These statements, however, failed to convince anyone, least of all the Turkish government, which on Easter Day in 1821 had the Patriarch Gregory V hanged from the main gate of the patriarchal residence as a public example by order of the Sultan; this was followed by a massacre of the Greek population of Constantinople. The brutal execution of Gregory V, especially on the day of Easter Sunday, shocked and infuriated the Greeks. It also caused protests in the rest of Europe and reinforced the movement of Philhellenism. There are references that during the Greek War of Independence, many revolutionaries engraved on their swords the name of Gregory, seeking revenge.