An icon of the Four Martyrs of Rethymnon is honoured in a monastery in Thessaloniki

An icon of the Four Martyrs of Rethymnon by Alexandra Kaouki now in the Rectory in Askeaton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

One of the icons I moved from the bookshelves in my study at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute to the Rectory in Askeaton is a copy of the icon of the Four Martyrs of Rethymnon from the workshop of Alexandra Kaouki (Αλεξανδρα Καουκι) on Melissinou Street, beneath the slopes of the Venetian Fortezza in Rethymnon.

I have spent much time in Rethymnon for more than 30 years, and this icon represents the story, traditions and religious faith of the people of this town in Crete. The original icon by Alexandra Kaouki hangs above the desk of the Bishop Eugenios of Rethymnon in his office.

Last Sunday [17 November 2019], another version of Alexandra Kaouki’s Icon of the Four Martyrs of Rethymnon was given a special place of honour in my favourite monastery in Thessaloniki, the Holy Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monastery of Vlatadon. This monastery, where I spent Easter Day in the Orthodox calendar last year [8 April 2018], is associated with the families of the four martyrs.

The ceremony was organised by the Rethymnon Association of Attica, To Arkadi to mark their 90th anniversary (1930-2020). The attendance included people from Crete in traditional Cretan costume when as icon was blessed by Bishop Nikiforos of Amorion, who is the Abbot of Vlatadon, and Metropolitan Eugenios, Bishop of Rethymnon and Avlopotamos.

The Divine Liturgy also commemorated the 153rd anniversary the people who were burned to death at the Arkadi Monastery.

The Monastery of Vlatadon in the hills above Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

The Monastery of Vlatadon was founded between 1351 to 1371 by the Empress Anna Palaeologus and was named after two monks from Crete, Dorotheos and Markos Vlattis, two of the closest friends of Saint Gregory Palamas, Archibishop of Thessaloniki.

These two brothers travelled with Saint Gregory to Constantinople in 1341, when he was called before the synod called to deal with the hesychast controversy and Saint Gregory’s theological differences with Barlaam of Calabria.

The monk Dorotheos returned with Saint Gregory to Thessaloniki and took up permanent residence in the city. He later became Archbishop of Thessaloniki from 1371 to 1379. His brother Markos travelled to Mount Athos, where he lived as a monk at the Great Lavra, but he too returned to Thessaloniki in 1351, when the brothers founded the Monastery of the Pantocrator at Vlatadon.

The Four Martyrs of Rethymnon were members of the Vlatakis family, which claimed descent from the same family as the monks Dorotheos and Markos Vlattis from Crete who gave their name to the Monastery of Vlatadon.

The Four Martyrs of Rethymnon were originally Crypto-Christians. They were members of the Vlatakis family and came from the Melambes region. All four were executed by the Turks outside the walls of Rethymnon in 1824 for adhering to for their Christian faith.

The Four Martyrs lived in Melambes in the Agios Vassilios district of Crete at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. They were farmers who were virtuous, humble and with great hearts and spirits. They were all married with children and all were they were brothers or cousins of each other and members of the Vlatakis family: Emmanuel and Angelis were brothers, the sons of Giannis Vlatakis. George was the son of Constantine Vlatakis and Nikolaos was the son of another Giannis Vlatakis.

Crete had been occupied by the Turks since 1669. The area of Melambes, including Agios Vassilios, Amari and Messara, was constantly raided by Turks from the Amari area, and many people were faced with three options: to remain a Christian and face discrimination and persecution; to convert to Islam; or to become Crypto-Christians, pretending to convert to Islam but secretly remaining an Orthodox Christian.

The Four Martyrs came from a family of Crypto-Christians who converted to Islam publicly but secretly remained Christians. Crypto-Christians fulfilled their religious obligations, including confession, Communion, marriage, baptism, and so, in secret and with discretion.

With the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence in 1821, the four future martyrs joined the cause and took leading roles. They were in the frontline at the battle of Melambes at Kako Ryaki (Bad Stream) and also took part in battles at Kali Sykia, Agios Giannis Kamenos and later at Vathiako and at Monasteraki.

In mid-1822, the Turkish forces in Crete were reinforced with troops from Egypt. Although the revolution was crushed in Crete in 1824, the four future saints continued to live in Melambes and were living openly as Christians. Mehmed Pasha of Rethymnon heard of their new open practice of Christianity and took this as an affront to the Sultan and as treason.

The four went into hiding in Santali, and the pasha sent troops to Melambes, where they met the president of the village, Katergaris. Katergaris and his sister, who was the wife of Nikolaos Vlatakis, were persuaded to send Mathios Katergaris to tell the four to return to Melambes with a promise of their safety. When the martyrs came down to the village, the Turks arrested them immediately and tied them up. Despite the protests of Katergaris that the Turks were not keeping their promises, the detachment left for Rethymnon with the four martyrs.

The Venetian Harbour seen from the old Customs House in Rethymnon … the Four Martyrs were held prisoners here for four months in 1824 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

When the detachment arrived at Rethymnon, the four martyrs were jailed in the prison in the old Venetian Harbour, on the site of today’s Customs House.

At first, Mehmet Pasha tried to convince the four to convert to Islam, promising high offices, honours and gifts. But they refused to engage in any discussion, insisting: ‘Christians we were born, Christians we want to die.’

The Turkish governor was enraged and ordered their strict isolation and torture, hoping to break their determination. For four months, from July to October, they endured tortures in prison, with the Pasha ordering a new and harsher ordeal each day. But their faith in Christ proved to be unyielding.

Mehmed Pasha then called a special court martial to try them for denouncing and insulting Islam. When they were sentenced to death, they heard the verdict with Christian calm and pride.

They spent their last night peacefully, according to a tradition recorded in a poem by Giorgis Avgoustakis of Melambes:

In their sweet dreams they saw a big miracle
four bright Angels were flying above them
they were holding golden crowns in their hands
they said to them,
Christ has sent us to be with you
because for his love you are giving your lives.

The Four Martyrs were executed outside the Porta Guora, the Venetian gate that marked the entrance to the old town of Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

The day before their execution, the news was proclaimed by a herald through the streets of Rethymnon. All shops were forced to close and the Turkish and Greek residents were ordered to attend the public execution.

On the morning of 28 October 1824, a procession began at the Turkish prison and made its way through the streets of Rethymnon, finishing at the Porta Guora, the big Venetian gate that marked the entrance to the old town. The four were then taken outside the walls of the city, to an open space by the big plane trees where the Church of the Four Martyrs stands todays.

