R 150
2026 -- S 3055
Enacted 03/12/2026

S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N
JOYOUSLY CELEBRATING "WORLD GREEK LANGUAGE DAY IN THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND" AS PROCLAIMED BY UNESCO

Introduced By: Senators Raptakis, Gallo, Kallman, Euer, Burke, Ciccone, Patalano, Urso, LaMountain, and Quezada

Date Introduced: March 11, 2026

     WHEREAS, On November 12, 2025, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a specialized United Nations agency that promotes
international cooperation in education, science, culture and communication to build peace and
foster sustainable development, unanimously declared February 9, 2026, to be “World Greek
Language Day”; and
     WHEREAS, On February 9, 2026, the Permanent Mission of Greece to the United
Nations hosted an event in celebration of World Greek Language Day in which the speakers
highlighted the many important contributions of the Greek language to international dialogue and
communication as well as its important contributions to global culture; and
     WHEREAS, This important event was opened by the Permanent Representative of
Greece to the United Nations, Ambassador Aglaia Balta, who spoke about “the deep and lasting
imprint of the Greek Language”, and emphasized that “Language is not just a tool of
communication but a bridge of understanding”; and
     WHEREAS, UNESCO explained in its explanatory note when it declared February 9,
2026, to be “World Greek Language Day”, that “Language is a carrier of culture, an ark of
values, concepts and identity, an instrument of expression and creation, a bridge of
communication, understanding and consensus, and among the thousands of languages, Greek
possesses an unbroken continuity of 40 centuries of oral tradition and 35 centuries of written
tradition, making it the longest continuously spoken and written language in Europe”; and
     WHEREAS, For the orthodox world, the Greek Language is a crucial and vital key to
understanding, as Ecumenical Patriarch Bartolomew states, “what is perhaps the greatest
intellectual paradise in the world, where lie the great and unique works that have left their mark
on the course of world civilization, the Homeric epics, the Tragedies, the Platonic dialogues, the
Aristotelian corpus, the New Testament, and the writings of the Greek Fathers”; now, therefore
be it
     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island hereby joyously celebrates
“World Greek Language Day” in the State of Rhode Island, as proclaimed by UNESCO; now,
therefore be it
     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to
transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the Greek Ambassador to the United Nations,
Aglaia Balta, Antonis Alexandridis, Ambassador of Greece to the United States and to His
Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America.
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LC005326
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