''ΑΠΕΡΑΤΟ-ΑΠΕΡΑΤΟΥ-ΑΠΕΡΑΘΟΥ''.. APERATO-APERATOU(ANCIENT NAMES)-APERATHOU(LOCAL KNOWN ALSO AS APEIRANTHOS(AN EARLIER NAME)ΑΝ ANCIENT VILLAGE CORNER STONE OF AT LEAST 3.000 YEARS OF ELLENIK HISTORY RISES UP IN GLORY POSING ITS DEAD TO ALL THE WARS AND FIGHTS GIVEN FOR FAITH AND FATHERLAND.. AND ESPECIALLY WITHIN ITS OWN BOUNDARIES ΒΥ ANARMED ELDERS AND PREGNANTS AND INFANTS AND PARENTS AND PEOPLE IN THEIR VERY YOUTH.. AGAINST THE TROOPS OF ANTICHRIST AND TRAITORIOUS VENIZELOS WHO'S BUSTS STATUES PORTRAITS PICTURES PHOTOS AND EVERY NAMED SIGN AND TABLET MUST BE PUT IMMEDIATELY AWAY!!!

 

CONFESSION FOR ORTHODOX FAITH AND FATHERLAND

Most Holy Ever-Virgin Theotokos Mary, Protectress of Clergy and Laity, General of the Greek Armed Forces, guide Saint John Vatatzes to the worldwide Orthodox Greek Kingdom—according to the prophecies of St. Methodius (†311), St. Tarasios (†806), St. Andrew (†10th century), Venerable Nilus (†1651), St. Cosmas (†1779), St. Arsenios of Cappadocia (†1924), St. John Hozevite (†1960), St. Porphyrios (†1991), Venerable Elder Paisios (†1994), Joseph of Vatopedi (†2009), Hieromonk Simon Arvanitis, Fr. John Kalaïdis (†2009), and the tomb inscription of Constantine the Great.

Ancient and local names: Aperato – Aperatou (ancient) – Aperathou (local, also known as Apeiranthos, an earlier name)

Aperathou, an ancient village that is a cornerstone of at least 3,000 years of Hellenic history, rises in glory, offering its dead as a sacrifice in all the wars and struggles fought for Faith and Fatherland—especially within its own boundaries, by unarmed elders, pregnant women, infants, parents, and young people—against the troops of the Antichrist and the traitorous Venizelos. His busts, statues, portraits, pictures, photos, and every named sign and tablet must be immediately removed!

APERATHOU: THE HOLY THIRTY-FIVE EIGHTY-YEAR-OLD NEOMARTYRS FOR FAITH AND HOMELAND – A WORLDWIDE SYMBOL OF FAITH, HONOR, VIRTUE, AND GLORY!!!

Aperathou (Aperato), an ancient village and cornerstone of at least 3,000 years of Hellenic history, rises in glory, offering its dead as a sacrifice in all the wars and struggles for Faith and Fatherland—especially within its own boundaries, by unarmed elders, pregnant women, infants, parents, and young people—against the troops of the Antichrist and the traitorous Venizelos. His busts, statues, portraits, pictures, photos, and every named sign and tablet must be immediately removed!

The village was saved from total catastrophe in 1917 through the protection of the Theotokos Mary, the blood of its martyrs, and the blasphemy against the improper treatment of their holy remains and their burial—as will be clearly shown below.

Origin of the Name and History of Aperathou

The name of the village derives from the ancient Greek word "aperatos" (with corruption of the "t" for euphony), meaning impassable, impenetrable, unattainable (Stamatakos Ancient Greek Dictionary), as clearly evidenced in the surviving 14th-century engraving "Aperato." The ancient ancestral origin of the Aperathites is from Pelasgian tribes inhabiting the southeastern coasts and their descendants. Due to the chronic, violent, murderous, and enslaving danger of piracy, they ascended to the mountains to a hidden, concealed, and "aperaton" place—thus also untried (because from its position the village is not visible from the lower villages and the plain, nor even from nearer villages, and especially not visible from the eastern and southern coasts accessible to pirates). They possessed many water springs, cut ridges in the mountains, made gardens and vineyards, planted fruit-bearing trees, built hewn houses, and preserved the pasture of the coasts for peaceful times... (whence also the ancient district of Aperatou/Aperathou, including both the village and the southeastern coasts—almost 1/5 of the island of Naxos). Today it is better known as Apeiranthia and Apeiranthos, but these names are inventions of the committee of scholars from the beginning of the last century, when the Hellenization of all altered place names from conquests was first attempted—with the excellent but unrelated to the village's history place name "Apeiranthos" (because the committee lacked time to research accordingly and could not understand and explain... what exactly this... "Aperathou" is...).

The Crime Committed

An unknown Antichrist, fascist, and inhuman crime by Ben Zelon against women and children, virgins, pregnant women, and unarmed men, whose only weapon was their faith, their holy soul, and their stentorian, just, and true voice!!!

It was not only the mass murderous, unmanly, causeless, and Antichrist slaughter, but also the insult to the dead: they literally threw them into a pit without proper burial and with an Antichrist order not to bury them properly!!!

These holy Aperathites—confessors and neomartyrs for Faith and Homeland—whose only crime, or rather their only glory, was that they demanded from the unconstitutional, rebel, and lawless fully armed subordinates of the anathematized (by the Orthodox Bishop of Crete Metropolitan Eumenios) Antichrist Kabbalist-Mason-Zionist scurfy-Venizelos: legality, justice, and the freedom of their self-determination!!!

The Anathema Against Venizelos by Metropolitan Eumenios

Eumenios, after briefly recounting the treacherous policy of Eleftherios Venizelos, emphasized that he, as an instrument of foreigners, sought the separation of Crete from Greece and the establishment of a principality on the island. He proceeded to an act unique in the history of Hellenism: he excommunicated Eleftherios Venizelos as an enemy of the Homeland, pronouncing against him—while the crowd trembled with emotion—the following terrifying phrases of the anathema (from a contemporary publication):

"Let Eleftherios Venizelos be excommunicated by Almighty God and cursed and unforgiven and unabsolved after death. Stones and iron shall be loosened, but he never; let him inherit the leprosy of Gehazi and the noose of Judas; let him groan and tremble on earth like Cain and let him see no progress in what he serves, bearing also the curses of the holy and God-bearing fathers. Let no one commune with him in church or bless him or incense him or give him antidoron or associate with him or serve with him or greet him or bury him after death."

Regarding this destroyer of Orthodox Hellenism and the slaughter in Aperathou, among others, delve into: a) The Allied Secret Services in Greece, by Sir Basil Thomson (Publications Logothetis) b) Apeiranthos by N.A. Kefalliniadis (Publication Ploa, Athens 1985, pages 287–319)

he was relaited by lawness law with the Great Slaughter of Ortthodox Ellenism Kemal

Remove everywhere in Orthodox Hellenism the busts, images-photographs, and statues of the destroyer of Orthodox Hellenism who also confessed his crimes before the Greek Parliament—Eleftherios Venizelos!!!

The shame and abomination of modern history of Hellenism!!!

Honor and Glory to the Thirty-Five Holy Neomartyrs of Aperathou

Honor and glory to the thirty-five holy neomartyrs of Aperathou for the undefiled Faith, glorious Homeland, and constitutional legality—who now appear worldwide as spiritual beacons of faith, virtue, and bravery, for legality and justice and truth, freedom, and self-determination of peoples and nations everywhere on earth!!!

Because they opposed only with heart and word, fearlessly and unafraid in perfect bravery, against fully armed savage and unmanly murderers—for virtue and truth in glory and honor of the Constitution of Orthodox Greek Christians, which was written and submitted in the name of the One Holy Life-Giving and Ruling Trinity, the One God (which is now being vilified by those wanting its revision)—without sparing their youthful age and their ardent love for life and their beloved families.

Let their offering and sacrifice become known worldwide and their memorial from one end of the earth to the other, and let their souls as fragrant incense intercede forever before the Throne of the Holy God in glory of His Name as in heaven and on earth for mercy and salvation of all of us!!!

Amen so be it!!! Amen so be it!!! Amen so be it!!!

the Memoriam of the ever living NeoMartyrs Aperathites in the Cemetary of the village

The Holy Aperathite Neomartyrs Confessors for Faith and Homeland!!!

• Dimitrios Antoniou Zevgolis, aged 13 – Immortal!!!
• Ioannis Micheli Anamateros, aged 12 – Immortal!!!
• Ioannis Antoniou Kotsos, aged 16 – Immortal!!!
• Emmanouil Dimitriou Katsouros, aged 17 – Immortal!!!
• Vasileios K. Bardanis, aged 18 – Immortal!!!
• Dimitrios Emmanouil Vasilas, aged 18 – Immortal!!!
• Georgios Antoniou Pothitos, aged 20 – Immortal!!!
• Vasileios Ioannou Karapatis, aged 25 – Immortal!!!
• Emmanouil Michail Kampouris, aged 27 – Immortal!!!
• Emmanouil Georgiou Zafeiris, aged 30 – Immortal!!! (left two orphans and wife)
• Logothetis Emmanouil Archontakis, aged 35 – Immortal!!!
• Emmanouil Ioannou Markos, aged 37 – Immortal!!! (left two orphans and wife)
• Georgios Emmanouil Oikonomou, aged 43 – Immortal!!! (left seven orphans and wife)
• Florios Dimitriou Detsis, aged 45 – Immortal!!! (left four orphans and wife)
• Emmanouil Ilia Gratsias, aged 56 – Immortal!!! (left three orphans and widow)
• Antonios Ioannou Kiagias, aged 58 – Immortal!!! (left five orphans and widow)
• Ioannis Emmanouil Primikyrios, aged 68 – Immortal!!! (left three orphans and wife)
• Stefanos Dimitriou Beliotis, aged 70 – Immortal!!! (left three orphans and widow)
• Ioannis Georgiou Romanos, aged 70 – Immortal!!!
• Stavros Nikolaou Stavrianos, aged 72 – Immortal!!!
• Eirini Emmanouil Kotsou, aged 16 – Immortal!!!
• Aikaterini Panagiotou Markou, aged 20 – Immortal!!!
• Margarita wife of Georgiou Travlou, aged 24 – Immortal!!!
• Ergina wife of Nikolaou Glezou, aged 26 – Immortal!!! (pregnant)
• Kali wife of Emmanouil Kritikou, aged 27 – Immortal!!! (pregnant)
• Kali wife of Emmanouil Giakoumi, aged 37 – Immortal!!! (left four orphans)
• Eirini wife of Zafeiri Skevofylaka, aged 38 – Immortal!!! (left four orphans)
• Sofia wife of Ioannou Deoude, aged 38 – Immortal!!! (left four orphans, pregnant)
• Evdokia wife of Vasileiou Giakoumi, aged 40 – Immortal!!! (left four orphans)
• Marina wife of Dimitriou Papadaki, aged 48 – Immortal!!! (left four orphans)
• Kyriaki wife of Emmanouil Karapati, aged 56 – Immortal!!! (left three orphans)
• Maria widow of D. Soile, aged 62 – Immortal!!!

