Log in
A+ A A-

Samaras Gives Speech at St. Nicholas Church in Flushing

Translation By Lisa Darilis

Greek Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras received a warm welcome from the congregation of St. Nicholas of Flushing, NY on Sunday. Following the Divine Liturgy yesterday, he gave his own message to the Golden Dawn Party. Samaras declared that when someone believes in violence and intolerance, they will find themselves answering to all Greeks.

Mr. Samaras arrived at the Church of St. Nicholas in Flushing, NY a little after 10:30 in the morning Eastern Standard Time. He was received with outstanding warmth from this community. Even the students of The Willliam Spyropoulos School, the communityʼs parochial day school, welcomed him with a beautiful bouquet of roses.

Samaras attended the Divine Liturgy in the church, which was officiated by His Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Archdioces of America. Following the Divine Liturgy, the Prime Minister made a brief speech to the Flushing, NY congregation of worshippers that lasted less than ten minutes. He expressed his respect and appreciation to the Greek American community, pointing to the strong element of hellenism he encountered here in New York.

He was also referring to his meeting with established Greek-Americans at the White House in Washington D.C., at City Hall in New York City, and at Ground Zero near the future site of the reconstruction
of St. Nicholas Church, along with His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios and the Chief of Port Authority in New York City, Louis Koumoutsos.
Samaras, in his own message to the Greek-American community here, chiefly discussed how the difficulties Greece has experienced have begun to become a thing of the past.

Samara stated: "The people of Greece tasted bitterness in speaking about the countryʼs departure fro the Euro, feeling that they were defeated in all the facades of their economy. With pride and gravity they have surpassed their most difficult times. Now no one is speaking of Greeceʼs exit from the Euro, the movement also known as the "Grexit." Greece will become an example for all of Europe." Mr. Samaras could not hold back in mentioning the recent developments that have rattled the domestic news of Greece on the mass arrests of chief executive members of the Golden Dawn Party.

Samaras stated to the congregation "I agree with His Eminenceʼs interpretation of the Holy Gospel. No one has the right to hate another. No one has the right to believe in violence and to be a racist. No one has the right to be intolerant and to promote fundamentalism. Because then you will find yourself dealing with the Greek people; the true sound Greeks who believe in Greece and Hellenism. This is what happened to Greece in recent days."