Early October 1820. Meeting of the “Society of Friends” (Filiki Etairia in Greek) in the city of Izmail

At the beginning of October 1820, a large meeting of the officials of the “Society of Friends” was convoked in Izmail of Bessarabia under the presidency of Alexandros Ypsilantis.

It was decided to send Archimandrite Gregorios Dikaios (Papaflessas) to the Peloponnese to deliberate with bishops and headmen. It was there that the day of the feast of the Annunciation of the Mother of God, i.e. March 25, was set as the day of the commencement of the Revolution. In his Memoirs under the title “Account of the events of the Greek Race”, Theodoros Kolokotronis noted that in 1820 he received a letter from Ypsilantis to be ready “because the 25^th of March would be the day of generalized revolution”.