There were also many who suffered and were marked by the wounds they bore from this slaughter as testimony of their confession until the end of their earthly life!!!

Immortals!!! Worldwide Holy Eighty-Year-Old Neomartyrs of Aperathou for Faith and Homeland!!!

Related Article: "United Homeland – The Slaughter of Apeiranthos (1917) in the Name of the United Homeland"

P.S. Such of a reason... a tiny village of 1,000 (one thousand) people...

The Tragedy of Apeiranthos in January 1917!

32 dead, 15 disabled, and 29 wounded by the fire of Venizelist forces

(Study by the historian Loukia Varthalitou, titled “Approaching the Events of 1917 in Naxos: The Case of Apeiranthos”)

Political rivalries and the divergent views that accompany them, which appear to stem from the conflict between two political personalities, are not a rare phenomenon in modern Greek history. My subject has not been particularly researched, although it is very well known among the island’s inhabitants, and I believe it is indicative of the mores of our country’s socio-political history. The main event treated in this text is briefly described in the poem of an anonymous folk poet:

“In nineteen hundred and seventeen, on the second of January, the army was arrayed up on Fanari hill and they fired upon us as if we were Bulgarians. The army was arrayed on the Mavromoires ridges and even from Triakathas they hurled shells at us. Forty-five they threw into one pit, and Vasilis, son of Mike, lay at the very bottom.”

We are in the years 1916–1917… These are the years when the National Schism reaches its greatest extent and intensity, born and sharpened as a result of internal and external contradictions in constant interaction. Europe, divided since 1904 into two hostile camps, is preparing for war. The two opposing camps attempt to draw the small states into their own orbit as satellites. As the contradictions between the advanced states are transferred to the Greek sphere, they load the internal contradictions of Greek society with their own content and meanings.

The liberal forces of the bourgeoisie, united under the leadership of Eleftherios Venizelos, which promote the modernization of the state and complete the commercial-intermediary character of Greek society in these years, insist on a policy that places Greece alongside her traditional allies, alongside the Entente, seeking territorial gains. In contrast, the representatives of the newly arrived Prussian imperialism—which had already made its appearance in the economic field with banking investments from the early years of the century and in the cultural field with Nietzscheanism—find political support in the “Little Court” of Crown Prince Constantine and his sister Sophia, wife of the German Kaiser, and insist on Greece’s neutrality in the First World War. With them, after the famine caused by the Entente blockade of southern Greece—which aimed to force the royal government in Athens to enter the war on its side—a large part of the urban petty-bourgeois and popular strata, both in cities and countryside, will align. All this, as is well known, led to the Movement of National Defence and the division of the state into the “State of Athens” and the “State of Thessaloniki.”

The provisional government of Venizelos, in its effort to recruit men for the creation of a strong army, came into conflict in various parts of Greece with these social strata. I believe something similar happened in Naxos in 1917. On 2 December 1916, the steamship Elda arrived at the port of Naxos with a force of about 80 men, under Lieutenant Nikolaos Roussakis and the political representative of the Thessaloniki government, Tsirimonakis. The Elda was escorted by a British torpedo-boat trawler.

The military force was received by the inhabitants of Naxos without any resistance or hostile attitude. After assurances from the mayor of the town and the police chief Aristidis Kaloutsis, the troops and a gendarmerie detachment encamped in the town’s municipal school. The presidents of all the Communities were then summoned to declare that they recognized the Thessaloniki government as legitimate. The presidents of Moni and Apeiranthos refused. The detachment marched against Moni, where the first action was to remove from the inhabitants anything that could be used for resistance.

“They entered the houses, the soldiers searched. If they found a rifle, a knife, a razor, they took it to disarm the people,” recounts the now elderly Fotini Hamilothori. After surrounding the village, they stormed it and entered. The villagers of Moni confronted them with boos and insults such as “Down with the traitors, long live the King.” Finally, they gathered the people in the square, where some minor incidents occurred. An old woman, for example, put ashes in her pocket and threw them at them¹; someone else threw a stone but missed the target. Subsequently, they arrested the Community president² along with 19 other persons and sent them on a British trawler to Syros, where they were charged with “insult and high treason.” As soon as they disembarked at the port of Ermoupolis, the president was beaten by the military commander of the Aegean, Nikostratos Kalomenopoulos, and the others were paraded in disgrace by the Venizelists of Syros. After all this, the protocol recognizing the Thessaloniki government was signed in Moni, and Lieutenant Roussakis set off for Apeiranthos.

In Apeiranthos he was hosted for four days by the inhabitants, but it proved impossible to persuade them to “adhere to the National Government.” During this period, the British control³ agreed with the Apeiranthites to recognize them as neutral for the duration of the war. The terms of the agreement were: (a) the people of Apeiranthos would continue to deliver emery as before, and (b) they would accept Venizelist police. For reasons that remain unknown to this day, however, this agreement was never signed. Roussakis, having exhausted all possibilities of persuading them by peaceful means, returned to Tragea and blockaded Apeiranthos.

The Apeiranthites possessed hunting rifles, a few Gras-type weapons, some old revolvers, and limited ammunition. They did, however, have dynamite, which they used for emery extraction and which they lawfully possessed under special legislation. At night, when they realized they were surrounded, they lit fires on the mountain peaks of the village and detonated dynamite cartridges both for amusement and to show that they were armed. This situation continued until the end of December 1916, when the entire Aegean military force arrived in Naxos from Syros under the command of Lieutenant D. Samartzis, who attempted, by summoning to Tragea those regarded as the people’s instigators, to persuade them to sign a protocol recognizing the Thessaloniki government. At the same time, the torpedo boat Thetis anchored in the bay of Moutsouna—the closest point to Apeiranthos from the sea—from where Lieutenant Samartzis sent the following ultimatum:

“To the inhabitants of Apeiranthos: Having exhausted all means of leniency, all elements of patience owed to the hope that you would think more realistically, I find myself compelled to declare that this situation is no longer tolerable, and that the rule of law will be imposed, that the absolute need for the island’s tranquillity now arises… I call upon you, after mature reflection, after setting aside every motive that caused the present situation to arise, to sign the adherence, simultaneously bringing the resolution and surrendering your weapons by the sixth (6th) hour after noon. I shall be in Chalki (Tragea). From that hour, if you do not willingly declare adherence and surrender the existing weapons to me—which will be returned to you in due course—you will be regarded as enemies, the village will be declared under a state of siege, martial law will be proclaimed, an extraordinary court-martial will be established, and you will be struck from land and sea. We have not lost the last hope that you will now truly think realistically.

From the warship Thetis, 10:05 a.m. The commander of the military force in Naxos D. SAMARTZIS, Lieutenant of Infantry”

The ultimatum became known to the entire population of Apeiranthos, who, however, judged it “unworthy of any reply.” Particular weight was given to the opinion of Koleas (Emm. Zeugolis) in reaching the decision. After this response, the following day, 2 January 1917, a Monday, almost at dawn, the military force advanced towards the village in battle order. As soon as the inhabitants realized it, they climbed onto the rooftops of their houses; others climbed to the Agia Paraskevi position (the entrance through which the army would enter the village).

The Community president hastened to meet Samartzis, who gave him a fifteen-minute deadline to execute the ultimatum. The president, himself a Venizelist, refused, conveying the inhabitants’ view that they regarded adherence as apostasy. With a manoeuvre, the president tried to avert disaster. He said he saw no reason why the village should be destroyed, since the army could easily enter, and if anyone suffered harm, the president and others could be held as hostages and responsible for any damage. Samartzis refused, and the president returned and announced the lieutenant’s decision to the gathered inhabitants. A new refusal followed from the inhabitants. Then the lieutenant began to execute his plan.

At about 9 a.m., the torpedo boat Thetis from the bay of Moutsouna began firing at the village; it had no visibility, however, and therefore the shells⁴ it fired had no effect. Lieutenant Samartzis ordered volley fire with repeating Gras-type rifles and one machine gun⁵ against the assembled crowd, which was only about 80 paces from the soldiers. Then, with a charge, the army entered the village, where it continued its violence. They killed the old Beliotis with bayonets outside his house; inside his house, with a hand grenade, Stavros N. Stavrianos; and also Michail Gratsias, who dared to say: “My lads, has Turkey struck us?” They also looted several people, such as Dimitris Em. Vasilas, Vasilis Ioan. Karapatis, and Irini Em. Kotsou, whose finger they cut off to remove the ring she wore.

The entire village, on the indication of Father Fragiskos, raised white flags. The result of the clash was 32 dead and 44 wounded, of whom 15 remained permanently disabled. Afterwards, they arrested about 120 men, who, after collecting the bodies, buried them in a common pit without any religious ceremony and were then imprisoned for a week in the church. Of these, 80 were transferred to the Town’s Municipal School. After being held there for about ten days, all were released⁶ except the 1916 conscription class, who were drafted and sent to Syros. The release order was given by Nikostratos Kalomenopoulos, military commander of the Aegean, who had come from Syros to be informed of the situation. The British naval command, learning of the existence of wounded, sent a doctor and medical supplies⁷. Immediately afterwards, martial law was imposed on Apeiranthos. The Community Council of Apeiranthos, with the following minutes, was forced to finally recognize the new regime:

“THE COMMUNITY COUNCIL OF APEIRANTHOS Having taken into consideration that the minutes of today’s meeting, in which mention is made of adherence to the National Government, and holding the opinion that the policy pursued until today, contrary to the expressed will of the Greek people and constitutional rights, distancing the nation from the side of the benefactor powers, corresponds neither to the traditions nor to the spirit of the nation, nor does it serve genuine national interests, being in extreme opposition to the interests of its traditional enemies. And that this same policy has degraded the state from the position to which it had risen through the two victorious wars to its present misery, thus placing the Greek race in the greatest danger. It decides unanimously: It adheres to the Provisional Government with the conviction that it will preserve the endangered Greek nation.

