Ο Εφέσου Χρυσόστομος για την καταστροφή της Σμύρνης

Abstract

The destruction of Smyrna by fire in September 1922 was the last in
a series of events which culminated in the ousting of the Greek populations
from Asia Minor. To its larger part, the course of these events is
well-known:
By the end of August 1922, most of the Christian populations from
the interior of Asia Minor had followed the Greek army in its retreat
towards Smyrna and, as a result, a substantial number of refugees had
gathered in the city waiting in vain for ships to carry them to the neighbouring
islands. With the departure of the Greek officials on 8 September,
the countdown for Giaour Izmir had begun. The next day, the Turkish
army occupied the city and the celebrations of the local Turks culminated
on 11 September when M. Kemal himself came to the city. On the same
day, Chrysostom, the Metropolitan of Smyrna, was lynched by the mob

and, after a long series of looting, murders, pillage, and rapes the city
was set to flames on 13 September.
This article sets the background to a report addressed by the Metropolitan
of Ephessos Chrysostomos Hadjistavrou to the Patriarchate in
early October 1922. The report, which is published here annotated, describes
in detail the last days of Smyrna and provides information as to
the fate of neighbouring Greek communities and their religious leaders.
It also refers to the arrival of the refugees in Greece and the measures
taken for their relief.
Metropolitan Chrysostomos Hadjistavrou was born in Aidin (1880)
and studied at Chalki and Lausanne. He was a close associate of Metropolitan
Chrysostom of Smyrna with whom he worked for the relief and
encouragement of the Greek populations throughout the 1909-1919
persecutions. In 1962 he became Archbishop of Athens, a post which
he kept until 1967 when he was forced into retirement by the military
regime.