Dear Friends:
On the occasion of our traditional �double-celebration� of March 25th again this year, and on behalf of the Regional Coordinating Council of SAE�s N. & S. America Region, I extend warm, patriotic regards to you all.
Our first celebration on this 25th of March commemorates the 184 years since our forefathers stood up and heroically exclaimed �Liberty or Death� in 1821, beginning the end of four centuries of Ottoman oppression. Let us not forget that the Ottoman Turks immediately responded by hanging Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory the 5th from the gate of the Patriarchal compound in Istanbul. Today, our Ecumenical Patriarch is still being hung, and burned, albeit only in effigy; but the oppression of our Holy Orthodox Faith in Turkey, as evidenced by the escalating attacks on the Ecumenical Patriarchate and its institutions, continues even as Turkey aspires to become part of a pluralistic European Union.
The second half of our �double-celebration� each March 25 is the Orthodox Faith�s introspection-demanding observance of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary: The Divine mystery of Christ�s conception and birth�one of the pillars of Orthodox Christian belief.
Let us therefore celebrate the unique date this year, and every year, with remembrance, awe and a rededication to both God and Country: for the sacrifices of our predecessors, lay and clergy alike, to the cause of liberty and for the miraculous grace of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.
LONG LIVE THE 25th OF ��RCH 1821!
LONG LIVE GREECE!
LONG LIVE THE ECUMENICAL Hellenism!
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