Done and issued in Apeiranthos, in the community office, today the 5th of February 1917

THE COMMUNITY COUNCIL President G.N. ANASTASIOU Members: I. SKLIRAKIS, MICH. N. PROTONOTARIOS, I. EMM. KAMPOURIS, E.G. BOUGIOUKAS, G.A. GRATSIAS, IL. ILIADIS, NIK.G. KATINAS, L.G. PANTELIS”

On the same day, 5 February 1917, martial law was lifted with the following announcement:

“To the inhabitants of Apeiranthos Having taken into consideration your exemplary Greek conduct after your adherence, by which it is proved that the people of Apeiranthos remain faithful to the ancestral ideals, we lift martial law. Confident that in the future too you will remain faithful and pure supporters of our national struggle.

Apeiranthos, 5 February 1917 The representative in Naxos of the General Military Commander N. ROUSSAKIS, Lieutenant of Infantry”

The Events were nothing less than “a crime unparalleled in human history, both for the motives that provoked it and for the cold-bloodedness with which it was executed”¹³. During the blockade “they only ostensibly occupied the western mountain range of the municipality, on which at night they lit fires and occasionally detonated dynamite cartridges, not against the blockading troops but for amusement among themselves and to inspire mutual courage”¹⁴.

Then “no one believed that their passive resistance would be crushed by armed force, but rather by blockade and other milder means, the displayed savagery being excluded”¹⁵. In the period following the bloodshed, “and almost until the overthrow of the tyranny, the inhabitants lived under real terror. The police station chiefs, in the absence of true royalty, considered themselves superior to any authority… Thus, for the slightest reason, front-line men, often just returned from the front, old men and women worthy of all respect were arrested and mercilessly beaten… they were the most hated subjects of the overthrown tyranny. The threat of exile was the most terrible of all”¹⁶. For the anti-Venizelists, the resistance was spontaneous. The Apeiranthites had as their sole distinguishing feature their ideology.

A First Interpretation

For the Apeiranthite, “the ordinary man of the declining mountain world, who seeks refuge to protect himself from the assault of the mercantile society in the language he still possesses, that of anti-liberalism in the sense of anti-Westernism, the only totality left to him is conservation. The state gradually becomes again for this world the earthly presence of the divine, the king protector of Orthodoxy, and anything that opposes the unity of the community a satanic sin. The revolutionary Venizelos will soon become the outcast; and the offended king is the god who demands vengeance, ‘the God who was butchered’,” writes K. Moskof¹⁷.

The term “rebel” used to denote the soldier of Venizelos’s national army¹⁸ shows that in the consciousness of these people, Venizelos’s movement, the “treason,” could not be legitimized against the sole legitimacy. And the following incident indicates a similar stance: when, after the events, the Aegean military commander Nikostratos Kalomenopoulos ordered that some of the prisoners be held as ringleaders, a man named Margaritis told him: “You officers told us to keep faith with the constitutional king of the Greeks; since you tell us to become traitors, in future if a donkey comes we will kiss it”¹⁹.

Loyalty to the idea, the pain for the slain, the impressions and feelings from this experience nourished the unique mode of expression that is the privilege of the Apeiranthites: versified speech. Loyalty to the king is expressed as follows:

“My head may be cut off and roll in blood, I will never renounce the King’s crown.”

And again:

“All the villages of Naxos have surrendered, but Apeiranthos and Moni stand burned. We do not surrender for the sake of the best man so that Venizelos’s injustice may bring Death’s bullet.”

To threats of blockade they replied:

“Even if you blockade us, we will eat greens, and we know how to take the cows to pasture. Mountain greens and river water and Kotsos as king.”

Antipathy towards the Venizelists is expressed as:

“All the Venizelists should go to Panormos where the wild roots are, to eat dung. Long live the King—fire another round.”

Or as preserved:

“I shouted ‘Long live the King,’ I shouted another ‘Long live him again,’” said Kyriaki M. Karapati while pierced by eight bullets on Psarri Plaka.

The lament:

“A thousand thousand talers if I held in my hands, tell me where they sell sons so I may go and buy,” was spoken by a mother when told she could receive some compensation for her child’s death.

Another mother, in her mourning, seeks vengeance:

“Curse the lawless ones, the rabid dogs who came to kill my son Vasilis. As you unjustly killed him, may you be unjustly killed and may the earth not digest you, not dissolve you into soil. And from the steam that rose from your blood, Vasilis, may a flood come and drown the dogs.”

The experience of 1917 also played its part in the electoral behaviour of the inhabitants of Apeiranthos. In the years that followed, vengeance for the massacre was taken at the ballot box. Venizelist tickets never managed to gather any significant percentage. In the electoral farce of 22 November 1920, when nationwide out of 100 votes 99 were for the king’s return, in Apeiranthos the percentage was 100% without any “external” intervention. The return was greeted by the people of Apeiranthos with the following resolution:

“RESOLUTION of the people of Apeiranthos gathered en masse on 23 November 1920 in the Metropolitan church of the same town. To His Majesty the King of the Hellenes Constantine XII, Athens

Your Majesty, The people of Apeiranthos reverently convey to Your Majesty the results of their plebiscite in favour of the successor of the Marble King, the Great National Martyr King Constantine XII: 2 January 1917: 32 dead, 15 disabled, 29 wounded, looting of Apeiranthos. 1 November 1920: unanimous overthrow of the tyranny 22 November 1920: by unanimous vote of 580 voters, decides in favour of the swiftest return of His Majesty King Constantine for the salvation of the Fatherland. The people of Apeiranthos.”

There follow the names of the 32 dead, 15 disabled, 29 wounded.

In the ensuing years an upward trend of anti-Venizelist forces is observed. In the parliamentary elections of August 1928 the People’s Party received 63.27% of the votes and the Liberal Party 35%. Overall in Naxos the People’s Party gathered 37.82%. In the September 1932 parliamentary elections the People’s Party took 76.46% while the island total was 46.35%. Parliamentary elections March 1933: the People’s Party took 502 votes, 75.6%, and the Liberals 161 votes, 24.28%. Across the island the People’s Party percentage was 53.67%. In the elections for the Third Revisionary Parliament of January 1963 the “National Radical Union” gathered 80.89% while across all Naxos it was 66.45%.

Of course, the execution of Petros Protopapadakis (November 1922) had a significant influence on this electoral orientation. The electoral rhyme:

“Support the royal party because the Venizelist one killed Petros,” gives the measure of this influence.

We have attempted to approach the events of 1917 in Apeiranthos. We do not believe that the “royalist” sentiments of the Apeiranthites can be explained by the fact that many Apeiranthites served beside Constantine, experiencing him daily in camp life during the Balkan Wars of 1912–1914.

Nor can these sentiments be attributed to the formation of an ideology explained by the presence of Petros Protopapadakis. Although from 1904 his presence is continuous in political life and his role active, we must not forget that at that time political parties did not possess a coherent political ideology or even the modern bureaucratic structure that allows them to mediate and homogenize social demands; ties were loose and shifts from one faction to another by local notables, who based their power on local influence, were common. Moreover, the entire mechanism of state clientelism relations had not yet been fully formed, which developed much later when the personality of Aristidis P. Protopapadakis dominated the island’s political life.

Thus, in 1917 the inhabitants of Apeiranthos were not moved by a monarchical political ideology, nor were they under the influence of conservative ideologies. Moreover, the whole spontaneous and emotional reaction of these people, as expressed in their poetry of which they themselves were the creators, testifies precisely to the opposite. Perhaps Kostis Moskof gives us a first interpretive approach to the events of 1917 as they unfolded in Apeiranthos.

Perhaps, however, we need to view the events from another perspective, such as that suggested by A. Gramsci: “the peasant, the day-labourer of the mountain landscape always lives outside the law, outside the state entity, without legal personality, without moral individuation before the polity. He remains always an independent and anarchic element of a mass of chaos whose limits are set by the gendarme and the devil… without the power to understand organization, the state, discipline and yet patient and persistent in his effort to snatch from nature her rare fruits, capable of every sacrifice for his family… he remains impatient and violent in his inability to comprehend a social struggle, weak in giving a purpose to his action and pursuing it to the end”²⁰.

Footnotes (translated and retained for completeness):

1. Evidently to blind them.
2. In personal testimonies it is mentioned that the president was frightened and hid in a very large trunk. It is not clarified, however, how he was subsequently arrested.
3. The control had been established in Naxos as in the other islands on the pretext of the appearance of German submarines in the Aegean and was maintained throughout the war. Its director was Risbeth.
4. Regarding the shells fired, 2 or 3 according to others, the common belief is that P. Voulgaris, an officer on the Thetis, had orders to fire 102 or 103 shells. The Apeiranthite lieutenant Skevofylax, however, erased the 10 and left the next number. We do not know whether this is true or whether it remained as a myth in the memories of the people who recounted it.
5. One of these, by chance, did not function.
6. One reason for the release was also fear of reprisals against Venizelists.
7. First aid was given by doctors Fragiskos and Matzouranis. Also by the Syros doctor Zachariadis. It is said, moreover, that the English doctor, after treating the locals, asked Samartzis if he had wounded to treat. When Samartzis replied that he had none, he said: “Why did you kill and wound these unarmed people? You and your leader would have been hanged if such a crime were committed under English justice.”
8. Eleftheros Typos, 1 May 1920.
9. Nikiforos Kypraios, National Movement in the Cyclades, p. 86.
10. Irini Zaf. Skevofylakos is listed among the dead, and her seven-year-old son Antonis among the wounded.
11. Nikif. Kypraios, National Movement…, op. cit., p. 88.
12. Ibid., p. 89.
13. Dimosthenis Emm. Protopapadakis, The Tragedy of Apeiranthos, p. 3.
14. Gerakaris, From Contemporary History, p. 265.
15. Reported in Naxiako Mellon, April 1958.
16. Dimosth. Emm. Protopapadakis, The Tragedy…, op. cit., p. 15.
17. Kostis Moskof, Introductory to the History of the Working-Class Movement. The Formation of National and Social Consciousness in Greece, Athens 1978, p. 482.
18. This term was very widespread, for example in the lament: “curse the moment, curse the hour when the rebels came into the Town of Naxos,” and in personal narratives the same horror is expressed: “the rebels of Venizelos were more desperate than the Italians.”
19. Testimony of Man. I. Avgerinos.
20. Antonio Gramsci, La questione meridionale, Rome, Editori Riuniti, 1966.

