By Stavros Melidonis, Attorney,
Vice-President of the Association of Smyrnaeans
The tragic centenary of the Asia Minor Catastrophe brings to the forefront the deaths of thousands of martyrs, with Chrysostomos of Smyrna standing as the foremost figure among them. Through his martyrdom, he became a Saint of our Orthodox Church, fulfilling the verse from the Revelation of John addressed to the Angel of the Church of Smyrna: “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
Alongside Chrysostomos of Smyrna and the company of the Asia Minor Saints stands the figure of the Hieroethnomartyr Archimandrite Iakovos Archantzikakis, who surrendered his soul to the Lord after enduring a horrific martyrdom at the hands of the Turkish çetes in Voutza of Smyrna on 27 August 1922 (Old Style).
Archimandrite Iakovos Archantzikakis was born in the village of Ziros in Sitia in 1872. At the urging of his uncle, the Hieromonk Kornelios Giakoumakis of the Holy Sepulchre, he went to Jerusalem in order to study at the renowned Theological School of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem.
During his stay in Jerusalem, he was ordained a deacon. After graduating from the Theological School of the Holy Cross in 1892, he continued his theological studies at the Theological School of Halki, receiving his degree in 1897.
During the period in which he was in Constantinople, he developed intense activity as a regular member of the Ecclesiastical Musical Association of Constantinople, as Librarian of the Library of the Dependency of the Holy Sepulchre, and as Preacher of the Dependency of the Holy Sepulchre. His contribution to the writing of Volume IV of the series Jerusalem Library by the great Byzantinologist, Professor and Curator of the Museum and Library of the Evangelical School of Smyrna, Athanasios Papadopoulos-Kerameus, was particularly noteworthy. In 1901 he enrolled in the Faculty of Letters at the University of Geneva, from which he graduated in 1903.
Immediately afterward, he submitted his degree and enrolled in the School of Christian Catholic Theology at the University of Bern. In 1904 he was awarded a doctorate with a dissertation titled “A Study of the Basic Christian Feasts in the Ancient Eastern Church,” which was published in French by Weber Publishing.
After receiving his doctorate, he returned to Jerusalem and assumed the direction of the Seminary School of the Holy Cross. Indeed, through his own efforts, in 1911 the Greek state officially recognized the School as equivalent to the corresponding six-year secondary schools of the Greek state.
From the end of 1906, he assumed the direction of the historic journal of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Nea Sion, in which he also published articles.
In 1907 he was ordained a priest and was also granted the office of Archimandrite. Alongside his pastoral activity, he produced a rich and wide-ranging body of written work, through which his multifaceted personality is revealed. His published works include: (a) The Ethics of the Greek Philosophers and Christian Ethics, published in Jerusalem in 1912; (b) Christianity and Materialism, two lectures delivered in Geneva and published in French; (c) The Priesthood and the Protestant Church, published in Jerusalem in French in 1906; (d) The Divine Institution of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and the Error of the Protestants, published in Jerusalem in French in 1906; (e) Orthodox Christian Catechism, published for the upper classes of the Schools of the Holy Sepulchre in 1910; and (f) twenty-three theological studies and treatises published from 1907 through 1914 in the journal Nea Sion.
The impact of his work and of his personality as a good shepherd, scholar, and spiritual teacher was such that it extended beyond the boundaries of the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
It is characteristic that he maintained continuous correspondence with the Hieroethnomartyr Chrysostomos of Smyrna from the years when Chrysostomos was Metropolitan of Drama.
Furthermore, in an edition of the Asia Minor calendar of 1911, Iakovos's biography is included among those of other prominent personalities.
The issue of the pro-Arab policy of Patriarch Damianos of Jerusalem brought Iakovos into conflict with the Patriarch and led to Iakovos's forced departure from Jerusalem and his flight to Asia Minor in 1915.
At that time he entered the service of the Holy Metropolis of Ephesus, and in 1917, following a recommendation by Bishop Ambrosios of Xanthoupolis—who later became the Hieroethnomartyr Metropolitan of Moschonisia—the assistant bishop of Chrysostomos of Smyrna, he assumed the position of priest-in-charge of the Cathedral Church of the Nativity of Saint John the Forerunner in the Upper Quarter of Boudja, or Voutza.
