damaskinos

Context: Archbishop Damaskinos Papandreou was the archbishop of Athens and All Greece from 1941 until his death in 1949. He was also the regent of Greece between the pull-out of the German occupation force in 1944 and the return of King George II to Greece in 1946. His rule was between the liberation of Greece from the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II and the Greek Civil War.

During the Nazi occupation of Greece he frequently clashed with the Nazi authorities, visiting Greeks held hostage by the Nazis and offering comfort the executed and sending his lawyer to argue for their release.

Damaskinos spoke out about the Nazi’s holocaust of Jews, and he was the only documented protest against the Nazi’s to come to light during the war. In part his letter said:

The Greek Orthodox Church and the Academic World of Greek People Protest against the Persecution… The Greek people were… deeply grieved to learn that the German Occupation Authorities have already started to put into effect a program of gradual deportation of the Greek Jewish community… and that the first groups of deportees are already on their way to Poland…

According to the terms of the armistice, all Greek citizens, without distinction of race or religion, were to be treated equally by the Occupation Authorities. The Greek Jews have proven themselves… valuable contributors to the economic growth of the country [and] law-abiding citizens who fully understand their duties as Greeks. They have made sacrifices for the Greek country, and were always on the front lines of the struggle of the Greek nation to defend its inalienable historical rights…

In our national consciousness, all the children of Mother Greece are an inseparable unity: they are equal members of the national body irrespective of religion… Our holy religion does not recognize superior or inferior qualities based on race or religion, as it is stated: ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek’ and thus condemns any attempt to discriminate or create racial or religious differences. Our common fate both in days of glory and in periods of national misfortune forged inseparable bonds between all Greek citizens, without exemption, irrespective of race…

Today we are… deeply concerned with the fate of 60,000 of our fellow citizens who are Jews… we have lived together in both slavery and freedom, and we have come to appreciate their feelings, their brotherly attitude, their economic activity, and most important, their indefectible patriotism…

He was threatened with execution by the local SS commander if he published it, which he did famously replying:

According to the traditions of the Greek Orthodox Church, our prelates are hanged, not shot. Please respect our traditions!

He later talked his way out of execution by waiting in the supreme German military commanders office and refusing to leave until seen. He order his churches to give Jews Christian baptismal certificates to aid in fleeing the Nazi’s.