Kneeling in the open space outside the Porta Guora gate, with their hands tied, they saw their executioner holding his sword, and heard him ask: ‘Will you adopt the Turkish faith?’

The standard answer was a humble ‘Yes, my Lord.’

But instead the first man in line surprised everyone with a scornful ‘No.’

A few seconds before his head was cut off, he added: ‘I was born a Christian and a Christian I will die.’

One by one, the others did the same.

The sword of the executioner came down four times and beheaded the four men. As each was executed, his dying words were: ‘Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy).’

Christ the Pantocrator in the dome in the Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

For three days their bodies lay unburied outside the gate. But during those three days, it is said, a fragrant smell filled the air. On the fourth day, some brave Christians, led by Antonis Pourdounis and George Lagos, and assisted by Emmanuel Papadakis, the Pasha’s translator, collected the remains and buried them at the Church of Saint George, east of Rethymnon. The church was part of the Monastery of Arkadi.

A year later, Bishop Ioannikios of Rethymnon had the four bodies exhumed and brought the brought the bodies and the skulls to the Cathedral in Rethymnon. Some remains were also brought to the Monastery of Arkadi.

Tradition says that the homes of the Four Martyrs in Melambes were razed to the ground and later burned the village.

It is difficult to ascertain with historical certainty what happened to the families of the four martyrs. Local people believe that in the case of the families of Nikolaos, George and Angelis, some family members were killed while others were been sold into slavery either in Crete or in the East.

However, the story of the family of Manouil or Emmanuel Vlatakis were passed on by one of his descendants, George Maragakis from the village Kouses, near Iraklion, who heard them from his father, Giannis Maragakis (1889-1976), a great-grandson of Emmanuel Vlatakis.

According to this account, Emmanuel Vlatakis and his wife had four children: two sons Nikolaos and Giannis, a daughter Kroustallenia and another son whose name is not recalled. After Emmanuel’s execution, his wife and two of their sons were shelter by an Italian widower in Rethymnon. One son later moved to Chromonastiri, a village outside Rethymnon, where he had three children: Stylianos, who later became Archimandrite Sofronios, Maria and Anastasia. Another son became a shoemaker and returned to Melambes and his son, Antonios Vlatakis, later became a lawyer in Rethymnon.

An influential Turk, Mirolai Pasha from Tymbaki, offered protection to Nikolaos Vlatakis and he became a carpenter by trade.

The daughter Kroustallenia was taken by a Turk for his harem, forced to convert to Islam and given the name her Fatme. Her brother Nikolaos, with the help of Mirolai Pasha, secured her freedom and she returned to Christianity. She named her child Emmanuel after her father, but he died as a young adult.

Nikolaos later married Maria Kolatsidakis from the village Kouse, and he settled there as a carpenter. They had four children who became known as the maragakia or ‘little carpenters,’ and eventually their surname became Maragakis. One of those four children, Emmanuel, later returned to Melambes, where he resumed the name Vlatakis. But he was also known as Letzomanolis, a combination of his mother’s surname and his own first name.

Manolis Vlatakis or Letzakis died at the age of 94 in 2001. He had five sisters, Anastasia, Vasiliki, Maria, Chrysi and Sophia. All had children, and their descendants still live in Melambes.

Immediately outside the old town, beside the Porta Guora gate, the Church of the Four Martyrs is one of the largest and most-visited churches in Rethymnon, and it stands in a busy square of the same name, Tessaron Martiron.

The church is a fashionable venue for baptisms and weddings at weekends. It was here I attended the celebrations of Good Friday and Easter in the Orthodox calendar earlier this year [2019].

The church was completed on 28 December 1975, but stands on the site of two previous churches, the first from 1905 to 1947 and the second, which was demolished in 1972.

The church stands on the site of the execution of the Four Martyrs. The central aisle of the church is dedicated to these four local saints. The north aisle is also dedicated to the Forty Holy Martyrs of Sebaste – Roman soldiers martyred in Armenia during the reign of Licinius in AD 320. The south aisle is dedicated to the Ten Holy Martyrs of Crete who were beheaded by Decius in 250 AD.

Throughout Greece, 28 October is a national holiday, ‘Οχι’ Day, recalling Greece’s trenchant ‘No’ to Mussolini that brought Greece into World War II on 28 October 1940. But in Rethymnon, 28 October is also the day when the city recalls the Four Holy Martyrs.

Inside the Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymnon on Good Friday (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

A first-time visit to the Greek Orthodox cathedral in Vienna

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral is in the historic Greek neighbourhood in Vienna (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

I was in Vienna for just a few hours on Thursday [7 November 2019], catching a bus from Bratislava with the intention of visiting the Jewish quarter and a number of Jewish centres, including the Jewish Museums at Dorotheergrasse the Judenplatz, the city’s last surviving synagogue on Seitenstettengrasse, the Holocaust Memorial in the Judenplatz, and the site of mediaeval ghetto.

I also wanted to use this opportunity to revisit the Stephansdom or Saint Stephen’s Cathedral after 14 years, as well as a number of churches and buildings, including Peterskirche and the Haas-Haus.

But for the first-time ever – and this was my fifth visit to Vienna – I also visited Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in the historic Greek neighbourhood in Vienna’s Innere Stadt or old town.

The area has also been known as the Fleischmarkt, for this was the city of the city’s first meat market from 1220. Greek merchants first settled around the Fleischmarkt in the early 18th century, and there have been Greek Orthodox churches on this site since 1787, following the Patent of Toleration issued by the Emperor Joseph II in 1781.

The Griechische Kirche or Greek Church was designed by the Danish-born architect Theophil Hansen in the Byzantine Revival style (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The neo-Byzantine style Griechische Kirche or Greek Church, with its rich, gilt structure, was designed by the Danish-born architect Theophil Hansen (1813-1891) in the Byzantine Revival style.

The cathedral was officially opened on 21 December 1858. The exterior features two-tone brickwork and gilded archways. The elaborately ornamented sanctuary shows a stylish allusion to Baroque church architecture that is typical of southern Germany and Austria.

A number of frescoes for the facade and vestibule were commissioned from the Austrian painter and art professor Carl Rahl, with other frescoes by Ludwig Thiersch.

Baron Theophil Edvard von Hansen was born Theophilus Hansen in Copenhagen on 13 July 1813, and later became an Austrian citizen. He is known particularly for his buildings in Athens and Vienna and is an outstanding representative of neoclassicism.

