affect the reader's world of thought.It is also valuable what a famous Greek writer, born in Ottoman lands, said through his novel.For that reason, in this study, the messages of the text are examined in terms of time and space, two important elements of fiction.Because in this novel, there is a claim that time and space are real.That makes the reader think about the reality of what he is telling.Literary texts take place in the memories of people and societies.H. de Balzac draws attention to the dry narration of the history books compared to the literary texts in the "Preface" of the Comedy of Humanity and the reluctance to read them (2012: 23).It's not just a reluctance folklor/edebiyat yıl (year):2024, cilt (vol.): 30, sayı (no.): 117-Tülin Arseven to read history books.Important events gradually begin to fade from people's memory.At this stage, fictional texts, novels, and stories gain importance in telling the past.The way the fictional text deals with history is an important issue.Texts that present the events in the fictional narrative as lived events can often take precedence over historical and social facts.There is a close link between collective memory and the literary text.According to researcher F. S. Gungor, history records what happened; the memory generated through literature brings life to unsaved things.Literary texts leave their mark on time (2022: 204).Gungor says that Kazantzakis argues that a civilization is resurrected by memory.According to Gungor, Kazantzakis thinks that literature contributes to social memory in two ways.The first is to record and preserve the details left out by official institutions and history; The second is to penetrate the age to ensure the formation of the memory of society.Remembrance is the transfer of the past to the present.Literature fixes time through fiction.The past exists through literature that carries the memory of a society.As the carrier of cultural memory, literature transfers many elements of life to the future.Preserving the vitality of memory is the most solid link between literature and memory (2022: 208).Therefore, in Kazantzakis' understanding of art, the novel is not only a fictional text but also an archival document that forms social memory.
That makes sense the author's implication that he describes actual events that took place in a certain period of time and place with his novel.The case time of the book is the months following the liberation of Izmir from the Greek occupation.On May 15, 1919, the Kingdom of Greece occupied Izmir, and on September 9, 1922, the Turkish Army liberated Izmir and Western Anatolia from occupation.The setting of the fiction is a village called Likovrisi.The location of Likovrisi is not specified although the impression in Anatolia is created that it is in the Aegean Region.That makes the novel worth examining in terms of time and place and the messages given to them.Fiction, which claims to convince the reality of events, wants to benefit from the testimony of time and space.The author's nationality also reinforces the perception of reality that Anatolia is Greek territory occupied by Turks, and people do all kinds of evil when it comes to their interests.Before examining the novel, it is useful to take a very brief look at the biography of the author, especially his travels abroad.
In 1889, as a result of the unsuccessful revolt of the Cretan revolutionaries, Nikos Kazantzakis took refuge in Greece with his family.In 1897-1898 he was enrolled in a French Monk school in Naxos.In 1902, he completed his high school education in Heraklion, later he went to Athens to study law.In 1908, he attended Henri Bergson's lectures in Paris (Bien, 2022).He returned to Crete in 1909.In 1912, he voluntarily participated in the Balkan War.In 1914, he went to Mount Athos.He returned to Greece in 1915. He went to Switzerland in 1918, Macedonia and Thrace in 1919, Paris in 1920, Germany in 1921, and returned to Greece. He stayed in Vienna and Berlin from 1922to 1924. In 1924, he (year):2024, cilt (vol.): 30, sayı (no.): 117-Tülin Arseven and China.In 1936 he went to Spain as a reporter for a short time.In 1939 he was in United Kingdom, and in 1946 he went to this country again.He spent the summer of 1952 in Italy, and in 1953 he was in Paris for treatment for an eye ailment.In 1954, he was treated in Germany and then moved to Switzerland.In 1957, he went to China upon the invitation of the Chinese Government.During this journey, he experiences some health problems.He transferred from China to the Freiburg im Breisgau hospital in Germany.He died in Germany on October 26, 1957 (Bien, 2022).
