Conference Centre of the Municipality of Kilkis
Honourable Minister of Rural Development and Food George Giorgos Giorgantas,
Honorable Mayors of Kilkis and Lysis,
Mr. Secretary General of the Pancyprian Unified Organization of Students of Thessaloniki,
Distinguished Guests,
Hellenes, Greeks from the ends of the earth,
It is with sincere feelings of emotion that I accepted the invitation of the twinned Municipalities of Kilkis and Lysis to attend and greet the established annual commemorations in honor of the Hero-Martyr of the national liberation struggle of EOKA, Grigoris Afxentios,
It is with sincere feelings of emotion that I accepted the invitation of the twinned Municipalities of Kilkis and Lysis to attend and greet the established annual commemorations in honor of the Hero-Martyr of the national liberation struggle of EOKA, Grigoris Afxentios.
On the occasion of these commendable initiatives, the "extremes of Hellenism" meet and revive our roots and our historical past, further fostering close emotional ties and fraternal relations between us.
These events, part of which will take place at the historic Akrita Museum-Outpost, "Grigoris Afxentiou", are undoubtedly an honour for the Hellenism of Cyprus
A place of great importance, the creation of which illuminates pages from the short but so comprehensive life of the cross-bearer of Machairas, who served with pride as a reserve lieutenant in these sacred lands. In addition, your actions, beyond acts of love and mutual appreciation, uphold the unmatched in grandeur meaning of the sacrifice of a legendary hero, who will forever be a model of practical philanthropy and dignity.
With Virtue and Courage, First among the first, the Brave of the Brave, Grigoris Afxentiou, becomes a national holocaust on 3 March 1957 and occupies a prominent place in the heroic pantheon of the Cypriot epic of 1955-59.
"In the last need I will fight and die like a Greek, but they will not take me alive", writes Grigoris Afxentiou to his beloved Vasiliki. Fearless, steadfast and determined, he remained to his death a loyal fighter for national and at the same time universal freedom, honouring with unsurpassed heroism the oath of the Greek Officer. He identified body and soul with the Gospel and Greece.
The Bible and the high ideals of the Greek spirit were a source of strength and inspiration for him and his fellow rebels.
Twenty-nine years old was Gregory, and he consecrated with his holy and honest blood the sacred legacy of his race, leading with dignity to sacrifice, fulfilling the supreme duty of Leutria!
His entire guerrilla and national action is an uninterrupted validation of his Greek ethos, a testimony of nobility of soul and character, a Herculean feat of national transcendence, which could not but end in the holocaust, as it did at Machaera.
Born in Lysis in 1928, he had parents Pieris and Antonou and a single sister, Chrystallou Afxentiou-Souroulla.
He attended Lysis Primary School, Famagusta High School and the Reserve Officers' School in Corinth.
From Athens he wrote to his mother: "Do not regret, mother, that I have left your arms, for I am now in the arms of Greece, the most loving mother of the whole world, which is materially poor, but mentally is the richest mother of all centuries."
Triumphantly serving his ideal, wearing the honoured uniform of a Greek officer, here on the Greek-Bulgarian border.
In 1950, when the Cypriot people as a whole demanded a Cyprus-Greece union, he wrote enthusiastically to a friend: "... Our Leftheria, the ideal of our ideals, I too have signed it not only on paper, but wearing the honoured uniform of a Greek soldier, and I will sign it any time our Cyprus demands it with my blood". Afxentiou's membership of EOKA did not come into the hero's life as a random and isolated event.
It was the result of a noble sense of patriotism, which he cultivated from a young age. The sorrow of enslaved Cyprus simmered within him and he was always ready to the inviting trumpeting of "Nyn for all the Agon". Holocausts, graves, altars, are the heavy price of Leftheria.
Avxentios also became a holocaust, offering himself to the Holy Struggle of Cyprus, when on 3 March 1957 he was betrayed while in hiding.
Ten hours he pinned down the English and revived Leonidas at Thermopylae with the incomparable "Molon Lave."
Greek History from ancient times to the present day is full of fighting examples of ordinary, but brilliant and great men who achieved greatness and conquered immortality and eternity.
Greek History from ancient times to the present day is full of fighting examples of ordinary, but brilliant and great men who achieved greatness and conquered immortality and eternity.
Greek History from ancient times to the present day is full of fighting examples of ordinary, but brilliant and great men who achieved greatness and conquered immortality and eternity.
Among these is the Cross Eagle of Machaera, which is for the homeland and history an eternal emblem of heroism and self-sacrifice - a shining example for generations to come.
Hellenes, Greeks from all corners of the earth, today in an anti-heroic era of consumerism, material goods and multiple challenges, where standards are lacking, there is an urgent need to preserve the ideals and values that will ensure our national survival.
Grigoris Afxentiou, but also the generation of 55'-'59 in general, which we honour with great pride, wrote an epic of the soul. They fought with ethics and self-denial and gave everything they had of value for their country. Undoubtedly, we have an obligation not only to remember their contribution, but, above all, to intensify our efforts to protect our nation from visible enemies and foreign intrusions.
Today, however, the tragic events that we witness every day around us, within and without, and especially in Ukraine, trample upon respect for eternal, unchanging values and ideals of human existence. The violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of an independent country is a clear violation of international law. Freedom, equality, justice and peace have suffered a serious blow.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the displacement of thousands of people, the loss of manpower and the immeasurable natural and cultural destruction cannot but evoke in Europe in general nightmarish visions of war from the recent past. But even small Cyprus, which experienced the brutality of the Turkish invasion and which remains the only European state under occupation, cannot but be moved and empathetic to the drama of the civilians and refugees.
The fragile political situation as it is evolving and the visible dangers that consequently lurk, oblige us, on the one hand, to stand in practical solidarity with the Ukrainian people, showing humanity and sensitivity and, on the other hand, to stand united with the European family to which we belong, strengthening its multidimensional role and influence on current developments.
In this context, the President of the Republic is making concerted efforts, in full consultation with the Greek Government, in order to address the dead end of Turkish provocations and threats against Cyprus and Hellenism in general. After all, any threat is against international legitimacy and stability in the region, but also against the European Union itself and the principles it stands for.
Our main priority remains the achievement of a solution that will ensure a united Cyprus, where UN resolutions and EU decisions will be faithfully implemented. For only in this case will we be able to close this open wound in the heart of the Eastern Mediterranean and function as a European state of peace, prosperity and progress for our people and our neighbours. And only in this case we will be able to justify the sacrifices and the sacred blood of heroes such as the honoured Gregory Afxentios.
In conclusion, allow me, on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus, to express my warmest congratulations to the twinned municipalities of Kilkis and Lysis for the relations they maintain and for the cooperation between them. My special thanks go to the Mayor of Kilkis Mr. Dimitris Kyriakidis and his colleagues for their warm hospitality and the excellent organisation of these two-day events, which I am sure will be a great success.
Long live the legendary epic of the national liberation struggle of EOKA 1955-1959.
Long live the immortal Grigoris Afxentiou.
(PM/MG)
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs PIO
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
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