After training with the Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel and studying in Vienna for some years, he moved to Athens in 1837, where he studied architecture and design, with particular interest in Byzantine architecture.

In Athens, Hansen designed his first building, the National Observatory of Athens, and two of the three neighbouring buildings forming the so-called ‘classical trilogy’: the Academy of Athens and the National Library of Greece, alongside the National and Cappodistrian University of Athens, designed by his brother Christian Hansen.

There have been Greek Orthodox churches on the site of the cathedral since 1787 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The Greek-Austrian financier Georgios Sinas called Hansen back to Vienna in 1846. There Hansen took up an apprenticeship with noted Austrian architect Ludwig Förster.

In his early works, such as the museum at the Arsenal in Vienna, Hansen still displayed a more romantic style. In later years, he became the most outstanding representative of Renaissance-inspired historicism or the Neo-Renaissance style, which also came to be known as Viennese-style. This style extended into the smallest details of the interior design and partially accepted the courses of a synthesis of the arts.

Hansen became one of the most influential architects of the Viennese Ringstrasse. His best-known work is the Austrian Parliament building, designed in the style of an ancient, neo-classic temple and a reference to the Greek beginnings of democracy.

Hansen was originally a staunch critic of the Classical style that was taught to him at the Copenhagen Academy. Over the years, however, he came to incorporate Classical elements into his forms.

Hansen’s Musikverein in Vienna is one of the most notable concert halls in the world. Its design and acoustics are often admired and copied in music houses.

Hansen worked with Austrian sculptor Vincenz Pilz and artist Carl Rahl, as well as the architect Otto Wagner. The Emperor Franz Joseph honoured Hansen in 1884 with a title in the Austrian nobility as Freiherr or Baron von Hansen. He died in Vienna on 17 February 1891.

The Greek-Austrian financier Georgios Sinas financed the building of the cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Hansen’s Greek cathedral in Vienna was financed by the Greek-Austrian diplomat and philanthropist Simon Sinas (1810-1876), and this was one of their many collaborations in Vienna and Athens.

Simon Sinas (Σίμων Σίνας), or Simon von Sina, was an Austrian banker, aristocrat, benefactor and diplomat of Greek descent. He was born in Vienna on 15 August 1810, but his family were Greeks who came originally from Moscopole in what is south Albania today.

He was the Greek consul in Vienna, and later the Greek minister to Austria, Bavaria and Germany. His father, Georgios Sinas, was also a benefactor and diplomat, and Simon Sinas expanded his father’s business.

Simon Sinas made major donations to educational and scientific foundations in Austria, Hungary and Greece. While he was the Greek Ambassador in Vienna, he hosted the ‘Greek Ball’ in the Palais Sina for which Johann Strauss II composed the Hellenen-Polka (Hellenes Polka).

Sinas became director of Austria’s central bank, Oesterreichische Nationalbank, and established the Simon Georg Sina banking house in Vienna. After the Second Schleswig War or German-Danish War came to an end in 1864, Sinas funded the return of Austrian forces from Schleswig-Holstein. Sinas held a seat in the Herrenhaus or upper house in the of Austrian parliament from 1874.

Along with Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Vienna, Sinas was the donor or financed many public buildings, including the Hungarian Academy of Budapest, the Athens Orthodox Cathedral and the Athens Academy, and others. He died in Vienna on 15 April 1876.

The parishioners of the Greek Cathedral in Vienna have included the family of the conductor Herbert von Karajan (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

In the past, the parishioners of the Greek Cathedral in Vienna have included the family of the conductor Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989). They were descended from Georg Karajan (Geórgios Karajánnis, Γεώργιος Καραγιάννης), was born in Kozani, in the Ottoman province of Rumelia, now in Greece.

The cathedral has been the seat of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Austria since 1963, and is part of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Beside the cathedral, the Griechenbeisl is one of other landmarks associated with the Greek community in Vienna. It was once frequented by Beethoven, Brahms and Schubert. A passage links the Griechenbeisl to Griechengasse or ‘Greek Street,’ with its own Greek restaurant, Artemis.

Greek merchants first settled around the Fleischmarkt in Vienna in the early 18th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

When Greece said ‘No’ to fascism and oppression

The Greek flag flies on boat off the island of Paxos in the Ionian Islands (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

Today is Ohi Day or Oxi Day (Επέτειος του «'Οχι»), celebrated throughout Greece and Cyprus and by Greek communities around the world on 28 October each year.

Ohi Day commemorates the day the Greek Prime Minister, Ioannis Metaxas, rejected the ultimatum from the Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini on 28 October 1940. This day also recalls the Greek counter-attack against invading Italian forces in the mountains of Pindus during World War II, and the Greek Resistance during the war to occupying Italians and Germans.

Mussolini’s ultimatum was presented to Metaxas by the Italian ambassador to Greece, Emanuele Grazzi, around 3 a.m. on the morning of 28 October 1940.

Mussolini demanded Greece would allow Axis forces to enter Greek territory and occupy strategic locations – or face war. It is said Metaxas replied with a one-word laconic response: Όχι (No!).

Putting popular myth aside, the actual reply was in French: ‘Alors, c’est la guerre!’ (‘Then it is war!’).

The moment provides the background for a dramatic but humorous scene in the movie Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, set on the Ionian island of Kephallonia, making Ohi Day well-known around the world.

In an immediate response to Metaxas’s ‘No’, Italian troops based in Albania attacked the Greek border two hours later at 5.30 a.m. That ‘No!’ brought Greece into World War II on the side of the Allies. Indeed, for a period, Greece was Britain’s only ally against Hitler.

Without that ‘No,’ some historians argue, World War II could have lasted much longer. One theory is that had Greece surrendered without any resistance, Hitler could have invaded Russia the following spring, rather than his disastrous attempt to capture it during winter.

On this morning 79 years ago, 28 October 1940, Greek people of all political persuasions took to the streets in masses, shouting «'Οχι», ‘No!’ From 1942, this day was celebrated as Ohi Day, first within the resistance and then after the war by all Greeks.

The Battle of Crete and the extra resources required to subdue Greece drained and distracted Nazi Germany from its efforts on other war fronts.

The Greek flag flying with the Byzantine flag at a monastery in Meteora (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Today, Ohi Day is a public holiday in Greece and Cyprus. The events of 1940 are commemorated with military and student parades, public buildings are decorated with Greek flags, there folk dances, and Greek Orthodox churches hold special services. Coastal towns may have naval parades or other celebrations on the seafront. In Thessaloniki, reverence is also paid to the city’s patron, Saint Dimitrios, and the city celebrates its freedom from Turkey.

