Greek President Konstantinos Tasoulas called for freedom backed by security, peace, progress and prosperity after attending an official thanksgiving service at the Church of Saint Demetrius in Thessaloniki.
Speaking immediately after the doxology officiated by Archbishop Ieronymos, head of the Church of Greece, the president said the northern port city was marking a double celebration on the day.
Tasoulas said Thessaloniki was honouring both its sleepless guardian, Saint Demetrius the Myrrh Streamer, and the 114th anniversary of the city's liberation from roughly five centuries of Ottoman rule.
He added that under the enduring protection of Saint Demetrius, both Thessaloniki and the wider region of Macedonia would continue to lead the way and prove worthy of the freedom won at that time. Being worthy of that freedom, the president said, meant ensuring security, peace, progress and prosperity for its people, before concluding with his holiday wishes from Thessaloniki.
Tribute to the First Balkan War liberation
In his statement following the service, Tasoulas said those gathered had repeated in their souls the honour owed to all who fell in battle so that Macedonia and Thessaloniki could become part of the Greek national body.
He recalled that 114 years earlier, during the First Balkan War, a united Greece stood before the book of its destiny and wrote a new historical chapter that brought Greek flags and the Greek army back to Greek Macedonia.
Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city and the capital of the geographic region of Macedonia, marks its liberation alongside the annual feast day of Saint Demetrius. During the First Balkan War, Greece joined the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire, bringing northern territories including Thessaloniki into the modern Greek state. The Church of Saint Demetrius, the main sanctuary dedicated to the city's patron saint, stands in central Thessaloniki as a listed UNESCO World Heritage monument.
Military and civic reception in Thessaloniki
Upon his arrival at the Church of Saint Demetrius, Tasoulas was greeted by an honour guard and welcomed by senior military, government, parliamentary, regional and church officials.
Those receiving the president included General Dimitrios Choupis, Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, and Kostas Gioulekas, Deputy Minister of the Interior for Macedonia and Thrace, who represented the Greek government.
Member of Parliament Dimitris Kouvelas attended the welcome on behalf of the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, alongside Deputy Regional Governor of Central Macedonia Konstantinos Gioutikas, Thessaloniki Mayor Stelios Angeloudis and Metropolitan Philotheos of Thessaloniki.
As President of the Hellenic Republic, Tasoulas serves as Greece's ceremonial head of state, a constitutional role that includes representing national unity at major state and religious anniversaries across the country.
Political leaders at the Saint Demetrius service
A broad cross section of national, local and European political figures attended the doxology inside the church, led by main opposition leader Nikos Androulakis, president of PASOK and the Movement for Change alliance, and European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas.
Party leaders Dimitris Natsios, president of Niki, and Maria Karystianou, president of Hope for Democracy, were also present, along with deputy ministers Stavros Kalafatis, Nikos Tachiaos, Elena Rapti, Anna Efthymiou and Nikos Papaioannou.
Lawmakers in attendance included Members of Parliament Stratos Simopoulos, Diamantis Golidakis, Dimitris Vartzopoulos, Fanis Papas, Petros Pappas, Rania Thraskia, Michalis Chourdakis and Giannis Amanatidis, as well as Member of the European Parliament Emmanouil Fragkos and Lazaros Kyrizoglou, Mayor of Ampelokipoi and Menemeni and president of the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece.
