The Flag of Thyatira--A Piece of Anatolia History Has Come Home to "Anatolia" Where It Had Never Been Seen Before

It is an American flag bearing fourteen stars on a blue field, attached to six white and seven red strips of light wool cloth. The flag is the gift of Dr. Constance Cryer Ecklund, Professor of French at Southern Connecticut State University, and the granddaughter of Christo Theologos Papadopoulos, an Anatolia graduate of the class of 1893. Orphaned at the age of 11 at Smyrna in 1875, Christo attended Robert College in Constantinople and Anatolia College in Merzifon, studying theology and liberal arts. After graduation, Papadopoulos married and became an ordained evangelical minister. It was at his ministry in Ak Hissar (Biblical Thyatira) where he preached the Gospel and established a school that the flag saved many innocent lives. Read full story.

So That Fr. Andrea Not Be Killed a Second Time--February 2006

The death of Fr Andrea Santoro, the priest from the Diocese of Rome, killed in cold blood, while praying in his church in Trabzon, could almost have been predicted. Just as the violence against the Saint Maron Church in Beirut and the attacks against churches in Iraq had been almost a certainty. Each time tension mounts between the Islamic world and the West, the ones who pay the price are always Christians. Despite belonging to a community that is older than Islam, they are always depicted as the West’s implicit emissaries. Furthermore, they offer an important feature to those who wish to strike them: they are defenceless, unarmed, even loving towards their persecutors. They are the right victim. Click here for entire article.

Apostolic Nuncio in Turkey [Anatolia] Convinced Assassination of Fr. Santoro is Work of Mastermind--February 2006

The assassination of Fr. Andrea Santoro came about in the light of the climate provoked by the publication of the Muhammad cartoon strips, but "there is a mastermind behind it all". Speaking to AsiaNews via telephone, Msgr. Antonio Lucibello, apostolic nuncio in Turkey says he is also convinced of this, commenting that “in the tense and overheated climate created in the aftermath of the publication of these cartoons, it obvious that people can also be killed. But still, I am convinced that there is a mastermind behind all of it ” Read entire article.

AsiaNews Interview with Catholic Bishop Padovese About Assassination of Fr. Andrea Santoro [in Trapezounta]--February 2006

It appears increasingly probable that Fr Andrea Santoro’s assassination was related to Islamic fundamentalism: Bishop Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia is convinced of this. Contacted ". . .the fact that Fr. Santoro was killed while the entire Islamic world is being rocked by protests over the Mohammad caricatures 'does not seem incidental."

“This morning,” he related, “I went to the morgue. Fr Andrea was killed with two shots: after the first, he was able to shout out to a young many who was in the Church with him to take cover, the second shot killed him.” Click here to read entire article.

Petros Tatanis: Concern for the "Patrida"

Petros P. Tatanis, the publisher of the Greek American newspaper National Herald (Ethnikos Kyrix), sent an interesting telegram to US President Warren Harding on October 7, 1922 regarding the plight of the Christian population in Eastern Thrace. This telegram is best understood within the context of the Mudania conference taking place in early October 1922 between Allied Generals and Kemalists establishing armistice terms between the Greek and Turkish armies. The Mudania convention eventually paved the way for the Lausanne peace conference held in late November 1922 – February 1923 and resuming again in April – July 1923
Click here for entire article.

Andreades' "Mission" to America: Political Questions 1919--Part One

A correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor interviewed Professor A.Andreades in early May 1919 in New York. The interview was published in four instalments on May 2, 3, 6 and 7, respectively. The first two articles dealing with Greek diplomacy and the others discussing financial and economic matters. The information provided by Andreades is placed within the context of the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.
Click here to read full article.

The Geography of Kotyora (Ordou) in 1921 Along the Southern Shore of the Black Sea

By Pantelis M. Kontogianni
English translation by Mary Papoutsy

"The Geography of Kotyora (Ordou) in 1921 Along the Southern Shore of the Black Sea" is one small translated section of a larger Greek work, The Geography of Asia Minor. Written by Pantelis M. Kontogianni originally in 1921, this monumental and valuable work was reprinted in 2000 by the Syllogos Pros Diadosin Ophelimon Biblion (The Society for the Dissemination of Useful Information) in Athens. Kontogianni succeeds in describing richly and in detail the topography, demography, and economy of Koryora in this one section of his voluminous text on the Greek cities of Asia Minor. Few texts manage to offer such an overview of these cities and villages prior to the Catastrophe and exchange of populations. The vibrant productivity of the lands and all of her peoples, whom the author depicts, underscores the terrible tragedy which would befall the Mikrasiates in a few months. Each chapter breaks down the statistics of local ethnic groups, describes the land itself, the natural resources of the area, the infrastructure and buildings of the city or town, as well as its history and the bases for its local economy.
Click here to read full article about Kotyora (Ordou).


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