There are traffic delays, especially near parade routes, some streets are blocked off, and most archaeological sites are closed for the day, along with most businesses and services.

In Dublin, Ochi Day and the fallen were marked at 11 a.m. on Sunday morning [27 October 2019], during the Divine Liturgy in the Greek Orthodox Church in Dublin, and in the afternoon at a holiday dinner in the Mykonos Restaurant on Dame Street.

In the West, politicians are always happy to credit ancient Greece with the development of democracy. But in the present crises in Europe, when Greece is often seen as a burden rather than a partner, it may be worth remembering that Europe owes modern Greece an unacknowledged debt for helping to preserve democracy against the Nazis and Fascists during World War II.

The Greek flag with Church flags at a church in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The new Bishop of Knossos and his student days in in Ireland

With the new Bishop of Knossos, Father Prodromos Xenakis, when he visited the Church of Ireland Theological Institute with Dr Katerina Pekridou, now the Dialogue Secretary of the Conference of European Churches

Patrick Comerford

It is always interesting to hear news about someone I have known but have lost touch with. I got to know Father Prodromos Xenakis from Crete when he was a post-graduate student in Maynooth in 2010-2012.

He was following a programme in Biblical studies leading to the MTh degree, and was attached to the Greek Orthodox Church in Dublin.

During that time we took part in Greek community events in Dublin, a broadcast service on RTÉ, and he came to the Church of Ireland Theological Institute when I was presiding at the Community Eucharist on the day the calendar of the Church remembers Saint Polycarp, a second century martyr and Bishop of Smyrna.

It was good to hear today that Archimandrite Prodromos, who is now the Chancellor or Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Church of Crete, has been elected the next Bishop of Knossos in Crete.

As Bishop of Knossos, Archimandrite Prodromos will also serve as assistant bishop to the Archbishop of Crete, Archbishop Ireneos. Father Prodromos Xenakis has been a long-time associate of Archbishop Ireneos and has held several positions in the Archdiocese of Crete.

Knossos is a titular see in the Church of Crete. The separate diocese was abolished in 1823 and was attached to Metroplis, based in Iraklion.

The new bishop was elected late on Wednesday [16 October 2019]. His predecessor as Bishop of Knossos is the present Bishop of Rethymnon, Metropolitan Evgenios of Rethymnon and Avlopotamos.

The Bishop-elect of Knossos told the Greek media last night: ‘The election is a special honour to me. I feel joy and gratitude to everyone.’ His episcopal ordination will take place in Saint Minas Cathedral Iraklion on Saturday 26 October.

Father Prodromos Xenakis at a Greek community dinner in Dublin in 2012 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Bishop Prodromos was born Zacharias Xenakis in Stavrakia, Iraklion, in 1979. He studied at the Theological Seminary of the University of Athens, and was ordained a monk and deacon in the Monastery of Saint Irene Chrysovalantou near Athens in 2005.

The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos then sent him to Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where he followed a postgraduate programme in Biblical Theology in 2010-2012. On his return to Crete, he was ordained a priest in January 2013 and became an archimandrite.

He is the head of the press office and has served on a number of boards and committees in the Church of Crete, with special interests in communications, culture and church charities.

He has been a director of youth programmes and a programme producer with Light, the radio station of the Archdiocese Crete. He was a member of recent delegation of the Church of Crete to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Greek Government. Bishop Prodromos will remain secretary of the Council of the Church of Crete.

Archbishop Prodromos Xenakis … elected Bishop of Knossos in Crete last night

The pinnacles of Meteora form a unique combination of geology and theology

The monasteries of Meteora are balanced precariously on the rocky pinnacles above the Plain of Thessaly (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

A holiday in Corfu in late August and early September allowed me to explore some of the neighbouring Ionian Islands, including Paxos and Antipaxos, to visit churches, monasteries, convents and places of historical interest in Corfu, and to return to southern Albania, visiting Saranda and travelling south to the Greek-speaking areas on the borders with northern Greece, including the archaeological site in Butrint.

Early one morning, I also took a boat from the small port of Lefkimmi in south-east Corfu to Igoumenitsa on the north-west coast of Greece.

Igoumenitsa is the gateway port from the Ionian Islands to the Greek mainland, and I spent a day visiting the many monasteries of the Meteora in the plains in central Greece, halfway between Thessaloniki and Athens.

Until the late 1970s, Meteora was virtually beyond Greece or the Orthodox world. All that changed in 1981 with the movie For Your Eyes Only, and the final, climactic with James Bond at the fictitious Saint Cyril’s Monastery, which in real life is the Monastery of the Holy Trinity.

The first monasteries may not have been formed until the 14th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Unique rock formations

Meteora is a geologically unique and captivating collection of rock formations in central Greece and is home one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of monasteries in the Eastern Orthodox world.

Indeed, in the Orthodox world, the monasteries of Meteora are second in importance only to Mount Athos.

In all, there once were 24 monasteries in this Meteroa, although only six of the original 24 function as monasteries today. They are built precariously on top of immense natural pillars and hill-like rounded boulders that dominate the area.

Meteora, which is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List, is near the town of Kalambaka at the north-west edge of the Plain of Thessaly, close to the Pineios River and the Pindus Mountains. The name means ‘in the air,’ ‘lofty’ or ‘elevated,’ and the word is related to the word ‘meteor.’

These enormous columns or pillars of rock rise precipitously from the ground, and their unusual form is not easy to explain geologically.

Six of the original 24 monasteries still function today as monasteries or nunneries (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Caves in the Meteora area were inhabited continuously between 50,000 and 5,000 years ago. The oldest known example of a built structure, a stone wall that blocked two-thirds of the entrance to the Theopetra cave, was built 23,000 years ago, probably as a barrier against cold winds during an ice age.

It is surprising then that Meteora is not mentioned in classical Greek myths nor in Ancient Greek literature.

After the Neolithic Era, the first people to inhabit Meteora seem to have been ascetic hermits or monks who moved to the pinnacles in the ninth century AD. At first, they lived in hollows and fissures in the rock towers, some as high as 550 metres above the plain. These heights and the sheer cliff faces deterred all but the most determined visitors.

The Monastery of Great Meteoro is the largest of the monasteries at Meteora (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Isolated solitude

Initially, the first hermits led lives of isolated and lonely solitude, meeting together only on Sundays and holy days to worship and pray together in a chapel built at the foot of a rock known as Doubiani.

