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- Ελληνικά
Church of Panagia Dexia, Kamara, Thessaloniki
January 12, 1956, at one past midnight. It was a cold night that night. The rain had stopped a while ago and the wind was brisk and violent. Up the steps of the darkest prison - it was the prison of Red Riding Hood - climbed a whole marshal. The step and countenance of the marshal freezes the soldiers guarding the prison. Silence. Nothing is heard but the creaking of his boot and the flapping of the insignia on his chest. The marshal stops in front of a cell. The cell is dark. A jailer, bony from both the cold and the marshal's appearance, clumsily opens the door. The marshal looks for the prisoner in that dark environment. He spots him and sits down in a chair. He also offers the prisoner a chair to sit in but he does not sit down. The prisoner stands in front of the Field Marshal and finally forces the prisoner to stand as well. Unwittingly the marshal recognizes the colossal stature of the fighter. The marshal shakes his hand, tries to entice him. He offers him the then mythical sum of 500 thousand pounds to betray Digenes. The eyes of the fighter are on fire. With the utmost calm and clarity he replies, "We will not fight for money, but for Virtue". The marshal is the brutal, bloodthirsty Governor Harding. The prisoner is the hero, the legendary fighter Kyriakos Matsis. The strength of Matsis' dignity, valour and patriotism impress even the heartless Harding, who secretly envies the greatness of such fighters.
Esteemed priesthood,
Mr. Consul General of the Republic of Cyprus in Thessaloniki,
Representatives of the Greek Government,
It is with awe, immense respect and deep emotion that we have come here today in Thessaloniki to attend the annual National and Religious Memorial Service of the leading hero of our national liberation struggle Kyriakos Matsis.
We are here today, humble pilgrims, to commemorate and honour a figure of Cypriot Hellenism who transcends geographical, temporal and historical boundaries.
But paying tribute to shining national figures with the greatness of Matsis, who honoured and illuminated with his life, struggles and unparalleled sacrifice the timeless values of freedom and justice, can be considered anything but an easy task. I therefore declare myself unable to record the greatness of his contribution, to capture the magnitude of his fighting spirit and to enumerate the virtues of Kyriakos Matsis.
Sixty-five years after his sacrifice, we honour Kyriakos Matsis as one of the most important figures of the National Liberation Struggle of EOKA '55-'59, but also as a visionary of the Nation, as a charismatic personality who defended the freedom of his homeland and human dignity with vigour and faith.
We therefore honour not only the incomparable heroism of Kyriakos Matsis, but also the greatness of his soul and spirit. For the stature of Matsis was raised long before his sacrifice, through his fiery speeches in auditoriums and marches - George Papandreou called him the "Nightingale of Cyprus" - through his profound writings, through his action, life and death.
But allow me to make a special reference to the Cypriot students, the members of the National Student Union of Cypriots of Thessaloniki.
Admittedly, the symbolism of the commemoration of Kyriakos Matsis in Thessaloniki, the city he loved deeply, but also the city that shaped him to a great extent, is special. It was here, after all, that he studied, wrote and developed a deep understanding of the historical and cultural ties that unite Cyprus with Greece. Always at the forefront, from his activities in the outposts of the Greek Army, where he gave speeches about our Cyprus, the discussions with the then Minister of Education on student problems, the pioneer in collecting and sending signatures to Cyprus during the Unionist Referendum.
You cannot pass through Thessaloniki and not be touched by the passage of Matsis, even if decades separate you from him.
You cannot pass through Thessaloniki and not be touched by the passage of Matsis, even if decades separate you from him. That's how greatness stands out after all. Matisse wrote in his personal diary on 12 October 1946 "(today) is the great day of my life, the day that firmly and steadfastly marks out my future. I am leaving Cyprus to follow the courses of the Agricultural School of Thessaloniki. The future opens wide before me. In this titanic struggle I feel that I have to fight fiercely. I am fully aware of the dynamics and I fully feel the responsibility of my position. I believe in myself and I hope that I will win in life."
After all, this was Kyriakos Matsis, a fighter, a born winner. In his diary he notes that "Whoever does not WIN has no right to ZH", with the two words, "WIN" and "ZH" written in capital letters, as if it were a principle of his life and a conviction that LIFE must coincide with WINNING, be identified with it.
