December 20, 1821 : The 1st National Assembly at Epidaurus

On December 20, 1821, the proceedings of the 1^st National Assembly of the Greeks began in the village of Piada of Argolis, which today is called Nea Epidavros, with the participation of 59 Representatives (i.e. MPs, in today’s terms). Earlier in that same year the Local Assemblies of the Peloponnese (in the Monastery of Kaltezes), of Western Continental Greece (in Missolonghi) and of Eastern Continental Greece (in Salona, Amfissa) had preceded.

The Representatives were divided into four groups depending on their geographical origin. First group: Representatives from the Eastern Continental Greece, Thessaly, and Macedonia. Second group: Representatives from Western Continental Greece and Epirus. Third group: Representatives from the Peloponnese. Fourth group: Representatives from the sea-faring islands Hydra, Spetses, Psara, and Kassos. Among the Representatives there were also three bishops. Other personalities too participated in the capacity of advisers, as well as the Italian jurist Galina.

On January 1, 1822, the National Assembly issued the Declaration of Independence of the Greeks by placing the phrase In the name of the Holy and Indivisible Trinity in the preamble. The invocation of the Holy Trinity has been there as Preamble to the Constitutional documents of Greece ever since, as is also the case with the current Constitution.

The 1^st National Assembly completed its proceedings on January 15, 1822, with the drafting of the first Constitution of Greece, called Provisional Régime of Greece. That document provided for the separation of powers and included elements from Constitutions of other European countries. Orthodoxy was stipulated as the Prevailing Religion and the Courts of Justice were invited to apply the laws of “our late Christian Emperors”, i.e. the legislation of Byzantine Emperors, codified in the 14^th century by Constantinos Armenopoulos from Thessaloniki.

_Provisional Régime of Greece and Declaration of Independence of the Greeks: Archives of Greek Palingenesia, Parliament of the Greeks.
_Photograph: The moment of oath-taking of the plenipotentiary representatives before the “Provisional Régime of Greece” (January 1, 1822). Wall paintings of the Palace of the Parliament, Hall of the Aides de Camp, northern wall, by Ludwig Michael von Schwanthaler.