In September 1922, Metropolitan Chrysostomos Kalafatis of Smyrna was handed to a Turkish mob and killed in one of the mo...

In September 1922, Metropolitan Chrysostomos Kalafatis of Smyrna was handed to a Turkish mob and killed in one of the most brutal acts of the Asia Minor Catastrophe. He was 55 years old. Witnesses watched as the crowd tore out his beard, stabbed him, gouged out his eyes, cut off his ears and tongue, and dragged his mutilated body through the streets to the Turkish quarter, where it was left to dogs. U.S. Consul George Horton was there. He had visited Chrysostomos that same evening and pleaded with him to escape on an American vessel. The Metropolitan refused. Horton later wrote that Chrysostomos's only fault was "that he was a Greek of great patriotism and eloquence who desired the progress of his race," and called him a martyr who deserved the highest honors from the Greek Church and the Greek government. Chrysostomos had been warned by Allied officers to leave and save himself. He refused that too. In a letter written before his death, he explained why: "Am I to abandon Smyrna and my Metropolis? Never." He wrote that his death might "shake the human conscience" and remind the world that the Hellenism being destroyed was "worthy of life and freedom." He was not the only clergyman killed. Metropolitan Ambrosios of Moschonisia was cut to pieces on September 15, 1922, along with nine of his priests. Metropolitan Efthymios of Zela died after 41 days of torture, starvation, and thirst in a prison cell, condemned by order from Ankara. Metropolitan Gregorios of Kydonies was buried alive on October 3, 1922, as a Turkish officer mockingly told him he had "prepared a room" for him. The killing of Chrysostomos served as the signal for the broader destruction of Smyrna, which followed with burnings, massacres, and looting that wiped out one of the oldest Greek cities in the world. The Greek Orthodox Church later canonized him as a saint and ethno-hieromartyr, faithful unto death to his faith and his people. This happened 104 years ago. It has never been acknowledged by Turkey. #AsiaMinorCatastrophe #Smyrna1922 #GreekHistory