This year we celebrate the national anniversaries of March 25, 1821 and April 1, 1955 with national pride, spiritual uplift and emotion. We honour the heroic fighters, whose greatness of soul and self-sacrifice marked the path to freedom with their blood.
We honour the fighters, but we also learn from the messages that these two national anniversaries send out. Messages of faith in our rights, messages of unyielding struggle to defend our freedom in this land soaked in the blood of our heroes where history has destined us.
These messages are also given to us by the sacrifice of the two heroes of Finio, Demos Herodotus and Efstathios Xenophontos, who did not hesitate to give what was most precious to them, their very lives, for the freedom of our homeland. Their monument in the central square of the village sends the message that freedom is won through struggle and sacrifice.
Your Eminence,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is with strong feelings of admiration and pride that we commemorate today the national anniversaries of 25 March 1821 and 1 April 1955, two anniversaries that marked the modern history of Greece and Cyprus.
The struggle of 1821 was the Greek response to 400 years of slavery imposed by the Ottoman conqueror after the Fall of Constantinople. Throughout this period, oppression, the haratzi, the child-molestation and all kinds of bullying put Hellenism to a terrible test.
"And everything was silent / Because the bullying was tearing them apart / And slavery was shaping them."
But the flame of faith and hope was never extinguished. The love for the homeland and freedom was sustained by the Church that functioned as the Ark of the Nation, by the simple priest and the monk who taught the letters in the Secret Schools and by the teachers of the nation and other scholars who helped with their writings in the spiritual awakening of the enslaved and oppressed Greeks. It was even the Greek enlighteners abroad who stimulated the national spirit and helped the seed of freedom to take root and flourish.
Rather than forty years, slavery and prison"
Particularly decisive for the coordination and organization of the revolution was the role of the Society of Friends, which was created by inspired Greeks such as Athanasios Tsakalov from Epirus, Nikolaos Skoufas from Arta and Emmanuel Xanthos from Patmos.
And the day that the enslaved Greeks had been waiting for 400 years has arrived. The Old Patron Germanos raised the banner of the revolution at the Monastery of Agia Lavra in Kalavrita with the fighters taking the sacred oath "Freedom or Death".
The motto of the struggle was spread throughout the enslaved Greece. Men, women, old men and children threw themselves into the struggle with incredible heroism. The cariofili and the yatagani of the Thief and the Armadillo united, breaking the chain of slavery. Yesterday's raiders became heroes all at once. Heroes and heroines innumerable. The distant vision of freedom was lifted up by proud figures, true sons of Greek valor: Papaflessas, Kolokotronis, Karaiskakis, Androutsos, Bocharis, Makriyannis, Diakos, Bouboulina, Mavrogenous, Zaimis, Mavromichalis, Lontos and so many others, whether they were sung a thousand times or not, but all heroes who wrote a unique epic and moved the negative and apathetic Europe.
On the one hand, the Holy Alliance with Russia, Austria and Prussia was against any liberal or nationalist revolution and wanted it suppressed wherever it manifested itself. On the other hand, England and France had great economic interests within the territories of the Ottoman Empire. No one at the time believed in the logic of the success of the struggle. But "to miracle and not to reason the race owes its resurrection" wrote General Makriyannis. Logic said that any attempt at rebellion against the Ottoman Empire was, a priori, doomed to failure.
It is for this reason that Kolokotronis, too, writes in his memoirs. We, if we were not mad, did not carry out the Revolution, because we wanted to think about ammunition, cavalry and artillery."
The Revolution flared up, spread over land and sea. The hani of Gravia, Tripoli, Alamana, Messolonghi became castles of valor and symbols of self-sacrifice and heroism. But freedom was insatiable... It wanted "dead thousands to be on the wheels". The destruction of Chios on 30 March 1822 was a mass sacrifice that inspired such figures of European civilisation as Delacroix and Victor Hugo. The total destruction of Psara in June 1824 also aroused the interest and emotion of Europe. Ten thousand Turkish soldiers landed to bloody the small but heroic island. On 10 April 1826, after a long siege, the heroic exit and fall of Messolonghi took place. The sacrifice of Messolonghi advanced the Greek cause more than any Greek victory and the echo of the events revived the spirit of philhellenism in Europe and forced many European leaders to finally support the Greek cause.