When any source giving his biography has been examined, it has been seen that Kazantzakis travelled from United Kingdom to Japan in broad geography, but he did not come to Anatolia or Türkiye for any reason and was not here.That is thought-provoking in terms of the choice of space and time and how the author wants to contribute to social memory.The setting, Likovrisi, was designed in the Aegean Region of Anatolia, where the author had never seen it, on one of the most important fronts of the Turkis Independence War.Some researchers say, Culture plays an important role in solving complex social coordination problems.To avoid cutthroat competition among individuals striving to maximize their fitness, members of society negotiate and agree on the way to make sense of reality and on the human qualities or behaviours that are socially desirable and allowed.. (Chi-yue Chiu, et.all, 2015: 621) For that, a proposition that will save themselves from conflict is a facil shelter for people.According to D. Hilton and J. Liu, a people's image of themselves and their relationship with others is its perception of history.These representations of history will in turn condition intergroup relations (2008: 343).Social representations of history can also be legitimate group actions through processes of self-categorization that enable groups to see themselves in a positive light (Hilton and Liu, 2008: 346).Historical events can be mobilized as charters that structure debate and justify collective courses of action (Hilton and Liu, 2008: 347).Culture can be thought of as a repository of meaning.Culture, therefore, is central to human psychology (Kashima, et. all, 2008:393).Cultural values are transmitted by a variety of means.Language is used to convey information about the culture (Kashima, et all, 2008:400).Because of its cognitive and emotional functions, the narrative has a close relationship with the self (Hilton and Liu, 2008:403).According to W. Lippmann, the human mind is endlessly and persistently creative (2004: 87).The behaviour of individuals is affected by various forms of social influence (Glynn, et all, 1995: 257).An individual's emotions affect the emotions, thoughts, and behaviours of others (Hareli and Rafaeli, 2008).One of the effects of needs on memory is forgetting.Humans can experience selective recall or forgetting (Krech and Crutchfield, 1948:132).Society tends to remove from its memory anything that can separate individuals and separate groups from each other.In each period, he changes his memories to suit the various conditions of his equilibrium (Halbwachs, 2016: 358).According to Myers, "messages combined with good feelings can be more persuasive" (2009: 240).
In this study, Jesus Crucified Again was examined in terms of structure and content folklor/edebiyat yıl (year):2024, cilt (vol.): 30, sayı (no.): 117-Tülin Arseven with document analysis, one of the qualitative research methods, and the traces left by the literary text on the social memory were emphasized, especially in the focus of space.Since the translation from Greek to Turkish was based on the text to be examined in the study, the work was not subjected to stylistic examination.

Structural analysis of the novel
In this chapter; the plot, the personal cast, and the basic structure of the space and time of the novel Jesus Crucified Again are discussed.R. B. Tobias, in The Art of Writing a Novel, likens fiction to a container that carries everything in it and a sense characterizes it as a sticky force (1996:27).The role of a successful setup in ensuring a strong transmission of the intended message is undeniable.He has a desire to make us believe in the reality of the fictional world that the novel describes.It is seen that Kazantzakis aims to emphasize the accuracy of the choice of space and time in his novel.For this reason, first of all, the plot and the cast of characters are mentioned very briefly, and then the other elements of the novel fiction, the messages given over time and space are opened for discussion.
The plot is based on the tragic events that take place in a small Greek village under the rule of a Turkish Agha.It is seen that the intellectual aspect of the events assumed to have taken place in an Anatolia village during the years of the Turkish Indepence War proceeded through three veins on religious, historical, and economic basis.The plot is based on the developments that lead to change, transform, and cause people to evolve in another direction.This change/ transformation begins with the practice of a religious ritual and extends to the whole of social life.The ritual that initiates the change is the idea of staging a play that will reenact the birth and re-crucifixion of Jesus on Easter next year.This reenactment, is traditionally performed every seven years by the people of the village, requires people to represent Jesus and his disciples.The elders of Likovrisi chose people from the village population to play Peter, Judas Iscariot, Jacob, John, and Mary Magdalene.These people, especially Manolios, who was chosen to represent Jesus, are influenced by the lives, worldviews, and actions of the characters they will portray.First, they try to understand and learn the teachings of the religion to which they belong.When they should only play a game, play their roles, and return to their old lives, they become different people after being influenced by the characters they play.Except for Panagiotaros, who plays Judas, they all get rid of their wrong and evil deeds and move towards becoming virtuous people.Towards the end of the novel, the implication is seen that Jesus descended to earth and was embodied in Manolios.Panagiotaros, chosen as Judas Iscariot, turns unpleasant, contributing to the death of Manolios and his tragic end by his role.According to R. Beaton, the depiction of village life in Jesus Crucified Again is not limited to an ethnographic presentation.Kazantzakis created his heroes and gave them their perceptions.He saw Christ's passion not as a promise of forgiveness of sins but as a tragic recurrence of human footsteps.For this reason, he is constantly questing for a god that does not exist.That makes it compatible with the difficulties of material life (1996: 307, 308).
