Corfu Nektarios: Kapodistrias thought Europeanly without cutting himself off from national rootstranslated

The Most Reverend Metropolitan of Corfu, Paxos and the Diapontian Islands Mr. Nektarios sent the following greeting for the unveiling of the bust of the first governor of Greece Ioannis Kapodistrias, which was installed by the Corfu Association of Thessaloniki "AGIOS SPYRIDON" at the junction of Egnatia and Chalkeon streets (Court Square) on Sunday 27 September 2026: "With particular joy and deep emotion we welcome the initiative of the Municipality of Thessaloniki and the Corfu Association of Thessaloniki "Saint Spyridon" for the placement and unveiling of the bust of Ioannis Kapodistrias, one of the most luminous and simultaneously tragic figures of recent Greek history.

Ioannis Kapodistrias is not just a great personality of the past. He is a child of Corfu, born in a place where the Orthodox tradition, Greek education and European intellectual influences met creatively. His faith in God was more deeply connected with the way he understood man, duty and responsibility. In Kapodistrias, politics was intertwined with ethics. The exercise of power was not understood as a privilege, but as a burden of responsibility and as…