Fortunately, "God had signed the freedom of Greece and did not take back his signature,"[/B] said the Old Man of Moria.
The sacrifice and heroism of the Greek people brought the Turkish Empire to its knees. But the great powers, which even then regulated the destinies of the peoples, decided only on the liberation of the Peloponnese, Central Greece, Euboea, the Sporades, the Cyclades and the islands of the Saronic Gulf. The exhausted victor saw the mighty of the land intervene and do him a terrible injustice. But the spirit of the revolution of 25 March 1821 did not cease to burn like a furnace in the breasts of the Greeks, and the then small free Greek nation continued its glorious struggles and liberated with its blood many still enslaved territories.
Cyprus, which greatly helped the struggle of 1821 and paid a heavy price for this with the hanging of Archbishop Kyprianos and other clergymen, as well as many of the guards, with looting, confiscation of property and other forms of oppression and fear, remained enslaved for many more years, until the immortal wine of '21 prompted us here in Cyprus to take the oath of freedom, even though the cruel colonial yoke weighed on our necks.
From the throne of the Archbishopric came the wakeful trumpet of Makarios and from the Cypriot Olympus the war command of Digenes.
It was the first of April / the beginning of EOKA / that the voice of Digenes was heard in Cyprus.
Genuine descendants of the army of the heroes of March 25, 1821, the brave fighters of EOKA took up arms and threw themselves into the struggle for freedom or death. The unquenchable flame of freedom and justice set fire to the souls of the Greeks of Cyprus. They knew well that freedom is not given away, but conquered. They despised the armoured English soldiers, ignored the arrests, the humiliations, the torture, the blowing up of houses and the imprisonment without trial.
Machairas, Dikomo, Ahtiron, the historic battles in the mountains and on the plains were matched by the battles in Gravia, Alamana, Dervenakia, Maniaki and Tripolitsa. Afxentius, Matsis, Lenas, Mouskos, Pittas, Karyos, Papakyriakou, Samaras and together the proud and disobedient lads of the gallows, Karolis, Pallikaridis, Demetriou, Michael, Patatsos, Panagidis, Koutsoftas, Mavrommatis and Zakos, and so many others watered with their blood the tree of freedom that flourished and bore fruit.
The simple, pure lads of the Cypriot people, our heroes of the Epic of 1955, were crowned with the heroes of the Epic of 1821. The simple and pure brave men of Cypriot Hellenism wrote glorious pages of glory and honour. They gave their lives for the freedom, democracy and independence of our special homeland. In the tragic summer of 1974 our Cyprus was betrayed and crucified. Since then, a large part of our homeland has been illegally occupied by Turkey, which, through blackmail and pressure, is attempting to legitimise the invasion and extend its control over the entire region. Turkey and its accomplices in the occupied territories insist on ignoring international and European law, and stand in the way of achieving a truly functional and viable solution to the Cyprus problem for the benefit of all the legitimate inhabitants of the island.
Aware of the tragic consequences of the Turkish invasion and occupation, we insist on our part on the implementation of the United Nations resolutions and all international laws and conventions. We have no choice but, united and inspired by the sacrifices of our heroes, to seek and achieve an end to the Turkish occupation and colonization, the reunification of Cyprus and its transformation into a place of peace, democracy, security and shared prosperity.
This is also our duty to tomorrow's generations, a duty that we will carry out with the values and lessons of both 25 March 1821 and 1 April 1955 as our guiding beacon. With this patriotic feeling we will go forward, vindicating the sacrifices of our heroes and our own history.
Glory and honour to our heroes. Long live March 25 and April 1.
(SX)
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs to PIO
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
Source
