Religion was, and is, one of the defining elements of the Greek national self-consciousness and this is no different then say Spanish or Italians and Catholicism, or Turks and Islam, however to say that it is the only one for the Greek nation is incorrect.
I don`t agree with you. The Italians are first Italian and after of course are catholics and latins. The Turks are first Turkish people not arabs.
Rigas Velestinlis was a Greek writer, political thinker and revolutionary, active in the
Modern Greek Enlightenment, remembered as a Greek national hero, a victim of the Balkan uprising against the
Ottoman Empire and a forerunner of the
Greek War of Independence.
In the history of our countries we have such people who with their opinion later constitute the basis of political action in the movement for national liberation. So their opinion is the foundation of the nation.
Rigas Velestinlis was a vlach not a ethnic greek.
Rigas the Vlach defines who is a “Greek”, 1797!
9;3 RIGAS VELESTINLIS* THE NEW POLITICAL CONSTITUTION OF THE INHABITANTS OF
RUMELI, ASIA MINOR, THE ARCHIPELAGO. MOLDAVIA AND WALLACHIA <1797)
Concerning the Republic Article 1
The Greek Republic is one, for all that it contains within it different races and religions. It does not look on differences in worship with a hostile eye.
158 The Movement for Greek Independence 1770—1821
It is indivisible, for all that rivers and seas divide its provinces, which constitute a unitary, indissoluble body.
Concerning the Division of the People
Article 2
The Greek People, that is to say those people living in this Empire. without distinction of religion _or_languagc, is divided into primary assemblies in the districts, to put into practice its sovereign authority. That is to say they assemble in every province, to give their opinion on any problem.
Article 3
It is divided, for administrative convenience and so that justice shall be done everywhere in like manner, into provinces, districts and subdistricts. That is to say Thessaly is called a province. Magnesia (that is to say the villages of Volos) a district and subdistrict: the administration of Makrynitsa over twelve villages is a subdistrict.
Concerning the Class of Citizens Article 4
Every man born and inhabiting this Empire, of the age of 21, is a citizen.
Every foreigner, truly aged twenty-one, who has lived in this Empire for
a year and who lives by his labour, is a citizen.
He who buys landed property is a citizen.
He
who marries a Greek woman is a citizen.
He who takes an adopted child is a citizen.
He who speaks colloquial Greek or the ancient tongue and helps Greece, even if he lives in the Antipodes (for the Greek leaven has spread
to the two hemispheres) is a Greek and a citizen.
He who is a Christian and does not speak colloquial or ancient Greek, but only assists Greece, is a citizen.
And finally every foreigner whom the government considers to be a worthy inhabitant of the Motherland, that is to say as a good craftsman, a dilig
ent teacher, a worthy soldier, is received in the Motherland and can share equally in the rights which all citizens share.
The Influence of the French Revolution 159
A foreign philosoph
er or European technician, who has left his homeland and has come to live i
n Greece, with the object of passing on his wisdom or craft, is no
t only considered as a genuine citizen, but at public expense a marble st
atue with the emblems of his teaching or his art i» to be erected, and the wisest Greek scribe is to write his life.
Source: "The Movement for Greek Independence, 1770-1821: A Collection of Documents" by Richard Clogg, 1976.
In accordance with the philosophical opinion of this person and other Greek pesonalities was written the first constitution of the Greek State.
The 1st Constitution of the Greek State, in the year 1827.
4. Provinces of Greece are all those that were taken and will be taken by weapons against the Ottoman Dynasty.
6. Greeks are:
a. All those indigenous people of the Greek State who believe in Christ.
b. All those, believers in Christ, who under the Ottoman slavery, came or they will come to the Greek State to struggle or to reside in it.
e. All those aliens, who come and enrol as citizens.
I hope that you readers will understand that anyone could be a Greek, the rules for becoming a Greek was not that harsh, thus Greeks claiming a 4000 year old ancestry become quite ridiculous.
So the base of your nation is not the language or national coscince but the religion. Still today Greece in the passports of it`s citizens writes religious affiliation.
Based on this philosophy the Greek government in present day paid in the form of pension 350 EU in a month each month to aromanin people and gipsy to declare themeselfs like greek minority. Greece is now the most poor country in Europe, and we have seen in the TV scene where the rich Greek distributing food aid for poor people and greek government spent europian money for nationalist agenda.
Albania has a small minority greek. Why should the Greek government to pay for other ethnicities to declare themselves Greek?
The most important personalities of the Greek minority are these three man:
Anastas Angjeli
Vangjel Dule
Vangjel Tavo
While I was doing some research over some orthodox pages, I randomly found an interesting article.
Read the article