Some monks were living in the caverns of Meteora as early as the 11th century. By the late 11th and early 12th centuries, a rudimentary monastic state had formed called the Skete of Stagoi and was centred around the Church of the Theotokos (the Mother of God).

The exact date when the first monasteries were formed is not known, but it may not have been until the 14th century, when the monks sought places to hide and shelter in the face of an increasing number of Turkish attacks in this part of Greece.

Varlaam is the second largest monastery in Meteora (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Athanasios Koinovitis from Mount Athos brought a group of followers to Meteora in 1344. From 1356 to 1372, he founded the Great Meteoro monastery on the Broad Rock, which was perfect for the monks. This impressive rock rises 613 metres above sea level and 413 metres above the nearest town, Kalambaka.

Athanasios gathered 14 monks from the surrounding rock, organised a community, and laid the foundations for a common monastic life. There they were safe from political turmoil and had complete control of the entry to the monastery. The only way the monastery could be reached it was by climbing a long ladder that was drawn up whenever the monks felt under threat.

Looking out onto the world from the Holy Monastery of Rousanou or Saint Barbara (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Dangerous and difficult access

Byzantine rule in northern Greece was increasingly threatened by the end of the 14th century by Turkish raiders seeking to control the fertile plain of Thessaly. The monks found the inaccessible rock pillars of Meteora were ideal refuges, and more than 20 monasteries were built, beginning in the 14th century.

Access to the monasteries was deliberately difficult, requiring either climbing long ladders latched together on the rockfaces, or balancing in large nets and basks used to haul up both goods and people and to let them down again.

It is said this required quite a leap of faith – the ropes were replaced, so the story goes, only ‘when the Lord let them break.’

A modern icon of Christ in a ceiling in Varlaam (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

At their peak in the 16th century, there were 24 monasteries at Meteora. Their architecture is often Athonite in origin, inspired by the monasteries of Mount Athos. Today, six of these monasteries are still functioning, but the rest are largely in ruins. Perched on high cliffs, they are now accessible by staircases and pathways cut into the rock formations.

Queen Marie of Romania became the first woman ever allowed to enter the Great Meteoro monastery when she visited Meteora in 1921. By then, living conditions were beginning to improve for the monks. Steps were cut into the rocks in the 1920s, making the complex accessible through a bridge from the nearby plateau. The area was bombed during World War II and many art treasures were stolen.

Today, only six of the original 24 monasteries are functioning, with 15 monks in four monasteries and 41 nuns in two monasteries: men in the Monasteries of the Transfiguration or Great Meteoro, All Saints or Saint Varlaam, Holy Trinity and Saint Nicholas Anapafsas; and women in the Monasteries of Saint Stephen and Saint Barbara, also known as Roussanou.

An engraving from 1792 shows monks accessing the monasteries by ropes and ladders (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Visiting two monasteries

Apart from their rhythm of daily prayer and their breath-taking views, the treasures of these monasteries include their decorated churches with frescoes and icons, their libraries, relics and museums.

I visited two of the monasteries – the monastery of All Saints or Varlaam and the Holy Monastery of Roussanou, also known as Saint Barbara – and stopped on the way to see the other four functioning monasteries.

Visitors need no permits issued in advance, women as well as men are welcome as visitors, and all the monasteries display notices outside advising when they are open and when the Divine Liturgy is served.

The early ropes and pulleys still survive in many monasteries (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The monasteries stand precariously on top of immense natural pillars and hill-like rounded boulders that dominate the area. But, because of their openness and their reputation for hospitality and welcome, I was not surprised to find that Russian and Romanian tourists find pilgrimage and tourism an interesting combination.

The Monastery of Great Meteoro is the largest of the monasteries at Meteora, although only three monks live there today It was founded in the mid-14th century and was restored and embellished in 1483 and again in 1552.

The Katholikon or main church Great Meteoro is consecrated in honour of the Transfiguration of Christ. It was built in the mid-14th century and again in 1387-1388 and was decorated in 1483 and 1552. One building serves as the main museum for tourists.

However, the first monastery I visited in Meteora was the Monastery of Varlaam, the second largest monastery in the Meteora complex. Today, seven monks live here and it has the largest number of monks among the men’s monasteries.

A precarious ladder balanced against a rockface below a monastery (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The monastery of Varlaam was built by Theophanes in 1517, and is reputed to house the finger of Saint John and the shoulder blade of Saint Andrew.

The main church or katholikon in Varlaam is dedicated to All Saints. It is built in the Athonite style, in the shape of a cross-in-square with a dome and choirs, and spacious exonarthex is surrounded by a dome.

The church was built in 1541-1542 and decorated in 1548, while the exonarthex was decorated in 1566. The old refectory is used as a museum while north of the church is the parekklesion of the Three Hierarchs, built in 1627 and decorated in 1637.

The monastery became more accessible in 1923 when 195 steps were cut into rockface, allowing monks and visitors to walk to the top.

The six surviving monasteries remain centres of prayer and pilgrimage (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The second monastery I visited was the Holy Monastery of Rousanou or Saint Barbara, founded in the mid-16th century and decorated in 1560.

The name Rousanou may be derived from the family name of the founder, or from the red colour of the rock on which it is built.

Ascent to the monastery was by rope ladders until 1897. Later, two wooden bridges were built for monks and visitors. Since 1936, two strong but picturesque bridges serve the same purpose.

The monastery went into decline after World War II, and was eventually abandoned. But a community of women were invited to move into Rousanou, and today, it is a flourishing nunnery with a community of 13 nuns living there.

A prayer in the Monastery of Varlaam (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

I had also expected to visit the Monastery of Saint Stephen, but our plans were changed. This monastery has a small church that was built in the 16th century and decorated in 1545. This monastery is unusual because it stands on the plain rather than on a cliff.

The Monastery of Saint Stephen housed 31 monks in 1888. But it was shelled by the Nazis during World War II, who claimed it was harbouring Greek resistance fighters. It was abandoned after World War II, and it was virtually deserted by 1960. The monastery was given over to nuns in 1961 and they have rebuilt it, so that today it is a flourishing nunnery, with 28 nuns living there.

Icons in a workshop in Kalambaka (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Icon workshops

As we drove around Meteora, we also saw the two other monasteries that have survived into the 21st century.

The Monastery of the Holy Trinity was built on top of the cliffs in 1475 and was remodelled in 1684, 1689, 1692 and again in 1741. Today there are four monks living in the monastery that was Bond’s fictitious Saint Cyril’s.

