An Icon of Saint Eleutherios That Belonged to Eleutherios Venizelos

This is a portable icon of Saint Eleutherios, measuring 43.5 x 34 cm., bearing the inscription "The Holy Martyr Eleutherios" (Ο ΑΓΙΟΣ ΙΕΡΟΜΑΡΤΥΣ ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΟΣ).

This unique personal heirloom of Eleutherios Venizelos, which the great Greek politician revered as an icon of his patron saint, is located in the Eleutherios Venizelos Museum in Chania on the island of Crete.

Saint Paisios the Athonite as the Patron Saint of the Signals Corps of the Greek and Cypriot Armies

The Signals Corps of the Greek and Cypriot Armies honor Saint Paisios the Athonite as their patron saint.

By decision of the Ministries of Defense of the two countries, July 12th was established as a day of celebration of the Signals Corps, since he himself had served his military service during the civil war as a signal officer.

He is honored at the Signal School of Haidari near Athens, where there is a chapel with a frescoe that depicts Saint Paisios in the middle of two signal officers.

 

 

The Cliffside Cave Chapel of Saint John the Theologian in Naxos

Just outside Chora in Naxos, like an eagle's nest hanging from the steep cliffs, there is a small and picturesque chapel. The pale white touch on the gray of the granite rocks, located north of the Monastery of Saint John Chrysostom from the 17th century, is dedicated to Saint John the Theologian, which is also known as Theologaki by the locals, while it has also been associated with Nikos Kazantzakis.

Stephanos "the Crazy Man With the Small Ball" (+ August 19, 2021)

The "crazy man with the small ball", the beloved Stephanos, the trademark of Piraeus, has left this world. The area of Palia Kokkinia in Attica mourns his loss. We are informed that the unfortunate man was killed under unclear circumstances, as he was hit by a car on the street, where he was staying. Employees of a cafeteria took him to the Asklipieio Voulas Hospital, where his death was announced.

He had three children, one of whom has died. In recent years he lived at the junction of Thebes and Argyrokastro streets, in a dilapidated house, behind a small park, in which he had written various slogans of his own inspiration. He always used chalk so that he could write and erase easily. He usually wrote about God, nature and various sayings in general. Stephanos used to go to the cafe right across the street and while he never asked, when he was offered a treat, his face lit up. With a small radio he listened to folk music and smoked a cigarette.

Interview Regarding the 200th Anniversary of the Greek Revolution with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos (2 of 2)

...continud from part one.

Α.B.: With what you are saying, Your Eminence, you reminded me of the Naval Battle of Gerontas - and I bring this up because you speak of the Orthodox ethos of the Greek slaves - and I remembered that on the 29th of August in 1824 the Naval Battle took place, and the Greeks with Andreas Miaoulis as the navy captain defeated the Turkish and Egyptian fleets, and when the battle was over and everyone was all smoked from the gunpowder, Miaoulis gave the crew bread and olives because it was a day when a strict fast is observed, it was the feast of Saint John, and despite the fact that they could have eaten anything different that day, they instead observed the fast of the Church.

H.E.: Yes, we see this in all the leaders of the Revolution, who had this ethos. And above all, of course, we see this in Makriyannis. When one reads Makriyannis' Memoirs, one sees the whole tradition they had. And what I want to say is that this was the tradition with which the Romans grew up, it is the Romaiik tradition, the Philokalic tradition, the Hesychast tradition.

How Catholics Celebrate Easter in Orthodox Majority Greece

In a recent interview, Roman Catholic Archbishop Sevastianos Rossolatos of Athens spoke to Skai.gr about how Catholics celebrate Easter in Greece. In Greece, because the great majority of the population are Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics do not celebrate Easter with the rest of the Catholic world according to the Gregorian calendar reckoning, but according to the reckoning of the Julian calendar with the rest of the local population.

Excerpts from the interview are translated below:

How the Greeks Outsmarted the British Missionaries During the Greek Revolution

 

London Greek Committee

Without the Philhellenes of the West, it would have been much more difficult for the Greeks to have gained their independence, some would say even impossible. And though the Greeks were very grateful for their contribution in helping them gain their freedom, they also knew from experience to not trust them completely. They looked upon the French and even more so the English as either being mad or very very devious.

The London Greek Committee (1823–1826) was a Philhellenic group established to support the Greek War of Independence from Ottoman rule by raising funds by subscription for military supplies to Greece and by raising a major loan to stabilize the fledgling Greek government. Its first meeting was held on 28 February 1823 in the Crown and Anchor Tavern on the Strand. The committee was established by John Bowring and Edward Blaquiere. Its early members included the reformer Jeremy Bentham and Lord Byron. Colonel Leicester Stanhope, a soldier with experience in India and an enthusiast for liberty of the press, established printing presses throughout Greece.

