This week in 1825: From Trinisa to Palaiomonástiro

Ibrahim Pasha 

plunders and puts Lakonia to the torch in 1825

On August 30, 1825, Egyptian army general Ibrahim Pasha set off from his fortified camp in Tripolitsa on the first of many forays of destruction, terror, and mayhem throughout Morea, as the Peloponnese was known back then. On this occasion, he traversed about 100 kilometres south over the most rugged terrain of the Parnon Mountains to reach Trinisa on the estuaries of the Evrotas River washing into the Lakonian Gulf. After quashing local resistance, he went on to plunder and set ablaze the nearby villages of the Elos plain. Terrified locals sought refuge in the mountains of Parnon, in particular the wooded highlands in the Zarakas region.

On September 5, Ibrahim's troops galloped into Molaoi, some 30 kilometres from Trinisa, and set up camp. In response, Theodoros Kolokotronis, the pre-eminent leader of the War for Independence, and his Greek fighters came down from the mountains around Kosmas of Kynouria to Geraki at the foot of southern Parnon intending to thwart the enemy on the southern flank (along the Kourkoúla-Gkagkaniá-Toúrla-Koulochéra line). For this reason, on September 8 Kolokotronis advanced to Kremasti as the bulk of the Greek fighters were amassed across Geraki and Kremasti. In actual fact, these fighters were usually camped in and around Agios Petros under the command of revolutionary chieftains Giannakis Notaras, Gennaios Kolokotronis, Kanellos Deligiannis, Giorgakis Giatrakos, Panoutsos Notaras, Giorgakis Cheliotis (or Lykos), Staikos Staikopoulos, and others.

After setting Molaoi on fire, Ibrahim got wind of the intentions of his foes and headed north for Niata and Apidia. He was on the way to his next target, the Kounoupochoria, a cluster of small villages and settlements in southern Parnon including Kounoupia, Niochori, Mari, Giotsali, Alepochori, Karitsa, Geraki, Agios Giannis, and Tsilia.

On September 11, a phalanx of the enemy that had spent the previous night in Niata set off for Mariorema and was confronted at the Mari crossing by the Greek fighters of Staikos Staikopoulos, while the other, that had spent the night in Apidia, was heading for Geraki and a detachment towards the Kosmas pass being occupied by the Zacharopoulos brothers. Some Greek fighters had taken up position near Mari, while the rest would have built numbers when advancing from Mari to Kremasti. These two passes controlled the access into the region of Kynouria.

On that day, 11 September 1825, clashes are recorded to have taken place in the wooded slopes of Elatias in the uplands above Karitsa with some small losses on both sides. Local folklore, however, embellished or otherwise, talks of a fierce battle between Ibrahim's troops and Kolokotronis’ fighters and that the enemy suffered heavy losses. Since then the location bears the name "Mnimata" (meaning Graves) because the Ottomans are said to have buried their fallen there. It is also said panic-stricken Karitsiotes sought refuge in the thickly wooded forest of Tsouka west of the village from where that afternoon they watched in horror as Ibrahim's troops set their houses alight. Soon the forest around them was also ablaze. Be that as it may, by nightfall the Greeks had moved on to Kosmas and their enemy to Geraki.

The next day, 12 September1825, Ibrahim's troops torched Geraki! The dead were in their hundreds. The surrounding olive groves and scrubland were on fire! Many locals ran off to the mountains to escape. Women and children scurried up to Sormpanos on the way to the port of Plaka and from there hopefully flee to the islands of Spetses and Hydra. Not everyone made it.

In the meantime, elsewhere in the east of Lakonia, distressed folk would flee their villages and find refuge in the small old castle of Kyparissi, secluded in a mountainous and inaccessible location known as "Koulia". The monks also abandoned the small monastery of Agios Theodoros in Chararakas. When Ibrahim, after torching Geraki, got word of this, he immediately that same afternoon dispatched troops to Kyparissi. They arrived the next day. This was of strategic importance to him since he needed to maintain access through Kremasti to scale Chionovouni.

On 15 September1825, another resounding OXI (no) is to be thundered by 400 Vrontamites braving the Ibrahim assault, just seven kilometers from Geraki. "Fire and sulphur!" is to be the angry reply by the Ottomans; and, so the ensuing holocaust is to be forged in fire as an eternal living memory of the struggle for the independence and the freedom of Greece.

The efforts to find a safe haven for the women and children of Vrontamas were led by the village priest Papa-Dimitris Papadimitriou, who together with Vrontamas’ chieftain Giannakis Karampas lifted the spirit and the courage of the locals. For refuge, they chose Palaiomonástiro, about six kilometres from the village, a cave church with rare frescoes dating from 1201 AD, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, to Agios Nikolaos, and to the great martyr Nikitas.

Galloping into Vrontamas, Ibrahim found a village deserted. A few old folk, unable to get around, refused to divulge the whereabouts of the refuge. And so, he was angry and extremely enraged. Troops on horseback combed the entire area. They managed to take some prisoners, local grape pickers on the way back from the vineyards. They tracked them and were led to the fort where about 300 to 400 Vrontamites had taken refuge. Ibrahim's troops gathered in front of an impassable fortress. Penetrating it did not seem as straightforward. It was what was termed an “eagle nest” monastery, one without visible and obvious access.

After the OXI of the Vrontamites to surrender, the siege began with unrelenting attack upon attack. The villagers galvanize by their faith and love for their homeland were determined to resist. From inside the monastery, singing and chanting could be heard and this further enraged Ibrahim. One of his generals noticed that the rock on the roof of the Monastery was not as thick at one of its points. Immediately the order was given to blast the rock. “Fire and sulphur!” was the deadly reprisal from the Ottomans; and, the holocaust of the Palaiomonástiro bursts into the flames igniting an undying living memory of the struggle for the independence and the freedom of Greece.

Today, it is as vital as ever that this page of our local history is not forgotten. We owe it to our forebears and to the protracted struggle for a free and independent homeland.

Eternal be the memory of the martyrs and fighters of the Palaiomonástiro of Vrontamas

From the Greek text of Ilias Panagiotakakos

Freely translated and adapted with added comments by Dimitris Katsambis