The author provides this change in Manolios and others by creating tension through folklor/edebiyat yıl (year):2024, cilt (vol.): 30, sayı (no.): 117-Tülin Arseven the fight between two Greek communities, one of whom is a resident of the village and the other from outside, over economic foundations.The novel's cast includes a priest who leads both Greek communities.Through two priests, the commandments and practices of religion are discussed in a balance of power and counterpower.Both priests first try to protect their sovereign areas and then the interests of their communities through religious references.In this conflict, those who will play Manolios, who are given the role of Jesus, and the other apostles are affected by what has happened and undergo a great inner transformation.The conflict in the outer world spreads to the inner world of Manolios and others.The first event that would bring about the internal change of Manolios and the others was the arrival of a small Greek community in Likovrisi from another village in the surrounding area.This immigrant community wants to take refuge in Likovrisi, settle down, and benefit from their land and income.Residents of Likovrisi, for whatever reason, do not desire to share their revenue, villages, or lives with the immigrants.The conflict between immigrants and inhabitants of the village proceeds through religious and economic interests.Through the views put forward by the two priests, criticism is made of how religion is interpreted in the interests of the two.The beginning of the conflict between the two Greek communities is shown as the Turks who drove the Greeks from their villages and prosperous lives.What happened in Anatolia after the occupation of Izmir by the Greeks is reflected in a one-sided way and with the discourse that the Greeks were victims.The starting point of the plot is the arrival of the Greeks to Likovrisi, who are said to have been forced to migrate from their villages because of the Turks.The people of Likovrisi, who were of the same religion and nationality, did not embrace these Greeks who were exiled from their villages.With subreferences, the message is given that the Turks are wrong, that they set the Greeks against each other, and that they cause a sibling rivalry.The history of Turkish-Greek relations and the idea of Hellenism are mentioned.The information that Bolshevism is misunderstood and seen as a threat to social life is added to the sub-messages of the text.In solving the plot, we see the results of the sibling rivalry between the two Greek communities.There is no winner because the fight caused the death of Manolios and other people.Manolios lived the fate of Jesus, and humanity again committed the same sin.Since the primary place of the fiction is a Greek village, the cast was formed accordingly.All the inhabitants of the village are Greek.However, the person in charge of the village is a Turkish Agha.At the beginning of the novel, there is a description of Agha sitting on his balcony overlooking the village square and drinking his drink, accompanied by two people.Agha, with a thick black moustache; next to him, his guard Huseyin is described as an Easterner who is as sly and cross-eyed as a monkey, and a child sitting on a velvet cushion with Yusuf (/Yusufaki) under his feet (Kazancakis, 2021: 9).Agha does not have a name, he is simply expressed as "Agha".Agha, his guard Huseyin, and Yusufaki live together in the same house.Two more Turks (Ibrahim and Sulatzade Ali Agha) are added to these three Turks in the following pages of the novel.However, when the Ottoman Administrative System is examined, there is no example where a village whose demographic structure was entirely composed of non-Muslims was governed by a Turk.The administration of the village in the novel, especially folklor/edebiyat yıl (year): 2024, cilt (vol.): 30, sayı (no.): 117-Tülin Arseven the word "Agha", draws a controversial image.According to what Researcher V. Dinler reports from A. Saydam, non-Muslim villages in the Ottoman Empire were administered by a prominent person of the community called "Kocabaş" or "a clergyman" (2022: 36).I. Ortaylı also states that the Ottoman Empire prepared the provincial regulations in 1864 and 1871 (2011: 110-111), the Ottoman administration organized the villages by dividing them based on congregation, and that even two religious communities living in the same cove had separate village administrations (2011: 13).There are no Turks in Likovrisi other than Agha, Huseyin and Yusufaki.Likovrisi is an entirely Greek village.According to Ortaylı, it is seen that the administration of the Greek settlements in the Ottoman Empire (which is expected from the administration more in the form of establishing ties with the center) was done by a Greek, and in the settlements where the Turks and Greeks lived together, a manager was chosen from the majority of the population and an assistant from the few.The co-management structure is located in sub-districts, not in villages.In the district administrations, there was a director and an assistant committee (2011: 98-116).In the novel, the portrayal of the Turkish lord as the sole decision-maker on every issue in a village where the Greek population lives supports the author's thesis.In the novel, the settlement also has a five-person council of elders (Kazancakis, 2021: 13).However, looking at the plot, this committee is not stor and effective and has no say in the village administration.
