Sacred Band (1821)

In Focșani, after the completion of the training of the Sacred Band's members, oath taking ceremony was organized, according to the Tsarist etiquette.

The only known part of the Sacred Band's member's uniform is the one of Konstantinos Xenokratis (1803–1876),[3] which is displayed in the National Historical Museum of Greece.

On the one side there was the inscription "ΕΝ ΤΟΥΤΩ ΝΙΚΑ" (In this sign, conquer), motto of the Roman emperor and founder of the Byzantine Empire Constantine the Great, who is also portrayed in the flag with his mother Helena of Constantinople in the fashion of Greek Orthodox iconography.

On the other side there was the picture of a phoenix regenerated from the flames and the inscription "ΕΚ ΤΗΣ ΚΟΝΕΩΣ ΜΟΥ ΑΝΑΓΕΝΝΩΜΑΙ" (From my ashes I am reborn).

Their oath taking took place in the temple of the city; “As a Christian orthodox and son of the Catholic church, I swear in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity to be loyal to my Country and my Religion.

I swear in the name of Holy Communion that I will deprive her if I don't execute all of the promises that I gave in front of our Lord Jesus Christ".

In a crucial phase of the battle, Giorgakis Olympios arrived and saved 136 members, including Nikolaos Ypsilantis and Athanasios Tsakalov, and the flag of the Sacred Band.

In Dragatsani's cemetery in Romania there is the Monument of the Deceased Sacred Band's members which was erected in 1884, an initiative by the editing committee of the Greek newspaper "Syllogoi" in Bucharest.

On the front side of the pillar rises a 5-meter monolith with embossed cross on the crescent and under this the symbol of the Sacred Band's members.

At the center of the pillar there is the inscription: “ΔΙΑΒΑΤΑ ΑΓΓΕΛΟΥ ΟΤΙ ΕΝΘΑΔΕ ΚΕΙΜΕΘΑ ΥΠΕΡ ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΑΣ ΑΓΩΝΙΣΑΜΕΝΟΙ.” The poet Alexandros Soutsos set another stele for the Sacred Band’s members, crafted by Leonidas Drosis, in the memory of his brother Dimitrios, the fallen centurion of the Sacred Band in 1845 northwest of the University.

Since 1885 the stele was transferred near to the Holy Temple of Taxiarches in Pedion tou Areos, near to the Alexander Ypsilantis monument, which was crafted in 1869 by Drosis.

Alexandros Ypsilantis in Sacred Band's attire
Alexander Ypsilantis crosses the Pruth , by Peter von Hess , Benaki Museum , Athens. Ypsilantis wears the uniform of the Sacred Band.
The Sacred Band in the Battle of Drăgășani