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On 16 April 1924, Henry
Morgenthau, President of the Refugees’ Settlement Commission, officially named
the new settlement “Vyronas”. It was named in honour of Lord Byron who had died
at Missolonghi, in the cause of Greek independence, on 19 April 1824.
The new settlement sat
3 kilometres south east of the centre of Athens and spread towards the slopes
of Mount Hymettus. In 1920, the population of Athens was 292,000; by 1924 it
had jumped to about 450,000 following an influx of refugees from Ionia - what
is now the western coast of Turkey.
«Η Ιωνία τίναξε την
ανθισμένη ποδιά της και τα λουλούδια πέσανε κάτω από τον Υμηττό» έγραψε ο
Μενέλαος Λουντέμης το 1924.
"Ionia shook her
flowery apron and the flowers fell below Hymettus" wrote the famous Greek
writer Menelaos Lountemis in 1924
The number of refugees
coming to Greece from Ionia continued to increase: the Treaty of Lausanne of
January 1923 made provision for a largescale exchange of populations between
Greece and Turkey - Christians, coming one way; Muslims, going the other.
Estimates of the number of Christians coming to Greece vary between 1.2 million
and 1.5 million.
The experience of the
refugees entering Greece was typically that they would spend several months in
refugee camps before being offered the most basic homes on what was, at the
time, often uncultivated land or land on which livings had barely been
scratched.
At least, the refugees could
move out of the tents and shacks in which they had been living and had
somewhere to start rebuilding their lives and communities. The new homes were
built close together; the community built its own school and church.
It has often struck me
that the architect who designed these simple homes might have been a nine-year
old boy with a pencil and ruler. The front elevation of his design was for a
small single storey dwelling, with a front door, on either side of which was a small
square window. The floor plan would have shown two rooms, one behind each
window. As he warmed to the task, the boy went on to design some two storey
properties as well, in a like manner, for larger or multi-generational
families.
The boy architect
probably didn’t give much thought to the building materials to be used and may
not even have known the word “πλίθα”; in the same way I suspect most English
people do not know the English word “adobe”; I didn’t know it until I wrote
this article! It means a “mud brick”.
The attraction of the πλίθα
was that it was cheap and quick to manufacture. It required:
Ø clay-rich earth (the binding material)
Ø sand (to prevent cracking)
Ø straw (fibres that strengthen the
brick)
Ø water (to form the paste)
It was dried in the sun, and did
not need to be fired in a kiln.
What was necessary, however, was
the application of thick coats of plaster to keep the homes water-tight. The
few remaining homes of this era have an accordingly ‘lumpy’ appearance.
When the new homes were
handed over, they were often incomplete - lacking doors and windows. But the
refugees were resourceful people and it is easy to imagine the spirit of
generosity in which the members of the new community helped one another. These
were people who worked hard and rebuilt new lives from almost nothing. I have
heard warming stories of wonderful gardens made behind these simple homes; many
refugees had brought seeds and shoots of their favourite flowers, trees and
herbs from their old homes and these took root here.
Athens is now a vast
urban sprawl: Vyronas is regarded as an inner-suburb of Athens. It has been a
municipality in its own right since 1934. It would be unrecognisable to the
earliest residents: almost all the original homes were replaced by concrete “πολυκατοικίες”
- “apartment blocks” in the1950s and 60s. They, in turn, are now showing their
age.
What Vyronas retains is
a strong sense of identity, community and historical resonance. Next time you
are in Athens, pay it a visit perhaps, wander off the usual tourist track.
Richard Devereux
Χριστιανός σημαίνει
μικρός Χριστός κι ὁ Χριστός εἶναι ὁ Ἐσταυρωμένος, ἄρα χριστιανός εἶναι ὁ ἄνθρωπος
τοῦ σταυροῦ.
Γι᾿ αὐτό
εἶναι ἀνάρμοστο καί
ξένο στόν χριστιανό
νά
ἀναζητᾶ τίς εὐκολίες
καί
τήν
ἀνάπαυση.
Ὁ Κύριός σου
καρφώθηκε στό σταυρό κι ἐσύ ἐπιζητᾶς τήν ἄνεση καί ζῆς μέ πολυτέλεια;
Ἄν ἀγαπᾶς τόν Κύριό
σου, πέθανε ὅπως Ἐκεῖνος. Σταύρωνε τόν ἑαυτό σου, ἔστω κι ἄν δέν σέ σταυρώνει
κανείς.
Καί σταυρός εἶναι ὁ
ἀγώνας ἐναντίον τῆς κακίας καί τῆς ζήλειας σου. Σταυρώνεις τό «ἐγώ» σου, ὅταν ἀρνεῖσαι
νά ἱκανοποιήσεις τίς κακές ἐπιθυμίες σου.
Κρεμᾶς τόν ἑαυτό
σου στό σταυρό, ὅταν ἀφήνεις τόν Θεό νά κατευθύνει τή ζωή σου χωρίς τίς δικές
σου λογικές παρεμβάσεις.
Πεθαίνεις σάν τόν
Κύριό σου, ὅταν ὑποτάσσεσαι στό θέλημά Του, χωρίς τά ἀτέλειωτα «γιατί».
Αγίου
Ιωάννου Χρυσοστόμου
The Bible
mentions several important rivers that played a key role in history and God’s
plan.
Rivers like the
Jordan River, Nile River, Tigris River, and Euphrates River were not just
geographical locations - they were places where powerful biblical events
happened.
The Jordan River
is where Jesus Christ was baptized. The Nile River is connected with the story
of Moses and the deliverance of Israel from Egypt.
The Tigris and
Euphrates rivers are mentioned in the description of the Garden of Eden and the
ancient lands of Mesopotamia.
These rivers
remind us that the Bible is rooted in real places and real history, showing how
God worked through nations, lands, and people to fulfil His divine purpose. 🌍✝️
Western European
Countries
France: Paris
Germany: Berlin
Belgium:
Brussels
Netherlands:
Amsterdam
Luxembourg:
Luxembourg
Austria: Vienna
Switzerland: Bern
United Kingdom:
London
Ireland: Dublin
Norway: Oslo
Sweden:
Stockholm
Denmark:
Copenhagen
Finland:
Helsinki
Iceland: Reykjavik
Spain: Madrid
Portugal: Lisbon
Italy: Rome
Greece: Athens
Malta: Valletta
Cyprus: Nicosia
Russia: Moscow
Ukraine: Kyiv
Belarus: Minsk
Moldova: Chisinau
Poland: Warsaw
Czech Republic:
Prague
Slovakia:
Bratislava
Hungary: Budapest
Slovenia:
Ljubljana
Croatia: Zagreb
Bosnia and
Herzegovina: Sarajevo
Serbia: Belgrade
Montenegro:
Podgorica
North Macedonia:
Skopje
Albania: Tirana
Bulgaria: Sofia
Romania: Bucharest
Note:
Turkey: Ankara