Orthodox religious goods in the Zindos workshop in Kalambaka, below Meteora (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The Monastery of Saint Nicholas Anapafsas, near the village of Kastraki, was built in the 16th century. Its small church was decorated in 1527 by the noted Cretan painter, Theophanes Strelitzas, also known as Theophanes the Cretan. Today, there is only one monk living in this monastery.

The day also provided an opportunity to visit the Zindos icon workshop in Kalambaka before returning to Igoumenitsa and catching a return ferry to Lefkimmi on Corfu.

The port of Igoumenitsa is the gateway from the Ionian Islands to mainland Greece (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

This feature was first published in the Church Review (Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough) in October 2019.

Early morning sunrise in the Ionian Sea on the way to the monasteries of Meteora (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

A unique taste of Corfu in a traditional tipple

The Vassilakis distillery and winery … the home of the kumquat liqueur in Corfu (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

Port in Porto … Guinness in Ireland … whisky in Scotland … limoncello in Sorrento … retsina or ouzo throughout Greece … and (if I may say so, even after this morning’s rugby match) sake in Japan.

But in Corfu, Kumquat is the traditional tipple.

It is everywhere in Corfu … on the supermarket shelves, in souvenir shops, and even as an aperitif … before and after dinner. And there is kumquat syrup, kumquat marmalade, kumquat sweets, kumquat biscuits ... for all I know, there is even kumquat soup.

It was a little too sweet for my taste, but I was in Corfu and I had to taste and to visit a kumquat distillery to learn how this unusual orange-coloured liqueur came to be one of the trademarks of Corfu.

Corfu is the only place in Greece where this fruit is cultivated. The tiny orange fruit is originally from China and South Japan, and the name means golden fruit. In Asian countries, the kumquat is also favoured as a bonsai and is sometimes given as a gift.

A large barrel at the Vassilakis shop (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The kumquat found its way from China and south Japan to Europe in the late 18th century, and it was introduced to Corfu by an English agronomist in 1860. Since then, it has become one of the main agricultural products of the island. The fertile soil, abundant water and mild climate favour its growth in Corfu, and there are 6,000 kumquat trees throughout the island.

The kumquat, or marumi kumquat, is part of the citrus family and looks like a small orange. The leaves are dark green, the blossom is white, and it grows either in bunches or separately. The tree is about 2-3 meters high and the round fruit is about 2 cm in diameter. The thick, fleshy peel is yellow-orange in colour and is sweet inside. The fruit ripens in December, changing colour from green to orange, and the harvesting season lasts from January to May.

It can be eaten as a fruit, and can be used to make sweets, jams, syrups, and liqueurs. The liqueur can be made by macerating kumquats in vodka, gin, brandy or other clear spirits.

The colour indicates whether the liqueur has been made from the rind or from the fruit itself. If the colour is bright orange spirit, then it has been made only with the skin. It is very sweet in taste and extremely fragrant as well. Being also quite strong in taste, it is the favourite choice for making cocktails, as well as for adding flavour to creams, puddings, and other desserts.

The white liqueur is considerably less sweet and local people often serve it after meals, the same way they serve ouzo, tsikoudia, and tsipouro in other parts of Greece.

The vats at the Vassilakis distillery and winery in Corfu (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Earlier this month, I visited the factory of the Vassilakis distillery and winery in the area Agios Ioannis area of Triklino. An exhibition area offers visitors an opportunity to taste and buy a variety of products throughout the year.

The Vassilakis Distillery and Winery, known for the ‘Corfiot Lady’ or ‘Corfiot Dame’ brand, was founded in 1960 by Theodore Vassilakis. The distillery makes and bottles traditional kumquat liqueurs, as well as ouzo and several wine labels. The company products also include traditional sweets such as mandoles, mandolato and loukoumi, as well as extra virgin olive oil.

Vassilakis took his first entrepreneurial steps 60 years ago when he opened a small shop selling dried nuts and sweets in the San Rocco area in the centre of Corfu Town in 1959.

He opened a shop in Athens in 1960 and this became his centre for delivering his products throughout Greece. At the same time, he obtained his first distillery licence for kumquat, and opened a small distillery lab.

He built the distillery and winery at their present location in Corfu in 1966, and with love and passion the family overcame the financial and economic difficulties they faced.

Vassilakis expanded the business to Kephallonia in 1980 with Vassilakis Vineyards and a winery (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Vassilakis expanded the business to Kephallonia in 1980 with Vassilakis Vineyards and a winery. The labels include well-known varieties such as Robola, Moschato and Mavrodaphne, and some more special labels, including Protogonos and Grovino.

Vassilakis opened a new shop at the Achilleion Palace in 1990, with an exhibition area, cellar and snack bar inside a beautifully landscaped garden.

He began exporting kumquat liqueurs from Corfu in 2000, first to the Netherlands and Germany. Today, kumquat liqueurs are known well beyond Corfu, and the Vassilakis Distillery and Winery continue to create new products.

Grapes on the vine at the Vassilakis Distillery and Winery in Corfu (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Brexit slogans and mantras become meaningless in the face of tourist crises

Thomas Cook’s collapse left 50,000 British tourists stranded in Greece this week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

It has been said this week that it would have cost the British government the same amount of money to rescue Thomas Cook as is being spent on the operation to rescue stranded tourists in Greece, Spain and Turkey — Thomas Cook’s most popular summer destinations.

Thomas Cook’s bankruptcy could strike a devastating blow to communities that are economically reliant on package tourism. Greek commentators say the Greek economy is facing a disaster, and early estimates this week spoke of losses of at least €300 million.

Thomas Cook was the biggest UK holiday operator in Greece. It sent 3 million visitors a year to the islands, employed 1,000 people on the ground, and almost 50 Greek hotels had franchise agreements with Thomas Cook.

About 50,000 tourists were left stranded in Greece this week, with about 20,000 in Crete alone. The tourists, mainly British, were also on the islands of Corfu, Kos, Rhodes, Skiathos and Zakynthos, according to a Greek tourism ministry official quoted in the Athens daily newspaper Kathimerini.

Tourism officials likened the company’s collapse to a massive earthquake that would reverberate through the Greek economy.

‘It’s a seven-richter earthquake and we are expecting a tsunami,’ said Michalis Vlatakis, president of Crete’s travel bureaux and travel agents. ‘It’s not only the contracts of the visitors who have come and are now lost, it’s all those contracts that won’t materialise because people who were expected to come up until 10 November simply won’t travel.’

