"We can never forget March 25th, because it concerns at the same time our faith and our freedom in a liberated Greece. And today and in tomorrow's parade on 5th Avenue we send the message to the whole world and to the younger generations for the sacrifices of the immortal heroes of 1821 ". This remark was made by the Archbishop of America Elpidoforos in the context of the established ceremony of raising the Greek flag in Bowling Park, New York..
"Our flag, underlined, highlights both the concept of democracy and the concept of freedom, and the price of the presence of the procession of the well-to-do of the Presidential Guard is invaluable, whom we thank from the bottom of our hearts, as well as the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou ".
"In this way, noted the Archbishop of America, we express our common belief in freedom and human dignity and we pay a worthy tribute to the flag of the Hellenic Republic by honoring the anniversary of our national polygenesis ".
Presence, including, of the chairman of the Committee of Hellenes Abroad, Savva Anastasiadis, of the Vice President, Theodoras Tzakri, and MP Evangelia Liakouli, as well as the Consuls General of Greece and Cyprus in New York, Konstantinos Koutras and Michalis Firilas, respectively, Archbishop Elpidoforos stressed that "the flag-raising ceremony demonstrates the inseparable ties of the Greek Diaspora with the motherland at the time they are completed, this year, 100 years since the founding of the Archdiocese of America, as the most prominent province of the Ecumenical Patriarchate ".
"May we always be worthy of the blessing of freedom, with deep gratitude and appreciation for our homeland Greece, which is so proudly represented by our well-wishers ", he added.
Earlier, the Archbishop of America had welcomed the well-wishers to the Archdiocese, while praising in the chapel of St. Paul for the national anniversary of March 25.