3.24.2023 - Greek Independence Day Flag Raising Ceremony

mayor Paul thank you representative Ellen thank you for having us City Council of Fall River the Greek Orthodox Christians of our Orthodox Church here in Fall River thank you wholeheartedly in the reading of the proclamation in support of those who gave their lives in the struggle for Greek Independence in 1821. from servitude to the ottoman Turks making this year of anniversary 202.

the lives of these brave men and women still live in the hearts of every Greek for our children still learn of the accomplishments of alexandros ipsilantes Theodore colocotronis Las Carina John macarianis and Metropolitan of patros Hermanos III together with so many others although the first group attempting a Greek Independence started in moldava in 1814 the official date of the war was March 25th 1821

it was a long nine years of battling until finally in February 1830 at the London protocol the Western powers and the Ottomans accepted and recognized the independence of the nation of Greece then yet again in 1912 Another War would declare finally The Liberation of the northern half of Greece and all of the islands and in the celebration of Greek Independence the free democratic nations

of the world celebrate recognizing that all peoples of the world should be able to choose and live according to their own destiny we bring to mind and pray fervently to almighty God for our Brethren both in the Ukraine and in Russia that peaceful Revolution be found again we thank you for this recognition in the celebration of Greeks from the Turkish hands and yet even though we celebrate this 202nd year anniversary

still are Orthodox faithful and Constantinople are persecuted and are suffering religious oppression under the hand of the Turkish overlords we encourage our federal government together with state and local governments to continue to help us in our struggle of true freedom from our Turkish overlords and to help us fight our rights as Christian citizens within the Turkish government thank you mayor

good morning everybody my name is vasilio septemiadis I'm the president of the parish council of Saint Demetrius Greek Orthodox Church here in Fall River on North Main Street we'd love to see you all there on some Sunday during one of our divine liturgies um I just want to have a couple of poems that have been translated into English one is by Lord Byron and both of these poems reflect upon the conflict and

things that happen during the struggle for Greek Independence from Lord Byron the mountains look on marathon and Marathon looks on the sea and musing there an hour alone I dreamed that Greece might yet be free for standing on the persian's grave I could not deem myself a Slave must we but weep over days more blessed must we blush our father's blood Earth render back from out thy breast the remnant of our Spartan dead

of the 300 Grant but 3 to make a new thermopylene next brief poem I'd like to read is by a a Greek name thorios is a uh it's an a war song but they translated a couple of verses into English and I'm just going to go over a couple of those right now he was a Greek writer political thinker revolutionary very important to the revolution until when are we o Brave young men

going to live in constraint lonely like lions on The Ridges of the mountains better have an hour of free life freedom than 40 Years of Slavery in prison shall we dwell in caves just looking out at the branches leaving from the world into the bitter slavery better live one hour in Freedom than 40 years in slavery in prison do we lose our brothers Homeland and parents our friends children and all of our kin

better live one hour in Freedom than 40 years in slavery in prison thank you Mia Coogan

well I want to thank everybody for joining us on Greek Independence Day it's very important it's nice to see a lot of our neighbors out here so here's the approximation from the city of Fall River I also want to make sure I thank Alan Sylvia one of the state representatives that works very hard in the city for coming out whereas the ancient Greeks developed the concept of democracy in which the

Supreme powers to govern was vested in the people and whereas the founding fathers of the United States Drew heavily on the political experience and philosophy of ancient Greeks and forming our representative democracy and whereas Greek soldiers were with the United States Marines on the shores of Tripoli in the military operation memorialized in the United States Marines hymn and whereas many Americans

fought alongside the Greeks in the fight for Greek Independence while stirring speeches from President James Monroe and Daniel Webster LED Congress to send funds and supplies to the Greeks in their struggle for freedom and whereas Greece is one of the three nations in the world beyond the former British Empire that has been applied that has been allied with the United States in every major International

conflict in the 20th century including World War One World War II Korea Vietnam Desert Storm and the Balkans and whereas Greece and the United States of America are at the Forefront for Freedom democracy peace stability human rights and whereas March 25th 2023 marks the 202nd anniversary of the beginning of the Revolution that freed Greek people from the Ottoman Empire therefore I Paul Coogan mayor of

the city of Fall River to hereby Proclaim March 25th Greek Independence Day and we urge all citizens to join us in a special observance thank you all very much

very nice thank you thank you anybody else speaking and nobody else is speaking of this you're just going to raise the flag now all right so let's let's get the flag raised can we do that with the youngster over here sure Leo he's gonna raise the flag come on

you're gonna turn this this way okay ready good go ahead do it good keep going keep going keep going

yes