The events celebrating the 197th anniversary of the “Exodus” of the Heroic Guard of the Free Besiegers were held today by the municipality of the Holy City of Messolonghi, in the presence of the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

The Prime Minister was represented by the Deputy Minister of National Defense, Nikos Hardalias, who was accompanied by the Chief of Defense Forces, General Konstantinos Floros.

Events included:

– the celebration of solemn eulogy in the metropolitan church of Agios Spyridon, pre-eminent of Metropolitan Demetrias and Almyros, etc. Ignatius and concelebrants of the Metropolitan of Aetolia and Acarnania etc. Damascenes and the Bishop of Tegea Mr. Theoklitos,

-The celebration of the trisagy in the Garden of Heroes in honor of the Immortal Dead,

– laying of a wreath by the President of the Republic at the Tomb of the Heroes and

– awarding of prizes to the winners of the 75th “ROAD OF SACRIFICE”.

The ceremony of the day was delivered by the Deputy Minister of National Defense who pointed out, among other things:

“Next to the “molon lave” of the Three Hundred of Thermopylae, the “now for everything the battle” of the Salaminomachians and the “everyone will die of their own free will and we will lose our lives” of Constantine Palaiologos, the response of the Mesolongites to the Ottoman proposals was engraved in fiery letters of tradition: “The keys of Messolonghi are hung on the muzzles of the cannons!” She was not, you see, a learned thief in compromises and traditions.

And it was this self-sacrifice of the martyrs of Messolonghi that contributed the most to the final success of the struggle. The flames of Messolonghi warmed the hearts of the civilized peoples, rousing them to a real crusade to shake off the Greeks from the Ottoman yoke. Only four years later, in 1830, the homeland was now liberated.

197 years after the departure of the immortal besieged and their passage into eternity, the homeland has nothing to do with the poor and ruined -but always insubordinate!- Greece of the time of the Revolution. It is now a powerful and prosperous country, territorially complete, its borders inviolable and its place in the hard core of the “enlightened nations” of the West non-negotiable. And the warriors of Messolongion, holy shadows of angels now around the throne of God, would be proud of the strongest Armed Forces in the History of the modern Greek state, which we are building every day with hard work.

Our duty, our patriotic bet of responsibility, is to keep alive the historical memory of the siege of Messolonghi, but also of the entire epic of 1821. Not to preserve the passions of the past or to cover our current pathologies with its memories glorious past, but to remember where we come from and the sacrifices it took to be here today. And of course to remind, to anyone who strikes at the suggestion of even one centimeter of our Greece, the timeless truth of Kostis Palamas: “The greatness of peoples is not measured by the acre, by the fire of the heart it is also measured by the blood”. And the greatness of the Greeks will never fade! But never! Because Messolonghi lives!”.

The events were also attended by Aetoloakarnania MP Marios Salmas as a representative of the Speaker of the Parliament, Aetoloakarnania MP Georgios Varemenos as a representative of the Leader of the Official Opposition, Aetoloakarnania MPs Konstantinos Karagounis, Spyridon-Panagiotis Livanos and Dimitrios Dimitris Konstantopoulos, representative of the Greek regional party, Nektarios Farmakis, the mayor of the Holy City of Messolonghi Konstantinos Lyros, ambassadors and members of diplomatic missions of foreign countries in Greece, representatives of the Chiefs of General Staff of the Army, Navy and Air Force and of the Security Forces, representatives of the regional and local governments, etc. official.

On Lazarus Saturday the Deputy Minister of National Defence, representing the government, attended the Great Vespers at the metropolitan church of Agios Spyridon, patron of the Metropolitan of Aetolia and Acarnania etc. Damascene, the memorial service in the Heroes’ Garden and laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Heroes.

Then he watched the re-enactment of the blowing up of Mayor Christos Kapsalis and the martyrdom of hundreds of women and children who had remained in Messolonghi a few hours after the Exodus, with the participation of the choir of the municipality of the Holy City of Messolonghi and students from the city’s schools.