34 Facts About Germanos Karavangelis

Germanos Karavangelis was known for his service as Metropolitan Bishop of Kastoria and later Amaseia, Pontus.

Germanos Karavangelis was a member of the Hellenic Macedonian Committee and functioned as one of the major coordinators of the Greek Struggle for Macedonia.

Germanos Karavangelis was born Stylianos in 1866, in the village of Stipsi at Lesbos island, then still under Ottoman rule.

Germanos Karavangelis's father was a Psariot by the name of Chrysostomos and his mother was Maria.

Germanos Karavangelis had seven other siblings which included six sisters and one brother.

Germanos Karavangelis graduated in 1888, when he was ordained a Deacon and received the name Germanos.

Germanos Karavangelis then went on to study philosophy at the University of Leipzig and University of Bonn.

Germanos Karavangelis assisted in sending Greek students abroad for higher education and was successful in recruiting 130 to the newly built Zografeion Lyceum.

Germanos Karavangelis was a Metropolitan Bishop of Kastoria, in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, from 1900 until 1907, appointed in the name of the Greek state by the ambassador of Greece Nikolaos Mavrokordatos and was one of the main coordinators of the Greek Struggle for Macedonia that had an aim of defending the Greek and Greek Orthodox clerical interests against the Turks and the Bulgarians in then Ottoman Turkish-ruled Macedonia.

Germanos Karavangelis would assist in raising the morale of those aligned with the Patriarchate and in organizing armed bands to fight the Komitadjis.

Germanos Karavangelis viewed Bulgarian influence within the area as a threat to Greek interests.

Germanos Karavangelis advocated for close relations and interaction among Turks and Greeks in the region, but only in the context of when it was needed.

Germanos Karavangelis viewed the rivalry between the Patriarchate and Exarchate as lacking religious dimensions and that the main concern preoccupying Balkan states was the post-Ottoman future of in the region after the empire was removed from Macedonia.

Germanos Karavangelis was successful in returning many villages to the Patriarchate.

Germanos Karavangelis organized armed groups composed mainly of Greek army officers and volunteers brought from Crete, the Peloponnese and other parts of Greek populated areas, and even worked with Pavlos Melas.

Germanos Karavangelis recruited local Macedonian Greeks such as the chieftain Vangelis Strebreniotis from the village of Srebreni, and Konstantinos Kottas, a former member of IMRO, who in 1903, under the orders of Karavangelis, killed and beheaded Bulgarian revolutionary Lazar Poptraykov.

In 1905, Germanos Karavangelis was present when Orthodox priest Kristo Negovani conducted the Divine Liturgy in the Albanian Tosk dialect.

Germanos Karavangelis denounced the usage of Albanian in mass and under his orders had Negovani murdered.

In 1905, Germanos Karavangelis ordered the slaughter of resisting Bulgarian inhabitants in the village of Zagorichani.

Germanos Karavangelis succeeded in strengthen Greek aspirations in Macedonia and thus helped the later incorporation of the major part of Macedonia by Greece in the Balkan Wars, for which he is praised as a national hero of the Greek Struggle for Macedonia.

Germanos Karavangelis is the author of the book of memoirs "The Macedonian Struggle".

In 1907, following Bulgarian complaints and Russian pressure, Germanos Karavangelis was removed from his position by orders of the Sultan.

Germanos Karavangelis returned to Constantinople as a Synod until the collapse of the Diocese of Amaseia in January 1908.

The Patriarch had requested that Germanos Karavangelis fill the recently vacated position, and so he became the Metropolitan of Amaseia, based in Sampsounta.

Germanos Karavangelis assisted in the formation of armed groups to defend the Greek and Armenian population from Turkish aggression and persecution by the Young Turks.

Germanos Karavangelis was large advocate for a Republic of Pontus which had made him an even larger target for the Turkish Nationalist forces.

Germanos Karavangelis got on the first ship to Constantinople, however he was not permitted to leave the steamer by the troops of Kemal.

Germanos Karavangelis was given a letter by the Patriarch which had notified him that if he left the boat he would be arrested and executed.

In 1924, having been the Metropolitan of Ioannina for just over a year, Germanos Karavangelis received a letter notifying him of his appointment of Metropolitan of the Ecumenical Patriarchate based in Budapest.

Germanos Karavangelis initially protested he was not listened to.

Many believe Germanos Karavangelis was replaced based on his Venizelist views and he considered this appointment a mockery and a form of exile.

On February 11,1935, Germanos Karavangelis died of a heart attack in a hotel south of Vienna at 68 years of age.

Germanos Karavangelis was buried in Vienna despite his request to be buried in Greece in his will.

Germanos Karavangelis was awarded Order of the White Eagle and Order of Saint Sava.