By Catherine Tsounis
The Greek Orthodox Church is a history book. Key events in the Greek nation are remembered. The Greek Orthodox Church Schools do what no other secular education institution can do: promote the Greek Orthodox faith, Greek language and 2,500 year old Greek civilization. The truth of the Greek nation is taught that is ignored in mainstream history and news outlets.
Friday, October 23, 2026. The Cathedral School of the Holy Trinity Cathedral at 319-337 East 79th St. celebrated the event that changed the outcome of WWII: Oxi Day. Prominent persons attended the morning event in the school hall. For further information on prominent person present, contact The Cathedral School on Facebook.
The program consisted of the following: National Anthems of the Unitd States and Greece, Kindergarten, Grades 1-3; Opening Remarks. Principal Meropi Kyriakou; Remarks and Blessings, Protopresbyter Gregory Gilbert; History and Significance of OXI Day, Ms. Efi Kitsanta, Greek and Ms. Maria Mirones, English; Student Council President’s Address, Colette Casey; Part !. Remembering OXI Day, Kindergarten and Grades 3&4; Part II, Voices of Courage, choir, Grades4-5, Stories of War and Peace, Grade 5, Echoes of 1940, Grade 8; Part III, From War to Peace, Oxi Day, Grade1, Choir Grade3-8; Part IV- Art, Memory & Legacy. Art Presentation, Grades 6 &7, Original Artwork by Grades5-8, Poetry Presentation Grade 2; Finale, Women of Epirus song, Grades 3-*; Closing remarks.
What is OXI Day? On the morning of October 28, 1940, the Italian ambassador to Greece presented the then Prime Minister of Greece, Ioannis Metaxas, with the ultimatum by which Mussolini, the leader of Italy, demanded the occupation of certain Greek territories. If Greece did not accept, then it would occupy them with weapons. And it was exactly this historic moment that the Greek Prime Minister answered “NO,” knowing that there is no greater good than the good of freedom. The same answer was given in action, by all the Greek nation together as they poured into the streets.1
The children sang about the women of Epirus. “ The women of Epirus were unsung heroines of the Greek Italian War. Climbing along steep ravines in extremely difficult weather conditions, these heroic women also acted as nurses, carrying wounded soldiers to safety and providing first aid. Women also helped the Army engineers in the arduous labor of opening and repairing roads and bridges during the Greek Italian War.”3
Every Family with Greek roots has an average unknown soldier who endured the horrors of WW II and the subsequent Greek Civil War. The average Greek man of 1940 had devotion and toughness to come to his country’s salvation. It was about 100 years earlier that their ancestors were killed and sold into slavery by Islamized Greek Ibrahim Pasha in the 1821 Greek War of Independence. This memory made them determined not to surrender to Mussolini’s demands. On Greek OXI Day, NO!, we must remember the backbone of society, the unknown soldier, who did his duty to save the freedom of his country and Western Civilization.1
Field Marshal Georgy Constantinovich Zhoukov of the Soviet army said “Regardless of what future historians shall say, what we can say now is that Greece gave Mussolini an unforgettable lesson, they were the motive for the revolution in Yugoslavia, they held the Germans in the mainland and Crete for six weeks, they upset the chronological order of all German High Command’s plans and thus brought a general reversal of the entire course of the war, and we won.2 This is ignored today.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, remarks, at the PYNX, Athens Greece, October 7, 2026, described the Greek spirit that resulted in OXI Day. He explained “It is from the Greeks that the West inherited its sense of duty – an unbreakable loyalty to one’s code, one’s cause, one’s country. Our heroes, the heroes of the West are those who choose to remain faithful to their duty precisely when it is most difficult and painful to do so: the man who is bound by his word, the soldier who will not abandon his post, the captain, the proverbial captain, who goes down with his ship…. The history of Greece – the history of Greece does not just offer us a glimpse – it does not offer a glimpse of our institutions in their earliest forms. The history of Greece shows us an image of ourselves.”4 This is the meaning of our parents, grandparents, family and friends sacrifice in OXI Day 1940.
Special appreciation to Despina Siolas, MD./Ph.D. for photos and assistance.
References:
Links:
