Your Eminence,
Your Excellency, Mr. President of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York,
My dear compatriots,
Dear friends,
If you want to get to know the soul of Greece, travel. This is our belief. Today, the real Greece is in Astoria, in New Jersey, in Florida, wherever Hellenism around the world is found, wherever the heart of our homeland beats. And we, in the Motherland, have the greatest responsibility: to maintain the bridge with Greeks around the world, to preserve those bonds that unite us.
They unite Orthodoxy with the homeland; they unite the present with the past and the future. This is our bridge. It is truly a great joy and, above all, a deeply moving experience for me to be here with you today. It is such an honour because, for years, no Minister of Foreign Affairs had come here to honour this event. I would like to say that, for me personally as well, being here with you today is a truly significant moment, especially here in Astoria, where our ancestors and my own ancestors came. I come from a small village on an island in the Dodecanese, from where people set out from all the homelands to reach here, discover new places, seek new opportunities, prosper and return to Greece.
And when I look at your faces today, I see my own relatives, my own friends, my ancestors, who came here, prospered, lived, raised their families and always kept Greece in their hearts, carrying in their souls the vision of returning to the place from which they had set out. And it is your faces that give me genuine hope today. I would particularly like to congratulate the President, Mr. Bournas, and the Board of Directors.
Because, above all, the most precious jewel for Greece is the unity of its people. This is a unity that the President has achieved. And it is truly the greatest thing of all to see today, here in Astoria, all of New York’s Hellenism united in your faces and in the faces of our children. I would particularly like to express my gratitude for the excellent historical presentation, which combined the wonderful orchestra and the outstanding voices. My warmest congratulations. You managed to combine historical documentation and events, many of which are not known to all of us, with an interaction involving images, sound and song, which moved us deeply, enabled those of us who have studied these events to remember them, and allowed us to learn about others that shaped our history.
And I would like to tell you that, I believe, there is one message that emerges from the anniversary of 28th October 1940 and from everything we heard today from our distinguished speakers. The message is that Greece has always defied the odds. Greece was the country that said the great ‘’OHI’’ (“NO”). And I want to tell you that we will never hesitate to say a great ‘’OHI’’ if the time comes to defend our homeland. And this ‘’OHI’’ will not be heard from Athens, from Thessaloniki, from Crete. It will be heard from Astoria, from Canada, from Australia, from Germany, from everywhere. And this is the message I wanted to convey to you today: our homeland’s gratitude to you. This is also why I asked our diplomatic missions in the United States to be with me. Our Ambassador in Washington, Mr. Alexandridis, our Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ms. Balta and our Consul General in New York, Ms. Ifigeneia Kanara. Ifigeneia, as you all know her.
I wanted to speak briefly, as I do not wish to tire you, about what the anniversary of 28th October means for Greece today. For us, the anniversary of 28th October represents a great responsibility and a weighty legacy.
A responsibility to make our homeland greater, to respect history, and to strive each time to build for the generations to come. And I want to tell you, and I say this with absolute sincerity and candour, that Greece today is stronger than ever. Its voice is heard everywhere, loud and clear. I am here, having the particular honour of holding the title of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic, to preside this week over meetings being held at the United Nations Security Council on the protection of children in armed conflict, the role of women, maritime security, artificial intelligence, and all the contemporary issues that shape the global security architecture. And it is our small Greece that is presiding over these meetings, a Greece that, however, is not small at all today.
And those who, whether defeatists or narrow-minded, wish to think of Greece as a small and weak country, will be sorely disappointed. Greece is great and will remain great. And let those who seek to threaten us remember this, because they will never find an easy path when it comes to Greece. I want to stress how truly important it is for Greece to be able to have such a great and powerful voice in the world.
We hold the Presidency of the Security Council. In eight months, Greece will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It will be able to shape the European agenda and advance its priorities and policies. Today, Greece has developed unbreakable and strong ties with all the major powers, with the United States, Israel, Egypt, the Gulf countries, and across the entire global security architecture. A few days ago, the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, visited Athens. There, at the cradle of democracy, on the Pnyx, in the shadow of the Acropolis, Mr. Rubio had the opportunity to pay tribute to Greece, to Greek civilisation and Greek antiquity, but also to modern Greece, a strong Greece that has a voice and influence in the world. And Greece can today proudly say that it has its own Maritime Spatial Planning, a comprehensive maritime map, that it has extensive marine parks, and that major American corporations are coming to conduct exploration and drilling in Greek maritime areas. It can proudly say that it brings society, politics and Orthodoxy together.
Your Eminence, just yesterday, a historic development for the entirety of the Ecumenical Orthodoxy took place.
An agreement was reached between the Archbishop of the Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai and the Arab Republic of Egypt. An agreement that safeguards, in perpetuity, the Greek Orthodox character of the Holy Monastery, ensures that the monks can obtain long-term residence permits, and guarantees that its character will remain unchanged. Greece will remain in the Sinai region forever, thanks to the agreement that was reached. Above all, Your Eminence, I want to say this because it is of unique significance. Τhis is the unique manifestation of the strength and unity of Orthodoxy. This agreement was endorsed and encouraged by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Church of Cyprus and the Church of Greece.
What has always happened throughout history, with the Church standing alongside the State, is happening today as well. The Church, Orthodoxy, the State, Greeks everywhere, united, can work miracles. This is our history.
In closing, I would like to emphasise how deeply moved anyone who bears a Greek identity can truly feel. And I say this with a shiver running down my spine as I recall what we heard today about the great ‘’OHI’’. What is it, after all, that connects ancient Greece with Greece today? What connects them is a heroic continuity, a thread linking the great ‘’OHI’’.
The "OHI” of Thermopylae, the ‘’OHI’’ of 28 October, links to the ‘’OHI’’ of Agia Lavra. Because the ‘’OHI’’ are Greece’s strength. The great ‘’OHI’’ are what define us.
Long live Greece! Long live the Greeks! Many happy returns, Greece!
October 26, 2026