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Brave. Brave. Infinite. Wise. Leader. Front of. Any adjective that describes a special man, a warrior warrior could be used to describe the Old Man of Moria. The legendary Theodoros Kolokotronis. The man who for many is their personification liberation struggle of 1821.
Man with many gifts. Not only during the battle, but also before or after it. When soldiers need animation. Ή congratulations or consolation depending on the outcome of the battle.
THE Theodoros Kolokotronis he was the one who with one of his phrases was able to give wings to hearts. To set fire to the souls of his companions. After all, it is a characteristic of all true leaders to be able to inspire with a single phrase.
The wise old man of Moria and his historical phrases
Theodoros Kolokotronis was born “in 1770, on April 3, Lambri Monday; on a mountain, in a tree below, in old Messinia, called Ramavouni”, as he mentions in his Memoirs. He was the son of the robber captain Konstantis Kolokotronis (1747-1780) of Limbovisi, Arcadia and Georgitsa Kotsaki, daughter of a prostitute from Alonistaina. From Arcadia.
The legend wants his grandfather, the elderly Giannis Kolokotronis, the old hero of Kleftouria, when he saw his grandson for the first time, to say that sadly neither this baby nor his children would see Greece free. This was a prophecy that did not come true. Kolokotronis was the spark that an entire nation was waiting for.
Although he was not an educated man in the academic sense of the word, Kolokotronis “spoke” in the hearts of ordinary people. The flesh of his flesh was, after all. The Elder of Moria spoke their language. His speech was anything but stiff.
“God has put his signature for the freedom of Greece and does not retract it”he had said on the eve of the fiercest battle with Dramalis, with the largest army the Peloponnese had ever seen. “Today we were born and today we will die for the freedom of the homeland”he yelled at his soldiers to Dervenakia, when he saw that Dramalis was indeed returning to Corinth and would not go to Tripoli as he had managed to deceive the other Greek chiefs.
Two almost poetic phrases that hid all the passion and the flame inside. But are not the only ones. They are too many. Certainly not all of them will fit into this tribute. Perhaps the most important ones can fit.
One of them was addressed to Ibrahim when the Egyptian applied the scorched earth tactic to face the Kolokotronis rebellion: “Not to cut the branches, or the trees, or the houses that you burned us, not a stone in the stone that remains, we do not worship. There is only one Greek left, we will always fight. And don’t expect you to make our land yours, take it out of your mind “.
In one of the darkest pages in the history of this place, when Theodoros Kolokotronis sat in the chair of the defendant for final treason, the Greek general shocked the audience, when they asked him “what profession do you have?”, Gave the historical answer : “Military. I hold the rifle in my hand for forty-nine years and I fight for my country.”.
After the verdict was taken against him that led to the guillotine, someone leaned in, kissed his hands and said, “You are being killed unjustly, General” and he replied: “It is better that they kill me unjustly, than that they kill me with justice”!
In today’s terms you could say that Old Man of Moria he was “atakadoros” and thus he won over his interlocutor. “The Greeks are crazy, but they have a wise God” had once said, while in another dislike of his speech he had stressed that “Our Nation has been crucified on other occasions, but here we live.”
Kolokotronis might annoy you with his speech: “The” yes “was sown many times, but it did not sprout” but also to scare you when he wanted to impose himself. As when he recognized that he managed to save the revolution in the Peloponnese when faced with the terrorism that Ibrahim had imposed with his famous “pilgrimage”, the historic thundered now “Ax and fire to the worshipers”.
However, he also had a sense of humor. “And the noblest, and the most glorious, and the most glorious, and the most exalted, and the most majestic, and only the most holy, they did not call me.” the “We gathered eight or nine, my children, some cousins, some nieces and together with my horse we were ten crazy.”
Kolokotronis’s speech on Pnyx
As stated above, the Moria elder was not educated in the academic sense of the term. This, however, did not stop him from being in the same place where some of the greatest ancient speakers had been and delivering a speech from the depths of his soul.
In Pnyx, therefore, on the morning of October 8, 1838, General de Lucha delivered a speech that was characterized by many as the spiritual legacy of Kolokotronis to the new generation and as such is considered from then until today.
“When we decided to make the Revolution, we did not think how many we are or that we do not have cars or that the Turkish Castles and cities were being demolished and no wise man told us “where are you going to fight here with a barge”, but like a rain the desire for our freedom fell on all of us, and all of us, and our clergy and lieutenants and captains and “The cults and the merchants, young and old, all agreed on this goal and made the Revolution,” Kolokotronis had said, among other things.
In that speech (which was almost disbanded by the gendarmerie because it was considered that he would turn against Otto) the Elder of Moria had not hesitated to shoot even at the church for his attitude in the period of the Ottoman yoke:
“When he saw this (ss: that the Greek does not lose their faith in Christ) the sultan appointed a viceroy (ss: means regent), a patriarch, and gave him the authority of the church. He and the rest of the clergy did the same. what the sultan told them. “
He spoke, however, without rounding off his speech about the first frictions that finally led to blood enmity between the Greeks: “Some people came and wanted to do barber shops on the head of the cassis. We got hurt by his hair salon. But what to do? We also needed them. Since then, the discord began and the first disposition and unity was lost ”.
The way Theodoros Kolokotronis closed his historic speech, addressing young people, is also shocking:
“I, my children, unfortunately, due to the circumstances, continued to be illiterate and for that reason I apologize, because I do not speak like your teachers. I told you what I saw, heard and knew, so that you can benefit from the past and the bad results of discord, which you abhor, and have unity. Don’t hold us back anymore. Our work and our time are up. And the days of the generation that paved the way for you to want to pass shortly. The day of our life wants to be followed by the night of our death, as the day of Santo Asomata wants to be followed by night and tomorrow. It is up to you to match and decorate the place where we liberate ourselves ”.
