Dear compatriots and Greeks everywhere, this year’s Holy Week is definitely different from any other year.
Under normal circumstances, during these Holy Days we meet in the churches, so that we can all experience the spirit of contemplation during the greatest celebration of Christianity.
Greek Easter is unique, a sacred mystagogy, which makes us partakers of the Passion, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of the Lord.
It is an experience that is an integral part of the traditions and heritage of our place and of our ‘Greekness’.
We would all like to celebrate Easter this year as well, as only we Greeks know how, in our homelands, close to our own people. However, this situation does not allow us to do so.
This year, marked by the dangerous pandemic of the corona, the only priority can be nothing but the protection of our health, but also the health of our fellow human beings. That is why we follow the instructions of the experts, we stay home and we stand by those who need us.
In these difficult times, my thoughts and all of us here in our Motherland are always with you, the Greeks of the Diaspora, who are being tested, away from your country. Stay united with faith and optimism. Keep your homeland in your heart to draw strength.
After all, you are familiar with hardship. And you know that in the darkest moments our love for Greece is the compass that helps us cross the most inaccessible paths.
This Easter will be different for all of us. This does not mean however, that we cannot understand the deeper meaning of these days. No matter how tough a test is, there is always light and hope at the end of the road. And this end is not far off.
I wish you a Happy Resurrection and a Happy Easter with good health to all. I wish that in the future we have the opportunity to celebrate these days healthy with our loved ones, wherever they are.
– Kostas Vlasis is the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister responsible for Diaspora Greeks.