By Catherine Tsounis
The preschool to 6th grades of the Holy Trinity Cathedral performed Greek songs and poems commemorating the 25th of March Greek Independence day on Friday, March 22 in the school hall. The theme was the 10th of April 1828 The Exodus of Missolonghi. Honored guests included: NY Consul General of Greece Konstantinos Konstantinou; Elias Lambiris, President of Cathedral parish council; Will Sakellaris; President of School Board and prominent business and education leaders. V. Rev Archimandrite Chrysostomos Gilbert is Archdiocesan Cathedral Dean.
The Archdiocesan School of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity is at 319–337 East 74th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. The school is part of the national cathedral of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and the episcopal seat of Archbishop Elpidophoros of America. Mrs. Merope Kyriacou is the Principal.
Young children recited: poems in Greek saying these ideas: Long live out immortal Greece and Greece never dies. Amazing to hear American born children, many who are not of Greek descent speaking about freedom in Greek.
“I teach every Thursday at our beautiful Cathedral school, getting to know our students,” said Archimandrite Chrysostomos Gilbert. “We have a wonderful school principal in Merope, our Maestro Theodore Alvanos who taught our children, the Greek national and Ti Ypermacho hymns, Ms. Athanasia Fillos, Ms. Efi Kitsanta and staff.”
“The Cathedral School is doing a wonderful job,” said NY Consul General of Greece Konstantinos Konstantinou. “I hear about their excellent work in New Jersey and neighboring areas. It is a Greek school with Greek values. March 25th was the beginning of the quest for freedom after 400 years of occupation by the Ottoman empire. The Greek revolution began abroad in Diaspora Greek communities of Europe, such as Odessa, Ukraine. The Greek Diaspora began the revolution. Greece is the birthplace of democracy. America and Greece share the tradition of freedom and justice for all.
“I have the privilege to see our children grow up in the Cathedral School,” explained Mr. Will Sakellaris, the Cathedral School Board Chairman. “I am impressed every time I walk through the halls. The school is growing. I thank everyone for their commitment.”
What was “The Exodus of Missolonghi”? During the Greek war of independence from Ottoman occupation, Turkish troops besieged the city of Missolonghi. The Greek population, already decimated by famine and epidemics, attempted a heroic liberation that ended in tragedy when the Turks killed most of the population of the city. Eugene Delacroix, a Phil-Hellene, and the leading French Romantic painter of the 19th century was influenced by Lord Gordon Byron’s works, who died in the second siege of Missolonghi.
Eugène Delacroix, Greece on the ruins of Missolonghi is one of the most celebrated French paintings of the 19th century. His work was the single Art reason exciting Europe to push for the Freedom of Greece in 1821 from the Ottoman Empire. Most of the painting is dedicated to the figure of Greece herself, represented as a young woman wearing traditional costume. Her posture and expression recall traditional religious images of the Virgin weeping over the body of Christ. The image of suffering Greece succeeded in conveying the plight of the Greeks to the French public. Philhellenes took the Hellenists’ idealized portrait of Greece. This portrait associated ancient Greece with the ideals of freedom and democracy. This vision was transformed into a call for the liberation of Greece from the Ottoman Empire. Philhellenism finally became a political movement, designed to bring pressure on the superpowers of the time to free the country that was the foundation of European values from eastern despot.1
The Cathedral School was originally established to serve Greek families. It has evolved into an educational institution that embraces diversity. The school has a broader mission of promoting Hellenism that instills creativity and academic excellence among its graduates. They carry the values and cultural heritage, guiding them throughout their lives.”
