During the 1980s, Greece was in the midst of its first socialist government under prime minister Andreas Papandreou who implemented numerous changes to “modernize” the country.

One of the those lasting changes was ending the use of polytonic Greek, which included multiple accent marks.

The national conversation had begun among linguists and academics one decade earlier and the country’s top university — the National Polytechnic Institute — had already done away with polytonic Greek.

The Greek parliament officially declared monotonic Greek the national language on January 18, 1982. Some academics have since criticized the simplification by claiming that it ruins the polytonic system’s valuable link to Greece’s cultural past.

Despite the legal implementation of monotonic Greek, institutions such as the Greek Orthodox Church continue use the polytonic system.

Polytonic

Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς
ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου
ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου
γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου,
ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς
τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον
καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν,
ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν
καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν,
ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ.

Monotonic

Πάτερ ημών ο εν τοις ουρανοίς,
αγιασθήτω το όνομά Σου,
ελθέτω η Βασιλεία Σου,
γεννηθήτω το θέλημά Σου ως εν ουρανώ και επί της γης. 
Τον άρτον ημών τον επιούσιον δος ημίν σήμερον, 
και άφες ημίν τα οφειλήματα ημών, ως και ημείς αφίεμεν τοις οφειλέταις ημών.
Και μη εισενέγκης ημάς εις πειρασμόν, αλλά ρύσαι ημάς από του πονηρού.