Anthimos Gazis

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Filomousos Eteria
Notable workGreek Dictionary
Hellenic Library (1807)
Signature

Anthimos Gazis or Gazes (

Greek Enlightenment
.

In 1817, he joined the Filiki Eteria secret society and returned to his homeland, recruiting others in preparation for an anti–Ottoman revolt. In 1821, with the start of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire he led the Greek insurgents in Magnesia. After the suppression of the revolt there, he went to Central Greece. He represented Magnesia in National Assemblies of Epidaurus and Astros and worked in commissions regarding military affairs and education. In 1827, he fell ill and his condition steadily deteriorated until his death on 24 June 1828 in Ermoupoli, Syros. Gazis died in poverty, having donated most of his savings to the Greek army.

Early life

Anastasios Gazalis was born in

hellenized his name into Anastasios Gazis. In 1774, he became a deacon upon his uncle's request; ecclesiastical professions were popular at the time. Accordingly, he assumed the clerical name Anthimos. The treaties of Küçük Kaynarca, Jassy and Constantinople guaranteed the freedom of religion for Ottoman subjects, while also safeguarding church property and granting the right to erect new churches. A year later he was promoted to presbyter and sent to the village of Vizitsa, where he worked as a teacher. At the conclusion of his one year contract he departed for Constantinople, where he served as a secretary for the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Sofronios II. Sofronios remarked upon Gazis' dedication and hard work rewarding him with the rank of archimandrite. Gazis soon befriended a merchant named Aggelis Mammaras of Makrinitsa who urged him to leave for Vienna after covering his expenses. Gazis left for Vienna in 1789.[1]

The peace treaties of Passarowitz and Belgrade had restored commercial activity between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire. Vienna became an important center of the Greek diaspora, where both goods and ideas were exchanged freely. The religious life of the Greek community revolved around the Church of Saint George and the Holy Trinity Church. In May 1796, a twelve man commission voted Gazis as the new rector of the former. During this time frame he devoted time to the study of physics and mathematics while also translating

Fourcroy's The Philosophy of Chemistry; the text also contains additions from Fourcroy's A General System of Chemical Knowledge, Scherzer's Journal der Chemie (Leipzig, 1792), Französische Annalen der Allgemeinen Naturgeschichte (Hamburg, 1802) and Gren's Grundriss der Chemie.[3] In the same year his health deteriorated significantly due to an illness. He left Vienna, returning only in November 1804 to resume preaching. His stay would be brief as he soon left for Venice where he published Greek Lexicon and Greek Library, works based on Gesner's Bibliotheca universalis and Fabricius' Bibliotheca Graeca. He resumed his duties as rector in early 1808.[4]

In 1811, he received an honorary diploma from the “Graeco–Dacian Philological Institute of Bucharest” for his contribution to the advancement of science.[5] In the same year he founded the first philological periodical in Greek, Hermes o Logios ("Hermes the Scholar"), published in Vienna. It is regarded as the most significant and longest running periodical of the period prior to the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence,[6] containing contributions by key scholars and intellectuals.[7][8][9] Hermes o Logios aimed at creating intellectual contacts between the Greek communities of the Ottoman Empire and the Greek Diaspora in Western Europe, as well as the preparing national awakening of the Greek people.[10] [11]

Revolutionary activity

Saint George Church in Wien, where Gazis preached.

On 1 September 1813, the

armatolos Kyriakos Bastekis and Makrinitsa head kodjabashi Hatzi Rigas. Although already a member of Filiki Eteria, scholar Grigorios Konstantas reluctantly agreed to support the use of force.[12] [13]

"Atlas of the Globe" by Gazis, Vienna, 1800
Frontispiece of an old book is illustrated by a drawing of the ancient god Hermes.
1818 issue of "Hermes o Logios".

On 7 May 1821, revolutionaries gathered at the entrance of the Agioi Taxiarches Church in Milies, with Gazis heading the meeting. A white flag bearing five red crosses and topped with a sun was unveiled, while Gazis read a letter written by Alexander Ypsilantis. On the same day, Gazis led a group of rebels into the village of Lechonia populated mainly by Turks, 200 of them were slain while the womenfolk were taken to the monasteries of Agios Georgios and Agios Lavrentios. They then proceeded to Efta Platania besieging its castle. Attempts to storm the castle failed as the rebels only possessed a single rusty cannon, while human wave attacks proved sanguine. On 11 May, the siege was abandoned and the rebels raided Velestino, slaughtering those who had not already left it, burning and looting their houses and crops. A second meeting (styled Boule of Thessalo–Magnesia) took place in Velestino where Gazis officially declared the beginning of the insurrection to the representatives of the 24 villages surrounding Pilion, calling for the Christians of Thessaly to rise against the Ottomans. On 15 May, Mahmud Dramali Pasha's army descended from Larissa, burning Kapurna and Kanalia. Rebels from Zagora, Makrinitsa and Volos fled in panic, many of them sought refuge in Trikeri. Dramali's arrival prompted most kodjabashis to bend the knee to the Turks. In the meantime Dramali marched on Milies with the intent to burn it, the rebels decided to defend their headquarters. The situation in the village became tense when local kodjabashi Stavrakis Morfoulis, attempted to shoot Gazis after exclaiming "Damn you, you doomed us all!". One of Gazis' comrades knocked the gun out of his hand before he was able to take a shot. Other kodjabashis tried to discredit the revolutionaries promising to act as emissaries to the Turks, in hopes that they will show mercy. Gazis and most other rebels left the village and by June the kodjabashis surrendered it to the Turks, being granted amnesty in return. Although a small scale insurgency continued, the revolution in Thessaly had ultimately collapsed.[14]

A boat took Gazis to

Greek civil wars of 1824–1825.[16]

Death

In 1827, Gazis fell ill while residing in

grosia while owing him 2,350 more. In letter to Georgios Kountouriotis, he complained about the fortunes that corrupted officials had amassed in the confusion of the revolution, while his personal contribution to the sustenance of Greek army had been all but forgotten. On 3 April 1828, he composed his testament in Aegina. The school he had founded together with Konstantas in Milies and his personal library were given to the Greek state. His house in Syros, the property he inherited from his father and a sum of 2,500 grosia were split between his nieces and nephews. On 10 December, Gazis died in his house in Ermoupoli, he was buried outside the Ieros Naos Metamorfoseos Church in Ermoupoli.[17]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Stavroulaki 2001, pp. 7–10.
  2. ^ Tolias 2008, pp. 109–117.
  3. ^ Pappas & Karas 1987, pp. 241–242.
  4. ^ Stavroulaki 2001, pp. 10–23.
  5. ^ Stavroulaki 2001, pp. 46–47.
  6. ISBN 978-960-7894-29-8
    .
  7. ^ Janssen, p. 5.
  8. ^ "History Research Institutes in Southeast Europe A Handbook" (PDF). Center for the Study of Balkan Societies and Cultures. Department for Southeast European History, University of Graz, 2004. p. 51. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  9. ^ Pappas & Karas 1987, p. 241.
  10. ISBN 978-0-19-921717-5
    .
  11. ^ Stavroulaki 2001, pp. 63–67.
  12. ^ Stavroulaki 2001, pp. 23–37.
  13. ^ Kordatos 1977, pp. 66–73.
  14. ^ Kordatos 1977, pp. 73–85.
  15. ^ Kordatos 1977, pp. 73–99.
  16. ^ Stavroulaki 2001, pp. 37–41.
  17. ^ Stavroulaki 2001, pp. 41–45.

References

Further reading

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