On March 25, 2021, Greece celebrates a significant date – 200 years from the beginning of the national liberation struggle of the Greek people for their independence, which began on the day of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on March 25, 1821. In this regard, His Beatitude Onufriy, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, sent a congratulatory letter to the President of the Hellenic Republic, Ms. Kateryna Sakellaropoulou.
Below we publish the text of the letter:
Her Excellency
President of the Hellenic Republic
Ms. KATERINA SAKELLAROPOULOU
Your Excellency,
Dear Madam President,
On behalf of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the entire Ukrainian Orthodox people, I cordially greet you, and in your person the entire fraternal orthodox Greek people with the 200th Anniversary of the beginning of the struggle for national liberation and independence.
During the four centuries of captivity that the Greek people had endured, it was Christ’s Church and the Holy Orthodox faith that provided the life-giving light that allowed your people to persevere and survive the darkness of alien religious and foreign rule and preserve its identity. It is symbolic that the uprising of 1821 began on the Feast day of the Annunciation of the Theotokos with the blessing of Metropolitan Germanos III of Old Patras.
I am also pleased to state that Ukraine, on whose territory a significant Greek diaspora has lived and still lives, is directly related to this significant date. The Greek people who have lived in Odessa, Mariupol, Kherson, Nizhyn and other Ukrainian cities for many years, and who wholeheartedly believed in the independence of their homeland, played a part in the formation of the preconditions for the Greek uprising of 1821.
I believe that the memory of these events will always remain in the hearts of our peoples. I am convinced of the need for continued mutual communication, support and cooperation between our Orthodox peoples and states.
I wish the fraternal Greek people peace, prosperity, strong national development and God’s blessings!
+Onufriy
Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine
Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church