4-D Shevchenko Avenue, Odesa, 65044
e-mail: news@prichernomorie.com.ua
tel.: (048) 776-13-13, 776-14-14
en.prichernomorie.com.ua

25 March – Independence Day in Greece
14:48 / 24.03.2011

The address of Consul General of Greece to Odesa Mr Antonios Haziroglou on the occasion of the Independence Day in Greece.

Today on the 25th of March, at the same time with the Great Church holiday of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we are celebrating the Anniversary of the Greek Revolution of 1821. It was the most important turn in the history of Greece, which after years of fights led to the liberation of a part of Greek territories from the Ottoman Empire and the actual rise of Greek State.

We honour the hero fighters of the Greek Revolution of 1821, who were fighting against an outnumbering enemy and an organized army of the Ottoman Empire with due courage sacrificing everything for the sake of their country.

We also remember and hounour the help of the Philhellenists and of all those who supported the country’s struggle for freedom.

There had been various revolutionary movements of local character before 1821. However by that time all the conditions for a more systematic fight had emerged. The revolutionary ideas of the time, as well as previous events of utter importance as the French and American revolutions had a great impact on the Greek, especially the Diaspora.

The Filiki Eteria community was the principal reflector of the revolution. It was founded in 1814 on a very special day ― 14 of September ―Feast of the Cross. With the headquarters in Odesa, such an important city, this secret community was eventually developing when it counted thousands of people before the revolution in 1821, everywhere where there were Greeks. The community managed to elevate, organize and cooperate Hellenic forces, as well as to express the dream of the intellectual society about a freer and more progressive world, using the increasing economic power and will of Greek seafarers and merchants, offering a response to peasants’ need to be rid of the pressure they were suffering. Filiki Eteria’s contribution to the life of modern Greece is enormous: on the one hand it was mostly due to the community that the fight had been thoroughly prepared, on the other hand its members heated up the idea of freedom in the minds of Greek people.

Happy Holiday!