The London  Greek  Committee  had  a  distinctly  Christian  bias.  Greece  was  not  only  to  be  regenerated  in  terms  of  English  utilitarianism  but  converted  to  English  Christianity  as  well.  As  Stanhope  himself  declared  when  the  first  consignment  of  Bibles  arrived:  "They  will  save  the  priests  the  trouble  of  enlightening the darkness of their flocks. Flocks indeed! With the press and the Bibles, the whole mind of Greece may be put in labour." An alliance was formed   between   the   London   Greek   Committee   and   various   Christian   groups,  principally  the  missionary  societies,  to  propagate  in  Greece  the  eternal truths of Christianity as understood in contemporary England.

Romanism and Costes Palamas

 

PREFACE

The lecture herein published is being offered in English translation as a means of allowing the descendants of the West Romans to take a preliminary glance at people in South East Europe and the Middle East who still call themselves Romans and sing songs and write poetry about themselves as Romans.

Much in this lecture is a summary of sections of a larger study which among other things examines why the Franks decided that the East Romans should not be called Romans.

This decision had a peculiar impact on a town in Cappadocia which gave two emperors to the empire. In some histories the first one is a Roman emperor because he ruled before Heraclius (610-641) and the second is supposedly a Byzantine emperor because he ruled after.

Greek Independence Day Resource Page

"When we got our weapons, 

first we said for the Faith 

and then for the Nation." 

(General Theodoros Kolokotronis)

 

Two "Hails" Are the Essence of Romiosini and Modern Hellenism

 

May 29, 1453 - Fall of Constantinople Resource Page

 

New Martyrs Under the Turks Resource Page

 

Patriarchs of Constantinople Killed Under the Turks  

Saint Cyril Loukaris, Patriarch of Constantinople (+ 1638)

Holy New Hieromartyr Parthenios III, Patriarch of Constantinople (+ 1657)

 

Kollyvades Movement Resource Page

 

Saint Kosmas the Aitolos Resource Page

 

The Political Vision of Athanasios of Paros and His Disputes With Koraes  

 

The Plane Tree of the Greek Revolution at the Monastery of Megistis Lavra in Kalavryta

Germanos of Old Patras: The Hierarch of Freedom

 

The Icon Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory V Gifted To Metropolitan Germanos of Old Patras

 

Holy Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople Resource Page

Saint Cyril VI, Patriarch of Constantinople (+ April 18, 1821)

 

Saint Dorotheos Proios, Metropolitan of Adrianople (+ 1821)

 

Saint Gregory, Bishop of Derkoi (+ 1821) 

 

Holy Hieromartyr Joseph III (Antonopoulos), Archbishop of Thessaloniki (+ 1821)

 

Holy Ethnomartyr Gregory the Kalamaras, Metropolitan of Argos (+ 1821) 

Holy Ethnomartyr Gregory, Bishop of Methoni († 1825)

 

The Term "Romiosini" According to Fr. John Romanides

 

Orthodox and Romios: Two Identical Words

 

A Greek or a Roman Revolution?

 

The Roman Revolt of 1821 

 

The Romiosini of 1821 and the Great Powers (Fr. John Romanides)

 

Romanism and Costes Palamas

 

The Primary Difference Between the Greek Revolution and Both the American and French Revolutions

The Spiritual Meaning of the Greek Revolution

 

The Sanctified Revolution (Photios Kontoglou)  

 

Φ. Κόντογλου: "Στολή Αφθαρσίας" & "Η Aγιασμένη Eπανάσταση"

 

Blood-Stained Cassocks and 1821

 

Archbishop Kyprianos of Cyprus and the Greek Revolution of 1821

 

Athanasios Diakos, Papaflessas and the Taking Up Of Arms

 

Kalo Voli! The Famous Wish of the Greek Revolutionaries

 

The Church of Saint Athanasios in Thessaloniki and the Greek Revolution of 1821

 

Movie: "Papaflessas" (a film about the Greek Revolution)

Laskarina Bouboulina, a Great Greek Heroine

 

The Church Where General Theodoros Kolokotronis Wept in his Darkest Hour

The Chapel of Saints Theodoroi in Nafplio, Built by Theodoros Kolokotronis

 

Book Review: "The Life of General Makriyannis: Memoir and History"

The Neptic Spirituality of General Yannis Makriyannis 

 

The Courageous Reply of the Monks of Mega Spelaion In 1827 

 

The Church of Panagia of Finikia and Lord Byron

 

A Reflection On the Last Day of My 36th Year of Life

 

The Easter Sunday When Greeks Asked "How is Lord Byron?" Before Saying "Christ is Risen!" 

