Yesterday, April 17, 2021, the 2nd Youth National Assembly was carried out online, within the framework of the 261 Synodic and Peripheral Events of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece to commemorate the bicentenary of the Greek Revolution of 1821. The general topic of the National Assembly, which was broadcast live from the www.ekklisia1821.gr official website of the Church of Greece was “The incomplete 1821”.
The proceedings of the National Assembly were coordinated by the Secretary of the Special Synodic Committee on Cultural Identity, Archimandrite Father Vartholomaios Antoniou-Triantaphyllides.
One-hundred-and-fifteen (115) young men and women from the Holy Metropolitanates of the Church of Greece took part in the 2nd National Assembly, which was declared open by His Beatitude Ieronymos II, Archbishop of Athens and all Greece.
Subsequently, Most Rev. Metropolitan Makarios of Siderokastron, Chairman of the Synodic Committee on Christian Education and Youth, and Most Rev. Metropolitan Ignatios of Demetrias and Almyros, Chairman of the Special Synodic Committee on Cultural Identity, addressed the Members of the National Assembly.
Thereafter, the first Plenary Session commenced, and representatives of the six working groups of the National Assembly (corresponding to the six Metropolitan Centres distributed geographically) presented the findings of the study and debate they have carried out for almost one month now. These working groups were coordinated by Panayotis Haratzopoulos and Constantinos Holevas, Archimandrite Iakovos Athanassiou and Constantinos Kotsiopoulos, Proptopresbyter Petros Athanassopoulos and Gheorghios Tassias, Archimandrite Themistocles Mourtzanos, Archimandrite Epiphanios Economou, and Protopresbyter Demetrios Keskinis, respectively. Out of the findings of the working groups came a Declaration of the 2nd Youth Assembly.
Following a break, the second Session of the Plenary of the Youth Assembly took place, where many members of the National Assembly took the floor to comment on individual work topics and elaborate on their views. They debated and expressed their opinions on the values which guided the Fighters of 1821, their topical relevance and importance to the visions for the future of our country.
Finally, Professor of Folklore Emmanuel Varvounis at the Democritean University of Thrace, Chairman of the Scholarly Committee of the Special Synodic Committee of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece on Cultural Identity, took the floor to congratulate everyone, coordinators, and members of the National Assembly, by summarizing the conclusions of its proceedings.
