the thriving metropolitan centre
The goddess Athena gave her name to one of the oldest cities in the world, with a globally recognized historical footprint and spiritual radiance. A place that signifies Thomas Stearns Eliot’s concept, one where “all time is eternally present”, with the past and present coexisting with the future.
In the history of modern Greece, Greeks of the world of the time envisioned it prosperous at home and able to radiate culturally abroad. They envisioned a homeland following ideas that stimulate the spiritual and moral virtues of the nation and allow each generation to exploit the horizons that open up before it, while preserving its national identity!
During the period of independence of the Greek state, the integration of the flourishing metropolitan centre into the modern world of its time was undertaken by the Hellenism of the diaspora and the benefactors, such as the brothers Mantos and Georgios Rizaris.
The benefactors Rizari brothers
The Rizaris brothers, men of the world of the time, envisioned the new capital of the Greek state to be in line with the civilized world of the time.
George Radionov Rizaris, in a letter to Adamantios Korais in March 1825, writes:
“ Εἶμαι, κατὰ δυστυχίαν, ὀλυγομαθής, ἀγάπησα ὅμως πάντοτε τὰς μαθήσεις καὶ ἐτίμησα τοὺς πεπαιδευμένους, ἀλλ’ αἱ δυστυχίαι τῆς Ἑλλάδος δὲν μὲ ἐσυγχώρησαν νὰ εὐχαριστήσω τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν μου. Διὰ τὰς ἰδίας δυστυχίας καὶ ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ μακαρίτης ἀδελφὸς μου [Ματθέος] ἐζήσαμεν μακρὰν τῆς πατρίδος μας καὶ ἐπιθυμώντας νὰ τὴν ἰδῶμεν ἐλευθέραν ἀπωλέσαμεν τὸν καιρὸν μας καὶ ἤδη πλησιάζει καὶ εἰς ἐμὲ ἡ γεροντικὴ ὑληκία χωρὶς νὰ ἔχωμεν κλερονόμους.
Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ μακαρίτης ἀδελφός μου καὶ ἐγὼ ἀπεφασίσαμε νὰ ἀφίσωμεν κλερονόμον τὴν πατρίδαν μας καὶ επειδή, κατὰ τὴν γνώμην μας, δὲν εἶναι ἄλλο ὠφελιμότερον ἀπὸ τὴν παιδείαν καὶ ὀρθὴν ἀνατροφήν τῶν νέων ὁ πρὸ ἑνὼς χρόνου ἀποθανῶν ἀδελφός μου Ματθαίως διώρισεν τὸ ἐπιβάλον μέρος τῆς καταστάσεώς μας, μὲ τὸ οποῖον ἑνόνω καὶ ἐγώ τὸ ἐδικὸν μου, διὰ νὰ συστήσωμεν σχολείον εἰς τὴν πατρίδαν μας […]. Δὲν θὰ μὲ κατιγορίσης βέβαια ὅτι προτιμῶ τὴν πατρίδαν μου ἀλλὰ μὲ ὅλην τὴν διαθίκην τοῦ μακαρίτου ἀδελφοῦ μου καὶ μὲ ὅλην τὴν επιθυμίαν μου νὰ χρησυμεύσω περισσότερον εἰς τὴν πατρίδα μου δὲν εἶμαι ὅμως τόσον ἰσχυρογνώμων ὥστε νὰ μὴ προτιμήσω ἄλλο μέρος τῆς Ἑλλάδος ὅπου ὐμπορῶ νὰ συμπεράνω ὅτι τὰ ἔξοδά μου θὰ φανοῦν ὀφελιμώτερα” 1825, Moscow.
The Rizari brothers made sense of and linked the value of knowledge with that of opportunity.
This prompted them to turn their beneficence to the education of the struggling Greek people, with the establishment of educational structures in Athens, the thriving metropolitan centre. Thus they founded the famous Rizarios Ecclesiastical School, one of the most important intellectual institutions of the newly established Greek state, with an enormous contribution to the nation’s education.
