Two blocks away from the popular Saint Mark's square in the centre of Venice, there is the canal of the Greeks (Rio dei Greci), which delimits the homonymous islet (Campo dei Greci). This islet is where thousands of Greek immigrants from Greece and fugitives from the fallen Constantinople (Istanbul) have lived, succeeded and produced a priceless spiritual work for ages.

Ages of presence

Before the 10th century the first Greek craftsmen and artists migrated to Venice and they became very in demand for their technique and contributed to the construction and decoration of many buildings in the city. During the years that followed, especially after the fourth crusade (1204), the Greek presence was completed by the merchants, who opened the way for more massive resettlements for the Greeks. The Greek immigration wave took bigger dimensions after the Turks' invasion in the lands of the Byzantine Empire and reached its peak after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. It is considered that at that time the Greek population of Venice reached the number of 5.000 people.

Since the beginning of their presence in Venice, the Greeks claimed the right of free exercise of their religious duties, but  they came across with denial and restriction by the political and religious authorities of the city, because they were considered dissenters. For many decades they had to go to some houses secretly where they could exercise their faith, until the moment when the Synod of Florence (1456) gave them a chapel in Saint Vlassis's church.

Their collateral attempts to build an orthodox church were ineffectual, because the construction's process was being interrupted. Not being able to solve their religious problem, they turned to some different but of the same importance claims. That is how they succeeded in founding the Greek Brotherhood in 1498, the income of which came from memberships, fundraisings, donations and extra contributions to the Greek ships arriving in Venice.

Saint George

In 1536 the Greeks of Venice finally managed to get a building permit for the orthodox church of Saint George in Campo dei Greci square. This great church was finished in 1577 and its impressive bell tower in 1603. Especially the latter, is a tourist attraction, because it leaned since the beginning of its construction and still keeps this inclination.

Michael Damascenos, the Cretan hagiographer who painted the largest part of the reredos, took part in the interior decoration of "Saint George of the Greeks". At the left of the Nice Gate there is the icon of Christ Almighty, which was taken by Anna Notara, a fugitive and the daughter of the last prime minister of Byzantium, Lucas Notaras.

Some years ago, when the French writer and thinker Andre Marlaux visited Saint George, he said that this icon of "Palaeologina Notara", that's what she was called because she was a descendant of Palaeologus's family, is one of the most important byzantine creations he had ever seen.

At the north side of Saint George's church there are two buildings, examples of a great architecture, bequeathed to the Brotherhood in 1664 by Thomas Flanginis, a lawyer from Corfu. One of them was used for the operation of the Flanginian School and the other one for the hospital. The School operated for 240 years, up to 1905, and was one of the most important educational institutions of Hellenism.

In the Flanginian School's building the Greek Institute of Byzantine and post-Byzantine Studies is set since 1955. In the hospital's building, which was closed in the beginnings of the 20th century, the amazing Museum of Byzantine and post-Byzantine Icons is set since 1959.

After the demise of Venice (1797) the Greek community declined. The Greek deposits were confiscated by Napoleon and most of the Greeks were forced to look for another country to live in or to return to the enslaved Greece.

The community today

"140 members are today registered in the Greek community of Venice and more than a thousand in the whole Veneto region. In their majority these Greeks, men and women, have been through mixed marriages mostly with people of Italian origin, while today only three pure Greek couples exist there. Children who came from miscegenation once used to be catholic, to avoid having problems with their fitting into the local community. These times were hard and the tolerance of the Italian society was limited, especially that of the Catholic Church. During the last 20 years, though, the children of the Greeks are increasingly being baptised orthodox".

Costas Bovos, secretary of the Greek community of Venice, attributes the inversion of the situation mainly to the Greek Orthodox Metropolis's help and the operation of the Greek school, where there are 70 students. On the wall behind Costas Bovos's office there are some portraits of the Greek heroes Kolokotronis and Regas Feraios.

The Greeks of Venice reinforced decisively the revolution of 1821. In their eyes the almost illiterate and short Theodoros Kolokotronis looked like a wise giant, who would offer a homeland to the Greeks who were dispersed all over the world. Regas Feraios was very popular because he used to go to their places and cultivate their desire for the enslaved country's liberation.

Yearning for Greece

In Venice we met Greeks who are desperately in pain when thinking of Greece and they fear that its bankruptcy will be a huge wound for all the Greeks of Diaspora. If the Greek schools of Italy close and the Greek language disappears from the mixed families, the only connection between the Greeks and their motherland will probably be their Greek last name and the cognition of the word "kalimera" (good morning), and nothing else.

Demetris Zafeiropoulos, a nuclear chemist and former president of the Greek community, has a family origin from Agrinio of Aetolia-Acarnania and the village Psari of Messinia. The first thing he talked about when we met him was his pain for the trouble his country is going through. His sorrow is double now that Italy has gotten into the pantheon of the countries threatened by bankruptcy. Both of his homelands are being hardly tested and it's not at all easy for him to accept that.

"I'm sad when we are being offended as a nation, because dignity is more important than freedom. Even in prison, people are deprived of their freedom but not of their dignity. We were hoping for a really united Europe of solidarity among the nations, but this never came. Apart from the Erasmus program, nothing else has happened in order to bring the European citizens closer to one another. We Greeks must find the way out by ourselves, being united, sharing one spirit and one soul, but also without nationalism. Nationalism is the last station of the impoverished people and we should not let it poison us".

A pleasant dose of worship for Greece was given to us by an Albanian, Freddy Kreka, who owns a fast-food  shop next to the Canal of the Greeks "Rio dei Greci" and across the Greek Institute. He speaks Greek as fluently as he speaks Italian, even though he has lived for twelve years in Venice and only for one year in Greece. The Greek language thrills his soul and he thinks that it is more rhetoric than the Italian language, because it has not any expressive deadlocks and he always finds the words to express himself. He is also crazy about the Greek songs, more than he is about the Italian ones, because they speak right to his heart. Freddy thinks that Venice is stunning and appreciates its inhabitants, but he thinks that Greeks are friendlier with immigrants.

Virgin Mary a la Greca

Venetians consider the Greeks as descendants of the Byzantines and the word Greece means Byzantium to them. The Italians appreciate the Greeks, that's why they are being taught ancient and modern Greek language during the Italian secondary education.

Venetians especially love the byzantine icons of Virgin Mary, characterized as "a la Greca" by them. They usually call their own religious icons "quadria", namely a painting, while they call the Greek icons "icona" which means iconography.

It is worth mentioning that the patron saint of Venice is Virgin Mesopantitissa, who is of Cretan origin, and the icon of whom is being kept in the city's church having the name "Salute", which means "Health". The aforementioned icon had been taken by the Venetians from Saint Titus's church in Heraklion, when they left Crete. When they returned to Venice, which was then infested by plague, they saw their compatriots being healed and this was attributed to the advent of the icon. Both Venetians and Cretans used to swear on this icon when they were signing peace treaties. As the icon was always between the two sides of the ambivalent nations as an intermediary, it was named "Mesopantitissa", which means "between the two sides".

The 21st of November, when Mesopantitissa is being celebrated, is a holiday for the Venetians and there is a feast taking place in which honeyed apples, almonds and nougats are being offered. They also make a big prefabricated bridge in the canal which leads to Salute church, so that the icon can be worshiped by as many people as possible.
TEXT-PHOTOS: GEORGE ZAFEIROPOULOS
SOURCE: www.greecewithin.com

MORE PHOTOS 

The inside of the Greek brotherhood's articles of association.

Ponte dei Greci, the bridge of the Greeks.

The Canal of the Greeks, which passes in front of the Greek Institute and the church Saint George.

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