Metropolitan of Corfu Athenagoras was born Aristocles Spyrou on 25 March / 6 April 1886 in Vasiliko, Epirus (former Tsaraplana) and enrolled in 1903 at the Theological School of Halki. He graduated in 1910 and became a monk. In 1919, he became Archdeacon and Secretary of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens. In 1922, he became Secretary of the “Pan-clerical Orthodox Clergy Union”, a movement of celibate clericals who supported Venizelos’ Liberal Party.
In December of the same year, while still a Deacon, he was ordained Presbyter and was elected Metropolitan of Corfu. It is said that when his election was announced, he met his competitor, Theokletos Legakis, a priest in the palace, who said to him jokingly: “You stole my fiancée”, to which Athenagoras replied: “I didn’t steal her. She was alone and I accepted her”. On 22 December, he was ordained a Bishop at the Metropolitan church of Athens and in February 1923, he became Metropolitan of Corfu. His answer to the addresses of the representatives of the Corfiot society, during his ordainment, was the following: “I was appointed to the Metropolitan see of Corfu, which many predecessors honoured and I assumed the spiritual guidance of the noble Corfiot people, whose hospitality, culture and so many other merits date back to the Paeacians, and I consider myself privileged, but I am also determined to dedicate my powers to benefit these people that God entrusted to me”.
He demonstrated a multifaceted missionary, organisational, and publishing work in his new mission. A leader and a hard worker, he sought to have good relations with the Catholic Church, and his meetings with the Catholic Archbishop Leonardos Prindesis (1919-1940) are well known. He also cultivated relations with the Jewish, the Armenian, and the Anglican communities of the island and offered aid and care to the refugees from Asia Minor, Armenia, and Pontus, who had settled in Corfu. This “physically tireless and spiritual giant”, as he was called because of his imposing stature, cared for the education of his clergy, establishing an Ecclesiastical School and a Seminary, as well as a Boarding School named “Corfiot School”, providing the opportunity to many children from Northern Epirus to stay in Corfu and study.
The introduction of the harmonium in the church of Saint Spyridon and in other churches is also his work (there had been another effort in the past). His initiative to publish a religious journal named “Saint Spyridon” was also significant. Its content was both theological and scientific. However, its circulation was suspended after Athenagoras’ departure from Corfu. His initiative to re-establish the “Saint Spyridon Charity Society”, presided by the Metropolitan, is also considered important. Among other things, he contributed significantly to the development of the Corfiot Scouts.
Athenagoras stood by the refugees that arrived in Corfu after the collapse of the Asia Minor front and his stance on the last day of August and in September 1923, during the bombardment and the short-lived occupation of the island by the Italian fleet was important.
For the Tellini episode and the bombardment of Corfu in August 1923 by the Italians see the special tributehere.
The then Protosyncellus of the Metropolis, Archmandrite Chrysanthos Politis wrote: “Metropolitan Athenagoras then showed unparalleled bravery and self-denial. On the day of their arrival, he went to the docks of Saint Nicholas of the Baths, below the Metropolis. Amidst the bombs that were falling all over the ramparts of the Old Fortress, this both physical and mental giant, the imposing, the tireless and full of love and philanthropist Metropolitan of Corfu and Paxos Athenagoras, got on a boat and boarded the Admiral’s battleship, and protested strongly for this unfair attack against unarmed families, especially the refugees that were staying in the Old Fortress. When he returned, he took care of the orphans and the other relatives of those killed in the bombardment”.
Chronicles of those days state that, holding a white flag, he asked to board the flagship of the Italian fleet and said to Solari in French: “Sir, Admiral, we all thought that you were a philhellene and a friend of Corfu, because we know you personally, but your cannons killed civilian refugees, women and children. You have committed an unprecedented crime, Admiral”. Solari replied: “Your Eminence, you must believe that I was executing my government’s order and as a military man I was obliged to obey”. Talks followed to cease cannon fire and to transfer the injured to the hospital.
The accounts of his contacts with the Italian commander of the island, Admiral Diego Simonetti are also striking: In the first issue of the YMCA Bulletin, circulated in May 1929, it is written: “What is unforgettable, what should always remain in the Corfiot souls is the patriotic stance of our Reverent Father, during the Italian occupation. And the historic answer he gave to the Italian commander of the island, Admiral Simoneti, when he was invited by him the day after the bombardment.
- I am pleased to make your acquaintance, said the Admiral.
- I am very pleased too, answered our Pastor. However, this does not prevent me from protesting strongly against the exploits of your fleet yesterday. Which Corfiot soul would not be moved and agitated, pondering over all this?”
However, his concern for the refugees was not limited to this tragic event. His presence to the soup kitchens and the various events was daily, and so were his instructions to the priests of the Metropolis, to provide all kinds of assistance. Besides, he was particularly dear to the refugees.
