Exchanging Holiness for Harmony, Bringing Pontus to Patria: The Refugee Panagia on the Move

Abstract

İsmet Pasha’s visit to Athens in 1931 was a highlight of the diplomatic revolution between Turkey and Greece in the early 1930s. Thanks to press coverage of the visit, the Turkish public had the opportunity to observe Greece’s social landscape as shaken by the refugee issue for the first time since the Greco-Turkish war and population exchange. Whether Greek refugees could return to their former homelands was the focal point of the visit. A month later, the Turkish government granted Greek exchangees the freedom to travel. Prior to this decision, the cabinet had handled authorization requests individually and issued special permits as a palliative solution. The case of the appeal made by an exchangee monk for a mission to unearth hidden relics at Sumela Monastery is especially intriguing. This article focuses on the story of this mission and the historical context that facilitated its realization.