Mikis Theodorakis heads to final resting place

The body of revered Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis was heading to its final resting place on the island of Crete on Wednesday after lying in state at the Athens Metropolitan Cathedral for three days.

Theodorakis, who died last Thursday at the age of 96 in his home in Athens, will be buried beside his brother and father in his village, Galatas, in Hania, on Thursday.

Thousands of mourners of all ages laid flowers and sang his songs over the three days that his casket was on public display in the chapel of Agios Eleftherios beside the Athens Metropolitan Cathedral, while more defied the wet weather to give him a last send-off on Wednesday afternoon.

Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou delivered a brief eulogy during a memorial service held in the main church, describing the late composer, whose music and life were defined by Greece’s recent history and its struggle for democracy, as a “teacher and a paradigm.”

His music, she said, was “a call to a call to rise above the personal and commune with others; a code that transcended circumstances, standing for resistance, hope, camaraderie and collective struggles.”