Voutza (Boudja) was the so-called flower village of Smyrna. It was one of the most aristocratic suburbs of Smyrna, with approximately 7,000 Greek inhabitants, three parishes (the Nativity of the Forerunner, Saint John the Forerunner, and the Evangelistria), nine schools with 800 students, commercial establishments, restaurants, and country villas.
From his new position, Iakovos developed intense activity, demonstrating fervent pastoral and patriotic zeal that made him beloved by his parishioners and throughout Voutza. As early as 1917, he had assumed the direction of the boys' school of Voutza.
After the Armistice of Mudros and before the arrival of the Greek army, Voutza was subjected to attacks by Turkish irregulars, accompanied by killings and looting.
For this reason, Iakovos, amid great sorrow, sent a telegram to the Allied mission following the funerals of the victims, requesting the protection of the village's Christian inhabitants. When the Greek army arrived in Smyrna, he took a leading role in the celebrations in Voutza.
At the same time, however, it was he, together with the lawyer Antonios Athenogenis, who prevented some of his compatriots, who had not forgotten the recent killings and destruction and wanted to take their anger out on the Turkish inhabitants of Voutza, from seeking revenge.
Finally, taking care to continually improve the conditions of education being provided, he took the initiative to have the schools of Voutza repaired.
All this work, together with his extensive education, had led Chrysostomos to propose Iakovos for election to the vacant see of the Metropolis of Tarsus and Adana, a proposal that ultimately did not succeed.
Iakovos's intense activity, which bore all the characteristics of a good Levite as well as those of a fervent patriot, did not go unnoticed by the Turks.
Iakovos took a leading role in strengthening the Christian and Greek spirit and in admonishing the Greek inhabitants of Voutza, particularly the youth.
His patriotic speeches and Christian zeal were the reasons that led to the decision to put him to death.
On 27 August 1922 (Old Style), the Turks entered Voutza and almost completely destroyed the village. When friends urged Iakovos to leave Voutza, he refused, saying that his duty was to be beside his flock. Thus, without hesitation or reservation, he decided to sacrifice himself.
His death, confirmed by Greek and foreign sources, including the Catholic priest Charles Dobson, was a martyr's death.
According to a recorded source of Chrysostomos, Metropolitan of Ephesus, derived from the accounts of surviving inhabitants of Voutza, Iakovos's martyrdom was horrific.
After being mercilessly beaten by Turkish irregulars inside the Church of the Nativity of the Forerunner, they then drove two nails into his forehead, forming the shape of a crescent moon, and subsequently, covered in blood, they hanged him outside the church.
At the moment he surrendered his soul, he cried out: “My Panagia! My Panagia!”
In this way Iakovos, the tireless laborer of Christ, with his extensive education and multifaceted pastoral and spiritual work, endured the tortures of his persecutors and was numbered among the company of the martyrs of Asia Minor.
His memory is commemorated on the first Sunday before the Feast of the Exaltation of the Honorable Cross, together with Saint Chrysostomos of Smyrna and the clergy and laity who were slain with him.
Let us honor Iakovos, the steadfast Hieromartyr, who bore upon his forehead a crescent moon, a mocking seal, alas, in place of the Honorable Cross, who suffered gloriously in Voutza, Smyrna, and with hymns entreats the all-merciful God on our behalf.
Rejoice, O wondrous sacred athlete, holy ornament of Ziros of Sitia; rejoice, O Iakovos, who in Voutza of Smyrna sealed your priesthood through your struggles.
Michail Angelakis, “ETHNOHIEROMARTYR–ARCHIMANDRITE IAKOVOS GEORGIOU ARCHANTZIKAKIS,” Sitia, 2020.
Newspaper Kosmos of Smyrna, 14.09.1919, 29.09.1919, 19.03.1920, 05.07.1922, 08.07.1922.
Kyrillos Zachopoulos, “HISTORICAL PAGES CONCERNING THE ORTHODOX GREEK COMMUNITY OF KASAMPA,” Athens, Nea Smyrni, 1934.
Religious and Ethical Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Athens, 1963.
Nikos Kararas, “BOUDJA: THE FLOWER VILLAGE OF SMYRNA. ITS HISTORY—ITS LIFE,” published by the Association of Smyrnaeans, 1962.
Christos Solomonidis, “THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA,” Athens, 1960.
“The Archive of Chrysostomos, Ethnomartyr of Smyrna,” Volume III, MIET, Athens, 2000.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
