[RARE LEVANTINE IMPRINT] Rimata zois. [for Frederick Broterthon Meyer (1847-1929)]

TRALLEON HRIZOSTOMOU (Themistocles Hadjistavrou, Archbishop Chrysostomos II) (1880-1968)

Typois Harmonias, Smirni (Izmir - Smyrna) [c. 1920].

Original wrappers. Cr. 8vo. (21 x 13 cm). In Greek. (Modern, 1453-). 96 p., b/w plates.

First and only edition of this very rare pamphlet printed in the "Harmonias" Printing House, one of the early Greek printing houses in Levantine Izmir (Smyrna). The treatise depicting the life of Jesus with illustrations is a festschrift "Frederick Brotherton Meyer (1847-1929)", referring to the works and life of the 19th-century English clergyman, Baptist pastor, and evangelist in England involved in ministry and inner city mission work on both sides of the Atlantic.

The book was written by Hadjistavrou, a Greek Asia Minor theologian and metropolitan and he was a deacon of Metropolitan Chrysostomos Kalafatis in Drama with an important role during the Macedonian War. In 1910, the Metropolitan of Drama Chrysostomos (Kalafatis) was transferred to the Diocese of Smyrna and was followed by Archdeacon Chrysostomos. After a proposal by Metropolitan Chrysostomos, Chrysostomos Hadjistavrou is promoted and ordained assistant bishop of the Metropolitan of Smyrna, with the title of the once brilliant Diocese of Tralleon. In Smyrna, he published the magazine "Holy Polykarpos" of the Holy Metropolis of Smyrna, which went down in the history of the church press.

He was elected Metropolitan of Philadelphia, a region where Turkish Nationalism dominated and where the Greeks, and Orthodox Christians, also spoke Turkish. Intending to preserve the Greekness of the inhabitants, he founded, under conditions of persecution, the National Boarding School of Philadelphia, which was a model boarding school for Greek students of all grades for which he prepared, in collaboration with the teachers, detailed education programs. He published the magazine "The Angel of Philadelphia".

At the beginning of the First World War, with the aim of corrupting the Christian populations, the Turks transported Greeks from the coasts of Asia Minor under conditions of persecution to the interior of Anatolia. Then Metropolitan Chrysostomos intervened, threatening to denounce the Turkish atrocities in the West. He was sentenced by the Turks to death in absentia, on fabricated charges. The execution of the sentence was prevented by the intervention of the Great Powers. Summoned to Constantinople by Patriarch Germanos V and as president of the Restoration Committee, he toured Thrace and Asia Minor, recorded the extent of the persecutions, and made representations to the Greek Government. He published the scientific theological magazine "Neos Poimin".

During the Greek advance, in 1919, he interceded with the High Commissioner Stergiadis in favor of the Turkish civilians as well as those involved in the persecution of the Pasadena, despite the massacres of the Greeks of Aidini, including his immediate family. After the recapture of Aydinio by the Greeks, as overseer of the Metropolis there, he fought for the reconstruction of the city and organized the civilians who, with his own staff plan, repelled an attack by the Chets for three days and nights. For this action, he was awarded the Military Cross of the 3rd class, at the suggestion of the 1st Division.

Seeing the danger from the actions of the Greek army and the activities of Mustafa Kemal, he began to arm the civilians. He was overtaken by the retreat of the Greek Army. He collaborated with his spiritual father Metropolitan Chrysostom Kalafatis of Smyrna in the care of refugees who flocked from everywhere and was with him when Nuredin's carriage took him to martyrdom. While Smyrna was burning, he arrived in pursuit at the home of the English Admiral and persuaded him to provide ships for the evacuation of civilians, despite orders to the contrary from above.

As of February 2024, we couldn't trace any copies in OCLC and KVK.