Greek revolution 1rst part- Patriarch Gregorios

In five days we have the 190th anniversary of the Declaration of the Greek revolution. Thus these days i will post a series of relative posts concerning some secondary figures of the revolution that are not so famous as others.

Patriarch Gregorius V

Patriarch Gregorios

Under the name Georgios Aggelopoulos, he was born in Dimitsana by poor parents. He received Greek education in the city which at the time was a center of learning. Georgios was attracted to monastic life and the teachings of the church. He became a monk and he took the name Gregorios.




His will for learning made him leave Dimitsana for a bigger city. He went to Smyrna where he got acquainted with the metropolitan of Smyrna and later he was appointed as his archdeacon. Gregorios' piety and  virtues helped him to promote quickly in the ecclesiastical hierarchy and at a young age(39 y.o) he succeeded to become the metropolitan of Smyrna.

The arrest of the patriarch

Soon he became renowned throughout the christian population of the Ottoman empire and everyone rejoiced when he was elected ecumenical patriarch of  Constantinople in 1797.
This period was  full of difficulties for the patriarch. The Ottoman intolerance was increasing at the time because of the economical and political deckline of the empire and because of the revolutionary tendencies of the christian populations of the empire that were triggered by the nationalisms which were inspired by the French revolution of 1789.


His contribution as a patriarch was great. He founded new schools a printing press and his main aim was to protect his christian subjects. Because of his pro-Greek activity he raised suspicions at the Ottoman court. He was twice exiled in Aghio oros(Holy mountain)  and returned back to his duties as a patriarch.


At the eve of the Greek revolution many worrying messages were coming to the Sultan from allover Greece.As a result of the outbreak of the revolution the Sultan ordered an unprecedented slaughter of Greeks as a revenge. The patriarch for typical reasons denounced the revolution but the Sultan was sure he had some contribution  in this.

Gregorios' corpse is thrown at the sea. 

In 18th April 1821 one month after the outbreak of the revolution right after he finished the Sunday mass for Easter he was dethroned and arrested. He was hunged in front of the main gate of the Patriarchate.For three days his corpse was hunging there as an example. Then he was delivered to some people who dragged him throughout the city and then they threw him at the sea of Bosporus. Fortunately a Greek merchant ship passing by found the corpse and brought it to Odessa which at the time hosted a prosperous greek community.
In Odessa he was buried by the Russian state with the honours of a patriarch. In 1871 the Greek state asked for his relic to be returned to Athens. In Athens he was buried at the metropolitan church and was declared an ethnomartyr and a saint.




Source :Biographies of the heros of the Greek Revolution (Ήρωες της Ελληνικής επαναστάσεως) by Alexandros Philadelpheus .publication: 1900 
 Translation is made by me.