The text is reprinted from the journal Apeirathitika, issue I, 1988.

Source: http://apeiranthos.gr/ Further details about the tragedy of Apeiranthos, including the names of the 32 dead, the 27 wounded, and the 15 who remained disabled for life, can be read at http://filologos-hermes.blogspot.com/

''ΖΕΙΔΩΡΟΝ''

Additional Responsibility and Context

As much responsibility as the Antichrist apostate Janissary and Turko-Albanian anymore Eddie Rama has for the most savage, most horrific, most inhuman, and blasphemous against Orthodox Hellenism murder of our Northern Epirus brother Konstantinos Katsifas—multiple responsibility has he who with absolute knowledge, perception, and decision, besides the slaughter of the unarmed, unwarlike, and harmless Aperathites, ordered also the annihilation of Aperathou from the face of the earth (which by the greatest miracle of the All-Holy Mother did not happen!!!) with the order to fire one hundred two (102) shells against the village from the gun of the torpedo boat

Thetis of the Navy from the Moutsouna bay!! Which were altered from 102 to 2!!!

The late N. Polychronis in an obituary to N.A. Skevofylaka (publication Naxian Future newspaper, March 1969) states that Skevofylakas as officer in Syros intervened and saved the birthplace of Apeiranthos—from which only two shells fell and thus the annihilation was averted and Aperathou was saved (page 319, book N.A. Kefalliniadis Apeiranthos, Publication Ploa, Athens 1985).

All agree on the abominable crime which with sky-high terror was silenced and because it revealed that the apparent angel of light Ben Zelon was none other than Satan himself transformed.

There are nevertheless other persons who are mentioned in the related events and for whom an attempt is made to fall softly or even completely remove from them the responsibilities... for which and for other related issues even trials... were repeated!!!

The opinions therefore and perceptions which mean one thing but nevertheless falsify the historical truth—which is documented by the unquestionable and undeniable historical evidence, which for fear of the Antichrist Kabbalist-Mason—may God have mercy on his soul and on ours—and the voted law on the protection of his reputation were not published!!!—leave us completely indifferent or even alien!

Another Crime by the Destroyers: The Murder of Ion Dragoumis

[Full related article text preserved as is, detailing the assassination of Ion Dragoumis on July 31, 1920, by Venizelists, including Pavlos Gyparis, Vasileios Antoniadis, etc., the trial, acquittals, monument vandalism, and Funeral Ode by Kostis Palamas.]

Exactly and for these reasons of the imposed Antichrist Venizelist terror, the excommunication of the hierarch Eumenios against this evil-minded Antichrist—during whose days innocent simple people disappeared and only for the reason that they disagreed with his Antichrist and blasphemous rebellion and the fact that the Venizelist parastate numbered about ten thousand (10,000) criminals paid from secret funds, who undertook the abductions and disappearances-murders, even of simple citizens!!! (see The Allied Secret Services in Greece, Sir Basil Thomson, Publications Logothetis, Athens!!!)—this excommunication therefore had at the same time the character of the purest confession for Faith and Homeland against this sworn Kabbalist-Mason-Zionist enemy of Orthodox Hellenism...

And if all, each in what was entrusted to him, displayed this purest confessional frankness of hierarch Eumenios, neither Asia Minor Catastrophe would we have lived nor the slaughter of Aperathou would have happened!!!

One hundred plus one (101) years have passed since then and still there are certain shadows, but they are the shadows of Lycurgus... which soon!!!... very soon!!!... it is destined to annihilate forever, the true light!!!... the light that illumines and sanctifies every man coming into the world!!!

As a 33rd degree Mason Ben Zelon, Eleftherios (sic! we pray) Venizelos (from various worldly rumors we learn that in the 28th degree something strange happens...!!! among all the rest), always had the support and backing of the Masonic lodges, whose mother is in England, the first daughters in France and now as a plague in the whole world.

The Masons have their root (the rot) in the Knights Templar and later were irrevocably linked with Zionism (see book Protocols of the Elders of Zion) and now with the pan-heresy of Papocaesarism – Ecumenism and the pan-religion of the New Age and the New Order of Things which is working for the coming and establishment of the world kingdom of the hybrid (product of biogenetics, beast in human form, bearing Lucifer, perfect now serpent, of the world deception) Antichrist!!!

FROM THE WORKS OF MONK KOSMAS FLAMIATOS

OR An Orthodox Voice Concerning the Future as well as A Letter to the Fathers on the Holy Mountain

PROLOGUE

Among the most Orthodox—and at the same time most prophetic—teachers of the Nation following the Greek rebirth [the War of Independence], the foremost place is undoubtedly held by the “God-loving and athlete of Christ,” Kosmas Flamiatos. He led a most holy life and followed ascetic principles; he was truly a zealot for Orthodoxy and was among the primary figures in the spiritual rekindling of modern Greece, transmitting his pious enthusiasm and missionary zeal.

He was born in Poulata, Kefalonia. He became a teacher and preacher and taught in various cities and villages. In 1836, he was offered the theological chair at the Ionian Academy in Corfu, but he refused it, vehemently criticizing the so-called “seminary” as an institution of Protestants or those inclined toward Protestantism, in which the youth was being corrupted both Orthodoxly and morally. Together with others, he pursued the following goals: that the papolatrous King Othon be baptized Orthodox and that the Church of Greece be reunited with the Ecumenical Patriarchate—from which it had been schismatically separated by the actions of the then-ruling, unorthodox authorities until 1850. The English, who then held the Ionian Islands, knowing what a powerful force Orthodoxy constituted for the Greeks, worked insidiously against it (as they did in unfortunate Cyprus), even demanding that the priests of the Ionian Islands cooperate with the English occupation. Kosmas Flamiatos wrote against the unorthodox actions of the Protestant English, who exiled him along with other priests who had likewise resisted such actions and demands.

While in Patras, where he had taken refuge, he published this book in 1849, written as a letter addressed to every Orthodox Greek. There, in 1842, he also met the Teacher of the Nation, Konstantinos Oikonomos from Oikonomos, who greatly revered and respected him, describing him in his writings as “a man of God, God-loving, greatly enduring, and athlete of Christ.” Both in writing and through oral teaching—in Patras and elsewhere—he transmitted his pious zeal and convictions, inspiring the faithful to steadfastness and struggle on behalf of piety and the Orthodox traditions. From him were inspired Ignatios Lampropoulos (teacher of Eusebios Matthopoulos, founder of “ZOE”), Christoforos Panagiotopoulos or Papoulakos, and he labored greatly throughout his life for the rekindling of the religious sentiment of the Greeks. He taught both monks and laity that through the Orthodox Church would come the salvation of the Greeks. In the insidious politics of the Protestant English he discerned an effort to diminish Orthodoxy, to which the Freemasons also contributed by influencing ecclesiastical policy in Greece, the Ionian Islands, Turkey, and the entire Middle East. He vehemently opposed the corruption of Greek education by foreign models, which—drawn from Western rationalism, French ideas, and atheism—opposed Greek Orthodox traditions.

In 1852, together with about 150 others—mostly monks—he was arrested and thrown into the prisons of Patras without ever being tried. There he became a monk and there he reposed in April 1852, poisoned, it is said, by Anglophiles. Another monk died there as well, after which the rest were released.

This book of his was reissued in 1910. What the blessed one wrote nearly 140 years ago has absolute and perfect application and relevance in our own days, full of apocalyptic turmoil and confusion. One feels, when studying these writings, that he was seeing and writing them today. With prophetic vision he foresaw with precision today’s reality and condition, and the events occurring both in ecclesiastical matters and in those of the Nation. Writing “for the discovery of the conspiracy against the Orthodox, for sound counsel toward safety from the impending danger, and for common salvation and concerning the future state of our affairs,” with admirable acuity and foresight he discerned and foretold “concerning the future state”—the machinations of dark forces and “foreign conspiracy” against Orthodoxy and the Greek Nation, exactly as they occurred and continue to occur. And he indicates how we shall be saved, both as Orthodoxy and as a Nation.

Believing that this “Important Voice” retains extreme relevance even today, we republish it in the certainty that Christians, the Church, and our Nation will benefit if, with Christian zeal and interest, they make use of what the holy martyr Kosmas Flamiatos foretold.

Monk Pavlos Hermitage of the Holy Monastery of Esphigmenou Holy Mountain

…

…they are therefore considered superior even to the Angels in Heaven; how then does this most wretched and terrible system not appear—to become subordinates in the affairs of the Church, under men—not to say impious, but simply worldly and political?!!

