The Minister of National Defense Panos Kammenos, as a representative of the Government, accompanied by the Chief of the HNGS Vice Admiral Georgios Giakoumakis, attended the festivities on the occasion of the Assumption of Virgin Mary and the torpedoing of the Cruiser ‘’ELLI’’ which took place in Tinos.      

The Minister of National Defense delivered the following address:

 ‘’ Today, is the day of unity of the Greek people.  It is the day of hope.  Here, on the island of Tinos, in 1823, the icon of our Virgin Mary was found. The Virgin Mary confirmed Her protection to the Greek Nation founded after the Revolution in 1821.  
      
It is here, then, that the unbreakable bonds between the Greeks and the Orthodox Church are assured, bonds which nobody can break  and will never be able to  break, because the Greek people is an Orthodox people believing in the Champion Leader.
   

Today, though, I feel especially honoured because together with the Chiefs of the Hellenic Navy and the Coastal Guard, I represent the Armed  and the Security Forces since here, in 1940, the Italian forces chose this very day of the celebration of August 15, of the Assumption of Mary,  to torpedo ‘’ELLI’’.     
    
Here, the heroes of the glorious Hellenic Navy fell, half a mile off the port of Tinos, writing down another page of glory in our History.
    
We are here, representing the Armed Forces as a whole, the regular officers, the non-commissioned officers, the enlisted men, but also the cadres of the Coastal Guard, the Hellenic Police, the Fire Brigade, which as Security Forces, honour the Champion Leader, our Virgin Mary.

The Champion Leader is close to us in every moment of our lives, either in the execution of duty, defending the national sovereignty and the territorial  integrity of our country, or as a Guardian of  our family, since  the core of our society is the family .

The family is the one that moulds characters and together with the Church provides the principles on the basis of which we can form a solid nation.  A nation that no-one can harm for its faith.           

For this reason allow me, from here, today, in the Easter of the summer, from the home of the Virgin Mary of the Annunciation, to send a message concerning ‘’Panayia Soumela’’,  where the Divine Liturgy was not allowed to take place.  Whatever means they use preventing the liturgy,   either violence or various excuses, no-one is going to prevent the Christians from  praying and realizing the Divine Liturgy  in their soul.  Only by reading the salutations to Virgin Mary we take courage.  Those who violently close the churches  should know that the religious feeling becomes even stronger.     

Moreover, since many Greeks from Cyprus are here, I would like to wish them  to be lucky  to experience freedom, to be able to attend the Liturgy at the Apostle Andreas’ church and to all the other enslaved churches  which remain silent. I would also like to  wish them to have the luck to  light a  small or bigger candle and hear the hymns offered  to our Virgin.

I would like to thank very much all the colleagues, the representative of the Opposition Party and the representatives of all the Parties, since, from this place, we can all convey a message.  This is the message of unity of  the Greek people, of  its  support to the Church as well as to the Armed Forces of the country.     
    
I would like to reassure you that all  the cadres of the Armed Forces are ready to defend the homeland and our faith, since these Armed Forces  were always struggling for the faith and the homeland.

 Best wishes’’.