Saint Kyriaki

'The Fall of Athens,' a hymn to the Greeks

"The Fall of Athens," Gail Holst-Warhaft's heartbreaking yet uplifting book on Greece and the Greeks, begins with a link to a song. "A song every Greek knows. It's by Vassilis Tsitsanis," she notes. It is "Synnefiasmeni Kyriaki" (Cloudy Sunday). An anthem of sorrow, written during the German occupation, it is a cry of pain and resignation and, at the same time, of hope and resilience.