 |
His name alone struck fear into the IMRO (VMRO) throughout all of Macedonia. Papa Drakos (Father Dragon) was a fearless Macedonian warrior who had joined up with Kapetan Vardas (Giorgos Tsontos) and Pavlos Gyparis, the famous Cretan volunteers who led the Macedonians to dozens of victories over the IMRO. Papa Drakos (or Papa Hristostomos, as he was called by his real name) was once a seminary student at Halkis. After hearing of the horrors that the IMRO were inflicting on the native Macedonians he abandoned his studies to join the struggle. At first, he sent a letter to Bishop Germanos Karavagelis telling him that he was once a student of his and was very proud of his effort and struggle to liberate Macedonia from the IMRO and the Turks. He finished by saying that he was ready to receive orders from the Bishop. Karavagelis remembered this fiery student who had an ethnic passion and would go to any extreme to defend his nation. Kapetan Vardas was more than anxious to get him in his unit, and he did. On November 13 1904, Papa Drakos and his men had arrived in Kastoria. First they entered the town of Videloutsi to organize the local Macedonians for defense against the IMRO. Soon after, Papa Drakos and Kapetan Vardas would counter strike the Comitadjis with great success. Papa Drakos will be remembered for helping Kapetan Vardas track down and defeat Voivoda Kostantov ("the scourge of Kastanohoria" as he was known by the terrorized Macedonians who refused to give up their Greek heritage) in a town close by Videloutsi. Three days after Konstantov's final defeat Papa Drakos and his men marched into Lanka and liberated it with little resistance from the exarchist IMRO (which tried to brutally force the natives to abandon the Greek Church). Many more victories followed for Papa Drakos and his men. After the struggle, Papa Drakos married and returned to the priesthood.
| ©
2004-2005 MacedoniaGreece.com || email: info@macedoniagreece.com
|