The period of Turkish rule begins for Pogoni at the end of the 14th century, as the area was occupied by the Ottomans before Ioannina. While at first there was a relative tolerance from the conquerors, gradually and especially after the fall of the city in 1453, the area came into the eye of the Turks and the Albanian tribes due to the affluence and wealth of the previous period (of the despotate of Epirus) and became target of frequent, cruel and destructive attacks and looting.
OF Filotheos Kemendzezidis (Northern Epirotiko Vima – No. fol. 57 137)
SOURCE:himara.gr
These attacks targeted not only the personal property of the residents but also their spiritual and cultural tradition with many holy temples and monasteries being destroyed. The persecutions took a fiercer form against Pogoni and especially Polytsani in the middle of the 17th century, to the point that while in 1626 a local population of 4000 inhabitants with 3 holy monasteries and at least 24 small and large temples is witnessed, in 1661 after the Turkalvan raids, there were only 4 patrias (families) with about 200 people.
The pressure certainly becomes harder on the Greek Orthodox Christians, who, in addition to the more general policy of the Sublime Gate, have to deal with the local arbitrariness of the Turkalvans and the conversion of the fanatical dervishes, which worsen the already miserable economic situation of the poor residents who in a difficult environment, they fight a real struggle for survival. Gradually, the lowland areas of today's central and northern Albania are converted to Islam, and then the same thing happens in the mountains, with the result that by the end of the 16th century, 2/3 of the Albanians, whom the Turks wanted to associate with their rugged character and their known military skill. It is no coincidence that during the Turkish occupation we have 27 Viziers of Albanian origin and about 100 commanders of battalions.
These attacks are clearly part of a more general context of violence and attempts at Islamization by the Ottoman authorities towards enslaved Christians. This effort, with various variations, was valid throughout the 16th and 17th centuries and intensified especially after revolutionary movements of the ragiades, such as the failed rebellion of the Metropolitan of Trikki Dionysios Filosofos (the so-called Skylosofos by the Turks), in 1611, who was arrested the Turks and flayed him alive in the castle of Ioannina. The same thing happened to a greater degree after the spelling in 1770.
The main reason for the mass Islamization of entire villages and regions was the brutal physical violence practiced by the conqueror. However, economic reasons also played a role, especially with the gradually different tax treatment of Christians and Muslims. Most of the tribes of the Albanians, and especially local nobles, in order to maintain their privileges and real property, embraced Mohammedanism, others formally and remaining Christians in the background (such as the Christians of Spathia), while others essentially and consciously. The latter in the process lose not only their religious and national identity, but end up cruel persecutors of their former co-religionists.
The fact that the Albanians did not have their own written language and writing, as well as Christian literature, deprived them of a very strong basis of resistance to Islamization that their neighboring peoples had, as observed by the archbishop of Tirana and all Albania, Anastasios. Along with the low intellectual level, the lack of education of both the Albanians and the Greeks, the ignorance of the clergy and the lack of central control contributed to the fact that in the 17th century, Islamization took on dramatic proportions in Epirus and Albania. It is characteristic that in the area of Verati but also of Kolonia and Argyrokastro there are evidences of conversions to Islam of entire villages with their priest and in one case also with their bishop.
In this gloomy period, the New Martyrs of our Church give a witness to Christ and a model of resistance, such as for the region of Epirus, St. George of Ioannina, St. John of Konitsi, St. Anastasios from Paramythia, St. Zacharias from Arta , Saint Nikodimos from Vithkouki, Kortsa, who was martyred in Verati, and many others, who were essentially the first line of defense and stopping the wave of Islamizations. Despising their lives and the worldly power of the conqueror, they gave courage and strength to the tormented ragiades. The importance of their spiritual exercise and sacrifice for the survival and salvation of the race was recorded by many of their contemporaries, while most of the testimonies were collected and recorded by Saint Nicodemus the Saint in his famous New Testimony.
However, beyond the Neomartyrs, at the end of the 17th and throughout the 18th century, we have the presence of a new generation of educated clergy who laid the foundations for the spiritual and educational upliftment of the tortured flock of the church. Among them, Agios Kosmas Aitolos (+1779), Nektarios Terpos (+1740), Bishop of Dryinoupolis Sofianos, Evgenios Voulgaris (+1806) and many others, with the first three being particularly associated with the area, hold a special place of Epirus.
Holy Sophia
For Saint Sophia, characterized by contemporary and later scholars as Apostle of Genus, Forerunner of Saint Cosmas of Aitolos and his equal in missionary zeal, the biographical information that has been preserved is minimal. We do not know when he was born or what date he became a metropolitan. However, according to the episcopal lists of the diocese of Dryinoupolis, his predecessor was bishop Kallinikos (1667-1672) while his successor was Raphael, for whom there is a reference in the year 1720. However, we know the date of his death on November 26, 1711. It is probable that he came from the parts of Pogonio without this being accurately documented.
We have the first historical evidence of his activity in 1672, when he founded a school in the then famous Holy Monastery of Agios Athanasios, just outside Polytsani. A few years later, around 1700, he abdicated the episcopal throne and retired as a grand monk in the said Monastery, in order to devote himself, undistracted from administrative cares, to the support and spiritual nourishment of his trying flock. Centered in the monastery, he began a long-term and dangerous struggle to combat the ignorance of the people and the fear and cowardice of the tyrant, using as his weapon the teaching of the Gospel and the doctrine of faithful observance of God's law and obsession with the ancestral faith. Initially operating behind the scenes, he tried to strengthen those who were shaken in the faith, to strengthen their morale and to set clear boundaries between truth and falsehood by pointing out the danger of mixed quarters between Orthodox Christians and their converted homosexuals.
