Presentation of a Medal of the Church of Greece in honour of the bicentenary of the Revolution of 1821
With all healthcare measures required observed, the presentation of the Medal of the Church of Greece in honour of the bicentenary of the Greek Revolution of 1821 took place today, February 3, 2021, in the Hall of the Hierarchy, in the Palace of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece.
The medal was elaborated by the Mihalas Goldsmith House.
The ceremony was conducted within the remit of the responsibilities of the Special Synodic Committee of the Academy of Ecclesiastical Arts, in the context of the Synodic and Peripheral Events in honour of the bicentenary of the Greek Revolution of 1821.
His Beatitude Ieronymos II, Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, addressed the event at its opening at 13h30, by stating in his greeting, among others, that “this medal […] will be awarded to persons and agencies as a symbolic recognition of their contribution to the nation, in other terms to those amongst us who worthily represent the continuation of unselfishness and merit inspired by the Triune God in the Founding Fathers of the modern Greek state. This anniversary year was dedicated by our Church to the Holy Neomartyrs. It was dedicated to those hallowed persons who fell for the Cross and our soil, for the blue-and-white flag and for Virgin Mary, for the faith of Christ and the freedom of the Freedom. It is to those, therefore, who, two-hundred years ago, elevated their own souls and the entire Greece to a state of theosis that we also dedicate this anniversary emblem”.
Subsequently, the Very Rev. Protopresbyter Father Thomas Synodinos, Chairman of the Special Synodic Committee of the Academy of Ecclesiastical Arts, thanked His Beatitude the Archbishop and the Members of the Holy Synod for their trust in placing the order of the construction of the medal, and stated that “history is not merely memory and nostalgic reminiscence, but struggle and a constant spiritual fight liberating from any constraint, from anything preventing the human being from rising to the light”.
Thereafter, he presented the medal by analysing the stages of its construction and the figures depicted, specifically, the All-Holy Theotokos, and the Holy Neomartyrs Gregorios V, Cosmas the Aetolian, Philothei the Athenian, Michael Paknanas, Gheorghios Neapolitis, Cyprianos of Cyprus, Constantinos of Ydra, Demetrios of Samarina, Akylina, Anghelis of Argos, Athanassions Koulakiotis, Triantaphyllos of Zagora, Symeon of Trapezous, Serapheim of Phanarion, Chryssi of Moglena, Maria Karatassaina, Raphael of Ithaca and on the island of Lesbos, Cyrillos VI, Demetrios Peloponnesios, Niketas of Serrai, Ioannis Monemvassiotis, Eleni of Sinopi of Pontus, Kyranna of Ossa, Ioannis of Kastoria and Ioannis of Thassos.
The Most Rev. Metropolitan Ignatios of Demetrias and Almyros, Chairman of the Special Synodic Committee of Cultural Identity, the Most Rev. Metropolitan Athenagoras of Ilion, Aharnai and Petroupolis, His Grace Bishop Philotheos of Oraioi, Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, the Very Rev. Archimandrite Father Nikodemos Pharmakis, Director General of the Ecclesiastical Central Service of Finance of the Church of Greece, and Mr Makis Mihalas, responsible for the elaboration of the medal, attended the event, which was coordinated by the Very Rev. Archimandrite Father Vartholomaios Antoniou-Triantaphyllidis, Secretary of the Special Synodic Committee of the Academy of Ecclesiastic Arts.
