Talk:Germanos III of Old Patras

Alternate origin
I've had it as an oral tradition from an Orthodox priest -- not Greek himself, but he has a Greek wife -- that the date is not coincidental; that the Greek flag was originally the veil of the altar at Agia Lavra which was blue and white that day in honor of the Theotokos on the Feast of the Annunciation, and that more than merely blessing it Metr. Germanos decreed it should be the flag because the war was starting on that day. Has anyone else ever heard this, and is there a written source for it? Or might this just be someone's crackpot theory? 192.91.173.36 (talk) 01:47, 25 March 2011 (UTC)

It's not a theory. 25th of March is indeed the Feast of Annunciation (Evangelismos), a major Orthodox feast after Easter and Christmas. The main war events of the revolution in south Greece, i.e. the siege of Tripolitsa and other major fortresses, started on that day, according to the plan of the Filiki Eteria. Germanos blessed not exactly a Greek flag but a labarum (one or more exist in any big Orthodox church) or, according to some sources, a veil covering the door of the templum. Germanos repeated a similar ceremony the night of the same day in Patras. Notice that according to the Orthodox rite, the day starts from the evening, i.e. Evangelismos starts from the evening of 24th of March. Therefore, the ceremony in Agia Lavra could have happened in the previous night or very early in the morning of 25th. --Skylax30 (talk) 23:21, 21 May 2016 (UTC)