On this day in 1916, the expulsion of the Metropolitan of Dryinoupolis from Northern Epirus

From Sebastianos' first events for Northern Epirus, one slogan stood out - above all others - that best reflected the path of struggle that Despot was walking..., the exact same path that his predecessors walked... "When the cassock becomes a flag, then victory is certain"And Indeed, the history of Our nation Is full of such examples….

One such Despot whose robe became a "flag" in the Autonomous struggle of Northern Epirus in 1914 was Dryinoupoleos Vasilios (1858-1936). He was born in the village of Ano Lambovo, and quickly emerged as an important spiritual figure in the region. In 1913, when the Greek army entered Northern Epirus as a liberator, he was the one who welcomed the leaders of the army in Argirokastro as Bishop of the region.

Σαν σήμερα το 1914 – Η ανακατάληψη της Βορείου Ηπείρου από τον Ελληνικό Στρατό

Στις 10 Ιανουαρίου 1914 με την ιδιότητα του προέδρου της Επιτροπής Εθνικής Αμύνης Αργυροκάστρου και Τεπελενίου, ο Μητροπολίτης Βασίλειος, ως εκ των πραγμάτων ηγέτης του Ελληνισμού της περιοχής, συγκάλεσε Πανηπειρωτικό Συνέδριο στο Αργυρόκαστρο για τις 30 Ιανουαρίου. Έως τις 5 Φεβρουαρίου εξέτασε όλες τις δυνατότητες για ειρηνική λύση του προβλήματος. Μη έχοντας όμως δυνατότητα για πολιτική λύση και λόγω του γεγονότος ότι η Ελληνική κυβέρνηση θα ήταν υποχρεωμένη να δεχθεί τις θέσεις των Μεγάλων Δυνάμεων για την τύχη των νησιών του Αιγαίου, αποφάσισε τη σύσταση αρμοδίου οργάνου, που θα αναλάμβανε ένοπλο αγώνα με σκοπό την Ανεξαρτησία. Για τον σκοπό αυτό, συγκρότησε «Οργανωτική Επιτροπή», που μέχρι να συμπληρωθεί θα αποτελούνταν από τους Μητροπολίτες Δρυινουπόλεως Βασίλειο, Βελλάς και Κονίτσης Σπυρίδωνα και Κορυτσάς Γερμανό. Στις 15 Φεβρουαρίου 1914 σχηματίσθηκε στη θέση της Οργανωτικής Επιτροπής η provisional Government of the Autonomous Northern Epirus with President George Christakis Zografos.

Historically, the words of Vasilios of Dryinoupolis before a crowd of people, during the raising of the flag of the Autonomy of Northern Epirus in Gjirokastra on February 17, 1914, have remained. The Metropolitan took a few steps forward and, looking at the Greek Flag that was slowly descending, movedly bid it farewell on behalf of the Hellenism of Northern Epirus:

«For the sake of the supreme National need, you have descended, oh divine dream, our blue and white, our national Flag of our fathers. But instead of you, we do not raise a foreign one, but your daughter Epirus, destined to conquer the Albanian crescent.».

In the provisional Government of the Autonomous Epirus, he took over the Ministry of Education, until the return of the Greek Army in October 1914. And when the first Northern Epirus MPs were elected on May 31, 1915, in the Greek parliament, he was the soul of the entire effort so that the elected representatives would be the voice of their long-suffering homeland.

In August 1916, the Italian Army began occupying Northern Epirus, taking advantage of the National Division in Greece. Son September 22, 1916, Metropolitan Vasilios was forcibly deported by the Italian occupation authorities., as “dangerous to public safety”, so he moved his headquarters to Delvinaki in the free Pogoni (photo above).

He passed away in Athens on February 26, 1936, and his body was transferred to be buried in Delvinaki on March 1, where a crowd of people accompanied him to his final resting place (photo below).

His tomb is still located today in the courtyard of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Delvinaki, Ioannina, where every year an event is organized by the Metropolis of Dryinoupolis for the anniversary of the Autonomy of Northern Epirus.

writes Chr. Sihloimiris

PS: On the occasion of the 2 unpublished photographs, entrusted to me by a white-haired Greek-minded friend, let these few lines be a reverent "kneeling" at his grave, awaiting freedom for his enslaved homeland.