This indelible passage of Kyriakos Matsis from Thessaloniki is what led the entire city on 23 November 1958, a few days after his heroic sacrifice - "who fell fighting, brave as a young Leonidas" as the newspaper "Hellenic North" mentions him - to a magnificent silent protest march. The procession was led by the Rector, the Senate and the professors of the University, and was preceded by a divine service and a memorial service for the hero Matsi at Agios Dimitrios. Present outside St. Demetrios, of course, were Cypriot students with the photo of the hero and the banner of the National Student Union of Cypriots of Thessaloniki (EFEKTH). The same banner that dear friends today you hold in your hands, which you proudly raise, a symbol of struggles and national aspirations.
Kyriakos Matsis even today, 65 years later, is still the hero who inspires, who directs, who inspires, who excites, who shocks, the hero who arouses and awakens the people. For it was precisely this brave but generous fighter, this intellectual fighter, who cared for humanity, for all of humanity. He loved his life and his country purely and purely. Matisse wrote "That is why I do not care whether this land is lived on by Turks or Greeks, Jews... What is of value is that it is lived on by those who water it with their sweat and walk on it freely, its governors, its masters. To breathe proudly its air, which is an air of coolness, beauty, gentleness, not of suffocation." With this unparalleled spiritual wealth, with noble dreams and with unique sobriety, today Matsis is more relevant than ever.
Beyond the due tribute we ought and must draw lessons from the timelessly abundant values of freedom, justice and the dignity of the man whom the hero served to the end.
Our historical responsibility towards those who, like Kyriakos Matsis, chiselled our glorious history with his passing, demands the continuation of the struggle for redemption.
Representing the Government and the President of the Republic, I would like to convey that, feeling the weight of our historical responsibility, we are proceeding with the reunification of our country as our main goal and we will exhaust every effort in this direction. Our goal remains the resumption of negotiations from where they were interrupted, guided by United Nations (UN) resolutions and European Union (EU) principles.
We seek a more active involvement of the EU, we look forward to the appointment of an envoy and for our part we will do our utmost to create the conditions, seize all opportunities and exhaust every effort to achieve a viable, peaceful and final settlement of the Cyprus problem. Our will for a solution with a bizonal bicommunal federation with political equality remains strong.
Kyriakos Matsis dared to confront his conscience and his history and led an epic and unprecedented struggle with self-denial and self-sacrifice. He stepped out of the narrow circle of a temporary space and time in order to enter the indefatigable firmament of indelible history.
But it is true that as Greeks we do not have a good relationship with memory. Most of the time we mechanically recall a long list of dates, an endless list of heroes. For if we had a living and honest relationship with memory it would be a living reality in our "being". A constant and unquenchable flame of remembrance of our debt to history. Towards our present and our future.
So it is with today's anniversary of the sacrifice of Matsis. We were just about to touch it with our feet. One that transcends human standards and history. We honour the heroes of our national struggles in order to hide our own pettiness and helplessness. Because we don't have the morality to match their morality. To compete with the stature of Matsi's soul and the greatness of his sacrifice. Whatever is said today will be cheap and inexpensive slogans. For if we really wanted to stand with respect to the greatness of Matsis, we would first have to bravely accept our own responsibilities.
Every man, every people, becomes worthy of his historical mission as his consciousness of his history deepens. The greatness of a nation's civilization is always proportional to the purity and depth of its historical memory. It is therefore our duty to make this historical memory an experience, the need for history to meet the historicity of need, the imperative for unity to be transformed into redemption.
After all, as the poet says:
"We owe a debt to those who have come and gone,
they will come, they will go."
Judges will judge us
the unborn, the dead."
65 years ago, on such a day, on 19 November 1958, Matsis was besieged in his hideout. He is called upon to surrender, to save his life. His response, as a genuine, pure Greek spirit, could not be more different, because "Freedom requires virtue and daring". So he answers in a stentorian and brave voice, "Molon lave. Now I am alone, come, if you dare, and take me. You will not get me out of here alive. If I come out, I'll come out shooting." Those were the last words that came out of the hero's mouth. The inhabitants of Dikomo heard two terrible explosions. The first grenade flattened him. The second, I imagine the magnanimous one, when she saw the dead lad, bent and glowed with admiration. As they all bent and marveled in the wake of Matsi.
Honor and glory to Kyriakos Matsi.
We honor and bow to his great sacrifice. His memory will be eternal, as our struggle will be unceasing until the final vindication, the justification of his sacrifice.
We will borrow a drop of your valor. We will borrow a ray from your thought.
Bless you for having existed, Kyriakos Matsi.
Eternal and ageless may be your luminous memory Kyriakos Matsi, Crossbearer of the Pentadachtylus.
(PM/NG/EATH)
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