Flag of Greece movements such as the "Etaireia", the First Greek National Assembly, convening in January 1822, took steps to disassociate itself from the "Etaireia"s legacy and portray nascent Greece as a "conventional", ordered nation-state. As such not only were the regional councils abolished in favour of a central administration, but it was decided to abolish all revolutionary flags and adopt a universal national flag. The reasons why the particular arrangement (white cross on blue) was selected, instead of the more popular blue cross on a white field, remain unknown. On 15 March 1822, the Provisional Government, by Decree Nr. 540, laid down
Flag of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Byzantine Empire. The double-headed eagle was historically used as an emblem in the late Byzantine period (14th–15th centuries), but not on flags; rather it was embroidered on imperial clothing and accoutrements by both the Palaiologos emperors of the Byzantine Empire and the Grand Komnenos rulers of the Empire of Trebizond, descendants of the Byzantine imperial family of the same name. The actual flag of the Palaiologan-era Byzantine Empire was based on the tetragrammatic cross in gold on a red background. This design also forms the basis for another flag used by the Orthodox Church of Greece, with the