Manolis Tsakalakis, a hotelier in Rethymnon and president of a local owners’ association in Crete, told the Financial Times that hotel owners in Crete had not received any payments from Thomas Cook for the past two months.

‘Thomas Cook is one of the biggest tourism operators in Crete,’ he added. ‘He explained how most hotels in Crete have accumulated considerable debt to suppliers — ‘a million or two euros at a big resort, for example, or half a million at a smaller hotel.’

Scores of hotels and operators on Corfu, Kos, Rhodes and Zakynthos are owed money, and it is not clear whether will get it back. Two hoteliers told the Financial Times that the Atol protection scheme funded by the British travel industry would cover the bills for guests who were staying with them at the time of the liquidation announcement, but not for those who had already checked out.

Thomas Cook had 48 own-brand hotels in Greece and employed 1,000 to 1,200 people in Greece through a combination of in-destination customer support teams, quality management, contracting and hotel employees. Kos, Rhodes, Corfu and Crete were Thomas Cook’s most popular islands in Greece.

The company was regarded as one of the best employers in the tourist industry in Crete, where its hotels were part of a chain with hundreds of suppliers and small-scale tourist businesses.

Undoubtedly, bad management and failures to manage and control company indebtedness contributed to the collapse of Thomas Cook. But would it have been allowed to go so suddenly, causing a disaster for so many workers and holidaymakers by a British government that was no obsessed with ‘Brexit’ and all the shibboleths and mantras that go with that, including controlling borders, leaving Europe and the much-abused ‘Dunkirk Spirit.’

It is certainly not a government that is listening to the people rather than the privileged.

A choice of passports is becoming important for holidaymakers (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

But if a ‘no-deal Brexit’ goes through, I can imagine more nightmares unfolding, many with the most bizarre consequences.

The tourist season in southern Europe and the Mediterranean now continues into the first week or two in November. So, I imagine a scene like this after a ‘no-deal Brexit’ and after 1 November:

Now young, newly qualified policemen draw the short straw for the roster at the passport control kiosks at an airport serving many hotels and resorts. It may be on a Greek island … but equally it might be in Spain, Turkey or Italy.

They draw the short straws because it is the weekend, and find they are working the night shifts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, while their older colleagues enjoy the weekend.

A late-night flight from Stansted is late. When it finally lands, it is obvious most of the passengers have been drinking … after all, their departure was delayed, and it is the beginning of their holiday.

Some are in their sleeveless T-shirts as they get off the plane and line up at one of the two kiosks where our lonely pair are ready to check the passports. Needless to say, there is no-one among the women wearing a spider brooch.

They are about to present themselves at the one kiosk that says ‘EU/EEA passports,’ each shifting with just a little anxiety from one foot to the other. No-one is queuing at the other kiosk, ‘Other Passports.’

The first on the queue presents his passport. A few seconds elapses. It is inspected quizzically. It is put through a small scanner that refuses to read it and pushes it back out again.

A few minutes elapse.

The two young, sorely-pressed policemen look knowingly at each other.

Was that a suppressed smile or a grimace? Two heads nod back in the shortest and almost unnoticeable of reverse gestures.

‘Sorry sir, this passport says you are an EU citizen.’

‘Yes.’

‘But you are not.’

‘But this is my passport.’

‘Other queue.’

He shifts across, but is the first at the other kiosk.

‘Sorry sir, this passport says you are an EU citizen.’

‘Yes.’

‘But you are not.’

‘I am British.’

‘Do you have a visa?’

‘No.’

More fidgeting, more murmuring.

Finally a rubber stamp is taken out: ‘ADMISSION REFUSED.’

And so the process continues, slowly, for the next hour or two.

Nine people get through: two families who are Polish – and who faced racist taunts by some of the hooligans on the flight who kept calling out the names of Farage and Johnson; and the couple who had the foresight to apply for Irish passports earlier this year.

But over 200 people are left crammed into a small corridor, without air conditioning, and without any vending machines selling water.

The humour is lost when a call goes out: ‘Far queue.’

Meanwhile, inside the airport, their bags are rolling round and round the carousel with the clothes and packed water they so desperately need and thirst for.

And, inside the airport, another 200 people whose flight was delayed know their plane has landed, but cannot understand why they are not allowed to board their flight home.

It’s 2 or 3 in the morning, and 400 people now realise a British passport has become as useful as a passport from Abkhazia, Northern Cyprus, Somaliland or South Ossetia.

The situation is tense. Temperatures are rising. The two young police recruits at the kiosk decide to call their colleagues in. There is a situation that is about to get out of control.

The older police who manipulated the weekend roster have been taught a bitter lesson.

And the ‘Leave’ voters on both sides of the airport begin to realise what it means when another country decides to take control of its borders without caring about the impact on European friends and neighbours.

Two questions I am asked after every holiday in Greece

Do beach holidays in Greece help the Greek economy … the beach below Malibu Taverna at Agios Georgios in south-west Corfu (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

When I return from Greece, I am inevitably asked questions that have become very familiar.

Like every returning holidaymaker, there are common questions such as did you have a good time, was the weather better than it was here, or was the food/wine/hotel good.

At one time, returning from Greece, people inevitably asked did I go island hopping.

But in recent years there are two questions I am always asked when I come back from Greece:

Are they still suffering from the impact of the economic crisis?

Did you see many refugees on the islands?

The two islands that I have visited recently – Crete three times in the past 18 months, and Corfu for a fortnight more recently – are cushioned, to a degree, from both of these crises.

Very few refugees make it as far as Corfu, although it has some large and visible Roma settlements that are in a very sad state. Crete too has very few refugees, although there have been some unusual and encouraging stories in recent years, including one of the integration of a Greek-speaking Syrian family in Crete, whose grandparents were Greek-speaking Muslims who had been forced to leave Greece in the 1920s.

Most refugees seem to arrive first in the Dodecanese islands and the islands close to the Turkish coast, including Chios and Lesbos. But I have seen refugees on the streets of Athens and Thessaloniki, and the memories of one encounter with a beautiful but impoverished refugee on the streets of Athens two years are still heart-breaking.

Tourism has not always cushioned businesses in Corfu against economic impacts (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

When it comes to the impacts of the economic crisis, at first these are less visible on islands such as Crete and Corfu.

These are large islands that benefit from tourism. Over the years, the tourist season has been extended, so that now it last for six months from April to October and is no longer concentrated on school holiday months.

Some reports say that about 25 per cent of the Greek economy is dependent on tourism. But it is inevitable that a hard Brexit is going to have an immediate impact on tourism, when prospective British tourists find the pound has lost its spending power and 2020 holidays have become more expensive.

