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The crowds are rushing into the cathedral. Chrysostomos, along with
his brother Eugene, is doing everything he can to help. On Saturday he
holds a mass in ``Aghia Foteini''. He is pale from fasting and lack of
sleep. As soon as he gets in front of his congregation though, he
kneels down to pray just like everybode else, and then he stands up as
if he were already a Saint. This will be his last preach.
The same day, his nemesis, general Nouredin Pasha, the butcher of
Ionia, submitted a decleration with which all Greeks and Armenians age
18 to 45 should surrender because according to the decleration they
took arms against the country, joined the invading armies, and so
on. Then, Nouredin decided to humiliate and annihilate the brave
Bishop. The mass was over when a policeman informed Chrysostomos that
the chief of police, Sali Zeki Bey, wants him at the garison. Chrysostomos
is very calm, bids the crowds good-bye, and follows the policeman
along with his right-hand man, Thomas Voultsios. It is due to him
that we have reliable information as to what happened next. The
garison chief welcomed Chrysostomos, offered him a glass of
cherry-juice and dictated his orders to him. They went back to the
Cathedral in a car, which was offered to the Bishop by the American
officials of the city. The Bishop read the orders to the crowds and
asked everybody to surrender any weapons and stay in their homes. The
following are extracts from Voultsios' records, who had followed
Chrysostomos for the last 20 years.
"Allow me to end my lecture with a disclosure of a personal experience, a
confession that I make for the first time. During the last days of
September of 1922, a group of students from the International College of
Smyrna and myself were imprisoned in a horrible cell in the building of the
administration headquarters of Smyrna. The prison was packed with
Greek Orthodox inmates, who were probably destined to die. At night-time,
turkish guards led by a high-ranking officer removed prisoners and
executed them.
At 5 pm on the evening of the last day of that tragic
September, the same Turkish officer ordered me to follow him to the yard.
We were so surprised to hear the Turk say:
``I will not kill you,
I will save you. Tonight all the prisoners will be executed because we
need to make room for new inmates who have just arrived. I will save you
today and I hope this will help me forget a terrible scene which I
witnessed and took part in.''
And he went on: ``I have witnessed the slaying
of your Bishop. I was among those who blinded him, uprooted his eyes
and dragged him from his beard and hair while he was bleeding through the
Turkish neighborhood. We hit him, swore at him and cut off pieces from
his skin. I was deeply impressed by his attitude. He neither begged,
screamed or cursed while he endured all the tortures.
His pale face, covered with the blood of his eyes, was constantly looking
up towards the sky and he continuously mumbled something which could not
be heard. Do you, teacher, know what he was saying?''
- ``Yes, I know'', I replied.
- ``He was saying:"Holy Father, forgive them, for
they do not know what they are doing".''
- ``I don't understand what you are saying, teacher, but
it does not matter. Every now and then, whenever he had the strength to
do so, he would raise his right arm and bless his persecutors. A Turk
realized what the Bishop was doing; he got so furious that he
cut off the Bishop's hands with his sword. He fell on the ground in a
lake of blood and sighed. It was more a sigh of relief rather than a sigh of
pain. I was so sorry for him at that moment, that I shot him twice in the
head and that finished him off. That's my story. Now that I have said it
to you, I hope that I will find my peace of mind. That's why I am saving
your lives.''
- ``And where did they bury him?'' I asked with agony.
The testimony of Thomas Voultsios.
Sarantos Kargakos writes in his article:
In one of my books on the Asia Minor Campaign, I had written the
following with regards to the death of Chrysostomos: ``Chrysostomos
rightfully belongs to those great national martyrs who never loose
their pride even when it is broken down by the cowrdness and stupidity
of our political leadership''. In the unprotected Smyrna, at a time
when the entire political and military leadership has abandoned the
city, the whole civilian population of Asia Minor is rushing to find
shelter. The only one who will not abandon the city is Chrysostomos.
Even when the Catholic Archbishop is able to book him on a departing
steamship on August 25 and begs him to leave the condemned city and
escape from the incoming Turks, Chrysostomos replies:
``It is the tradition of the Greek Church and the duty of the
priest to stay with his congregation.''
It is this very time that Chrysostomos becomes
immortal and joins the other martyrs and saints of the Nation. The
time is drawing near. He is alone with his congregation. The last
great Greek who has left the city is Constantine Karatheodoris, the
provost of the Ionian University.
"God is testing our faith, our courage, and our patience at this
time. But God will never abandon Christians. It is during the high
seas that the good sailor stands out, and it is during time of
tribulations that the good Christan does the same. Pray and all these
will be gone. We shall again see happy days and we will pray the
Lord. Have courage as all good Christians should."
They came to take the Bishop and they told him that some high-ranking
official wanted to see him, along with three other Greek ex-officials
of the city. We took the car, along with Tsourouktzoglou and
Klimanoglou. The three of them got into the car, so did the
policemen. There was no room in the car for me, and the Bishop asked
me to remain at the cathedral. At about ten at night one of the
soldiers who had been here in the afternoon, brought a note from the
Bishop for his brother Eugene. The note said: ``Dear brother, we are
being held here tonight, myself as the alleged president of the Asia
Minor defense league, the others as members. I do not want you to
worry''. Eugene burst into tears. The next morning, at about 8, Eugene
asked me to try and find out what had happened to the Bishop. I came
across a bank teller, who informed me that about half an hour ago, he
had talked to the policeman who had escorted the Bishop from the
Cathedral. He had told him that they had gotten rid of the Bishop and
the other two. This is what happened. Until Wednesday, the day I left
town, I was not able to find out anything more.
Go to the top.
Academy member G. Mylonas testifies.
A number of Greeks from Smyrna who lived through its tragic destruction
have described the martyrdom of Chrysostomos. The credibility of these
descriptions has always been challenged, however. The magnitude of the
destruction and the pain of those who suffered may have resulted in
misrepresentations of reality. Personally, I put aside all my doubts
regarding the accuracy of the narrations on December 14, 1982. On
the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the destruction, the Academy of
Athens held a special assembly, which ended with the most dramatic
narration of the martyrdom of Chrysostomos. G. Mylonas of Smyrna,
was involved in the athletic and cultural life of the city and knew
Chrysostomos well, from the first day of the Bishop's presence there until
the final hours. The credibility and international acclaim of the scientific
work of G. Mylonas render his narration a valued historic document. It
follows:
- ``Are you a teacher?'', he asks.
- ``I have had this honour'', I reply.
- ``And the others who are with you, are they students?''
- ``Yes'', I say.
- ``Hurry up, bring them over here''.
- ``Come with me'' I tell my comrades.``It looks like our turn to die
has come. Come on, and be bold''.
- ``No one knows where they threw his chopped up body''.
Go to the top.