Greece’s OXI Day, considered the second national day of the Greek people, was celebrated on Sunday at the “Annunciation” Church of the Greek community in Bucharest.
On this occasion, Fr. Ioan Moldoveanu, the parish priest, led a Te Deum service and commemorated the heroes who fell defending their homeland in World War II.
Among those attending the service were Her Excellency Evangelia Grammatika, Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic to Romania, Mr Efthimios Fokas, Consul of the Embassy of the Hellenic Republic in Bucharest, Mr Nikolaos Vlahakis, Public Diplomacy Advisor of the Embassy, Mr Ioannis Panagiotou, Military Attaché, and MP Dragoș Gabriel Zisopol, President of the Union of Greek Communities in Romania, along with senior Embassy officials, representatives from the Greek business sector, and others.
After the thanksgiving service, Ambassador Evangelia Grammatika delivered a speech, and wreaths were laid at the monument of Rigas Velestinlis located in the church courtyard, as noted in a Facebook post by the Union of Greek Communities in Romania.
Similar events were held in other Romanian cities with significant Greek communities.
Historical Background
OXI Day is Greece’s second national holiday after March 25, commemorating liberation from Ottoman rule. This day recalls Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas’s refusal in 1940 to allow Italian troops to pass through Greece to unspecified strategic locations within the country.
In response to Greece’s refusal to meet the ultimatum’s demands, Italian forces stationed in Albania, then an Italian protectorate, attacked Greece at 5:30 a.m., marking the beginning of the Greco-Italian War and Greece’s involvement in World War II.
Photo: Hellenic Union in Romania
