Shocked by the recent desecration of the World Heritage Site of Panagia Soumela in Turkey, said the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou, inaugurating on Tuesday the exhibition “For Faith and Homeland – The Church’s contribution to the Struggle of Christ and St. .
The President of the Republic underlined that the Byzantine Museum is “a place of art and memory, it is an ark not only of simple artifacts born of the religious faith, but also national symbols. Like the image of Panagia Soumela – which I mention today, shocked by the recent desecration of this World Heritage Site – an image that Hellenism, and especially Pontian, considers an integral part of its identity, as it depicts the Mother of God, the guide and protects him in the painful adventures of uprooting and refuge. An image that has been exhibited for twenty years in these spaces, which today offer us the rare and valuable exhibition, which I am inaugurating “.
In fact, he stressed that “Here, in the evocative space of the Byzantine and Christian Museum, the ecclesiastical relics, the icons, the folk paintings, the vows of the faithful, the amulets of the fighters speak eloquently about the connection of the religious” fatherland “faith with the national salvation, for the identification of Orthodoxy with the national modern Greek conscience “.
He also reminded that throughout the Turkish occupation, the Church was a unifying and shaping element of Greek identity, a force of cohesion against non-religious and heterodox, a refuge for the persecuted and a supporter of the Greek people in its trials. “She preserved the language and the history, systematically educating her enslaved children, preserving their spiritual freedom.
Speaking about the moment of the Great Uprising, he pointed out that “the Church will not only offer the rebels moral support and spiritual guidance, but will offer the enthusiastic participation of its officials. Many clergymen dedicated their lives, the priesthood, their families, their property to the common struggle of the Nation. “They opened the monasteries, true” strongholds of our revolution “according to Makrygiannis, they took up arms, like ordinary fighters, they fought bravely, they participated in the national assemblies, many were sacrificed”.
At the same time, he underlined that “The simple clergy entered the struggle wholeheartedly, as Fotakos, Kolokotronis’s first supporter and grammarian, characteristically wrote. “The clergy appeared in the struggle with the cross and with the sword in their hands, to save the erring flock and lead it to its freedom, naturally, politically and religiously.”
He went on to say that “it is no coincidence that in most, if not all, the paintings of historical paintings, painted by Greek painters wanting to preserve the memory of the heroes who gave the nation its freedom and to represent top moments of the Revolution “there is always a representative of the Church.”
As he stated “From the emblematic painting of Theodoros Vryzakis” The German of Old Patras blesses the flag of the Revolution “to” Kissing. The kiss of Papaflessas by Ibrahim “by Andreas Georgiadis – a painting that illustrates the incident as brought to life in his short story of the same name by Michael Mitsakis – the priests are present, cheering, fighting, even leading to martyrdom”.
Finally, he noted that “Their names and actions are included, starting with the” The Greeks Revived “of the Old Patras German, who himself hung the sword to encourage the fighters. Salon Isaias, Rogon Iosif, Methonis Grigorios, Grigorios Dikaios-Papaflessas, Athanasios Diakos who was a monk before he became a thief, earlier the hieromonk Samuel from Souli in Kougi, are some of the names that are not known. and anonymous priests who revolted for the faith and the homeland, in a moment of spiritual uplift and transcendence “and added that the popular muse praised them, with solemn verses:” Because the Virgin Mary celebrates, the homeland also celebrates / as if they see deacons with sword priests with rifles / as they see the German, the Despot of Patras / to blow the chariots, to spit on the lavender “.
Concluding, he congratulated the Special Synodal Committee on the Academy of Ecclesiastical Arts of the Church of Greece and the Byzantine and Christian Museum for the perfect organization of the exhibition, and underlined that “two hundred years from the leading event of our recent history, from the greatest moment of Hellenism, exhibitions like today, enrich our historical memory and deepen our self-knowledge “.
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