On Tuesday, February 3, 2026, the final round of the Three Hierarchs Oratory Competition for High School Grade 1 students took place at the Athens College Theater. Marianna Polemi was declared the winner of the "THREE HIERARCHS" Award for the 2025-2026 school year.

Students competed in an oratory exercise based on the following theme:

"Just as one who is ordered to walk a difficult road, when he sees someone who has already walked it, follows more easily and with greater willingness, so also those who see others going before them are more ready to obey commands."

St. John Chrysostom, On the Delights of the Future Life..., 5, (Greek: EPE 31,242.)

"He who does not speak the truth is like a ship without a rudder, driven by the winds."

St. Basil the Great, "Logia sopha" ("Wise Words"), Fotodotes Publications, Athens 2000.

"For it is not rule that is most honorable, but that the ruler be just, gentle, self-controlled, and humane — not to enjoy the benefits of those he governs, but to benefit them."

St. John Chrysostom, "Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew the Evangelist", PG 58, 50, 508-509.

"The soul, by nature free and capable of true education, if nourished at the proper time with good hopes, becomes brave and mature."

St. Basil the Great, "Address to the Young on the Right Use of Greek Literature", PG 31, 580A.

The Three Hierarchs—Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom—remain timeless models of moral leadership, as they embodied truth, social responsibility, justice, and service in both their teachings and their lives. Drawing on the words of the Three Hierarchs and your own experiences, address the following questions:

a. How do you understand the role and responsibility of leadership?

b. What are the individual and social consequences of leadership that is not grounded in ethics?

c. How can a new generation of ethical leaders be cultivated in today's rapidly changing world?

The panel of judges consisted of Mr. Apostolos Nikolaidis, Professor at the School of Theology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and at the University of Nicosia, His Eminence Archimandrite Isidoros Katsos, Assistant Professor of Theological Epistemology and Philosophy at NKUA, and Mr. Nikolaos A. Denaxas, Assistant Professor of Sociology of Religion at the Department of Social Theology and Religious Studies at NKUA.

The students who qualified for the final round of the competition were:

1. Karamousli Ilektra

2. Mili Anna

3. Nikopoulos Nikolaos

4. Polemi Marianna

5. Vekri Chrysa

The following students also qualified for the semi-final round of the competition:

1. Bolioti Manuela

2. Goudeli Nafsika

3. Sakellari Maria Aimilia

4. Stavrianou Dimitra Emmelia

5. Thibaut Lydia Eirini

Congratulations to all students who participated in both the final and semi-final rounds of the competition.