When Yusufaki 1 fell victim to murder, Agha had the whole delegation thrown into the dungeon under his house and said that he would hang one of them every day until the real criminal was found (Kazancakis, 2021: 231-232).Even though the fact that a Turk rules a village that is entirely non-Muslim is in line with the Ottoman Administration System, as fictionalized in the novel, the personality traits of the Turkish Agha stand before us as a remarkable issue.Because Agha is an alcoholic, rude, and unpredictable man.Furthermore, his view of the people of the village, of which he is the ruler, is not humane.When referring to the Agha, it is called: Agha was smoking his hookah on the balcony.On his right was Huseyin with his trumpet, and on his left was Yusufaki, who was chewing gum and pouring his drink.Squinting his watery eyes, he looked at the old Agha with soot, like a shepherd watching his sheep, at the villagers below in the square.He was a human, the others were sheep.The Agha allowed them to graze in peace so that they would give him wool, milk, and meat.(Kazancakis, 2021:167) Not only Agha but also other Turks next to him are portrayed poorly.Agha's guard, Huseyin, is an evil man who kills Yusufaki because he is jealous (Kazancakis, 2021: 236).Yusufaki, a child, is a part of Agha's private life (Kazancakis, 2021: 275).Ibrahim, on the other hand, is another boy who took Yusufaki's place after his death (Kazancakis, 2021: 371).If attention is paid Turks in the novel do not have a proper family life, and they seem to have been drawn to create the perception that Turks are dreadful morally and humanly.
There is another Turk who is mentioned once in the plot, who does not have a crucial place in the shaping of events.This person named Sulatzade Ali Agha lives in another village.He is an ignorant, old, wealthy man with many wives.He wants to send supplies to his son, folklor/edebiyat yıl (year): 2024, cilt (vol.): 30, sayı (no.): 117-Tülin Arseven who goes to Switzerland for education.Since he does not know how to send it, he asks for help from Yannakos, the postman and peddler of the village of Likovrisi.Yannakos takes the provisions from Ali Agha and takes them to the Greeks in Sarakina (Kazancakis, 2021: 150-152).Ali Agha and Turks are criticized for not being able to connect with the Western world, not knowing the way, and being at the mercy of the Greeks in this regard.On the other hand, the wrongdoing of Yannakos' treatment of a man who trusts him is not criticized.According to H. Millas, in Greek literature, the word Turk is reminiscent of captivity, backwardness, poverty and pain (1998: 11).This image appeared before the publication of novels and short stories in Greek literature began, and the Greeks adopted it (Millas, 2005: 340,341).
On the contrary, when the coffee maker who witnessed the incident implied that Yannakos bought these supplies for himself, Yannakos said, "This is an honest business, my friend."(Kazancakis, 2021: 152) answers.According to Yannakos, taking someone else's property this way is not wrong.On the contrary, it is right because it is to help poor Greeks.The protagonist of the novel, in which the carrier power of the plot is attributed to more than one person, is Manolios.While he wants to fulfil the role of Jesus given to him, he undergoes an internal change and plays an essential role in the beginning and end of events.Father Grigoris and Father Fotis, who turned the inner world of Manolios upside down, are other important characters in the novel.Father Grigoris and Father Fotis establish the conflict area of the plot as two essential poles of power and counter-power.In addition, Yannakos, Panagiotaros, Katerina, Mihelis, and Kostandis, who were chosen to stage the crucifixion of Jesus, are the other important characters of the novel.Apart from these, there are many side characters such as Ladas, Captain Fortunas, and Zangoç Haramos.All of the characters in the fiction have more or less a function in forming the chanes of the plot.
