In the evening of 28.02.2021 HB Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens and all Greece declared the one-day Conference on the “Latest developments in research into the Greek Revolution of 1821” open.
The event was organized by the Library of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens in cooperation with the Special Synodic Committee of the Church of Greece on Cultural Identity, carried out online in order to observe all the Covid-19-related protection measures, broadcast live and free of charge on the social networks of the Library, and coordinated by Very Rev. Archimandrite Father Varnavas Theocharis, Protosynkellos of the Archdiocese.
The Archbishop welcomed the participants in his twin capacity of Chairman of the Library of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens and President of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, both of which bodies cooperated for its implementation. Moreover, he expressed his particular satisfaction at the cooperation with Most Rev. Metropolitan Ignatios of Demetrias and Almyros, Chairman of the Synodic Committee on Cultural Identity, as “indicative of the broader engagement of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens and our other Metropolitanates with the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece in matters concerning the cultural identity of our fatherland and the historical memory of our people”. Furthermore, he congratulated “all the members of the Synodic Committee and all the organizing staff of the Library headed by its Director, Mr Sevastianos Andreadis”.
Besides, as he noted, “the Library of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens is a foundation of learning. Before the Holy Icon of the National Regeneration today it lays like a votive offering, as it were, something pertinent to its nature and mission: a scholarly Conference on the latest developments in research into the Revolution of 1821” and thanked all those attending and the speakers, all of them authoritative scholars and researchers.
“I am confident that, today, within the hospitality of the Library, under the auspices of the Holy Synod, and thanks to our speakers, we shall be able to share information unknown to the broader public. Part of it may have not been published yet. In other terms, it constitutes a freshly ‘dug-out’ product of research. I know what it means to discover something new, when there is the diffuse perception that the research into the matter one is studying has supposedly been exhausted”, HB emphasized, and added: “Specifically the student of the discipline of history knows that the lesser the originality of the matter researched, the greater the scholarly value of a new finding”.
The Archbishop also thanked the Undersecretary for Education and Religious Affairs Mr Anghelos Syrigos for positively responding to the invitation, and, on the occasion of his assuming his ministerial duties, wished him strength and success in his task.
Subsequently, Most Rev. Metropolitan Ignatios of Demetrias and Almyros, Chairman of the Synodic Committee of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece on Cultural Identity, addressed the Conference and thanked the Archbishop, the Undersecretary, and all those attending. Finally, papers were presented by the following :
– Mr Anghelos Syrigos, Undersecretary for Education and Associate Professor of Panteion University;
– Mr Meletis Meletopoulos, Ph.D. in Economics and Social Sciences and Principal of the High School of the Ionios School;
– Mr Gheorghios Diellas, Ph.D. of Panteion University, Member of the Teaching Staff at the Greek Open University and the National School of Public Administration;
– Mr Constantinos Lambropoulos, Senior Strategic Analyst of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy;
– Mr Demetrios Stathakopoulos, Ph.D. of Panteion University, Ottomanologist – Turcologist, Associate of the University of Piraeus and Attorney-at-Law.
