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Archbishop Damaskinos

154 bytes added, 09:32, May 20, 2008
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He was born Dimitrios Papandreou in [[Dorvitsa]], [[Aitoloakarnania prefecture]], Greece (no relationship to politician [[Georgios Papandreou]]). He enlisted in the Greek army during the [[Balkan Wars]]. He was ordained a priest of the [[Greek Orthodox Church]] in [[1917]]. In [[1922]], he was made bishop of [[Corinth]]. He spend the early 1930s as an ambassador of the [[Ecumenical Patriarch]] in the United States, where he labored to help organize the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]].
In [[1938 ]] he was elected [[archbishop of [[Athens]], taking the name Damaskinos. [[Ioannis Metaxas]], dictator of Greece at the time, objected to Damaskinos and forced the cancellation of his election, and the appointment of Metropolitan Chrisanthos [[Chrysanthos]] to the post. After the [[1941 ]] German invasion of Greece and the fall of the Greek government, the Metropolitans who had elected Damaskinos seized the opportunity to eject Chrisanthos from the throne (with German agreement, as the latter had refused to be present at the oath-taking ceremony of the quisling Prime Minister [[Georgios Tsolakoglou]]), and Damaskinos was reinstalled.
[[Image:Churchill-damaskinos.jpg|thumb|300px|left|Archbishop Damaskinos and Winston Churchill]]The Archbishop of Athens was the spiritual leader of the [[Greek Orthodox]] people of Athens, and Damaskinos worked very hard to live up to his position during those hard times. He frequently clashed with the German authorities and the quisling government. In [[1943]], the Germans began the persecution of the [[Greek Jews]], and their deportations to concentration camps. Damaskinos formally protested the actions of the occupational authorities, even at the threat of execution by the local SS commander. The churches under his jurisdiction were also ordered quietly by Damaskinos to distribute baptismal certificates to Jews fleeing the Nazis, saving thousands of Romaniote Jews in and around Athens.
Once, in public, he was theatened by the German commander of Athens with execution by firing squad. His famous response was ''"Greek religious leaders are not shot, they are hanged. I request that you respect this custom".''
After the occupation ended, Damaskinos was proclaimed regent of Greece until the return of the king from exile. During this time, fighting broke out between pro-royalist Greek soldiers and communist partisans. He took control of the situation in his early term, appointing himself Prime Minister during late [[1945]]. Though he wielded little power in his latter term, Damaskinos continued to call for peace and order in the country. He relinquished his position after fighting began to die down and recalled the king formally on [[September 28]], [[1946]]. He died in Athens in [[1949]]
[[Category:Greek heads of state]]
[[Category:Prime Ministers of Greece|Archbishop Damaskinos]]
[[Category:Archbishops of Athens|Damaskinos]]
[[Category:World War II|Damaskinos]]

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