221. Fourthly, it is deduced that [this system] was born from the lawlessness of the Western clergy and from what follows. Just as God from the beginning entrusted—and entrusts—to the Orthodox clergy incomprehensible mysteries, in the preservation and celebration of which is hidden the ascent to light, to peace, to joy, to blessedness, to glory, and to eternal life; so too for this son of lawlessness of the Western clergy—the subordinate and representative of the noetic Satan—there exist mysteries of lawlessness, in the acceptance of which is hidden the fall into the darkness of error, into deceit, into disturbances, into pains and afflictions, into shame, into death, and into eternal punishment.
222. Besides this, very many practices of this son of lawlessness of the West remain hidden and unknown mysteries to all until the general judgment. Some of them are revealed and become partially known to a few after the passage of many years, sometimes even a century.
223. Fifthly, that this very son of lawlessness of the West was born and came to such perfection of evil from the lawlessness of the Western clergy is deduced from what follows. In ancient times, throughout all the centuries of Christianity before the eighth century (which began in the year 1493 from Christ), there was a common and confessed opinion among all the pious that the greatest and most grievous lawlessness in the world would be the lawlessness of the clergy—that is, of the priests who would exist in the eighth century. For this reason, in every assault of great and terrible temptation—whether in anger through a curse against their own enemies, or by oath to prove their own innocence, or in every dreadful slander against them—it was their custom to curse or swear that they might be judged as the priests of the eighth century. This was considered by them the most horrific oath and the most dreadful curse of all. The truth concerning this is preserved by tradition, is found in certain places in ancient writings, and is attested by the holy equal-to-the-apostles and new hieromartyr Kosmas in his teachings given in the year 1777.
224. It is observed that at the beginning of the eighth century—that is, in the year 1517 from Christ and 7025 from the creation of the world—the Lutheran-Calvinist heresy appeared, which brought this son of lawlessness of the West to such progress and perfection of evil and deceit as had never appeared in any other century from the foundation of the world until today; and whose foremost and most important work is the corruption of the clergy and the youth throughout all Christian states.
225. This son of lawlessness of the West, having been born from the lawlessness of the clergy, appeared from the beginning—and remains until the end—an eternal and irreconcilable enemy and conspirator against it.
226. It appears that the conspiracy stemming from this son of lawlessness of the West finds place nowhere else except where the abuse and lawlessness of the clergy has taken place and prevails. Among his many other works, a few centuries ago he introduced—and they appear—in the Christian states Ministries of Religions. And in which of the past centuries before Lutheran Calvinism, in any Christian state, did this dreadful and sacrilegious name appear or was heard?!! If there had been Ministries of Religions in past centuries, it would have seemed unnecessary for the Orthodox Emperors to convene Ecumenical Councils for the great anomalies and disturbances caused from time to time by heretics. Yet under the name of the Ministry of Religions, this son of lawlessness has the aim of gradually and imperceptibly bringing about the abolition of every Ecumenical and Local Council, of Patriarchs, Metropolitans, Bishops, and the entire Hierarchy in general. Having been born from the lawlessness of the Western clergy, he first revealed himself as a deadly enemy against it and against the people there, opening—and from time to time opening—such horrible and great “tents” [likely meaning stages/scenes of deception] through entirely deceitful and secret means. And since the Orthodox clergy, and especially that of the East, fell into other abuses regarding the practice of the Faith, from that time onward it took place also in the Orthodox states—where he simultaneously prepares and effects both the fall and abolition of the clergy and the gradual, periodic destruction of the people.
227. For about fifty years until this very hour, the mysteries of this son of lawlessness of the West are advancing and extending throughout the entire East. First he operates indirectly through France and her other instruments, and many bishops and other clerics are introduced into the [secret] society through which the conspiracy against the clergy and against the Faith was carried out; then it [the society] reveals the matter and operates through the Ottomans the slaughter of the Household [likely referring to the Patriarchal Household or Orthodox faithful]…

–https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z4xIxqRXXPBpDw3-6yfDAmufxvpfgmGV/preview

And the Struggle of the Confessor Christoforos Papoulakos

Title: ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY THEN AND NOW: "Papoulakos": Venerable Christophoros Panagiotopoulos