Mary Shelley as a Philhellene

Edgar Allan Poe As A Philhellene 

 

Birth of a Nation: The Establishment of Modern Greece

Documentary: "March 25 - Greek Independence Day"

The First Celebration and Location of Greek Independence Day

 
A Special Celebration of March 25th for the Greek People

 

On the Revilers of Orthodox Faith and Greek History

Monk Moses: On the Rewriting of Our History  

 

Movie Review: "Cliffs of Freedom" (2019) 

 

Archimandrite Angelos Lyssaris, A Descendent of Kolokotronis, Reposes

 

Book Review: "The 'Model Kingdom' and the Great Idea: Aspects of the National Problem in Greece (1830-1880)"

 

Interview Regarding the 200th Anniversary of the Greek Revolution with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos (1 of 2)

 

Interview Regarding the 200th Anniversary of the Greek Revolution with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos (2 of 2)

 

Mr. Vasilis Voutsas

By Michalis Malamas

 

February 21, 2021

It has been twenty years since I met him.

Those difficult years for me.

My sister was seriously ill and I came and went to Kavala every day.

Many times there at the intersection of Poulidi Nursing Home I saw an old lad with two nylon bags in hand hitchhiking.

The Austrian Who Saved a Greek City from the Nazi's and Became an Orthodox Christian Iconographer

 

 

Josef H. Blechinger was a German soldier who turned out to be one of the greatest heroes of the Greek resistance, who literally saved a town from destruction.

Blechinger came to Greece as a conqueror with the German army. A few years later, after the war, he became Greek, changed his name to Elias Kokkinos, started a family and died in Greece.

Elias Kokkinos was born as Josef H. Blechinger in Dresden. His mother was Czechoslovakian and his father Austrian, but officially he was a German citizen. When World War II broke out, he had to enlist in the German army. First he served in occupied Poland. Then he was transferred to Greece.

The First Greek Priest Killed in the War of 1940

 

 

By Fr. Elias Makos

Within the worries and various cares of everyday life, national holidays, such as that of October 28, are stations of contemplation and example.

The epic of 1940, stimulates our historical memory, as well as our patriotic conscience, but also reminds us of the role and sacrifice of the ministers of the Orthodox Church in the national struggles.

In a grassy tomb, in the courtyard of the Church of the Panagia in Delvinaki, there is a simple inscription: "ARCHIMANDRITE CHRYSOSTOMOS TSOKONAS - FELL ON BEHALF OF HOMELAND - 11/25/1940."

Holy Ethnomartyr Gregory, Bishop of Methoni († 1825)

 

St. Gregory of Methoni (Feast Day - October 22)

Gregory Papatheodoros was born in 1770 in the village of Albaina in Olympia. He was the son of Theodoros Papatheodoros and Anastasia from the Sakelarios family. His first letters were learned in his village, and he completed his knowledge in the Monastery of Vytina, which then had a rich library. According to Grigoriadis, "he was a man of great education and spoke three languages, Turkish, Arabic and French, and knew a little Italian." 

 

He leaned towards service in the Church and followed the priestly stages. He was ordained a Deacon on May 16, 1800, and a Presbyter and a Chancellor on April 9, 1806. He was ordained Bishop of Methoni, Navarino and Neokastro (August 12, 1816 - October 22, 1825) by Patriarch Cyril VI of Constantinople (1813 - 1818).

When the Soldiers of Plastiras Wept for Hagia Sophia

By Nikolaos Zaimi

It was February 1919, when the then Lieutenant Colonel, Nikolaos Plastiras, one of the emblematic figures of the military and political history of Greece during the first half of the 20th century, together with the officers and soldiers of the 5/42 Evzoni Regiment, could not hold back their tears when, passing through Constantinople to go to the Ukrainian campaign, they saw Hagia Sophia. "And then it was that not an eye was without tears," Plastiras will write a few years later, remembering the event.

Departure for Ukraine

On January 15, 1919, the decision of the Greek government to take part in the allied campaign in Ukraine, with the participation of the I, II and XIII Division of the 1st Army Corps, under the orders of Lieutenant General Constantine Nieder, became known. Among the Regiments that would take part in the campaign was the Evzoni 5/42, which belonged to the XIII Division, whose command was recently taken over by Plastiras, leaving previously the 6th Infantry Regiment, with which his name was associated. On February 3, the departure of the units from the port of Eleftheri in Macedonia began in sections. Among them were the men of Plastiras, who boarded the Russian steamer "Emperor Nicholas". They crossed the Dardanelles and then arrived in Constantinople.

