While the philhellenes of the West looked to Greece as the ancient homeland of Homer, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Thucidydes, Alexander the Great, Plato and Aristotle, those whom they viewed as descendants of the Hellenes themselves went beyond this pagan association and viewed themselves as descendants of the Romans of the Roman Empire, whose capital was the Constantinople founded by Emperor Constantine, which was indelibly attached to Orthodox Christianity; therefore their war of independence was primarily about the freedom to worship freely as Orthodox Christians without being enslaved as lower-class citizens subject to the harsh regulations of the followers of Islam in their own homeland. Contrary to this, America fought for freedom from a king's tyranny, and France for freedom from papal supremacy and a Catholic monarchy.
- "My own uprising is neither similar to the French, nor anyone else. We will resurrect a homeland whose head will be Christ, not any man." (General Theodoros Kolokotronis)
- "We also follow comparable logic in the use of the terms Roman/Romanism. The only difference is that these two words were gradually set aside from the official language, as were also all the words of life and truth which are difficult to measure, because they did not come to us direct from the age of Pericles. We are Hellenes in order to hoodwink the world, but in reality Romans." (Kostis Palamas)
- "The Romans could have escaped the sufferings of the Turkish occupation if they had become Turks. They were enslaved, because they refused to change their faith! Not because they were enslaved to the rich. As Turks the Romans would have at least been free if not richer. But as Romans they wanted to be free as Christians and not as Muslims. If the Turks were atheist Marxists, the Romans of 1821 would have battled against them with the same steel determination." (Fr. John Romanides)
- "My own uprising is neither similar to the French, nor anyone else. We will resurrect a homeland whose head will be Christ, not any man." (General Theodoros Kolokotronis)
- "We also follow comparable logic in the use of the terms Roman/Romanism. The only difference is that these two words were gradually set aside from the official language, as were also all the words of life and truth which are difficult to measure, because they did not come to us direct from the age of Pericles. We are Hellenes in order to hoodwink the world, but in reality Romans." (Kostis Palamas)
- "The Romans could have escaped the sufferings of the Turkish occupation if they had become Turks. They were enslaved, because they refused to change their faith! Not because they were enslaved to the rich. As Turks the Romans would have at least been free if not richer. But as Romans they wanted to be free as Christians and not as Muslims. If the Turks were atheist Marxists, the Romans of 1821 would have battled against them with the same steel determination." (Fr. John Romanides)
