ITHACA, N.Y. – [Photos & Story compiled by St. Catherine GOC/FB]
City officials joined the members of St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church in downtown Ithaca on Sunday, March 23rd, for the parish’s longstanding yearly tradition of celebrating Greek Independence Day over the past 70 years or so.
After enduring brutal Turkish oppression for five centuries or more, the Greeks announced their independence from the Ottoman Empire on March 25th of 1821, the same day the Church commemorates the Annunciation, thereby linking outright their liberty as a modern State to their ancient Christian faith.
Freedom Of Religion
The Greek people steadfastly refused to relinquish their Orthodox Christian faith under their Moslem overlords, who had ruthlessly subdued the Byzantine Empire and other Orthodox Christian nations over the course of the 14th-19th Centuries.
“Starting 204 years ago, our ancestors had to fight extremely hard to reclaim their sacred land inch by bloody inch, and for the next eight long years, the heroic Greek struggle was also very much about freedom of religion,” noted Evan C. Lambrou, one of the event’s key organizers, who served as the annual commemoration’s master of ceremonies.
“We take such freedoms for granted in our great country today. In America, we can practice our religious traditions without fear of persecution; free from any violent repercussions. That simply wasn’t the case for Greek and other Orthodox Christians under Ottoman rule,” he said.
“Much of the hardship our great forebears faced – much of their suffering and heartache – could’ve been averted had they simply converted to Islam. But we didn’t want to be Moslems. We wanted to remain Christians, so we underwent a tremendous level of adversity for hundreds of years primarily for that reason,” he added.
GID Program
The post-service Greek Independence Day program at St. Catherine GOC commenced with its usual procession of the Greek and American Flags.
Because this year’s event coincided with the 3rd Sunday of Great Lent, however – the Sunday of the Holy Cross (Κυριακή της Σταυροπροσκυνήσεως) – the procession was led by Parish Council President Ike Nestopoulos, who carried the church’s processional cross, followed by Spiro Halkiopoulos and Zach Teeter, parish council members who carried the Greek and American Flags, respectively (Spiro also served in the Greek Army, and Zach served the U.S. Army in Kuwait). Ike, Spiro and Zach were followed in the procession by the students of the parish Greek School.
During the procession, Mr. Lambrou led the congregation in singing the hymn of the Holy Cross (i.e., Σώσον, Κύριε, τον Λαόν Σου), the National Anthems of Greece and the United States, and a hymn of praise to the Theotokos for her undeniable role in humanity’s salvation.
Greek School Kids Delight the Crowd
After the hymns came the highlight:
Dressed in traditional 19th Century Greek apparel, the church’s Greek School students recited some traditional poetry during the annual GID post-service program, delighting the congregation and its guests.
“The kids worked so hard this year, and they were all so good about practicing and wearing their costumes,” said their teacher, Kleo Stavropoulos, who noted that this year’s Greek School now has more students than it has had in a number of years.
Kudos to Kleo for her dedication!
The students’ recitations were indeed all very well-pronounced, which clearly reflected a genuine desire on their parents’ part to help the kids preserve their Greek heritage.
Greek Independence Day Proclamation
After the Greek School students completed their segment of the program, Aldermen Ducson Nguyen of the 2nd Ward, in which the church is located, and Patrick Kuehl of the 4th Ward presented the City’s Proclamation for GID 2025 on behalf of Mayor Robert Cantelmo and the Common Council Alderman Nguyen, who was first elected to the Common Council in 2015, read the Proclamation to a congregation upwards of 75 people, and said he was very glad to join the St. Catherine parish community for the annual GID celebration again this year, extending the Mayor’s best wishes.
The Proclamation, inter alia, cites the fact that our new pastor, Fr. Zinoviy Zharsky, is of Ukrainian heritage, and notes that the ongoing crisis in Ukraine is comparable to the Greek struggle for Independence because it involves a larger nation imposing its will on a smaller one.
In response, Mr. Lambrou chanted the troparion asking Saint Olga of Kyiv for her intercessions in bringing a swift and peaceful end to the war still raging in Ukraine.
“It was under the wise leadership of Saint Olga and her grandson Saint Vladimir the Great that the lands of Rus – to include Ukraine, Russia and Belarus – embraced the Christian faith back in the 10th Century, so Saint Olga’s intercessions are particularly evocative and effective, not only for our Ukrainian brethren, but also for our Russian brethren,” he said.
Fr. Zinoviy said he felt very touched by the Proclamation and the hymn of Saint Olga.
A Local Tradition
The local Greek American community has been observing Greek Independence Day nearly every year in the Ithaca area since the mid-1950’s, even before it had a church of its own, with elected officials regularly joining the community for the occasion.
“Anywhere you go in this country, the local church is the center of Greek American cultural life. But until we had a church of our own here, we were holding services at St. John Episcopal Church on Saturdays. That’s where our parents and grandparents would gather together as a community in the Name of the Lord,” Mr. Lambrou said.
“And that remains the case for Ithaca’s Greek Americans, a number of whom are still the children and grandchildren of our parish’s founding members,” he pointed out.
“Our parish today also has non-Greek members; Fr. Zinoviy, our new pastor, is Ukrainian. But that only indicates what has always been true about the Orthodox Church & Faith – that we are inclusive – it doesn’t change the fact that St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church is still a member parish of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. So, we remain mindful of our founding roots by celebrating Greek Independence Day each year. It’s important to our history as a people; as a local church; and as a community of faith that we continue to do so,” he added.
After the program concluded, both aldermen joined the community for a special fried fish luncheon in the parish hall. They even listened attentively to community concerns about deteriorating local road conditions as they enjoyed their meal, and said they are glad the parish has members who are engaged with local developments.
This year’s luncheon was hosted by the church, courtesy of the parish council. Maria Lambrou, wife of the late Gus Lambrou and one of the parish’s most beloved and supportive members, donated the annual GID cake, as she has almost every year for the last 6-7 decades.