Space is the first emphasized element at the very beginning of the novel.The first word is Likovrisi (Wolf Fountain), which is the main place where the events take place (Kazancakis, 2021: 9).When the map of Türkiye is scanned, there is no village named Likovrisi.Although there was a village with this name in Anatolia in the 19th or 20th centuries, no information about it could be found in the sources.Lykovrisi is the word Λυκόβρυση, formed by the combination of the Greek words λύκος (wolf) and βρυση (fountain/faucet).The equivalent of the word is wolf fountain.Likovrisi is the name of a small settlement in the Attica region of Greece today (Likovrisi).The history of Lykovrisi in Greece and what is described in the novel show great similarities.The settlement received many Greek immigrants from Anatolia in 1922 (Lykovrysi).Likovrisi is a place that supports the messages that the author wants to convey through his novel since he received immigration and the immigrants came from Anatolia after 1922.Although we encounter the fictional place of the novel, Likovrisi, in Greece, it is said in the work that this place is in Anatolia.In the speech at the funeral, Judge Patriarheas is compared to Alexander the Great, and "George Patriarheas also kept alive the torch of consciousness in this village in the heart of Asia and never allowed the barbarians to extinguish the Greek light," (Kazancakis, 2021: 381) is said.Other place names in the novel are also chosen from Anatolia.The passage in which Father Fotis tells his life story is as follows: folklor/edebiyat yıl (year):2024, cilt (vol.): 30, sayı (no.): 117-Tülin Arseven Near the Sea of Marmara, across from Istanbul, there is a charming village with gardens along the coast.His name is Artake.That's where I was born.My father was a pastor; he was a tough, little-talking, angry man whose face resembled the faces of dervishes on the old church walls.(Kazancakis, 2021: 331) Artake is the name of Erdek, a district of Balıkesir today, in ancient times (Sevin, 2019: 307).In antiquity, Mysia was a settlement of the city-state.According to researcher V. Sevin, Artake, which Pliny called Artacaeon, like other cities in this region, was colonized by the Miletians in the second half of the B.C. VII century.Because it participated in the unsuccessful Ionian uprising, it was destroyed by the Persians in 493 BC, after this date, it was connected to Kyzikos.After this event, Artake's name, which was not seen in historical sources for a long time, was found as a neighbourhood of Kyzicus in the 6th century (2019: 57).Taraklı, Mudurnu, Göynük towns in 1331, Gemlik in 1333, Kirmasti, Mihaliç, and Ulubat in 1336; İzmit, Hereke, Yalova, and Armutlu in 1337; It was conquered by the Ottoman Empire.According to the Ottoman-Byzantine Treaty of 1341, the places in Anatolia, except Şile and Üsküdar, were left to the Ottoman Empire (Inal, 2007: 59).All these settlements were taken during the 37-year reign of Orhan Gazi, who made the Ottoman Principality, which he received from his father, six times larger (Simsirgil, 2004: 77).When the sources are scanned, it is seen that Erdek is located in Hüdavendigâr as a residential area (Emecen, 2022).19th century in the Ottoman Empire the first census in the 20th century was conducted in 1831 (Karpat, 2010: 63).Hüdavendigâr is located in the Anatolian part of the Ottoman Administrative Division (Karpat, 2010: 54).The question of what the demographic structure of Erdek was like in the 1920s, the case time of the novel, comes to mind.According to the research, in 1851, in Erdek, which was connected to the Karesi Sanjak, the centre of which was Manisa, there was a Greek-Armenian population of 3500-4000 compared to the Turkish population of 300 in 1861 (Guclu, 1999: 69).It is necessary to clarify one issue in particular here.Based on the Greek population density in Erdek, it should not be understood that the population of the administrative region called Hüdavendigâr consists entirely of Greeks.As a matter of fact, according to the information given by Researcher A. Guler, the total population of the area was 1,335,884 in the 1881/1882-1893 census, of which 84.80% is Muslim, 15% is non-Muslim, and the Greeks make up 9.96% of them (2009: 83).All this information confirms the Greek population density of Artake, which is given as the place where Father Fotis was born and raised within the fictitious structure of the work.However, in the 1893 Hüdavendigâr Province Yearbook, Erdek; Artekeon is referred to as Erdek and not by Artake or any other name (Hüdavendigâr Province Yearbook).At this point, the name Artake seems to be a conscious choice for the reader who does not know the Anatolian history and geography of the author and is not expected to know.Another important location of the novel is the mountain Sarakina, where Likovirisi is built at the foothills.This mountain, where the