Every Sunday and holiday he did not fail to visit the villages of Zagori, Dropoli and Pogoni, preaching, exhorting and comforting the faithful. Using all his diplomatic skill, and the good name he had acquired among the Muhammadans for his natural gentleness and sweetness of character, he managed to achieve something incredible for his time, not only to put an end to the mixed settlements, but also to remove from the villages of Zagoria and Pogoni all those they evicted. With careful actions, he managed to relocate them to Malesovo, outside the region of Zagori and Pogoni, thus saving the faithful from all kinds of pressure from outsiders who were often harsher towards their compatriots than the Turks themselves.
This unprecedented event has its explanation in the respect he enjoyed from the Turks and for a series of miraculous incidents that happened and contributed to him being considered a genuine man of God by the conquerors themselves. In fact, two of them have been recorded by the researchers. In one case, the fez of a wealthy Turkala was lost, which was embroidered with gold ornaments of great value and which, after a thorough search in the village, could not be found. Saint Sophia revealed that it had been grabbed by a stork and even indicated the nest in which the fez was actually found. On a second occasion, in a discussion between the saint and his guest at the Monastery, he did not believe in a miracle that the saint told. The discussion took place in front of a crowd of visitors, Greeks and Turks. Then the holy Sophia took from the burning fire three sticks of wild cherry and said to his interlocutor:"Do you want to believe? So come on!"
And he asked the people to follow him into the garden. There he had a monk dig a small pit and planted the date trees still scorched by the fire. In the hearing of all, he shouted:"In May the trees will bloom and bear fruit!". Indeed by the power of faith the miracle was done and three trees with thick trunks and large branches grew there causing immense admiration as the whole incident took place before a crowd of people. These trees were saved until the time of the Hoxha regime in Albania, only to be cut down sometime in the 1960s precisely because of the particular symbolism they had.
The contribution of Saint Sofianos to Genos is recognized as a whole by old and new Epirote scholars and folklorists (Lampridis, Oikonomidis, Michalopoulos, Oikonomou, Aravantinos, Papadopoulos, Bouras), but also by the German geographer Philippson who weaves, without sparing praise, the praise of Sofianos for his action in stopping Islamization.
It is even mentioned that when necessary, Sofianos did not hesitate to take even more dynamic measures, organizing, financing and even hosting in his Monastery armed units from residents of the area to face attacks by unruly Turkalvans. For a long time his Monastery became a refuge and a base for charioteers, whose action was a prelude to the fierce armed resistance of the inhabitants of the area in the years 1730-1735, against the exomotes from Tepeleni and Kourvelesi who tried for years to convert them to Islam by force .
The last years of his life, Sofianos spent in his monastery preaching, instructing and also organizing the smooth operation of the School he founded. He fell asleep on November 26, 1711 enjoying the honor and respect of his flock. From the first moment, Sofianos was recognized as a Saint in his area and the people honored him with a great religious festival which was attended by a large number of Christians as well as Turks. The Monastery of Agios Athanasios in its heyday and for a long time after the death of Saint Sophia had a famous library, sacred gold-embroidered vestments, a large bell from Constantinople, a historical codex and a box of ecclesiastical handwritten books, which was preserved until 1921, when a large part of the Monastery was destroyed after a battle with Turkalvan bandits, which took place in the Monastery's precincts.
In fact, until then, the annual procession of the saint's relic together with a part of the Holy Cross that was kept in the Monastery was customary throughout the province of Pogoni for the worship and sanctification of the faithful people. His remains were placed in a silver reliquary made during the abbotship of Hatzianthimos Sianos, (+1890), which was stolen during the communist regime, but the remains were not lost, which were then placed in a wooden box.
Today, the Holy Cara and part of the relics of Saint Sofianos are kept in the central sanctuary of the Church of Pammegisto Taxiarchon Polytsani in a case that was crafted with a donation from Archimandrite Athanasios Petta in the 1990s after a miraculous intervention of the Saint on a member of his family. Pieces of his remains are also in various parts of Greece and abroad (Thira, Anafi, Athens, London) which the Metropolitan of Argyrokastro Panteleimon Kotokos (1937-1941) had brought with him when he was pursued by the Italians in 1941 and which distributed before his sleep. His memory is honored in various parts of Greece, but also in Pogoni, where he mainly operated, as well as in Verati.
In memory of Saint Sofianos, the Hymnographer of the Great Church of Christ, Fr. Gerasimos Mikrayannanitis, the native of Droviani in Northern Epirus, wrote an apolytypic and megalinary, while a complete sequence was compiled by Dr. Charalambos Bousias, Hymnographer of the Alexandrian Church. In their texts it is pointed out the wise shepherding of the flock by the hierarch Sofianos, who followed the example of old glorious hierarchs and spent his life using all the talents given to him by God, for the protection of his people and above all for the repulsion of the terrible threat of Islamization. His role in the strengthening of Greek education with the famous school of Polytsani is also emphasized, with which he became a tireless shepherd of the province of Dryinoupolis and an illuminator and guardian of Pogoni, as is characteristically noted in the doxastic of Vespers.
In conclusion, the bishop of Dryinoupolis, Sofianos, was a key factor in stopping the Islamization that threatened to wipe out the entire Epirus. The survival of Orthodoxy and Hellenism in the regions of Riza, Pogoni and Zagoria is due to his own presence and action. In essence, he was the first to raise the banner of the struggle against Islamization in the hot region of Epirus and is absolutely justifiably considered a forerunner of the revolution of 1821 together with the learned hieromonk Nektarios Terpos and the National Apostle Saint Cosmas Aetolos.