Title: ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY THEN AND NOW: "Papoulakos": Venerable January 19, 2010 "Papoulakos": Venerable Christophoros Panagiotopoulos By Archimandrite Nektarios N. Pettas PROLOGUE If someone searches Modern Greek history for a revolutionary figure comparable to that of the world-renowned Che Guevara then they would find such a person in Greece in the Peloponnese and Cyclades. This person was an Orthodox monk who lived there in the nineteenth century. Of significance is that history is written each time by a few. It is those who take leaps and bounds who are uncompromising, courageous and daring. It is those who prefer motion to immobility and action to passivity, even if this approach leads to traps, danger and persecution. Amongst these few revolutionary figures is the holy monk Christophoros Panagiotopoulos or as he is widely known as Papoulakos. He was from the village of Arbouna located near the town of Klitoria in the Kalavryta district of the Peloponnese. He was a great national and religious figure during the mid-nineteenth century in Greece, existing in a period that echoed a movement started by the ascetics who were known as Kollyvades from Mount Athos. Papoulakos was active in this period of great historical interest. During this time it was in the process of completing the formation of the New Greek State. In other words, he appeared when the foundation stone of State and Orthodoxy were being set, a period which was very important politically and ecclesiastically. The Greek nation after the triumph of the Revolution of 1821 attempted to take a stand as an independent state. Furthermore, during this time 500 out of the 600 existing monasteries which collectively made up the citadel of Orthodoxy in Byzantium (324 -1453) and during the Turkish occupation, were closed by Maurer under King Otto’s command.[1] This involved the driving out of the living and the burning of our cultural heritage; such an outrage had not even dared to be undertaken during the period of Turkish rule (1456-1821). The least that one could do was raise his voice in protest, whatever the cost. So this period was of particular interest not only for historical research but also for every thinking citizen who searches for answers on today’s social, political and ecclesiastical problems. Within a decade Papoulakos managed to shake up the sociological make up of the newborn Greek state. His actions and preaching are a continuation of those carried out by two other brave men in our history, that of St. Cosmas Aitolos (Died, 24th August 1779) and the unknown St. Sofianou, (Died, 26th November 1711) Bishop of Argirokastro, who was active in Epirus 70 years before St. Cosma, thus becoming his antecedent. Papoulakos was perhaps not as educated as St. Cosma and the Holy Sofianou however; he had the strength and daring to support the same things as them. For the same reasons, St Cosmas sacrificed himself and St Sofianos renounced the throne to guide those back to Christianity who had been converted to Muslims by force. In other words, these men devoted their preaching and work so as their land's Orthodox tradition stayed free from any kind of dangerous internal and external attacks. As a start we will look at this great personality called ‘Papoulakos’, by referring to his biographical record. 1) Papoulakos’ Name According to people, Christophoros’ secular name was Christos Panagiotopoulos; however, the people gave him the name Papoulako or Papoulaki. There are many differing opinions as to how he got this nickname. Some support the most convincing story that the people called him Papoulako because of his small stature. It is also said that the people called him Papoulako to his face as he started his preaching at an old age after having a vision he experienced in his abandoned house in Arbouna. Even up until today the elderly monks in Greece are called by the title of ‘Papouli’. ‘Papoulakos’ is the diminutive of ‘Papouli’. As the Spartans held him in high esteem and respected him even more so, they changed Papouli to Papoulakos. He himself signed off as ‘Christophoros the Monk’ or ‘Christophoros the Greek Preacher’. Documents in the public registry and in the circulars issued then by the Holy Synod of Greece, as well as official reports refer to him with the prevailing name given to him by the people, ‘Papoulakos’. 2) Place of Origin He was born in 1770, in the mountain village of Arbouna. This village is situated northeast of the town with the twofold name of Klitoria / Mazeika and south-east of the historical city of Kalavrita in the Prefecture of Achaia. 900 meters above sea level, Arbouna spreads out amphitheatrically between two angular shaped masses. The houses are divided over these two slopes, the latter of which lie at the foothills of the large Aroanian mountain range. It is here that Greek mythology refers to the hero Achilles and his mother, the sea goddess Thetis, who attempted to make her son immortal by washing his hair in the river Styx. So it was in Arbouna that Papoulakos quietly spent most of his life following the family profession of a butcher. He lived a tranquil life and as such his character was also calm, just and fair. For this reason he was much loved by the populace of this area. No one could imagine that this man who was a supplier of meat would after a few years for thousands of people become a supplier of messages for the resistance against the dark powers who had conspired against Orthodoxy and the small newly formed Greek nation. 3) His Transition to a Monastic Life and the Beginning Of His Journey At approximately 60 years of age, Papoulakos turned to a monastic life. According to some of his biographers this change in his way of life, was attributed to a vision, which he had in his house in Arbouna. It is said that during this event, he lost consciousness for three days, remaining as if he were dead. On seeing his state the parents awaited a miracle. Their prayers were answered after placing his body in the Church of St. Athanasios, found north of his house. After regaining consciousness this experience for Papoulakos resulted in changing the meaning of his existence. He decided to share his property amongst his three brothers Athanasios, Andreas, Giorgios and one sister. He then vested them with the task of looking after the house in which he saw the holy vision. After this vision he became a monk in the Monastery of St Athanasios at Filia in the town of Klitoria. He visited the nearby villages collecting different goods and money, which he would share with the poor and orphans. Simultaneously, he spread God’s word. Papoulakos’ charitable nature that was directed to those suffering and those who had been treated unjustly was what made him very well known and loved everywhere. The residents saw, with great surprise, that this previous butcher had renounced the world to wear a monk’s robes and to communicate with God. He asked that his offerings towards the poor remained strictly secret. For a period he abandoned traveling and returned to his village staying at his house. At this time he built a sacred monastery and dedicated it to the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, as his family possessed a miraculous icon of her. He built a monk’s cell (skete) on the lower floor of the family house, which used to be a place to keep the animals. It was here that Papoulakos started living a monastic life. In 1847 he left his monk’s cell (skete) travelling again to the villages and preaching the word of God. The studying of ecclesiastical books of the time and his deep religiousness made him very dear to the people. Everyone wanted to meet him and receive a blessing from this respected white-bearded 70-year-old elder with his coarsely woven robes. The people listened very carefully to his teachings of the Gospels on ethics and Christian principles, which he presented in a warm and truthful way. They readily embraced him because in him they saw the word of God and how they could apply it in their daily lives. From the villages of Achaia he moved to the Arcadian mountains where he taught with the same love the word of God. He spoke to the villagers in a simple manner about the Gospels, which taught not to steal, not to tell lies and not to perpetuate family hate but to show good to one another. With these simple words he suggested to people to literate their children with the ecclesiastical books. The books, which came from the West, needed to be treated cautiously because they doubted ethics, morals and hid atheism. This cautious stance taken towards the West was not because he himself was illiterate, as some had accused him of being; but it was due to the prevalent educational problem of the time. It is known that the Bavarians wanted to continue to break down Greek society leaving no opposition; their plan was enforced through education. Almost the whole educational program of our small fatherland of that period was in the hands of the Catholics and the Protestants; that is to say in foreign hands. Already from 1821, the West had infiltrated the social life of our country. On the one hand, the Catholics were especially interested in founding schools thereby exploiting in this sector the absence of Greek administration as the independent state had only just been founded. On the other hand, we have the Protestant missionaries who were on different holy missions spreading everywhere and considering themselves as “saviours” of the East. All of this was contradictory to Papoulakos’ teachings that were against both globalization and alienation. In 1848 Papoulakos went to Athens to ask permission of the Holy Synod of the Greek Church to preach the word of God. The Synod however refused to give him permission. It is possible that the reason for this refusal was owed not so much to the holy monk Christophoros’ lack of formal qualifications as to his connection to the Holy Monastery of Mega Spelaion at Kalavryta. Here many monks belonged to the Society of the Friends of Orthodoxy who were a group of highly educated, philosophical and spiritual monks. Consequently, it was expected from the Church’s administration at that time not to respond in a favorable way to the movements of this spiritual society. In the end in 1851 the permission was granted to Papoulakos to preach in the Peloponnese but within the restricted areas of Arcadia, Lakonia and Messinia. 4) The Nature Of His Journey Attention to detail was given to Papoulakos’ visits to the villages. His movement from one place to another followed a specific procedure. Before his setting out on a journey, wherever he went he sent out his group of followers to announce his arrival. Then the bells started ringing out merrily. The inhabitants of the village would then come out and welcome him. The welcoming party as such was made up of priests wearing their robes and teachers with their students officially assembled in lines. The women brought their babies and Papoulakos the elder would bless them. After this initial brief welcome they would all celebrate in the village. When Papoulakos had relaxed a little he would go out on the balcony of a house and speak to the people. If there was no balcony they would make a platform for him to stand on or he would even climb up a tree. In front of himself he would place an icon of the Virgin Mary. Upon his the ending of his sermon he would stayovernight at a monastery if there were one close by, or else with a poor and struggling family. 5) His Preaching With his sincere and meaningful sermons, Papoulakos touched the people and raised their morale. Even if his voice was naturally soft and weak when he preached it acquired an intensity and youthful vigor. His sermon did not have a deep religious meaning but simple religious truths and deeds taken from the law of the Gospels. This resulted in everyone understanding him because he spoke the language of the villagers. Perhaps some words used were beneath those employed by educated people at the time, but one way or another those people had become disconnected resulting in forming a separate class. Nevertheless, those who were eager to understand Papoulakos’ sacred word would comprehend his teachings easily. The others had separated from the orthodox preaching of Christophoros as they were more absorbed by the western spiritual teachings, which they both accepted and supported. Papoulakos’ words didn’t only have theological content but also a moral and social meaning that was something which very valuable for the period in which he lived. He was strictly against injustice directed towards the weak, and caused by thieves, sorcery and other sinful ways. Additionally, he was against the British, Turks and Jews who secretly were trying to direct the new government that was in the hands of the Great Powers and King Otto. For example, he openly condemned the bad actions of the English referring to the Ionian Islands, which were then ruled by them. The effort of his labors quickly bore fruit. From wherever he passed the inhabitants from their mountain villages were not only listening to his preaching but inexplicably they responded to the ethical demands by behaving better. Eventually, it arrived at the point where thefts and robberies had almost disappeared. His preaching had so much impact that love grew among people and within families where there existed deep hatred and even murder. Of significance is the information found about that period, 1845, from a French traveler about the Peloponnese. He was of Greek origin and known as Eugene Yemieniz who refers in his work “Voyage dans le Royaume de Grece”, to Christophoros Papoulakos’ contribution. There is a known vendetta that Papoulakos was able to solve temporarily which rules up until today as an unwritten law in the Mani area. The authorities of the Peloponnese wrote to the central government in Athens that the inhabitants of the Peloponnese became proper citizens due to Papoulakos. His opponents were forced to acknowledge this who in hundreds of reports would curse and swear at him in the worst language. Of course the people whose criteria was right and fair had formed an opinion about Papoulakos’ character. His life and work was quickly judged as saintly and of pure spirit. From day to day despite the efforts of a few poisoned minds his reputation increased as a saintly man. It reached the point where they were cutting pieces from his hard and coarsely woven robes to have as an amulet to ward away every evil from both body and soul. The women who made up the largest and most devout group of his followers kept these pieces as icons in their houses treasuring them as something very holy. Others hung them round their children’s necks, as amulets, whilst others still would add pieces in the dough whilst preparing bread. Christophoros’ robe was valued so highly that the fishermen in the Cyclades had pieces woven into their nets. This would ensure them of big catches just as Christ’s blessing had performed miracles for the apostles on the Sea of Galilee. Additionally, from the view point of ecological awareness Papoulakos would encourage the people’s faith in the healing power of plants and herbs of which there was abundance in the areas where he preached. 