March 25

Today we mark the beginning of the liberation of the Hellenic people from the Turkish yoke. On March 25, 1821, Metropolitan Germanos of Patras blessed a Greek flag at the Monastery of Agia Lavra and proclaimed a national uprising. Greece declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire, beginning the Greek War of Independence.

The rallying song of Righas Pheraios, a poet brutally murdered by the Turks, is remembered today:

Ως πότε παλληκάρια θά ζούμε στά στενά
O brave young warriors, we shall live close together,
μονάχοι σάν λιοντάρια στίς ράχες τά βουνά
Lonely like the lions in the ridges of the mountains,

Καλύτερα μιάς ώρας ελεύθερη ζωή
It is better an hour of free life,
παρά σαράντα χρόνια σκλαβιά καί φυλακή.
Than forty years a slave in chains.

May God continue to bless the Hellenic nation for years to come!