Greeks and Turks (Photios Kontoglou)

Greeks and Turks (by artist Johann Wilhelm Baur, 1636)

By Photios Kontoglou

By the time the Turks appeared in Asia Minor it was a small tribe. In order to multiply, they captured and converted the locals, most of whom were Greeks. In this diabolical way, which is said to have been advised by an imam, they became a great nation. But this artificial way of multiplying ceased at one point and they began to dwindle again. The German professor Krumbacher writes that as long as Turkey was nourished by the peoples it had enslaved and by the wealth it had amassed for centuries, it grew and grew stronger, until the fear of Europe came. But as those happy years passed, she began to drink her own blood, which could not be replaced by anything. As much as they had harems with many women and as much as they were masters in this country, they kept falling, instead of moving forward. Incessant and long-term conscription cooperated a lot to this, but more so unnatural debauchery and degeneration was the reason that the Turkish population was becoming more and more dilute, including bad administration, even though the Greek subjects had the same administration and in fact much worse.

May 31 - On This Day in 1850 Florence Nightingale Proclaimed From Athens That "The Greek Church is Dead"

On Friday 31 May 1850, Florence Nightingale, who was then thirty years old, wrote to her sister Parthenope Nightingale from Athens, about her travels and experiences in Greece. After expounding with lofty words about the glories of ancient Greece, she finally begins to talk about Greece as it was in her time, and initiates the conversation by proclaiming "the Greek Church is dead." It seemed like she hated everything that has to do with the Greek Orthodox Church, even Greek weddings (!), and much preferred the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches. Earlier while in Rome she blamed Greek monks for bringing images of Christ to the West, accusing them for dispelling the reverence of depicting Christ as a symbol as was done in the early Church. The only positive things Florence Nightingale had to say about the Orthodox Church was directed to individual monks and the then dead Archbishop Germanos of Patras because he "thought the best religion was to give his country independence and a constitution." Her denunciation of Orthodoxy held equally for the Russian Church, fueled by the persecution of the nuns of Minsk. Later, during the Crimean War during which she served as a nurse, Russia was the enemy.

Laskarina Bouboulina, a Great Greek Heroine

Laskarina Bouboulina, one of the most well-known female Greek revolutionaries in Greece yet almost completely unknown outside of Greece, was born in a prison in Constantinople on 11 May 1771, who became a famous heroine of the Greek War of Independence in 1821 as a naval commander for the Greek army. She was killed on 22 May 1825 as the result of a family feud in Spetses by being shot in the head.

A Special Celebration of March 25th for the Greek People

By Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Patras

Behold, the great day and feast of March 25th is at the door. The celebration due to the prevailing special circumstances will not be as brilliant as it used to be. There will be no "official" doxologies, no parades, no celebratory speeches.

This year's celebration has the particularity that it will take place internally, heartily, prayerfully in the home and in the Church through the Divine Liturgy (where it is performed), with the participation of the few, as provided by the instructions of the competent authorities. In our city, we will be liturgizing in the Holy Metropolitan Cathedral of Evangelistria, which even celebrates, with the Divine Liturgy transmitted by our Ecclesiastical TV Station and our Radio Station.

When Kapodistrias Closed the Churches and Defeated an Epidemic

 

By Aristeidis Hatzes,

Professor of the Philosophy of Law & Institutional Theory at the

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Ioannis Kapodistrias (1776-1831) was the first governor or head of state of independent Greece (1827–31) and is considered the founder of the modern Greek state, and the architect of Greek independence. He was very much beloved by the people of Greece, and one reason for this was because he based almost everything he did on Christian principals. He was a very faithful Christian and a defender of the Orthodox Church, clashing with anyone he considered to threaten it.

But Kapodistrias was also a responsible leader who was ready to make difficult decisions, even from the first moment he arrived in Greece. During the first months of his rule, a plague epidemic occurred in the Argosaronic islands, in Hydra first and then in Spetses. One of the first decisions he made in April 1828 was to close the churches in areas where incidents had occurred or were likely to occur (eg., in Aegina where he himself had settled). The churches were closed for an indefinite period and the reactions were minimal. The Greeks respected him, admired him and mainly trusted him. This was because Kapodistrias was also a very good doctor and indeed with considerable practical experience he acquired long before he became fully involved in politics. So he knew what he was doing very well - it wasn't a hasty decision of the moment. The opposite is true.

The Wondrous Encounter of the Greek Poet Angelos Sikelianos with Saint Mary Magdalene

Angelos Sikelianos, born on 28 March 1884 and died on 19 June 1951, was a Greek lyric poet and playwright. His themes include Greek history, religious symbolism as well as universal harmony in poems such as The Moonstruck, Prologue to Life, Mother of God, and Delphic Utterance. His plays include Sibylla, Daedalus in Crete, Christ in Rome, The Death of Digenis, The Dithyramb of the Rose and Asklepius. Although occasionally his grandiloquence blunts the poetic effect of his work, some of Sikelianos finer lyrics are among the best in Western literature. In the six years from 1946 until 1951, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature.