Corfu, Crucible of Change: A Multicultural Island of Masonic Revolutionary Secrets
Sasha Chaitow BA Comm., MA Eng. Lit., MA Western Esotericism
C7th BC: Gorgon pediment Oldest stone pediment in Greece
Views of the Citadel (Old Fortress C12th-14th) Abraham Ortelius, Teatro del Mondo, 1595
Strada reale, 1839 (central street of the old town)
Names of Corfu since antiquity Corcyra: A nymph, daughter of the river Asopos Faiakia (Lat. Phaecia): “Faiax”,son of Corcyra Scheria: In the Odyssey, home of Nausikaa Koryfo: Meaning “peak” for the jutting peninsula where the Citadel now stands: “Corfu” derives from “Koryfo.”
“For the fast ships of the Phaecians have neither rudder nor captain, rather they follow the thought of man of their own accord...” Homer, Odyssey, rhaps. 7, verses 579-585
Bronze Age coins found in Corfu. The two faced head is not the Roman Janus, but probably an aspect of the Corfiot Mother-goddess Dionysia, facing both East and West.
Emperor of Byzantium Manuel Komnenus I 1143-1180 •Used Corfu as an army/naval base •Built fortifications •Established “Sacred order” of 33 + 33 provincial and city priests (Lefteriotes), who governed religious affairs and influenced politics until the 19th century
•Church of Iasonas and Sosipatros (built c. 1000 AD) •Contemporaries of St Paul who Christianised Corfu (40 AD) •This is the oldest church in Corfu (still in use) and the only one displaying Byzantine architecture
Philip Cluver, Introduction In Universam Geographiam, London 1704
18th century depiction of the West coast of mainland Greece, Corfu, and the Ionian archipelago Emblems of the seven islands
Clockwise from top:
•Corfu •Zakynthos (Zante) •Ithaca •Cephallonia •Lefkas (Santa Maura) •Paxos •Kythera
‘Scuola Greca’ synagogue (c. 17th)
Interior of ‘Pantokrator’ church (17th century)
Catholic ‘Duomo’ of St. James & St. Jacob (1632)
Orthodox priests conducting procession of St. Spiridion, Corfu’s patron saint
Aspects of the Venetian lion, or Lion of St. Mark
Views of the citadel (fortress) in 1486 and 1573
Early “Eptanisiaki� (Septinsular) School of Art
Michael Damaskinos (1590)
Nikolaos Doxaras (17th century)
The shift away from the traditional austere Byzantine style is evident in the use of perspective and form
Theatre of San Giacomo (1661-93) •First used as the ‘Loggia dei Nobili’ for ‘private’ cultural and political discussions among the nobility •(1720) The first operas of the Mediterranean were performed here and it became the centre of Corfu’s musical tradition
Corfu Town Hall since 1903
The Greek Enlightenment (Diafotismos) was more of a Renaissance of ideas, philosophy and philology: European Enlightenment principles merged with cultural patriotism. Adamantios Korais 1748-1833
Scholar and writer, protagonist of Revival and ‘purification of the Greek Language. Almost single-handedly inspired the Greek Enlightenment
Rigas Ferraios-Velestinlis 1757-1798
Scholar, poet, key figure of the Greek Enlightenment and Revolutionary movement. Wrote in the vernacular to get his message across to the working classes.
Hermes the Scholar Vienna, 1817 ďƒ
ďƒ&#x; NEWSPAPER, being an ACCURATE ANTHOLOGY of the current, most worthy and most accurate worldwide events, which with great effort and care, and right judgement, have been gathered from diverse sources, for the benefit of the curiosity of the many [readers] for whom we gladly publish. Vienna, 1792
Main European channels of influence •Literary and Art Salons (Italy, France, Austria) •Masonic Lodges (esp. North-eastern Italy, Marseilles, and Russia) •Quasi-Masonic patriotic organisations, including: Name
Date
City
Founder(s)
Character
Good Cousins
1790
Vienna
Rigas Feraios
Literary-Scholarly (Masonic)
Hotel Hellenophone
1809
Paris
Gregorios Salykas
Scholarly-Patriotic
Philomuse Society
1813
Vienna
Ioannis Kapodistrias
Philiki Etaireia (Society of Friends)
1814
Odessa
Athanasios Tsakalof Emmanuel Xanthos Nikolaos Skoufas
Literary-ArtisticPatriotic Revolutionary Masonic
United States of the Septinsular Republic (1801-1807)
Emblem and Flag Ionian Academy Ionian Bank
Ionian Parliament Building ďƒ
Charter acknowledging the united lodge Beneficenza & Filogenia, 1815
The first Corfu Lodges* Beneficenza
(Italian)
1741, 1782, 1806
Philogenie
(French)
1807
St. Napoleon
(French)
1809
La Paix
(French-Greek)
Bienfaisance et Philogenie Reunies (Greek) Pythagoras
(English)
Most Serene Grand Orient of Greece, Orient of Corfu National Grand Lodge of Greece ď ŽSt John and the Phoenix ď ŽPhoenix (Greek) Emblem of Phoenix Lodge (1818)
(1807-1818) (1813) 1815 1815 (1811) 1815 (1812) 1815 1818 1843
* Multiple dates indicate regularity issues
Ledger of members and initiation certificates from Bienfaisance/Philogenie United lodge & La Paix lodge. Members include prominent and influential figures of the Corfiot sociopolitical scene
Emblems and buildings of the Reading Room* (Library, est. 1834) & Philharmonic Society,* (est. 1840) ďƒ Organisations established, financed, supported and run by Corfiot Freemasons in an attempt to educate and cultivate the population:
Public Academy of Fine Arts (Public Art School)
1805 1881*
Ionian Academy (University)
1807*
Society for the promotion and cultivation of the Greek Language
1816
Biblical Society
1819
Friends of Learning (Scientific)
1845
Panhellenic Society (Literary)
1849
Theosophical Society in Greece
1877
Ionian Society (Arts, Letters & Sciences)
1859
Night school for illiterate children
1881*
Astronomical Society of Corfu
1927*
Society for Corfu Studies
1952*
*still active
“I considered that the liberation of a Classical Nation, once the cradle of light and brightest civilisation, from the shame of such a long and humiliating enslavement, would be the work of a brave soul, and a true Mason.” Retrospective report to the GOdF, Zante, 1843
Count Dionysios Romas 1771-1857 First Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Greece (Orient of Corfu)
“Le Senateur Deputé des îles ioniennes, membre de la Legion d’honneur – et. ex Venerable, et envoyé extraordinaire de la Res:. L:. La Bienfaisance” From a letter to the GOdF. 1811
Assassinated: Navplion 1831
Signature in letter to a fellow-Mason
Count Ioannis Capodistrias
1776-1831 Minister of the Septinsular Republic (1802-1807) Foreign Minister of Russia(1813-1822) First Governor of Greece (1828)
His home in Corfu
Vienna Congress of members of the “Concert of Europe,” 1814 Positions on the “Ionian question:” France
Give the islands to the Order of the Knights of Malta
Austria
Give the islands to Great Britain, or to Austria as part of previously Venetian territories
Great Britain Give the islands to the Kingdom of Sicily– they saw the islands as a major diplomatic and administrative problem Italy
Saw possession of the islands as a major diplomatic problem
Turkey
Agreed to islands remaining a protectorate under Turkish suzerainty; but considered giving them independence a casus belli
Russia
Trying to maintain balance, quietly supportive of giving the islands to Great Britain
“Greece” (Capodistrias)
Pressed for independence and eventually agreed to British rule on condition of Russian support
The Vienna Congress ended in a stalemate. A reluctant Great Britain was convinced to take on the islands as a protectorate in 1815
(clockwise) •Code used by members •Banner and oath (Freedom or Death) •Secret passwords Nikolaos Skoufas Emmanuel Xanthos Athanasios Tsakalof Founders of “Society of Friends” Odessa 1814
Passwords and oath remarkably similar to Masonic 1st Degree
The ‘Sacred Band’ Battle of Dragasani, 1821 (led by Ypsilantis)
(Prince) Alexandros Ypsilantis 1792-1828
“In this sign shall we prevail”
“From our ashes shall we rise” White= Innocence (righteous cause) & Brotherhood Black= Self-Sacrifice/Patriotic death Red= Independence and joy in battle for the resurrection of the nation
Shown here in Sacred Band uniform •Elected head of Filiki Etaireia (Society of Friends) •Leader of Sacred Band •Coordinated early war effort
Images of the Revolution Corfu ,1860s (Late Septinsular School)
Georgios Miniatis “Souliotisses” (Women of Souli) Spiridon Prosalendis “Warrior of 1821”
Europe in 1600 Ottoman Empire (mauve) at its greatest expanse, bordering with Austria
Europe in 1914, showing borders of 1912 and Balkan ‘aspirations’
Corfu town Square, 1821
Corfu townspeople, 1870
Corfu traditional bridal dress
Corfu Esplanade, 1935
Corfu, Crucible of Changes: A Multicultural Island of Masonic Revolutionary Secrets Sasha Chaitow
BA Comm., MA Eng.,Lit., MA Western Esotericism
www.sashanonserviat.net sashanonserviat@yahoo.com
•Unpublished letters, documents and photographs from private/family archives
Selected Bibliography: •Antonios Agious, The Unification of the Seven Islands with Greece (Corfu: Stamoulis, 2006) •Constantinidi-Bibicou H., 1953. « Les Origines du philhellénisme français », L’Hellénisme Contemporain, VII/3 •John Forte, The Palace of St.Michael and St. George: An Anthology (Corfu: 1994) •Mathieu Grenet , “La loge et l’étranger : les Grecs dans la Francmaçonnerie marseillaise au début du XIXe s.,” Cahiers de la Mediterannee, vol. 72 | 2006 •Odysseus-Charles Klimis, The History of Corfu (Corfu: Typothito, 2002) •Dinos Konomos, Dionysios Romas and the Hellenic Uprising, (Athens: 1972) •Eleni Koukkou, History of the Seven Islands from 1797 until British Rule: First Diplomatic achievements of Ioannis Kapodistrias (Athens, Papadimas:2001) •Kourkoumelis Nikos: Education in Corfu during British rule, (Athens: Papadimas, 2002) •Panagiotis Kritikos, On Freemasons, Freemasonry, and their Service to the Struggles of the Nation (Athens: 1971) •Evstathios Liakopoulos, Freemasonry in Greece: A crisis of Identity (Aretha: 1989; Corfu: Ionian Publishing, 2009) •Christos & Antreas Rizopoulos, Philhellene and Hellene Masons in 1821, (Tetraktys 1993; Athens, Tetraktys 2008) •Tziatzios E.St., 1939. Le Macédonien Grégoire Zalikis et la société révolutionnaire “Hôtel Hellénophone”