RTE No 20 Interior - Road to Emmaus Journal

FAITH UNSEENOttoman administrator, “to be sure that there is no one else.” When some timehad passed and no one else came, the mullah himself stood and said: “Registerme as well. I am Georgios Kirittopoulos, the priest of Kapikioy.” Today thisman’s descendants live in Kavala and Kozani in northern Greece; their namecomes from the Greek word Kyrix, “the one who prays.”We cannot overestimate the importance of these mullah-priests, who outwardlyled their communities as devout Muslims, while keeping their secretChristian beliefs and traditions alive. Tonya and Of, the two originally crypto-ChristianGreek-speaking areas that did not have a line of secret priests,surrendered their Christianity for Islam long before the 1856 revelation. Inthe illiteracy and darkness of the times, only Christ through His priesthoodcould sustain the spirit and souls of these simple peasants and keep thefaith, like a bright flame, burning in their hearts.Part II of “The Crypto-Christians of Pontus” will appear in the Winter2008 (#32) issue of Road to Emmaus.Author George Andreadis may be contacted at:66 Rizuntos Street551 33 Kalamaria (Thessalonica) GreecePhone/Fax: 30-2310-411-465Mr. Andreadis speaks Greek, German, and English.Ruins of the great Trabzon monastery, Panagia Theoskepastos.51