Bicentennial of Greek Revolution commemorated in splendor on Thursday – (VIDEOS)

Thursday marked the bicentennial of the date traditionally commemorated as the beginning of the milestone Greek Revolution, a monumental struggle against the Ottoman empire, which eventually led to the creation of the modern state of Greece.

Greek revolutionaries, philhellenes, men, women, children and the elderly threw off four centuries of dour Ottoman yoke, igniting a “firestorm” for liberation emancipation – whose ambers were kept lit by Faith in Christ, the Orthodox Church and the race’s ancient rites and traditions.

The annual commemoration of the beginning of the Greek War of Independence also falls on one of the great feast days of Orthodoxy, that of the Annunciation of the Theotokos, the Virgin Mary, rendering March 25 a splendorous twin celebration for the Greek nation, the Diaspora and Hellenism around the world.

In Athens, the twin celebrations began at dawn with a 21-round artillery salute from atop Lycabettus Hill.

Afterwards, the blue-and-white Greek flag, adorned with the Cross in the top left quadrant, was hoisted by a military honor guard atop the Acropolis, in the presence of President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

A Doxology memorial service was held at the Athens Metropolitan Cathedral, officiated by the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, His Beatitude Ieronymos, in the presence of the nation’s state, political and military leadership.

Wreaths were subsequently laid at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of Greece’s Parliament by the Greek president and the heads of state and government that represented their respective nations at the commemoration, following by the national anthems and reviews of honor guards.

International dignitaries who laid wreaths were the Prince of Wales, Charles, representing Queen Elizabeth II, the monarch of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, representing Russian President Vladimir Putin, French Defense Minister Florence Parly, representing French President Emmanuel Macron, and the president of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades.

The United Kingdom, France and Russia, the great powers of the early 19th century, provided decisive help to the Greek revolutionary struggle, culminating in the sinking of the Egyptian-Ottoman fleet in Navarino Bay by the navies of the three Western powers in October 1827.

Soon after, the annual military parade commenced, passing a grandstand in front of Parliament on Syntagma (Constitution) square, with this year’s parade including flyovers by French and US warplanes.

 

 

 

 

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