In his message marking Anzac Day, Archbishop Makarios of Australia reminded Australians of the importance of reflecting on history to find inspiration in selflessness and sacrifice in a world governed by greed and selfishness. As Australia and New Zealand commemorate ANZAC Day, the Archbishop urged people to remember the men and women who fought and died for noble ideals such as liberty, justice, and human dignity.
He went on to highlight that Greek community in Australia, deeply intertwined with the ANZAC legacy, finds a special connection to this day through the shared history of courage and self-sacrifice commemorating the role of ANZACs in Greek history, from their crucial involvement in the Gallipoli campaign on the island of Lemnos to their bravery in defending Crete during World War II against Axis forces.
Archbishop Makarios also acknowledged their contributions in other parts of Greece, standing alongside Greek ancestors in the fight against Nazism.
Read below the message of Archbishop Makarios of Australia:
At a time when respect for universal principles and values, unfortunately, gives way to selfishness and self-interest, to greed and acquisitiveness, it is imperative that we turn our gaze to the past in order to remember, and inspire our young children with, the illustrious examples of ethos and selflessness that history has to show us.
An ideal opportunity to do this is today’s national day in Australia and New Zealand, during which we honour the ANZAC men and women who fought and sacrificed themselves for such high ideals as liberty, justice and human dignity.
The great privilege we have as Greeks of the fifth continent is that, in order to “turn the pages” of the glorious history of the ANZACs, we must first go back over the pages of modern Greek history. We initially come across them in Lemnos; the island that played a decisive role in the 1915 Gallipoli campaign. We also meet them in infamous Crete, where in May 1941 they participated with courage and self-sacrifice in the heroic struggle of the inhabitants of the great island for its defence from the invading Axis forces. And, similarly, we come across them in many other corners of Greece where, alongside our ancestors, they confronted the “monster” that was Nazism.