immigrants expelled from Likovrisi took refuge, is where the hungry, poor people lit the fire of revolt against the rich people of Likovrisi and started the liberation struggle.The name Sarakina is also familiar to Greek culture.Today, on websites that are easily accessible to any reader, folklor/edebiyat yıl (year):2024, cilt (vol.): 30, sayı (no.): 117-Tülin Arseven we come across information that Sarakina is both a gorge, canyon, gorge in Crete (Φάραγγι Σαρακίνας, 2022) and a settlement in Greece (Σαρακηνὰ, 2022).That strengthens the perception of the reality of what is said and serves the social memory that is wanted to be created.In the novel, spaces are crucial building blocks of fiction.As the researcher N. Cetin points out, in some novels, space has a symbolic value (2003: 176).The fact that the main place of the plot is said to be a place in Anatolia in Nikos Kazantzakis's novel can be explained by the symbolic value that signifies the idea of Hellenism.
When examining in terms of the time element, it is beneficial to first mention the publication, writing, and case times of the novel.The author's biography shows that this work, which was first published in 1953, was written in the early 1950s.The case time of the novel is the years after the occupation of Anatolia by the Greeks in the Turkish Independence War.The time when the events took place in the novel is not given as exact dates.That too can be considered to be a conscious choice of the author.A date such as 1921 or 1922 may not make sense to the young or culturally unfamiliar reader.It is clear that the mention in the novel, 'Mr.Do you know anything about the Greek troops that came and went like lightning in Yannakos?What is going on in the Greek region where our evzones come from?Neither fires nor massacres nor disasters?(…) Yannakos shuddered.Father Fotis came to mind with his burned-out village and his people scattered here and there… He thought of the burned villages from Izmir to Afyon, and even before.The Romans were being chased.Greece was in danger… (Kazancakis, 2021: 150) The time lived in his words, together with the concept of the threat to the Greek existence, is given by dramatization.A well-known period such as World War I was effective in giving the author's message.As this general chronology of the country's history flows, the "time" of what happened in Likovrisi proceeds through a completely different phenomenon.At the very beginning of the plot, the clergyman calls the delegation of elders, including himself, to a meeting.The main topic of the gathering is to perform a religious ritual that has become a tradition to be held in the village.According to the folkway of the Lycorians, the crucifixion of Jesus is reenacted every seven years.Six years have passed since the last animation.They have a year of preparations ahead of them.This event, which the ancients call the "secret rite" in the novel, is a ritual that begins under the church porch on the Sunday before Easter and ends in the gardens with the resurrection of Jesus at midnight on the Holy Saturday (Kazancakis, 2021: 21).This traditional secret ritual gives the plot the beginning of time.The end of the fiction in the novel is Noel (Kazancakis, 2021: 499), which is the end of the tension between the Lykovrians and the Sarakinians.Thus, the narrative begins after Easter and ends at the following Christmas.The text does not say the exact date of either Easter or Christmas.The fact that these two eminent events, which are sacred to Christianity, are celebrated on different dates with a few days deviations according to the Eastern and Western cultures and the churches they belong to must have been effective in this.Sources say that Easter is celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox, the start date changes every folklor/edebiyat yıl (year): 2024, cilt (vol.): 30, sayı (no.): 117-Tülin Arseven year, and it can come on thirty-five different dates in Christian churches (Yildirim, 2022: 69).It is known that Christmas is dated 25 December in the Western Churches, 6 January in some Eastern Churches, 7 January in some, and 25 December in the Greek Churches except for the Greek Community in Jerusalem (Esgin, 2012: 86-87).The case time of the novel, then, is the period from mid-April to the last week of December.Christmas refers to the birthday of Jesus.The basic philosophy of the secret rite, which is planned as a play in the novel, is on the resurrection of Jesus, his subsequent crucifixion, and the understanding of its consequences.While a simple animation, a kind of play is expected to be staged, in the solution part, the crucifixion becomes a reality in a sense.Easter and Christmas, two critical periods that are closely tied to the plot, are not just a calendar cycle, these play an essential role in creating the content and message of the text with the meanings they express in the novel.

