March 29, 2023

Mr. President,

Once again, the White House honors the Greek-American Community – a family with roots deep in Hellas, in Cyprus, in Asia Minor – by honoring the Immortal Heroes of 1821 and the Re-Birth of Greece.

Mr. President, you have long been a close and trusted friend of the Omogeneia, a cause for deep appreciation and affection. You started this long friendship with the Greeks of Wilmington, Delaware, and you have reached out across the Nation and the oceans itself to give your wise counsel, your solidarity, and your reciprocal ἀγάπη through the decades.

To be with you here at the White House, celebrating the resurrection of the Greek Nation, is an extraordinary honor for all of us, and on behalf of all, I thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

But you are so much more than our beloved friend. You have shown yourself to be a true champion for freedom around the world. Particularly on behalf of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters, who are fighting for their very lives against inhuman and irrational aggression. You have stood with Ukraine on every step of this long and difficult path, and for that we are very grateful.

Also, as children of the Mother Church of Constantinople, whose unparalleled leader, His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, counts you, Mr. President, as a true friend – we have cause for even more thankfulness. We thank you both for your strong support of the purely spiritual mission of our Ecumenical Patriarchate, a mission of love, peace and hope that is needed now more than ever.

Mr. President, you are the leader of this great Nation and the leader of the free world, where you stand at the forefront of the phalanx for freedom. And we are here to tell you today, that you do not stand alone.

Thank you for your courage to speak, and to do, what is just and true.

Thank you for your love of Greece and Cyprus, and for Hellenism wherever it may be.

Thank you for your support for a rules-based, international order.

Thank you for standing with our community through the many years of your outstanding public service.

We are with you, Mr. President, just as the Heroes of 1821 were inspired by those of 1776.

May God bless you, Mr. President, together with the First Lady, your family, and our Nation’s armed forces, with health long life, His grace, and His strength.

Long live America! Long live the Greek People!

Ζήτω Ἀμερική! Ζήτω τὸ Ἑλληνικὸ Ἔθνος!