6) His First Grand Entrance into the City of Kalamata In September 1851 he was found in the villages around Olympia. Then a little later he was in the Trifillea district and from there Arcadia and Laconia. Everywhere hundreds of inhabitants left their work to follow him. On 10th October 1851 his entrance into Kalamata had many followers and it was triumphant. Almost all the inhabitants of the city came out to welcome him. The then Prefect had written that thousands of people welcomed him wanting to see, hear and to be healed by him. As soon as the civil authorities were informed about Papoulakos’ triumphant welcome they over-reacted. The local authorities sent a detailed report of his movements to the central administration in Athens but they did not stop there. The Prefect asked him to leave from his district but Papoulakos didn’t obey because he had Christ as his leader, so he went to Kiparissia the capitol of the district of Trifillia. The local Major tried to prevent him from preaching but he didn’t succeed. All the impediments placed by the authorities weren’t able to stop Papoulakos’ word because the word of the Gospel is a strong weapon, which cannot be restricted. Furthermore, as this era was noted for its lack of spirituality, the people were even thirstier for God’s word. And for this reason the authorities tried to distance him from the cities, which he travelled to. However, when the seeds of his words started to grow in the thirsty hearts of the people and his reputation was expanding even more, especially amongst the simple people, panic broke out in the government and they decided to take effective measures 7) The Measures Taken By the Government and the People’s Reaction The government asked the Greek Orthodox Church to take action. So they called Papoulakos to Athens to defend himself. Papoulakos didn’t pay any attention to them but continued more intensively with his journeys. From Corinth he went to Kranidhion in Argolis and from here to Spetsai. In Spetsai he found many followers. The people’s faith in his sainthood reached its zenith. Even the stones on which he walked were considered blessed and the believers took them for amulets to their houses. There was such devotion from the people towards Papoulakos that in some areas such as Kranidhion, the priests during the church services didn’t refer to the King’s name but instead used that of Papoulakos. At night everyone, both young and old, went out on the streets with candles, censers and holding something belonging to him or an icon of Papoulakos’ image to which they prayed for his health and protection. In April 1852 he passed from Argolis to Laconia. His preaching provoked a genuine spiritual awakening in all Orthodox people. Because the pressure from the authorities continued to increase against the elder the people foresaw the danger of his murder. So they took in their own hands the protection of their spiritual father. His followers carried guns and accompanied him everywhere. Masses had left their houses following him day and night on his holy journeys. With the people there were many priests as well as the Bishop Assinis Makarios who accepted him officially into the Bishop’s residence in Sparta. The government seeing the religious love from the people and unable to control the masses pressurized the church administration even more to take urgent action. The final decision for Papoulakos pursuit happened in the Monastery of Prophet Elias on Santorini. In areas where the saint had gone they sent preachers to influence the people against him. To Laconia the Archimandrite Kallinikos Kastorhis was sent (later to become Bishop Fthiotidos). Then to Ermioni and Spetsai Archimandrite Neofitos Konstantinides was sent. These dispatches were unsuccessful. And when the latter spoke against Papoulakos they threw stones at him and he quickly left. In May 1852 the Synod sent a letter to the clergy and people of Laconia saying that he had changed God’s Word. But not even this action brought results. On the contrary the people’s love for Papoulakos increased even more. The Government on seeing that the church couldn’t stop this spiritual revolution decided to take action by itself. It sent to Laconia 2,000 soldiers under the brave Kolokotronis with orders to enlist others from the area including mobilizing warships. On the other side Papoulakos continued to both travel and speak throughout Sparta. However, the people saw the Government’s activities and started becoming anxious. There was an agitated atmosphere in areas from which he had passed where anti-government demonstrations were still taking place. A typical example, which was characteristic of these demonstrations, is the episode referred to by Major’s Secretary in Spetsai in the report to the Prefect on 22nd May 1852. Amongst other things there was a reference to the local authorities that had forbidden prayers at the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in Spetsai because apparently they were seen as demonstrations in favour of Papoulakos. However, there was a strong reaction from the people and that same evening 3,000 people met encircling the Town Hall. The authorities immediately backed down and gave permission to carry out services as usual in the church. On the 26th May 1852 the Holy Synod sent out a circular in which they assured the people that the Orthodox faith wasn’t running into any danger and that the King and the Government were protecting the Orthodox Church. Whilst this was going on Papoulakos was becoming strongly accepted by everyone in the Sparta area. Several times there were attempts to arrest him, but without any result. As soon as the people understood the movements of the gendarmerie and the army they would gather together and ring the bells alerting a defense while his followers took up fighting positions. On 23rd May he decided to visit Kalamata for a second time notifying the people to follow him. Two thousand people and 500 more armed people responded immediately to his call. The Prefect of Messinia sent out a circular trying to frighten the inhabitants of Kalamata saying that it was actually the people from Mani who were coming to steal from them. He also urged in the circular to hide their money, take up arms and to march out in order to protect their property. This circular finished with threats saying whoever went to Papoulakos’ sermons would be judged guilty of a major crime and would be dealt with by the army. Naturally, under such conditions Papoulakos couldn’t enter Kalamata for the people to suffer and so he decided that it was better to return to Mani. During this period the King’s army had arrived in Laconia. The reactions to the army were indifference and maybe, perhaps even opposition. They even refused to give them food so they were forced to bring food from other areas. Teams of soldiers had spread over Sparta to capture Christophoros, the monk of small stature. 8) His Arrest His arrest was impossible in Mani because the inhabitants didn’t want to come into any conflict with the soldiers, so instead they offered him protection. Even the local gentry kept him in hiding providing him with the necessary food and house to stay in. The order, however, was clear to arrest him without fail. Unfortunately, the solution to the problem of arresting him had a tragic ending in betrayal. They asked for a traitor and unfortunately one was found. He was one of Papoulakos’ most trusted followers, Vasilios the priest from Langadia in the municipality of Lefktrou. The exchange for the traitor was calculated at 6.000 drachmas. During this period Papoulakos was hiding in the Voivonitsis Monastery close to Kardamala. When his ‘trusted’ priest was asked to prepare a guard for his safe departure to Crete until things had calmed down, the traitor was eager to do this. However, instead of taking a guard from his followers he took 6 gendarmerie disguised as his Spartan followers. The disguised police had fake letters from Bishop Assinis, which falsely invited the elder to his area to speak. Papoulakos did whatever he heard from Makarios and departed on 23rd June 1852. The following day in the morning they hid in the Tsingos Monastery close to Areopolis because during the day there was the supposed danger that they would be discovered and arrested. In the meantime someone from the gendarmerie alerted the other soldiers that Papoulakos was in the monastery. Immediately the army arrived and caught the elder easily as he himself had nothing to fear. A true spiritual person is ready to be expelled and sacrificed. The noblemen of this world didn’t frighten him. The continuation of the story was done in great secrecy, he embarked on the boat “Matilda” at Pithio after which they transferred him to another boat “Othon” whose destination was Piraeus. On hearing the news that they had caught Christophoros, the people were both very sad and frustrated. The Prefect of Laconia wrote that his area was in national mourning. However, the big armed forces in Sparta were sent to restrain these reactions. It is worth mentioning that the traitor had a bad ending. The people’s hate towards him was great. The Spartans couldn’t believe that a follower was found who could also be bribed and betray their just elder, Papoulakos. So continuously they asked for the traitor to be punished. The traitor saw that Sparta didn’t want him so he went to Athens to ask to become a priest in the army. However, the hate against him didn’t come only from the inhabitants of Sparta but everywhere. And in fact in Spetsai when the boat arrived with the priest Vasilios on board they tried to lynch him. He was saved after much effort by the armed forces. Finally, after a year passed a youth was found at the right moment that killed him. Moreover, the traitor’s father was not only not sorry for his son’s murder, because he had also raped his sister, but on the contrary he was so happy that he gave a reward to the person who had brought the news about the murder. 9) Papoulakos’ Incarceration in the Patras Prison The news of Papoulakos’ arrival in Pireaus shook up Athens. Thousands of people went down each day to see him. However, none could get close because he was heavily guarded by hundreds of soldiers and gendarmerie. The adverse conditions in which he was held made him ill. The doctors who examined him said that he must be removed from the boat because he had been adversely affected from the conditions that he was kept in. After a few days he was taken to the damp prison in the fortress at Rio, in Patras. There they locked him up forbidding even the guards to go near him. Regardless of the fact that he was tied up he managed to get out in “a miraculous way” to speak and help the people from his place of birth, in Achaia. After a year in solitary confinement he was sent for trial on 26th July 1853 to the Criminal Court of Athens where he was accused of being a leader of an organization against the state. Masses of people had gathered in and outside the court. He showed both courage and daring in his trial refusing to appoint a defense saying that he had Christ as his defense. The absence of witnesses resulted in the trial being postponed till 16th September. The postponement of the trial coincided with events from abroad that had created tension and uneasiness because the Crimea war had already started. In the end his trial never happened. On August 1853 there was a royal decree declaring innocence for Papoulakos and his followers both from within and outside the church. 10) His Imprisonment in Andros and His Sanctified Death The Government could leave him free but the churchs' administration, pressurized by the government, decided to imprison him in the Panachrantos Monastery in Andros. Many followers visited him there from the length and breadth of the country and from the islands, even Crete and Jerusalem. They heard him speak through the barred windows of his cell. He was truly a free ‘prisoner’. However, this didn’t bother him because even if his body was earthbound his spirit was calmly in Heaven. His stay in the Panachrantos Monastery didn’t differ very much from his damp cell at the fortress prison at Rio. It had a small window from which a little light entered. It was guarded day and night by the gendarmerie. They had forbidden him to speak with his visitors who had come from afar and in fact they forbade him any communication with the outside world. As such he was found in strict isolation. Certainly, when the Bishop of Andros became Mitrofanis Economides, originally from Kalavrita, the restrictions towards Papoulakos increased. Years later and due to him appearing in a vision to strangers, the cell in which he had been incarcerated was located. In this cell there was found his icon of the Virgin Mary Vrefokratousa. Shortly after this the cell was transformed into a church. After the feats of such living conditions his spirit was released on the night ofthe 18th going towards the 19th January 1861 on the same day as St Athanasios’ name day. This day is celebrated in the Church of St Athanasios in his village of Arbouna. He was buried in the cemetery at the Panachrantos Monastery. The holy one was mourned by the fathers of the monastery and from the inhabitants of the island and he was honoured as a Saint. His grave up until today is a spiritual source and pride of the Panachrantos Monastery. 11) Papoulakos’ Honoured Memory in our Time Immediately after Christophoros’ burial in Andros at the cemetery of the Monastery Panochranton there were efforts to officially register him in the Orthodox Church’s catalogue of saints; to exhume his corpse and to recount his life’s story. The latter two things happened, but canonization in Greece has not as yet come about. His revolutionary actions created a widespread problem for official recognition. Slowly but surely his memory began to be restored not only in the minds of the people who one way or the other always believed in his saintliness, but also in the clergy’s consciousness. There are masses of official accounts from clergymen supporting not only his work but also his saintliness. The exhumation of his holy bones was done in secret and were to remain in charnel house at the Panachrantos Monastery. After much insistence by the inhabitants of Papoulakos’ village, the Bishop of Kalavrita Georgios on 12th September 1973 arranged for the transfer of Papoulakos’ Skull to the holy cell (skete) in the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, which he had built himself in Arbouna, Klitoria. After this move, masses of people came to the mountain village to pay homage and kiss his Holy Head, which gives out a fragrance and is also miraculous. The Head is officially encased in a reliquary which was bequeathed by Archbishop Nectarios Moulatsiotis, and it is decorated with valuable jewellery. Wherever else the relics of this holy man are kept they are done so in accordance to Greek Orthodox tradition. There have been Divine Liturgies dedicated in his honor. Monks during their ordination and people in the Holy Baptism sometimes even accept his modest name for their own. The black and white portrait of Papoulakos, which has been circulating since his time, is placed in many churches and homes up until today. Also, all over Greece contemporary icons have been decorated with the Holy Christophoros, many of which contain pieces of his robes. Churches have been built in his memory in different areas throughout Greece, especially those places in which he lived and performed miracles. Masses of contemporary evidence have remained. This is either word of mouth or through writings reporting his words and prophecies and miracles as long as he lived, as well as those after his death. Christophoros the elder had prophesized many of the trials and tribulations that are going on today. In Morea in the Peloponnese it is known and usual to hear “we live in the days of Papoulakos’. It is awaited for Christophoros to be officially canonized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, an event which the GreekOrthodox Church is praying/awaiting for. It is important to note that he is referred to in the circular Protocol No. 332,which was published during the presence of the local Bishop of Kalavrita, Agelias k. Ambrosios. It goes under the title of “Collected Facts about the Holy Papoulakos”. Additionally, according to the newspaper: “The Voice of Kalavrita” (August 2004) it writes that the late Archbishop of Athens and All of Greece Christodoulos visited the area and promised that when he would go to Klitoria, “and after he reads the appropriate blessing to rid the curse, he would proclaim Papoulakos’ sainthood.’ What is worthy of attention is some further information from the Archimandrite and Superior of the Monastery Panachranton in Andros, k. Evdokimou Frangoulaki. It refers to when they transferred the skull of St. Panteleimon to Russia. In a dialogue between the Patriarch of Moscow Alexios and the monastery it was said that in his monastery there had lived a saintly monk who was loved in Russia. The Patriarch and his bishops had assured him that the elder, Christophoros Papoulakos, had been acknowledged by the Patriarch of Russia who had already canonized him and that he is often commemorated in the Divine Liturgies. This information gives us hope even if it comes from far away because it finally justifies this important figure of Greek history whose reputation has spread beyond the narrow boundaries of the Balkans. EPILOGUE In the end the West’s dispute with the Greek powers managed to succeed in less than two decades in Papoulakos’ time, that which it had been fighting over for centuries to do, regarding the spiritual enslavement of the East, by placing internal forces. The resistance that a Papoulakos People’s Orthodox Movement projected could not stop the plans of the Bavarians. However, it curtailed them for a while and lit up a ray of light like a spiritual fighting consignment for the next generations. This ray of light is a great inheritance for younger Greeks. Today, the young ‘Bavarians’ in whatever form have infiltrated Greek society and are trying to cut us off from the Greek Orthodox tradition. We are obliged to keep this ray of light shining, which was handed down to us by the first martyrs of the Greek state, so we can withstand the next invasion. Yet again there are dark international anti-Greek forces not wanting Greek power that do everything to alienate our national Greek identity, and break down our national, social and religious cohesion. These arduous times require a healthy power of Hellenism and for the Orthodox to oppose with strength. 12) The Christophoros Papoulakos Foundation Papoulakos’ house still exists today in Arbouna but it is in ruins. It originally belonged to his descendants who live in Australia. However, Archimandrite Nectarios N. Pettas, PhD Candidate for Archaeology from Patras, has recently bought the house. The plan is to reconstruct and restore it urgently before it is totally destroyed thus losing a vital part of early Greek history. The aim of Archimandrate Nectarios N. Petta is to create a foundation from the Papoulakos’ house. It will show the work of Christophoros and other important Greek and Orthodox figures. Simultaneously, it will operate as a centre for studies on Greek Cultural Heritage. Recently, it was legally passed at the court of the first instance. Accordingly, it is registered under the General No: 14560 / 2008 as a sacred, apostolic-philanthropic, non-profitable centre, which is denominated as The Christophoros Papoulakos Foundation. Acknowledgements My gratitude and sincere thanks is expressed to Elizabeth Tenny-Babouri for her translation, thus, bringing Papoulakos to the English-speaking world. Source can be found @ http://www.papoulakos.org/

