New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-03-20
THE RIOTS AT THE PIRAEOo
PROFESSORS. STUDENTS AND PRIESTS IoN-
CERNED IN THE PERSECUTION.

affair." in its origin, development ana results va"
much more serious than was at first supposed IL
is clear that the RIO was deliberately planned anu
carried out at the inStgation OF the rir'""n
priests, and that powerful influences are no" at
work 10 hinder any impartial investigation III '"'
matter.
The Greek Evangelical movement in Greece
proper is represented by three organized churches
one at Athens of which the Rev DR.. Kalopo-
thaEes is pastor; one az the Piraeus, ana one AT
Volos in Tbesealy These communities are NOT
large, it being a step requiring much strength OF
conviction and independence of character ior
| Greek 10 rrnoIncc formally his allegiance TO the
Eastern Church, however much he NAV symparhHe
with the Procstans. Therefore, while the audiences
at thc evangelical services are always large ana
attentive the number of ayOwed COMMITMENTS
is quite small Much larger are tie Greek Evan
ecical communities among the Greeks in turkey.
| Thus in COustantnoplp, Smyrna. MagheS3,
Broussa, Ordon and of late, in Salonica, the Evan
geical Churches are very fOurshing; and 1t Is 10
he hoped that by the formation Of a general synod
of all these communities, within and without
Greece, the Greek Evangelical movement may
| assume much larger proportions.
II is 20 be noted that troubles between Evan
gcicals and their countrymcn Of the Eastern
Church have been very rare of late years. in
Athens the four weekly services have not been
disturbed for ten or twelve years At Voos, where
the church was built before the annexation of
Thessaly to Greece, there has been no serious
trouble since the first year of it's existence 1879.
At the Piracus the building and dedication of the
neat little church Terpsithca Square. in the
summer of 1889. attracted little attention and
created TO disturbance. The Eastern Church in
Greece was at that time distracted by the election
Of Tho no
crnmcnt had forced upon the Holy Synod. and the
higher clergy were engrosscd III bitter partisan
strife on the subject. Il was not till last year
that the Archbishop launched circular to the
clergy of Athens and the Piraeus bidding them
denounce the Evangclicals from the pulpit and
warn the faithful against the inSidious hereto
teachings of these "apostatcs"
These cfYusions produced apparent effect in
Athens but found fruitful soil in the fanaticism
of the lower classes Of an important seaport like
the Piraens The first ebullition took place sew
cral weeks ago, while wedding was being cele-
bratcd in the little church The newly married
couple on coming ont. were greeted with shower
Of missiles from "A crowd OF rulians and had some
difficulty in escaping injury. ON the following
Sunday. n large crowd collected in the square be-
lore the church and at the close Of the service
hootcd and attacked the worshippers as they
wcr, chased as far as the railway station; they
succeeded in boarding the train but the mob fol-
lowing them smashed the carriage windows and
matrcated them until the railway officials con-
trived 10 hide them in the blggagc-van. Another
old lady. on coming ont Of the church. was mer
cil,ssly cuiYed. thrown down and nearly trampcd
10 death by the rullan-. Still the mob did not
venture 10 invade the church precincts or to lay
hands on the pastor or Dr. Kalopothakes. who was
present.
On the following Sunday matters Were quieter.
but number Of gymnasium students and rufians
in the cong irgation were thrust ont Of the church
far disturbing the service, were identified aud in
=, few dayn prosecuted before the Justice of the
Peace They were condemned i'll contumaciam
u two months Imprisonment; but as among them
were sons OF influential men in the Piraeus the
sentence a. often happens in resce. got no further
than the court records. and raj of those SEN
tcncc, were anon, the forcrnoS> iioters in the big
afiray Of February ~.
The eject however. of the sentence on the nm
ruly elements in Praeus was strong. The gym
nasum students, eager TO avenge their comrades.
were actually iucilc! ~ violence 10y The professor
OF Rel gious Si4des7 Us he Is called; while the
priests went about preaching against the Evan
eeIcalS in an iniammatory strain, well calculated
10 stir up the nnatlcism of large ana Ignorant
was not altogether Unforeseen, but neither the
tvangclicalS nor the authorities imagined that 1t
would assume thc abominabe proportions 1t actu-
ally did Nevertheless, ON saturday Or. Kalop0-
,halles called AZ the Interior Office and not finding
Tie Minister there, handed written request to
the Sub-MinistcT asking that proper measures
be- tnken FOX the safety and protection OF the Evan
lelicas and their worship at the Plraeus. This
high official had the boldncss to answer verbatim,
that he would not guarantee that such measures
wouid bc tlnen,~ \ similar request was then
served upon tine Project OF Police, who with more
sense Of the duties placed upon him, sent an ORDER
lo the >uh-friect At the Plracus TO detail Il sufl-
Gent force 20 protect the Evangelical service.
The latter official, however, considered II suhi-
Client TO Send only three policemen, who, after walk
Ing about the IerDsitAea square. went oil, thus
leaving the church entirely unprotected when the
When the service begpn only a crowd Of boys
was 10 be seen in the square. Hut the raid was
organizing in another quarter of the city, and
shortly before the services ended several process
sions poured into the square from different streets.
1t being Carnival sunday. the rioters were all
masked, and their PROFESSIONS had not attracted
the notice Of the authorities. No sooner was the
junction effected than the assault began. The
worshippers, taking the alarm. closed the outer
gate and the doors ana windows Of the church.
But all these were soon smashed IN aud showers
Of big stores came crashinr ,.tu the church upon
he haplcss congregation. The latter took refuge
IN the little parsonage NJ the back of the build.
ing, but the stones and brickbatS followed
them there; and 10y this tinc the mob. having
broken in the great front door. came pouring
into the church aud parsonage and began the
work Of destruction and plumber The men OF
the congregation fought the maraudcrs as long
ms they could, but il obvious that 80 few
were powcrlcsS AGAINST mob Of SEVERAL hundred
therefore they decided 10 force their way out
ard tcc The women escaped this time without
injury: the men, including the Piraeus pastor
were all struck, but 10 was seriously in.
urcd DR. Kalo2othnkrs was bruised by fall
hut picked himself mp inst in time 10 dodge nm
enormous stone hurled at his head. He turned
down n side street, closely pursued. and took
refuge in an olCn door; the proprietor Selling
lis rife covered his retreat, threatening 10 shoot
the first man who attempted to follow him into
the house.