No. 190.
Mr. Francis to Mr. Fish.
Athens, March 2, 1872. (Received March 28.)
Sir: The venerable archbishop of Athens, Theophilus, who is perpetual president of the holy synod of the Greek church here, is a man of marked character and large influence and power. He is now seventy years old.
Archbishop Theophilus was archdeacon fifty years ago under German us, archbishop of Patras, the same who blessed the first flag and the leaders of the revolution on the 25th of March, 1821. This day has ever since been celebrated as the anniversary of the national independence of Greece. Archbishop Theophilus distinguished himself for heroism in several sanguinary battles of the revolution, in one of which he was severely wounded, and he has never fully recovered from the hurt. On the occasion of my call upon him recently, he received me with enthusiastic cordiality. He said the United States was the best friend poor Greece ever had. The generous contributions of the American people during the revolution, he remarked, saved multitudes of men, women, and children from starvation, and, said he, the tears streaming down his cheeks, “the Almighty Father knows how our hearts were then filled with gratitude for your great American people, [Page 234] and how, ever since, we have invoked His blessings upon them—prayers that have been answered in the wonderful growth and prosperity of the model republic of the world.” Then, in response to my remark that we in America were now, as of old, the sincere well-wishers of Greece, he said, “Yes, we know that to be true. Other nations,” he continued, “that pretend to protect Greece, and profess to do so in the interest of Christian civilization against the ideas of tyrannical Turkey, do not show themselves to be such good friends of ours. They flaunt the Gross from their foreheads, but cherish the crescent in their hearts.”
I am informed that this venerable archbishop, in his discourses to his people, very often refers to the United States and its Government as presenting an example of political excellence and religious justice that should be held up as a model, not for Greeks only, but for the whole world. It is such sentiments, so deeply cherished and constantly disseminated by the old stock of the revolution in Greece, and of which the Archbishop Theophilus is an illustrious type, that keep alive the love of this people for our free institutions—for America and Americans.
I am, &c,