HOW THE ARCHBISHOP OF SMYRNA WAS MARTYRED
The Barbarous Turks Captured the Foremost Christian
Ecclesiastic of Asia Minor and Had Him Torn to Pieces
with Wild Horses on a Public Square in Smyrna.
The destruction of over 200,000 lives
at Smyrna by massacre, fire, hun-
ger, suicide and other cruel forms
of death is such a vast tragedy that it is
difficult to fix one's attention on any par-
ticular incident of it.
The disaster is so great that the mind
cannot hold it all. There was, however,
one tragedy which in its wickedness and
barbarity exceeds anything that has hap-
pened in modern times, and therefore
should receive attention from Americans.
The tragedy was the martyrdon of
Monsignor Chrysostom, the Greek Metro-
politan (or Archbishop) of Smyrna. It is
evidently the purpose of the Turks in
their present campaign to wipe out all
Christians in Asia Minor. The deliberate
torture and murder of the leading eccle-
siastics of the proscibed religion was a
terrible earnest of their intention.
The manner in which the Archbishop
of Smyrna met death has not yet been re-
ported in the American press. The Paris
Figaro, which is a warm supporter of the
French policy of backing the Turks against
the Greeks, and cannot be suspected of
being prejudiced against the Turks, prints
the facts briefly.
The Figaro states that the news of
Archbishop Chrysostom's death was
brought to Athens by the Bishop of Ephe-
sus, who escaped from the sack of Smyrna
disguised as a sailor and reached Athens
on a French ship. The facts told by him
are beyond question.
Monisgnor Chrysoistom, who was a very
courageous man and an aggressive leader
of the Greek Christians, bravely remained
at his post when the victorious Kemalist
army entered Smyrna. Massacre and
atrocities by the Turks were regarded as
certain by the terrified inhabitants, few
of whom were able to escape. A host of
more than 300,000 panic-stricken refu-
gees (Greeks, Armenians and Jews) from
the interior , who had fled before the vic-
torious Turks and seen their relatives tor-
tured and massacred, poured into the city,
which already had a population of 450,-
000. These conditions alone produced
famine and misery.
When the Turkish army entered, Arch-
bishop Chrysostom begged the Turkish
commanders to maintain order among
the followers, and he exhorted his own
panic -stricken coreligionists to be calm
and sensible. Turkish officers disregard-
ed him entirely and insolently, and al-
lowed him to be seized by a band of the
most savage and fanatical Mohammedans.
He was especially hated for his bold cham-
pionship of his religious followers and his
nation. With him they captured his faith-
ful dragoman.
The Turks began by tearing out the
Archbishop's beard, which like all Greek
priests, he wore full and uncut. Then
they tore his clothes off and subjected him
to many dreadful tortures, such as tear-
ing out his tongue and pulling out his
finger and toe nails.
Finally, while there was still life in his
quivering body, he was carried to the Iki-
Chesme Square for the supreme agony.
Four horses were secured. The Arch-
bishop was placed on his back, and one
horse was tied by a long rope to one of
his feet, another horse to another foot,
another horse to one of his hands and
another horse to the other hand.
Four Turks mounted the four horses,
one on each, and with their whips drove
the animals in different directions. One
Turk drove his horse to the north, the next
drove to the west, the next to the south,
and the remaining one to the east.
The archbishop was slowly torn in four
parts by the animals. The fanatical mob
watched the proceeding with hideous
pleasure, urged on the horses and howled
with rage and satisfaction. At last they
seized the remains of the victim. The
Archbishop's dragoman suffered practi-
cally the same fate.
[continued]
The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]), 29 Oct. 1922. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1922-10-29/ed-1/seq-66/>
Further reading:
The Smyrna Holocaust: September 1922Dr. Esther Lovejoy Describes Systematic Robbery and Outrages by Troops.
Les derniers jours de Smyrne
Smyrna 1922, M. Housepian Dobkin
Smyrna 1922, L. Ureneck
American Accounts Documenting the Destruction of Smyrna by the Kemalist Turkish Forces
The Martyrdom of Smyrna and Eastern Christendom: A File of Overwhelming Evidence, Denouncing the Misdeeds of the Turks in Asia Minor and Showing Their Responsibility for the Horrors of Smyrna.
