President of Republic Prokopios Pavlopoulos on Monday Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History at the University of London Roderick Macleod Beaton with the Order of Honour at a special ceremony held at the Presidential mansion.
Addressing Mr. Beaton, Pavlopoulos spoke about his emblematic contribution to the research of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature.
"From your whole contribution, I would like to refer to two points: One related to the research in the formation of the Greek National Consciousness and one that proves that Byzantium and its civilisation not only should not be considered part of the Middle Ages, but without the Byzantine spiritual contribution we would not have reached the Renaissance, with the characteristics it eventually acquired," he said.
At the same time, he expressed his conviction that Mr. Beaton's contribution does not only concern Greece, but also the European education in general, and consequently the European culture, considering that the first and most important pillar of our common European culture is Ancient Greece and its Cultural Heritage in general, from its beginnings to the conditions that its timeless evolution constantly creates.