"The tomb of the glorious, the great men is the whole earth", said Pericles. And the memory of great men is preserved only when the memory, not so much of their exploits, but of their spirit, is nestled in the soul of each one.
And the "spirit" was the driving force of the hero Stylianos Lena whom we honor today.[/I]
And the "spirit" was the driving force of the hero Stylianos Lena we honor today. It was his deep-rooted sense of the morality and ideals of his country.
This "courage" we too must keep in our souls, ladies and gentlemen, as the driving force of our history. As the beacon for future generations, as the inspiration that will be our guide. This is what Lena's sacrifice taught us, this is what the 25th of March 1821 which we celebrated just the day before yesterday taught us, this is what we were nurtured with as a people, from the seeds of the EOKA struggle of 55-59.
It was the 28th of March 1957. The evening was colourless and the mother's melancholy was ponding. Too big to fit within the four walls of the cold hospital. The English soldiers grabbed her in the mourning... It was the last time she looked into his eyes. Eyes unblinking, blurred, looking beyond the calm sea and the light of the soul's freedom.
Strange is the silence when the soul ascends to the heavens. Lena was not spared time at all. Not even a day. Even though he was only 24 years old when he perished at the hands of his father. Young and proud soldier of the freedom that the manly EOKA stood for.
March 28, 1957. The bell towers from every corner were ringing joyfully, announcing the end of Makarios' exile from the Seychelles. Stylianos did not live to see the chimes and marches. Here in the Chandrias of Pitsilia, the bell tower tolled mournfully. It "announced" a funeral tune: the birthplace of Stylianos, Lena, announced his death.
Thus Stylianos Lenas passed into the pantheon. He dedicated his life to the fight for his country. A conscious choice of a brave man who knew that freedom is not given away but conquered with blood and sacrifice. A genuine Greek who believed in the sanctity of the great cause, who marched towards sacrifice, despising death, with his forehead held high, with a strong spirit and with an absolute awareness of his historical responsibility, writing in golden letters new pages of glory in Greek history.
Greeks, Greeks,
Today, sixty-five years since the melancholy spring of '57 and almost forty-eight years since the dismal summer of '74, we remember Stylianos Lenas and pray not only for the repose of his soul, but also for the resurrection of our souls.
Stylianos Lenas was one of the eight children of Christofis and Athena.
Stylianos Lenas was one of the eight children of Christofis and Athena.
Stylianos Lenas was one of the eight children of Christofis and Athena. A family of poor farmers who struggled for land to feed their children.
He was born on July 20, 1931, in a village perched on the highest mountain peaks of the Troodos, here in Chandria.
Since he was an infant, he unconsciously heard talk of the October Uprising in his home.
As a child in primary school he heard about the victories of the Greek army in Northern Epirus.
He saw the Cypriot mothers depositing their valuables on the sheets to carry them as aid to our brothers and sisters in Greece.
His family's difficult financial situation curtailed his dreams of studying. At the age of 12, he left the foothills of Madari to settle in Nicosia. And in 1947, he joined OXEN, the Orthodox Christian Youth Union, where he was spiritually and nationally reborn. The faith with which he was nourished steeled his heart and shaped him for the time of the great uprising. In October 1952 he went to the Dodecanese for a year, on a Greek government scholarship to the "Technical School of Leros". He returns in 1953 and opens his own machine shop in Nicosia. He re-activates in OXEN and continues his intellectual formation. His mind and soul were already given to the struggle and the cause of the Union of Cyprus with Greece.
Nurtured in the sacred threads of our glorious race, he felt as if he had long been ready for the great call.
"I swear...that I will fight...with all my strength for the liberation of our Cyprus from the British yoke and its union with mother Greece", he thundered at the call of Chief Digenis.
He was one of the first to take the oath and at dawn on April 1, 1955 the modest and humble giant of EOKA was on his feet and took action....
He was in charge of the EOKA saboteurs from the very first moment and on Friday April 1, 1955, simultaneously with the declaration of the struggle, he assisted in the explosions at the British "Woolley Barracks" camp in Nicosia. On October 4, 1955, together with other fighters and Grigory Afxentiou, they attempted a raid by seizing the armoury of the British police station in Lefkoniko, thus sending a loud message to Marshal Harding, newly arrived in Cyprus.
Lena was now everywhere. He had become the fear of the colonialists in all kinds of operations. He operated with Gregory Afxentiou in the Pentadaktylus area. He took over as deputy chief in the Pitsilia area. He took part in many ambushes against the English colonialists.
Soon Stylianos, after the "Stavraetos of Machairas", became the No. 2 bounty guerrilla. A guerrilla trainer, EOKA bomb and mine maker, he had become the nightmare of the British who dubbed him as the "Krup" of EOKA, recognizing his prowess in bomb making.
