March 25th..An Important Date for Greece, Venice and America

March 25th -- a day of religious and political significance. ~~~~~ March 25, 1821, was decided upon as the traditional date of the start of the Greek War of Independence, often called the Greek Revolution. The date was chosen in the early years of the Greek state so that it falls on the same day as the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, strengthening the ties between the Greek Orthodox Church and the newly founded state. By the end of March 1821, the Peloponnese was in open revolt against the Turks of the Ottoman Empire and by October 1821, the Greeks had already captured Kalamata and Tripolitsa, and the first of the Greek local governing councils held its inaugural session. A Peloponnesian assembly convened and elected a Senate. Other assemblies adopted local statutes, including the Charter of Western Continental Greece and the Legal Order of Eastern Continental Greece. The statutes provided for the creation of local administrative organs. The First National Assembly wrote the first Greek Constitution and appointed the members of executive and legislative bodies that were to govern the liberated territories. It all had started with the Fall of Constantinople on 29 May 1453, when Venice lost control of the eastern Mediterranean, and the subsequent fall of the successor states of the Byzantine Empire marked the end of the sovereignty of the Byzantine Church. After that, the Ottoman Empire ruled the eastern Mediterranean. Orthodox Christians were granted some political rights, but they were considered inferior subjects. Greek intellectuals and humanists, who had migrated west before or during the Ottoman invasions, began to call for the liberation of Greece. They called on Venice and "all of the Latins" to aid the Greeks against "the abominable, monstrous, and impious barbarian Turks." However, Greece was to remain under Ottoman rule for several more centuries. The 1821 Greek Revolution was the final step after several failed attempts at regaining independence in the Ottoman era, beginning in the 17th century. The first great uprising was the Russian-sponsored Orlov Revolt of the 1770s, which was crushed by the Ottomans. Afterward, Moslem Albanians ravaged many regions in mainland Greece. During the Second Russo-Turkish War, the Greeks rose again, financing a small Trieste fleet that was a nuisance for the Ottoman navy. At the same time, a number of Greeks enjoyed a privileged position in the Ottoman state as members of the Ottoman bureaucracy and controlled the affairs of the Orthodox Church through the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, since the higher clergy of the Orthodox Church was mostly Greek. Thus, as a result of the Ottoman system, the predominantly Greek hierarchy of the Patriarchate controlled the Empire's Orthodox subjects and the Greek Orthodox Church played a pivotal role in the preservation of national identity, the development of Greek society, and the resurgence of Greek nationalism. From the 18th century, members of prominent Greek families gained considerable control over Ottoman foreign policy and eventually over the bureaucracy as a whole. As Greeks grew in wealth, their children went to European intellectual centers and came home determined to create a Greek Enlightenment. The Greek cause began to draw support not only from the large Greek merchant diaspora in both Europe and Russia, but also from Western European Phil-hellenes. This Greek movement for independence, resulting in the 1821 Greek Revolution, was not only the first movement of national character in Eastern Europe, but also the first one by Christians against the Moslem Ottoman rulers. The spirit of the ancient Greek civilization was rekindled and is today fighting against its latest captors. ~~~~~ In 421, Venice was founded at twelve o'clock noon, according to legend, the exact time of the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo at the islet of Rialto, on 25 March 421. Venice had been a city for centuries by then, and since 166 A.D. had been the refuge of Romans fleeing the pagan germanic invaders who eventually sacked Rome and controlled Venice for some time. The Venetian governmental structure was from the beginning republican. The Republic of Venice, as it called itself, was similar to the republican system of ancient Rome, with an elected chief executive (the Doge), a senate-like assembly of nobles, and a mass of citizens with limited political power, but who originally had the power to grant or withhold their approval of each newly elected Doge. Church and various private properties were tied to military service, which was kept separate from politics. Venice grew in influence and wealth based on its commercial fleets, its importance in protecting the eastern Catholic Church from Moslem attacks until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, and its independence, based on its isolated position. It was only in 1797 that Napoleon's juggernaut was able to conquer Venice and end the Republic. But, after 150 years of sinking into ruin, Venice has once again become La Serenissima, the most beautiful city on Earth. ~~~~~ On March 25, 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh was granted a patent to colonize Virginia, and Jamestown was founded in 1607. In 1620, the Puritans set off from England for Virginia, but landed by mistake at Plymouth, Massachusetts. On March 25, 1634, the first settlers arrived in Maryland. The English colonists prospered as merchants, commercial seafarers and lovers of their liberties and freedom of religion. Their Christianity filled their political acts and organized their daily lives. They begzn to call thrmselves Americans. They revolted against a King's taxation without representation. The rest, as we say, is history. ~~~~~ Dear readers, what are the common threads in these histories? Commercial success. A common political identity built around commercial and personal liberties. Christianity as a unifyiing moral principle. Why dwell on this today? Because we are in the midst of a similar set of circumstances. In Europe, the trauma is centered on the ingrained sense of tolerance that welcomes waves of non-democratic non-Christians, who aggressively use the European values that welcome them as immigrants to demand the weakening of those same European political and religious values. In America, commercial and political identities are being challenged by a huge federal secular government that has cast aside the Christian values of 75% of the population, turning constitutional guarantees of equality and separation of church and state inside out. Americans resent what they see as a hostile government marginalizing them while taxing them to support small minorities whom they believe are threatening the American way of life. This is what makes Ted Cruz important. He understands the threat. He sees the solution. He refuses to become bogged down in fixing a system that has become profoundly anti-American. There are times when a "last straw" is felt by a majority of a country. The Ottoman Empire suppressing Greek identity. The Republic of Venice saving itself from ruin. America? Has it felt the last straw? Are Americans at the tipping point? Do they care enough about their American civilization to reach out courageously to save it? These are Ted Cruz's questions. America has 18 months to dig deep into its soul and find its answer.