Content analysis of the novel
The axis of the novel is the crucifixion of Jesus.For this reason, the fiction deals entirely with the teachings of Christianity from series to solution.The conflict between the priest of the village of Likovrisi, Grigoris, and the priest of Sarakina immigrants, Fotis, many issues such as religion, the abuse of religion for interests, and how a substantial Christian should be, are brought to the agenda.The sad end of Manolios, who will play the role of Jesus, is a metaphor for the resurrection of Jesus and the repetition of the same sin.A projection of religion and social life is kept through other novel characters chosen to portray the apostles of Jesus.Manalios tries to understand the requirements and philosophy of Christianity to depict the role of Jesus properly.The initial part gradually changes.Recognized by his environment as a clean and good person, Manolios, who was chosen for the aspect of Jesus for this reason, gave himself entirely to religion in time.Neither the Likovrisi nor the people of Sarakina believe that such an innocent and good person can do any evil.Moreover, the Turkish Agha of the village does not believe it.According to the fiction and main message of the novel, Jesus must be resurrected and crucified, in other words, Manolios must face an evil action.At this point, the author uses Bolshevism to awaken negative feelings toward Manolios in the novel's characters.Priest Grigoris tells both the villagers and Agha that Manolios is a Bolshevik.According to Pastor Grigoris, the Sarakinans will bring Bolsheviks to Likovrisi; Manolios is also an anarchist who was infiltrated into the village by the Bolsheviks.Although the Lycorians do not believe this, Manalios' actions are against their interests.Agha, on the other hand, does not find Manolios dangerous at first, disregarding what Father Grigoris and other elders are saying about Manolios.However, Manolios angers Agha when he says that he is a Bolshevik, that people have equal rights to live, and that he is against the landlord's order to save the village and help the Sarakina poor.Agha perceives Bolshevikism, and therefore Manolios, as a threat both to his own prosperous life and to the existence of the Ottoman Empire (Kazantcakis, 2021: 417).This perception of Agha is not out of place considering the time of the case.According to research, Socialist/Communist thought in the Turkish press in the folklor/edebiyat yıl (year):2024, cilt (vol.): 30, sayı (no.): 117-Tülin Arseven Ottoman Empire was mentioned negatively on the grounds of being against religion and morality before the 1876 Constitutional Monarchy (Tuncay, 2014: 248).Bolshevikism is a political movement that is opposed not only in the Ottoman Empire but also in Greece, the country of Nikos Kazantzakis.Nikos Kazantzakis was appointed by Prime Minister Venizelos in 1919 at the Ministry of Health to ensure the return of 150,000 Greeks, who were persecuted by the Bolsheviks in the Caucasus, to their countries (Bien, 2022).The way Bolshevism takes place in the novel is consistent with the case time of the plot.