As one of his later closest collaborators, the theologist, writer and professor Aristeides Panotis notes: “However, the refugee issue in Corfu took a different turn after the transport to the island, of the ‘Greek-Orthodox hostages’ from Cilicia in the fall of 1924. West of the Zamantı river and Antitavros (Aladağlar) and south of Caesarea (Kayseri), in Prokopi (Ürgüp), Niğde, and Farasa (Çamlıca) and their seaports, Tarsus and Mersin that are across Ceryneia (Girne) in Cyprus, the British prevented the refugee flow there, as they feared the strengthening of the Greek Cypriots”. Many were transferred to Corfu, under the most difficult conditions. Metropolitan Athenagoras gave instructions and organised soup kitchens daily in the parish churches of the town and the villages throughout the island. “Of those benefited by his soup kitchens, he was impressed by a group of refugees, who went to the Cathedral led by an old man, Reverent Priestmonk Arsenios, and presided by the chanter, who went to thank him for his interest. The Metropolitan had served when he was young in the multiracial Upper Macedonia (North Macedonia) as archdeacon and educator and was known for his congeniality and his kindness to his visitors. In fact, he told me that many people went to ‘look into his eyes’ and it seems that his eyes inspired trust, understanding, and sociability to the others. The humble presence of their spiritual guide, Father Arsenios, moved Athenagoras who wanted to better approach the religious and patriotic strength of these Cappadocians. Thus, the arrival of the Farasians in October 1924 in Corfu, was special, because they were a rare example of an ecclesiastical society of Greek refugees from the heart of Asia Minor. But their elder, Father Arsenios had suffered greatly during his journey from Mersin to Corfu and had foreseen that he would live in Greece for 40 days, because of the hardships he had endured on this migration journey, and he was literally fragile. At the end of October, he fell ill and was admitted to the Hospital of Corfu, in order to receive proper medical care. He passed away at the age of 84, on 10 November 1924 and was buried at the Municipal Cemetery of Corfu”.
Athenagoras never forgot his roots and his relations with his homeland - Vasiliko in Thesprotia - but also Konitsa, his mother’s homeland. Perhaps this is the reason he intervened and acted for the relocation of many refugees in neighbouring Epirus. In 1925, the general scheme for the rehabilitation of the refugees in their final settlement places commenced, and it seems that Athenagoras communicated with the Metropolitan of Konitsa Vasileios Papachristou, asking him to see to the settlement of the refugees from Farasa in Konitsa.
Athenagoras’ tenure in Corfu was marked by many more significant events. His contribution to the change of ownership status of the Church of Saint Spyridon and of his holy relic, which was finally completed in 1967, was important. On 22 May 1930, he received in Corfu, the Metropolitan of Paramythia, Filiates, Giromeri and Parga Athenagoras Eleftheriou, to whom he delivered, in a glorious ceremony and in the presence of political and military authorities, the holy relics from Parga, which had been kept in Corfu since the sale of Parga by the British to Ali Pasha of Ioannina and the expatriation of the Pargians to Corfu, on Good Friday, 15 April 1819.
In July 1930, he represented the Church of Greece at the Anglican Conference in Lambeth, and on 13 August 1930, he was elected, Archbishop of North and South America by the Holy Synod. The Ecumenical Patriarchate recognising that with his patient and modest personality, he could achieve compromises, elected him on 12 August 1930 Archbishop of America in the hope that he could eliminate the division that the National Schism had brought about in the expatriates. His tenure at the U.S.A. was very prolific and his personal relationships with the Presidents Roosevelt and Truman proved crucial both for the Greek national issues and the Cristian Orthodox Church issues.
Through a series of behind-the-scenes activities and in a highly unstable climate, the Permanent Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on 1 November 1948, elected Athenagoras Patriarch of Constantinople and New Rome, inaugurating a significant period for the Ecumenical Throne and its relations with the rest of the world and the heterodox churches. The strengthening of the mission in the interior, the reorganisation of the Theological School of Halki, the strengthening of relations with the Patriarchates and the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches, the organisation of the orthodox communities abroad, the establishment of the Patriarchal Foundation for Patristic Studies in Vlatades Monastery in Thessalonica, the Orthodox Centre of Chambésy in Geneva, and the Orthodox Academy of Crete, are some more achievements during his pastoral work. A bitter aspect in his work was the events of September 1955, when the Turkish mob proceeded to the extensive destruction of churches, schools, houses, and shops of the Greek community, forcing a large part of them to abandon their homes once and for all.
In June and July 1963, Athenagoras visited Mount Athos, on the occasion of the celebration for the one thousand years from the establishment of the Athonite State. From there, he went to Faliro, setting off on a great tour to Athens, Rhode, Karpathos, Crete, in regions of Macedonia, Epirus and his birthplace, Vasiliko in Pogoni, but also in Corfu, were he was welcomed with celebrations by the Royal Family of Greece in the palace of Mon Repos, by representatives of the State, the Municipality, the Church and by hundreds of Corfiots, who poured into the streets to welcome their ‘Corfiot’ Patriarch.
One of his most important contributions, during his tenure as a Patriarch, was his active participation in the Bilateral Ecumenical Dialogue, in collaboration with two Catholic Primates, Pope John XXIII, and mainly Pope Paul VI, whom he first met on 5 January 1964, on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, inaugurating a series of historical meetings that led to the establishment of a committee for the promotion of dialogue between the two Christian churches, which despite the problems and the difficulties, continues to this day. The result of these meetings was the lifting of the so-called anathemas that had led, in 1054, in the Great Schism between Eastern and Western Churches, but also the beginning of the process of rapprochement, the elimination of prejudices, and unity.
On 28 June 1972, Patriarch Athenagoras suffered a severe femur fracture. Although his doctors advised him to go to Vienna, he refused. His health deteriorated and he died on 7 July 1972. He was buried in Istanbul.
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