Damaskinos of Athens

Greek politician and priest (1891–1949)

Archbishop Damaskinos Papandreou (Αρχιεπίσκοπος Δαμασκηνός Παπανδρέου), born Dimitrios Papandreou (Δημήτριος Παπανδρέου; 3 March 1891 – 20 May 1949) was the archbishop of Athens and All Greece from 1941 until his death in 1949. He was also the regent of Greece between the pull out of the German occupation force in 1944 and the return of King George II to Greece in 1946. His rule was between the liberation of Greece from the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II and the Greek Civil War.

He was born Dimitrios Papandreou (no relation to the Papandreou political family from Achaea) in Dorvitsa, Greece. He enlisted in the Hellenic Army during the Balkan Wars. He was ordained a priest of the Greek Orthodox Church in 1917. In 1922, he was made Bishop of Corinth. He spent the early 1930s as an ambassador of the Ecumenical Patriarch in the United States, where he labored to help organize the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. In 1938 he was elected Archbishop of Athens, taking the name Damaskinos. Ioannis Metaxas, dictator of Greece at the time, objected to Damaskinos and forced the cancellation of his election, and the appointment of Metropolitan Chrysanthus to the post. After the 1941 German invasion of Greece and the fall of the Greek government, the Metropolitans who had elected Damaskinos seized the opportunity to eject Chrysanthus from the throne (with German agreement, as the latter had refused to be present at the oath taking ceremony of the quisling Prime Minister Georgios Tsolakoglu), and Damaskinos was reinstalled.

After the occupation ended, Damaskinos was proclaimed regent of Greece until a referendum to be held for the return or not of King George II from exile. Harold Macmillan, the junior British minister in charge of Mediterranean affairs met Damaskinos on 14 December 1944 and wrote his impression: "I was impressed by the wide grasp of European politics, the good sense, humor, and courage of this ecclesiastic. He is willing to accept the regency, but realises the difficulties. He shares our view that there must be no reprisals and no counter revolution". The king was opposed to the idea of a regency and used his friendship with Winston Churchill to turn the prime minister completely against Damaskinos, saying he was both a Communist and a collaborator. Based on what he had heard from the king, Churchill called Damaskinos a "pestilent priest, a survival from the Middle Ages". During this time, fighting broke out between pro royalist Greek soldiers and communist partisans in the Dekemvriana events. He took control of the situation in his early term, appointing himself Prime Minister during late 1945. Though he wielded little power in his latter term, Damaskinos continued to call for peace and order in the country. During the Dekemvriana fighting in Athens, Churchill visited the city and first met Damaskinos on Christmas Day 1944 aboard HMS Ajax. After meeting him, Churchill completely changed his view of him, writing: "It was impossible to doubt that Damaskinos greatly feared the Communists‘ involvement in Greek affairs Generally he impressed me with a good deal of confidence". On Boxing Day 1944, Churchill again met Damaskinos and wrote "I was already convinced that he was the outstanding figure in the Greek turmoil". The same day, Damaskinos chaired a conference aimed at a peaceful solution to the crisis, attended by members of both EAM and the government. At the conference, it was agreed that King George II would not return at once as he wanted, Damaskinos would continue as Regent, the prime minister Georgios Papandreou would resign in favor of General Nikolaos Plastiras and a ceasefire would be proclaimed to end the fighting. On 3 January 1945, Damaskinos swore in a new government headed by Plastiras, which was described as "wholly republican and moderately left wing". On 12 January 1945, a truce was signed ending the fighting and the ELAS forces were pulled out of Athens to a distance of 70 miles from the capital. However, EAM refused to release the hostages it had taken, which led Damaskinos in a press statement to state: "I deeply regret that during the negotiations for a truce it was not made possible to settle the question of the hostages". A conference at Varkiza to settle the conflict opened on 2 February 1945, where it was agreed on 11 February after much difficult negotiation that EAM would release its hostages and disarm in exchange for an amnesty, the end of martial law, and a promise to purge from the civil service those Greeks who had collaborated with the Germans. On 12 February 1945, the Treaty of Varkiza as the peace agreement was signed. On 14 February, Churchill visited Athens on his way home from the Yalta conference, and rode in an open car with Damaskinos through the streets of Athens being loudly cheered by 40,000 Athenians. He relinquished his position after fighting began to die down and recalled the king formally on September 28, 1946. On 5 July 1947, Damaskinos become a founding member of the Queen's Fund (Vasiliki Pronia) charity founded by Queen Frederica to assist with the children left homeless by the Greek Civil War. He died in Athens in 1949.