Although the novel progresses on the axis of the bond between religion and social life, there are other issues that the author deals with in the background.The first of these is the idea of Hellenism.The idea, that Anatolia is Greek territory and that these lands that were lost in 1453 will one day be recaptured or should be taken are underlined.The novel contains these words: It would not be wrong to say that the author reflects the view of the society he lives in with Father Fotis.As a matter of fact, in one of his studies, Researcher A. Palmer wrote, "When the news that Constantinople had fallen into the hands of the Turks was heard in June 1453, the chronicler who kept a record in a monastery in Crete, "There has not been and will not be a more disastrous event in the world." (2008:11) says.According to researchers, the idea of Hellenism developed well towards the middle of the first quarter of the 19th century; The fact that the Ottoman state had weakened considerably during this period created the appropriate time for the Greeks to take action (Kocabas, 1984:49).G. Nakracas' approach to this issue is worth mentioning here: The national myth that Anatolian Hellenes, especially Hellenes living on the western coasts of Anatolia, were the majority population in 1912 and were expelled from the regions where they had supposedly resided for 3,000 years, is refuted by the historical sources we have given above.The overwhelming majority of the Hellenes living in the western coastal regions of Aydın province consisted of merchant immigrants from various parts of the Balkans.These Hellenes were subjected to a forced population exchange in 1922, on the recommendation of the government of Eleftherios Venizelos, not the Turkish government, as many authors claim.(2005: 61) In the novel, the reason why Priest Fotis and the Greeks with him migrated to Likovrisi is suggested as the persecution of the Turks after the departure of the Greek evzones and their expulsion from their villages.Historical documents and historians give different information from this.According to sources, the atrocities committed by the Greek army when they occupied İzmir on May 15, 1919, were investigated and reported by the "Inter-Allied Investigation Board" established after the occupation.This committee declared that genocide was committed against Turks by Greek and Armenian gangs in İzmir (Turkmen, 2010: 14).Real history can sometimes be overshadowed by the strong impact of the fictional text on social memory.

Conclusion
Jesus Crucified Again is examined in terms of structure and content in this study.The starting point of the review is the view that fictional text affects social memory.It is a fact that the novel, as a literary genre, reaches a large audience easier than written history books and archive documents.It is known that the novel sometimes surpasses the veritas history and leaves a strong trace in the cultural memory in terms of its memorability.From this point of view, Nikos Kazantzakis's novel is discussed specifically around time, place, and the explicit or implicit messages given depending on them.
When Nikos Kazantzakis's biography is examined, it is understood that he had never seen Anatolia.The place where the events take place in the novel is the village of Likovrisi.According to the fiction, this village is somewhere in Anatolia, especially in the Aegean Region.It is said that some characters in the story go to Izmir.However, there is no information about how these journeys took place by land or sea and how long they lasted.Other settlements around Likovrisi are not mentioned at all.Only a lake (Voidomito) near the village and the mountain (Sarakina), another essential location, are named.Likovrisi is the name of a small settlement in continental Greece today.He migrated from Anatolia in the 1920s.The name Sarakina is found in two places today.The first is on the island of Crete, the author's birthplace, is a canyon around Heraklion, which is today's name.Secondly, it is also the name of a small settlement in Greece.It is possible that these can be found in other parts of Greece as well.What draws attention here is that the author used the names of veritas places in Greece and Crete, which are not foreign to his culture, in the fictitious world he established.That can be explained by the desire to make the reader believe in the reality of what he tells.Kazantzakis argues that when there is a unity of interests, people's religions, nationalities, historical antagonisms, and future ideals do not matter.The novel succeeds in melting multiple subjects into one pot.As the name suggests, the main issue of the plot is that the events in modern times are as bad as the day Jesus was crucified, and the actions of people and societies in the past two thousand years have not been good.The second is the idea of Hellenism and, thus, the implicit thesis that the Turks exiled the Greeks from Western Anatolia during the First World War.At first glance, it may seem that the author's nationality makes this clear.However, the author's desire to create a social memory through a literary work does not allow this to be accepted.It is a fact that the novel genre contributes to the social memory by containing veritas information without distorting the history in terms of spreading faster, easier to read, and being catchy.
The belief that Jesus will be resurrected and crucified again and the discussion of the arguments chosen to explain this in the novel are worth considering from different perspectives by the researchers of religious sciences.Another subject that is recommended to be studied by experts in the field is the way the Prophet Elijah, who has an important place in both Christian and Islamic faiths, takes place as a religious motif in the novel.While describing the daily lives of people in the novel, sometimes their traditions, food, habits, folklor/edebiyat yıl (year):2024, cilt (vol.): 30, sayı (no.): 117-Tülin Arseven first moved to Italy and then returned to Greece.In 1925, he went to Russia as a correspondent for the newspaper Elefteros Logos, in 1926 to Palestine and Cyprus as a correspondent, and in 1927 to Egypt and Sinai.He spent the years 1928-1931 in Russia and France.He returned to Greece in 1931.He went to Spain in 1932 but returned home in 1933.In 1935, he traveled to Japan folklor/edebiyat yıl