Page 208 - Beholding Liberty!

ΙΙ.2.8
Political Constitution of Greece, interrogated and validated during the 3rd National Assembly at Troezen, on May 1827
By the Printing House of the Government
Library of the Hellenic Parliament
THE MOST IMPORTANT OF THE CONSTITUTIONS of the Revolution was voted in Troezen, in May 1827, by the 3rd National Assembly, which had already decided that the ex- ecutive power should be handed over to a single political man: thus, by a decree it elected Ioannis Kapodistrias as «Governor of Greece» for seven years, while the Political Constitution of Greece was also voted, which remained in history as the most liberal and democratic of its time. For the first time it is declared in it the principle of popular sovereign- ty: «the sovereignty is embedded in the Nation, all power derives from it and exists for it».
Furthermore, in the first article («On religion»), it is stated that «each one in Greece professes his religion freely and he enjoys equal defence for his worship», declaring thus absolute religious freedom – adding subsequently that the «religion of the State» is that of the Eastern Orthodox Church. This particular state- ment is clearly more advanced than that of the Provi- sional Constitution, where it is stressed that the dom- inant religion in the Greek state is that of the Eastern Orthodox Church, however the Greek Polity «tolerates any other religion, and the ceremonies and rituals of each one of them are performed unobstructed», an ar- ticle that is repeated identical in the Law of Epidaurus.
208 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!