The Greek Presidential Guard is set to arrive in Victoria on Wednesday, April 20 for an official visit which will last until Friday, April 29.
The visit was announced by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on March 23 during a Greek Independence Day event held by the Consul General of Greece in Melbourne, Emmanuel Kakavelakis, at the Hellenic Museum.
READ MORE: Consul General of Greece in Melbourne, Hellenic Museum honour Greek National Day.
During their visit, the Evzones will participate in a number of commemorative events honouring those who fought in World War I.
Their first official event will be on Thursday, April 21 at the ANZAC Day Commemorative Service at the Lemnos Gallipoli Square in Albert Park.
On Friday, April 22 they will partake in an ANZAC Day Service at the Austin Repatriation Hospital. Later that night, the Evzones will be at the Greek Orthodox Church of St Anargiri in Oakleigh for the procession of the Epitaphio in the presence of His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia.
On Sunday, April 24, two separate groups of Evzones will also attend the Orthodox Easter church services at the Holy Monastery Panagias “Axion Esti” in Northcote and St Efstathios Cathedral in South Melbourne.
Monday, April 25 is an important day for the Greek Presidential Guard as they will lead the Allies and the entire Greek contingent during the official ANZAC Day Parade and wreath laying ceremony at Victoria’s Shrine of Remembrance. The event is being hosted by the Victorian Returned Services League.
During their visit the Evzones will visit AGAPI Care Inc and the PRONIA Welfare Centre in Brunswick and they will also attend ANZAC Day School Concerts and Assemblies at St Johns Greek Orthodox College, Oakleigh Gramma and Doncaster Secondary College.
On their last day of official events, Thursday, April 28, the Evzones will attend the official opening of the ‘Open Horizons’ exhibition at Melbourne Museum, which is set to be launched by the Greek Minister for Culture, Lina Mendoni.
Tha Greek Presidential Guard is comprised of three Officers and 13 Evzones.
Major Sakellaropoulos Vasilios (Ilia), Captain Kouloumpas Stavros (Kastoria), Sargeant Theodorou Efthymios (Thessalia) and Evzones Vlachos Ioannis (Evoia), Koukiadakis Michail (Crete), Paterakis Nikolaos (Athens), Pagonakis Marios (Crete), Ladas Konstantinos (Peiraeus), Mandalos Nikolaos (Peloponnisos), Xenakis Dimitrios (Crete), Evaggelatos Panagiotis (Eptanisa), Papathanasis Konstantinos (Aitoloakarnania), Papakyriakidis Petros (Macedonia), Stasinopoulos Sotirios (Peloponnisos), Grigoriadis Stylianos (Pontos), Bassiakos Athanasios (Sterea Ellada).
READ MORE: Jenny Mikakos: ‘I’m excited Minister Mendoni is coming to Melbourne’.