ARTICLE' S FOLLOWING It is sufficiently illuminating for us to understand the hatred of the Masons and the Papists against Orthodox Ellenism, especially in the stage of modern Greek history from the Revolution of 1821 onward.

As for the previous historical periods, draw material from the relevant articles on our page “Confession for Faith and Fatherland” omol0gia.blogspot.com.

Therefore, at this point we clearly understand why the one and only enemy worldwide and obstacle to the plans of globalization, Ecumenism, the Luciferian pan-religion, the New Age and New World Order, Cabbalistic-Zionism (the vile servants of Satan), and the pan-heresy of Papism is… Orthodox Hellenism!!!

And let us no longer be deceived, let us no longer be fooled, and let us have no doubt whatsoever!!!

Orthodox Hellenism is none other than the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Eastern and Orthodox Church!!!

And this exactly explains the furor of this entire Antichrist mob that has fallen upon us with claws and teeth!!!

Recently they received a resounding slap from this very Ever-Virgin Holy Mother!!! With the most excellent miracle of miracles—the liberation of the two Orthodox Greek officers!!!

And they shrank back for a while, and now they pretend to be… friends… but false friends…!!!

We are absolutely certain that if a film were made about the massacre of Aperathou, with the most authentic and truthful presentation of the events of 1917—not on the basis of Royalist-Venizelist confrontation, but on the basis of the confession of the unarmed against the armed for Faith and Fatherland, for virtue and legality, for honor and bravery—this film alone would be able to teach all future generations what virtue truly means, as well as the unshakeable value of confessing it and dying for it!!!

In this story there is even more, even greater spiritual depth, which is related to another article of ours on our page “Confession for Faith and Fatherland”.

The attempted annihilation of the village of Aperathou was not random!

The spiritual laws did not move against this village by chance!

For the remnant of the faithful, the Holy Mother performed her greatest miracle!!!

For the few, the very few Aperathites who invoked her All-Holy Name!!!

The thirty-five neomartyrs were sacrificed for the salvation of the village!!!

Their blood was the ransom for the village’s salvation!!!

For this reason, the one hundred and two (102) shells became two (2), and even those fell harmlessly!!! Near the Most Holy Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos!!!

I do not know whether the Cephalonians or the Aperathites are more burdened with this sin!!!

And I leave the others as subsequent!!!

But if you blaspheme a blasphemer’s mother, what will he do to you???

When, therefore, a blasphemer blasphemes the Holy Mother of the Holy Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, what does he expect to suffer from that God who created heaven and earth and all that is in them???

Blasphemy is the crown of sins; followed by Satanism, sodomy, murders, adulteries, fornications, and so on…

For blasphemy is the only sin that is directed immediately against the Holy Living God Himself, against His Most Holy Mother, and against our Most Holy Church—therefore it is also blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which shall not be forgiven the blasphemer!!!

This same Holy Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ revealed to a beloved and most faithful servant of His and said to him that blasphemy against My Holy Mother I will not forgive!!!

Therefore, in blasphemy, the grace of the Most Holy God is withdrawn even to the point of being hidden… most justly!!!

The adversary takes all rights and authority!!!

Thus are explained the coming calamities and afflictions!!!

We ourselves create… our future!!!

Or simply… we destroy it!!!

No more wretched foolishness and darkness upon this most terrible and horrific issue!!!

May the God-obedient intercessions and prayers of the holy thirty-five Aperathite neomartyrs for Faith and Fatherland contribute so that the soul-destroying and most destructive blasphemy may be lifted from Aperathou and from the entire face of the earth!!!

Furthermore, we will present relevant testimony which will absolutely clarify and make clear that in this greatest matter, the issue is not Royalists-Venizelists, fascists-democrats, imported and “indigenous,” nor is there any question of passion for one or another worldly faction, still less of right and left nonsense and the like; much less do we have any connection with fascism or the false patriotism of the merchants who traffic in faith and fatherland and all related matters!!!

The trafficking in the sacred and holy things of Faith and Fatherland for alien and foreign purposes, with practices and methods unrelated to the principles and values of Orthodox Hellenism, constitutes the greatest threat, the greatest crime, and the most wretched betrayal—because these goods and values are by definition incompatible with anything passionate, evil, and inhuman.

Especially any attempted connection or relationship of Nazism-fascism, nationalism, and the so-called far-right with Orthodox Hellenism, Faith, and Fatherland!!!

These traffickers achieve exactly the opposite of what they claim!!!

And for what they purport to care—only in words, however—they thereby grossly insult the sacred and holy, destroying and deconstructing the image of Orthodox Hellenism and giving every vile person the opportunity to call Orthodox Hellenism… fascism—whereas, with absolute historical documentation, Orthodox Hellenism is completely opposed to fascism, nationalism, and the far-right, because it consists exclusively and solely of worship of the Most Holy God and love for the Fatherland with a spirit of offering and sacrifice!!!

Therefore, many questions arise here!!!

How did the New Age achieve this!!!

To automatically link and identify anything related to Faith and Fatherland… with fascism!!! And to call it fascist!!!

And… what connection do these circles ultimately have with the New Age and the New World Order???

This is a question that should concern all of us, and also an imperative need so that all these vile persons either renounce the sacred symbols of Faith and Fatherland or absolutely and in every way agree with them. Otherwise, they will always bear the “stain” that they are agents and servants of foreign, evil, and hostile interests—completely alien to Faith and Fatherland!!!

We believe only in Orthodox Hellenism!!!

The One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Eastern and Orthodox Church!!!

And only in whatever and whoever belongs to it and is absolutely in agreement with it—in mind, word, and deed!!!

And in everything true and genuine for Faith and Fatherland which, by the grace of the Holy God, we confess and will confess until the end of our earthly life.

At this point, therefore, we present the announced incident!

Our worldly King, therefore, despite being an excellent strategist, most courageous in battles (the victor of the Balkan Wars) and a friend of the army, never having turned against the Orthodox Church…

From testimony we learn that he blasphemed!!!

During the Asia Minor Campaign, near him as a soldier was

Fr. Philotheos Zervakos.

The blessed one said to him:

“King, do not blaspheme!!! For the grace of God will abandon us!!!”

(The blessed one had boldness for the Faith and abundant courage when, much later, he spoke boldly to the cruel SS for the salvation of more than a hundred people from Paros!!!)

The King replied to him:

“Whatever you say, within three days we will enter Ankara as victors!!!”

But justice (the justice of God) was with the word of Fr. Philotheos and not with that earthly King!!!

(We have referred to this incident in another article, and it is no coincidence that the tombs of the kings are found outside Greece in Naples)

Therefore, the issue is not Royalist or Venizelist, fascist or democrat,

but…

Virtue or vice! Piety or impiety! Legality or lawlessness!

Fear of God or blasphemy!!!

This is the issue…

…and the decision is one-way!!!

Amen!!! Truly!!! Amen!!! Amen!!!

May we all have good repentance, brothers, and may the Most Holy God have mercy and save the souls of the living and the reposed.

We do not condemn any person, living or reposed, with personal or passionate hatred; we simply point out the deeds of virtue and vice, we praise virtue while confessing our own sinfulness.

One troparion of our Church says that God is the Creator of all events; elsewhere that He is the “Alpha” and the “Omega”; elsewhere that not even a leaf falls from a tree without His permission; elsewhere that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to our Christ; elsewhere that He desires the return of the sinner rather than his death; elsewhere that He takes a person to Himself before evil changes him and he loses his soul; elsewhere that He is patient, waiting for the sinner’s return, because He desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth; and therefore every good and beneficial thing that happens is from His blessing, and every evil He permits or tolerates for pedagogical reasons—never for reasons of hatred or revenge—because God, being love and justice, does not violate human freedom; He simply tolerates man’s deviation and the resulting evil up to a point—never unchecked, but always within His all-wise divine providence, which is governed by unbreakable and eternal divine laws.

We therefore pray for the forgiveness, salvation, and sanctification of all the aforementioned, and for the repentance and salvation of the entire world. Amen.

The Miraculus Salvation of the 125 Parians by Gods Grace via Fr Filotheos Zervakos

During World War II, in the spring and summer of 1944, the Greek island of Paros was under German occupation. The Germans were constructing an airfield, and on May 14-16, 1944, British commandos, aided by local partisans, raided the site: they killed two German radio operators, severely wounded the airfield commander (Lieutenant Tabel), captured seven soldiers, and sabotaged communications. In retaliation, the Germans publicly hanged a young Parian partisan, Nikolas Stellas, as a warning. Following strict reprisal policies (often 50:1 for killed Germans), the new commander, Major Georg Graf von Merenberg, ordered the execution of 125 young men from Paros and nearby Antiparos, with village leaders required to provide the names.

Community leaders, priests, and prominent citizens, including Blessed Elder Philotheos (Filotheos) Zervakos (1884–1980), abbot of the Holy Monastery of Longovarda (dedicated to the Life-Giving Spring, Zoodochos Pigi), gathered to plead for mercy. Initial direct appeals were refused, as the commander had forbidden intercessions. A lieutenant on his staff suggested a subtler approach: invite the commander to the monastery for hospitality, where a personal plea might succeed.

Elder Philotheos, a renowned spiritual father and disciple of St. Nektarios of Aegina (later canonized as a saint in 2006), invited von Merenberg and several officers to the monastery. On Sunday, July 23, 1944, they arrived. The monks extended extraordinary Greek hospitality amid wartime shortages: a tour of the library, workshops, and church; a lavish meal (including lamb, wine, cheeses, and sweets); and attendance at Vespers followed by a Supplicatory Canon (Paraklesis) to the Theotokos, praying for the condemned and the visitors' families.

The commander, initially stern, softened. He admired the monks' ascetic discipline and serenity. A pivotal moment occurred when he recognized a painting in the guest room—depicting his mother's childhood village in Yalta, Crimea—evoking nostalgic Orthodox memories from his Russian aristocratic heritage.

As the Germans prepared to depart, von Merenberg, moved by the hospitality, offered Elder Philotheos any favor. In a private conversation, the Elder secured a promise on the commander's "word of military honor," then requested the release of the 125 innocent youths. The commander refused, citing superior orders and the risk to his own life. Undeterred, Elder Philotheos replied: "Then include me among them—execute me in their place" (or, in some accounts, "at least add me and shoot me first").

This selfless offer overwhelmed the commander. He relented: "I give you their lives!" He rescinded the execution order, on condition that no further sabotage occur (which was honored). The 125 young men were spared, an act seen as a divine miracle through the intercession of the Theotokos and the Elder's Christ-like love.

This event is commemorated annually on July 23 at Longovarda Monastery. Decades later, von Merenberg's daughter learned of her father's role and visited Paros to honor the memory, reconciling past wounds.