The Greek Orthodox Church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel in Montreal was visited by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias, together with his Canadian counterpart Melanie Jolie and the Archbishop of Canada Sotirios.

“A prayer was held and a minute’s silence was observed for the victims of the accident in Tempi,” said Mr. Dendias in his post on twitter.

“Thank you very much for protecting this proud tradition and maintaining the connection with the motherland,” said Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, during his visit to the Greek Orthodox Church.

“But at the same time you are part of a very proud example of a multinational, democratic society that protects human rights, which is Canada,” he added, noting that “the warmth of the Greek community in Montreal is something amazing.”

As he said, “you have developed the ability to retain two very important elements, two very important things” and explained:

“The first is our language. Because, this language represents a connection with our culture, with our tradition, with our history. Language is something that is alive. It expresses feelings, it expresses experiences, it expresses victories, it expresses defeats, it expresses tragedies.

The second is our relationship with the Orthodox Church. Not just the building or the fact that we meet once or twice a week during a service, but this spirit behind the Greek Orthodox Church.”

N. Dendias: The Greek community of Canada is passing on the huge Greek tradition to the younger generations

The Greek community of Canada and the Greek school preserve and transfer to the younger generations the huge proud tradition of Greece, noted the Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias, during his visit to the Center of the Greek Community of Greater Montreal.

Mr. Dendias expressed his joy and emotion at being among our compatriots, who “crossed the Atlantic and in a new and dynamic country succeeded by transferring to this new and dynamic country the spirit of our homeland”.

“I’m very excited when I see the sign of the school here and the community,” he said. “The Ionic column, our ancient tradition, the double-headed eagle, the over-thousand-year-old medieval empire of Byzantium, the star of Vergina, and the two insignia of Quebec and Canada, all within a blue background that best represents , like a color, what we are and feel”.

Mr. Dendias thanked the Greek community for keeping the language alive, “because our language is not just the way we communicate. It is this essence that she carries with her, with her words, with the nuances of her words, with the huge difference in meaning that words have in the way we use them, a tradition of 3,000 years.”

“It is a great river, like the many great rivers that Canada has, carrying with it feelings, disasters, successes, victories, defeats, triumphs, births, deaths, memories of thousands of years. Well, it expresses us, unites us. If we lose our language and if we lose communication with our Church, and what it represents for us, we lose our cohesive fabric.”

He also expressed his gratitude to Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie, who, as he said, “is an excellent minister of the values, the principles that Greece expresses in today’s world. Because these values ​​and principles are the same that Canada stands for.”