Once again, 203 years after the start of the Revolution, Hellenism celebrated the miracle of Greece’s liberation from the Ottoman Turks. How do we celebrate it? By gathering in churches, since on March 25th we also celebrate the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, thus identifying the regeneration of our Nation with our Orthodox faith. And after church, with parades in the cities of Greece and abroad. It is the opportunity we seize abroad to emphasize our determination to maintain our identity, and internally to emphasize our determination to maintain our national sovereignty.

The parade in Athens – and in other cities – also gives the Armed Forces of Greece the opportunity to demonstrate their determination, their high morale, their excellent preparation to protect, if necessary, the homeland. The parade of the Armed Forces is a spectacle that fills the hearts of Greeks with pride. It reassures us. It unites us like nothing else.

The parades abroad serve many of these purposes, and more, as they take place under difficult conditions. There, there is no state assistance with armies of paid officials taking care of its organization. Nor do the Armed Forces add shine and fervor. Apart from the parade in New York in which the Evzones participate (with almost all expenses such as tickets, accommodation, and meals paid in recent years by the Archdiocese, while they should have been paid by Greece…).

There, in the Diaspora, the parades, like everything else, constitute another national contribution of the simple compatriot, made possible by his/her voluntary work and his/her financial contribution. And there, abroad, the parades are yet another defiant declaration of the preservation of our national identity. A manifestation of the determination of the compatriots to be good, law-abiding citizens of the host country, but also perhaps the ultimate declaration that we are determined not to be lost in the sea of multiculturalism, in the globalization of everything. And this, in our days, is facilitated – increasingly – by technology and by the tightening of our relations with the Motherland, as with the new postal voting process.

Long live Greece! Long live Hellenism worldwide!