THE MIRACLE
A True Story |
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when the city's conquerors are routed and Constantinople
is once again free.
"The marvellous poem entitled Lament for St Sophia
ends with lines that speak with certainty of the city's
eventual liberation:
"'The city's taken, it is lost, they've taken Salonica!
And St. Sofiá they've taken too, the Minster great
they've taken,
Which has three hundred sýmandras, bells sixty-two
of metal;
And every bell has its own priest, and every priest
his deacon.
And as came forth the holy Saints, the Lord of all
the Kosmos,
A message came to them* from heaven by mouths of
holy Angels:
'Cease ye your psalms, and from their place take
down the Holy Objects,
And send word to the Frankish lands that they may
come and take them,
That they may take the golden Cross and take the
Holy Gospels,
The Holy Table let them take, that it may not be
sullied.'
And when the Virgin heard the words, all tearful
were the Icons;
'O hush thee, Virgin! Icons, hush! mourn not, and
cease your weeping;
Again, with years, the time shall come when ye once
more shall dwell here.'"**
Mr Kleopas stopped, picked up the half-empty glass
and once more sipped a little water. He was clearly trying
to conceal how upset he was. I was aware of a lump in
my throat as he took a deep breath which sounded to me
more like a groan and resumed his story:
"On 1st May, 1919, agreement having been reached
between the Allies, the Greek army disembarked at Smyrna.
The Italians, who wanted Smyrna for themselves, were
not at all pleased with this development. They set free all
the convicts serving long prison sentences, armed them
and dispatched them to attack the Greek army as soon as
it had landed. Having cleared the whole area of these
small pockets of resistance, the Greek army soon reached
Aydin. The Italians, whose borders extended along the
River Meander (Menderes), permitted Turkish rebels to
enter Aydin, led by the man who was later to become
prime minister of Turkey and who masterminded the
pogrom carried out against the Greeks in Constantinople
in September, 1955: Adnan Menderes - he took his surname
from the name of the river. He was the leader of a band
of Turkish irregulars who entered Aydin and massacred
the advance guard or drowned them in the river.
"Then the Greek general, Giorgos Kondylis, received
the order to march to Aydin. He asked permission to
cross the River Meander, but the Italians objected on the
grounds that the region was under Italian occupation.
General Kondylis told them: 'You let the Turks across so
that they could go and slaughter civilians; if you don't let
us cross, we'll attack!'"
"All these things that I'm telling you, my child," said
Mr Kleopas, "were told to me by soldiers who had fought
in these battles when they returned to Constantinople.
"The Italians panicked and made way for Kondylis to
pass. So the Greek army entered Aydin and naturally
* Those carrying the Icons.
** Translated by Passow (CXCIV), "Greek folk poesy" Lucy M. J. Garnett - J.
S. Stuart - Glennie, M. A., Vol. 1 -Folk-Verse, David Nutt. London, 1896.
85 and 86
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