The Greeks

At times of refuge in the First World War, the Serbs, along with their allies, were provided with a safe place in the country of their centuries long friends. Besides trues French and Russian affection, Serbs could have always count on support from their Orthodox neighbours, the Greeks.

The Greeks are one of the oldest nations in the world, and the Classical (Ancient) Greek heritage is the foundations of the modern European and American civilisation. They are the people who adopted and maintained the original Orthodox Christian faith. The official name of the Orthodox faith in the West is Greek-Orthodox Christianity.

The Serbs have a special relationship with the Greeks, as the Greeks are those from whom the Serbs adopted Christianity, receiving literacy and the cultural and artistic models throughout the Middle Ages. Unity in faith has always been more important than any ephemeral political interest of either Greek or Serbian state.

Although at the beginning of the WWI, the Greek king was a foreigner and an ally to Germany and other enemies, the popular feeling of closeness prevailed. There was a political crisis in Greece, the king was forced to exile and the Greek people joined allies in the Salonika Front breakthrough. A special role in supporting the Serbian soldiers at the time was that of Constantine Venizelos, the Greek Prime Minister.

LANGUAGE

The Greeks call themselves the Hellenes. In Greek, their country is called Hellas.  The words Greek, Greece, originated in the West and are used today in all official and political contacts and everyday use.

RELIGION AND TRADITION

Orthodox Christianity is the national religion in Greece to which almost all the Greeks in the world pertain.

GEOGRAPHY

Greeks are the people who live in two Mediterranean countries, in Greece and in Cyprus, but also in the diaspora all over the world. During the First World War, when the regions of Macedonia were liberated from centuries-long Ottoman reign, the newly established countries of the two brotherly nations once again found themselves one beside the other.