On February 17, 1957, Lena was ambushed by English soldiers outside his hideout near Pelendri.
On February 17, 1957, Lena was ambushed by English soldiers outside his hideout near Pelendri. His attempt to escape was betrayed by the bloodstains from his wound. He was captured badly wounded and taken in his blood-stained clothes to the English hospital at Akrotiri, where for 40 days he fought a battle with death. In the 40 days of torture that followed, English interrogators tried in vain to extract information from him.
The immortal Stylianos Lenas surrendered only his soul to the Lord on 28 March '57. Even dead, Lenas continued to spread fear among the conquerors, so they ordered his burial in the Central Prison for fear of provoking popular demonstrations.
And the heroine Athena said of her son: "...I never forget my Styllis... I do not cry over the death of my child. I weep because I did not know that I had such a lad who loved his country so much. I am proud that my son died for the freedom of our Cyprus".
Greeks, Greeks,
There were freedom fighters whose Greek souls listened to the secret voices of the centuries and followed the paths shown to them by the heavy hand of history, on the marble threshing floors of cruel trials.
Heroes, like Stylianos Lenas, fleshed out their faith in their homeland and drove the pole to the target, driven by their lofty visions of freedom and union with the motherland.
The self-sacrifice of our fighters is a counterpart of our minimum duty and moral obligation to secure the future of our country and our children.
The shameful invasion of Turkish military forces under the code name "Attila" in the summer of 1974 grossly violated the principles of international law for almost five decades.
There is no doubt that the passage of time is having a negative effect on the future of our divided homeland. This, moreover, is proven by the developments and the fait accompli. What is needed is to reach a solution on the basis of the agreed framework, which will truly reunite the country and create promising prospects for the future. A solution that will restore, to the greatest possible extent, the constitutional and territorial breach that Turkey has illegally and by force of arms caused on the island. A solution that will reunite our institutions and our people, with the only guarantees of co-creation, development and progress for both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.
Despite the efforts of the President of the Republic for progress on the Cyprus problem and a return to talks, Turkey continues to escalate its provocative and aggressive behaviour. It continuously violates international law and the law of the sea, with its illegal actions directed against the sovereignty and sovereign rights of the Republic of Cyprus.
In the new, complex and difficult field of international relations and new geopolitical realities, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Turkey is presented as a "subtle neutral" and "Pontius Pilate". It remains on the sidelines, again playing on two boards. As an EU candidate country and a member of NATO, it chooses not to participate in the sanctions imposed by the West on the Russian invader in Ukraine, even suggesting ways to circumvent them, while trying to take advantage of the West's break with Russia by turning the Ukrainian crisis into an opportunity. Erdogan is following the same formula that Turkish President Ismet Inonu followed in World War II, when he chose the winning side only when Hitler was pinned down and neutralized. That, after all, is who the Turks have been throughout time.
President Anastasiades, in the context of the recent Informal European Council in Versailles, but also at the summit in Brussels the day before yesterday, "deplored" the unacceptable attitude of Turkey, which chooses not to align itself with the sanctions against Russia. President Anastasiades recalled that Turkey, apart from serving only its own interests, has a significant influence on the effectiveness of the measures, which are ultimately aimed at exerting pressure to end the destructive war against the Ukrainian people.
Greeks, Greeks,
The images of this war in Ukraine have inevitably awakened memories of the Turkish invasion in 1974.Cyprus, as an occupied country, which for almost 48 years continues to experience the consequences of the Turkish invasion, fully understands the wounds and pain of the Ukrainian people.
The Government, the whole of Cyprus and our people cannot but show practical solidarity and support to the Ukrainian people and call for an immediate end to the ceasefire in order to put an end to the tragic loss of innocent lives and the violation of the principles of international law so brutally violated by Putin and the Russian military.
Ukrainians are fighting today for exactly the same cause that our heroes fought for in 55-59, opposing the then mighty British Empire.
Hero Stylian Lena,
You were only twenty-four years old when you were burnt to death. And to your last moment you were true, invincible and hopeful. Sixty-five long years your sacred bones have been covered by the soil of the Prisoner's Memorial, and we hold on to your strength to give us light, courage and hope.
You have given us much, Stylian Lena, and we owe you. We owe you, as we owe all the fighters, heroes of the EOKA epic, a debt for the freedom of the land that gave birth to us.
You have shown us with your sacrifice how justice and dignity are won. You have shown us that the uphill climbs of freedom and the difficult roads require sacrifices.
Go your way, Stylianos, and look neither back nor ahead. Immortality awaits you everywhere.
Take the road you have carved to "enrich" future generations with pride. A legacy of your struggle and sacrifice. A sacrifice that will remain unchanged in time and in the Greek calendars of our history and our hearts.
Eternal memory of you, hero of Chandria, Styliane Lena.
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