Indeed, if economies throughout northern Europe take a harder hit than expected from a hard Brexit, the impact on the Greek tourist sector could be worse than forecasts are estimating.

But even in the places that benefit from tourism, it does not take too much searching to find poverty, if you walk around with your eyes open.

Nor is it difficult to see how the economic crisis has had an impact even in areas that have been cushioned most because of tourism.

Once lively bars, shops, hotels, restaurants and nightclubs have closed on every island. In some cases, of course, it is simply that fashions have changed, or trends demand new styles.

But in may cases families and businesses found themselves too stretched, unable to pay rising interest rates or ever-increasing taxes, or had expanded when they over-estimated potential growth in the tourist sector.

And so, when of the other questions I am asked is, how can I help?

Obviously, going to Greece on holidays is one immediate answer.

By and large I agree with the campaign that asks people not to holiday in the large, all-in-one resorts. Of course, they provide employment on a large scale. But their profits are usually sent out of Greece to large multinationals, and they take business away from local restaurants, bars, shops and family-run hotels.

Tourism is a form of taxation. It transfers large sums of money from northern Europe to Greece, sustains local economies, creates and keeps jobs, and the tax revenues it generates help the recovery of the Greek economy.

Buy in local shops, eat in local restaurants, drink in local bars, visit the churches, monasteries and museums.

There are ways too of helping Greece to deal with the refugee problem. It is in inequitable that large number of refugees making their way through Turkey to Europe are caught in a ‘limbo’ in Greece, and the Greek economy cannot afford to handle this crisis alone.

Continuing political pressure is the obvious way to change attitudes. There are Irish volunteers like Caoimhe Butterly and Valerie Cox who gave gone to the islands in recent years to work with the refugees, and there are churches and agencies that could use your support, contribution and prayers.

But going to Greece is the best way to help Greece. You will see for yourself, and it will change your approaches to Greece’s problems and how you respond to them in your political, social and cultural attitudes … and, if you pray, how you pray too.

It is sad to see family businesses close in island resorts (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Is it too late now to save the Villa Rosa in Corfu?

The Villa Rosa on the outskirts of Corfu Old Town has been described as ‘a monument and a symbol of 19th century Corfu’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

One of the sad sights on the outskirts of the old town of Corfu is the Villa Rosa, a once-beautiful mansion built in 1864 by the painter Nicholas Aspioti.

This villa is an architectural gem in Corfu, and it has been described as ‘a monument and a symbol of 19th century Corfu.’ But I noticed its sad state over the past few weeks as I passed by on way in and out of Corfu town, and it is difficult not to notice with its bright red colours and its sad-looking state of neglect.

The Villa Rosa was designed in an architectural style that is a mixture of Italian romanticism and the English country house, and was once one of the most imposing buildings in Corfu. It is possible to imagine what life must have been like at the Villa Rosa, which once a large garden with many roses and ample stables.

This was probably the first house in Corfu to have electricity, generated for the Aspioti factory. It became one of the most prestigious centres of social life in Corfu at one time, with grand receptions, sometimes attended by members of the Greek royal family and visited by the King of Greece.

The Aspiotis family had a tremendous impact on social and economic life in Corfu, introducing many technological innovations to the island’s industrial life, including the foundation of the first printing factory in the whole of Greece.

The Villa Rossa was built in 1864 by Nicholas Aspiotis who had bought the site. This was the same year Corfu and the Ionian Islands were united with the modern Greek state.

After his death, the villa was inherited by his members of his family. It eventually passed to his grandson, Konstantinos Aspiotis, who became wealthy by mass-producing, in his printing shop, a kind of exclusive playing cards illustrated by his grandfather Nikolaos Aspiotis the painter.

Eventually, the company moved to Athens and became Aspioti-ELKA, a well-known printing and publishing company and one of the largest of its kind in Greece.

Villa Rosa passed to his daughter, Maria Aspioti (1909-2000), who entertained many British visitors, friends and colleagues here, including Lawrence Durrell and leading figures in the British arts world.

Maria-Aspasia (Marie) Aspioti (1909-2000) was born on 29 September 1909 at the Villa Rosa and became a distinguished writer, playwright, poet, publisher and cultural figure, and she influenced the literary and cultural life of post-war Corfu.

She published her book Corfu in French in 1930 in co-operation with the French writer René Puaux. During World War II she became a volunteer nurse at the Corfu General Hospital.

After the war, she was the director of the Corfu Branch of the British Council from 1946 to 1955, and from 1949 to 1954, she published the magazine Prosperos, inspired by Lawrence Durrell’s Prospero’s Cell.

She was also a family friend of Prince Philip. However, she resigned as the director of the British Council in Corfu in 1955 and handed back her MBE in protest against the British policies in Cyprus against enosis and suppressing Cypriot self-determination. At the same time, she also accused Durrell of betraying his philhellenism for a few coins.

Her first play, O Κουρσεμένος Γάμος (The Pirated Wedding), was staged in Corfu in 1956. Her other literary works were published in Prosperos and other publications in Corfu.

In his introduction to Lear’s Corfu, which she published in 1965, Lawrence Durrell wrote: ‘She is, I think, the first Greek friend I made and as a girl in her 20s she wrote a book about Corfu in French which was the first study of the island to fall into my hands. Indeed, her knowledge is as comprehensive as her scholarship is scrupulous and unobtrusive.’

Marie Aspiotis could no longer afford to maintain the Villa Rosa later in life, but while the villa became dilapidated, she continued to live there with her mother. Finally, the villa was bought in 1997 by the Greek government through the State Property Agency, and two years later it was handed over to the Prefecture of Corfu on condition that it was restored. Maria died on 25 May 2000.

Many uses have been proposed for the villa if or when it is restored. However, the local government was unsuccessful in persuading the banks to lend the money needed for its restoration.

Many fear that it is probably far too late to return to the restoration of the Villa Rossa, despite extensive studies and surveys by the School of Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens and other organisations since the villa was bought by the Greek state in 1997.

Many of the tiles and windows have disappeared, the site is water-logged, mosaics and decorations have collapsed, there are deep, serious cracks throughout the building, the elaborate wooden staircase is rotting and the garden is in a state of neglect.

The Villa Rosa appears to be rotting and about to collapse, propped up and surrounded by supporting iron girders. Is it too late to save this unique work of architecture in Corfu?

Is it too late to save the Villa Rosa? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)