Page 116 - Beholding Liberty!

PRELUDE 7
Certificate of Panagiotis Kopanitsas as member of the Society of Friends (5 July 1819)
Archive of the Kopanitsas Family Recognition code: GR HP_LHP A.4.1.1 Library of the Hellenic Parliament
THE TERM «ACCOMPANYING CER- TIFICATE» (letter) signifies the codified certifi- cate of membership to the Society of Friends, which the catechist was giving to the initiated of each rank: e.g. for the «brothers» it was a simple paper with a cross, for the «recommended» a paper with a cross in olive branches etc.
In this specific case, the accompanying certificate of the «priest» Panagiotis Kopanitsas bore the sacred bond with the sixteen columns, a laurel-wreathed cross and two crossed spears with raised banners. On the banners there were written the abbreviated words «ΗΕΑ» (Ή Ελευθερία/Either Freedom) and «ΗΘΣ» (Ή Θάνατος/Or Death).
PRELUDE 8
Accompanying document of Panagiotis Kopanitsas’ Certificate, written in the cryptic code of the Friends
Archive of the Kopanitsas Family
Recognition code: GR HP_LHP A.4.1.2
Library of the Hellenic Parliament
116 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE MEMBERS of the Society of Friends had a cryprographic character. Initially, they used the known letters of the alphabet with a different phonetic val- ue, creating a secret code. At the same time, they had code names for persons, procedures, places and things that were of particular importance for the evolution of the Struggle. For instance, with regard to persons, Alexandros Ypsilantis was called Καλός/Good or An-
dreas Radamanthys, Kapodistrias was the Ευεργετικός/ Beneficial, Papaflessas the Αρμόδιος/Competent and so forth. Sometimes, as a matter of fact, they also used numbers to indicate persons: e.g. Petrobey Mavromi- chalis was 110 and Theodoros Kolokotronis was 113. Resignification was also applied to common nouns, as «engagement», that meant ‘validation’, «rain» ‘the Authority of the Society’, «dowry» ‘the military aid’, «thorn» ‘the enemy’, «trees» ‘the rifles’ et al.