Anastasios Pichion ( el, Αναστάσιος Πηχιών) or Picheon (Πηχεών) (1836 – 24 March 1913) was a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
of
Aromanian descent who was an educator and revolutionary of the
Macedonian Struggle
The Macedonian Struggle ( bg, Македонска борба; el, Μακεδονικός Αγώνας; mk, Борба за Македонија; sr, Борба за Македонију; tr, Makedonya Mücadelesi) was a series of social, po ...
.
Biography
He was born in
Ohrid
Ohrid ( mk, Охрид ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the List of cities in North Macedonia, eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording ...
during the
Ottoman period
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. He studied in Ohrid and
Monastir. He had
Margaritis Dimitsas as his teacher, in whose private school, in Monastir, he taught for a while and helped his teacher in writing various of his studies. Demitsas urged him to go, in 1856, to
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, to finish Middle School there and continue his studies in the University. In 1859 he enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy of the
University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...
. In order to cover the expenses of his studies, he copied various documents and writings, while during the second year of his studies he received a scholarship from the Vellideian inheritance. He partook in almost all student movement about the Macedonian question as well as the antidynastic demonstrations against the rule of
Otto
Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity".
The name is recorded fro ...
, which led to the fall of the first royal dynasty.
In 1863, Anastasios Pichion accepted the position as a Greek teacher in
Kleisoura, Kastoria
Kleisoura (formerly Vlachokleisoura; el, Κλεισούρα, also Βλαχοκλεισούρα, ''Vlachokleisoúra''; rup, Clisura, or ) is a traditionally Aromanian (Vlach) settlement and a former municipality in Kastoria regional unit, Mac ...
, where taught the standardised
Greek language
Greek ( el, label=Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy (Calabria and Salento), southern Al ...
and culture for two years which helped consolidate Greek influence in the town. In 1865, he was appointed as a teacher in the Greek school of
Kastoria
Kastoria ( el, Καστοριά, ''Kastoriá'' ) is a city in northern Greece in the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria (regional unit), Kastoria regional unit, in the Geographic regions of Gree ...
. While in Kastoria, Pichion developed strong educational activity, putting effort in the creation of Greek schools and their staffing. He also contributed significantly in the progress of the ''Pro-education Society of Kastoria'' ("Φιλοεκπαιδευτικός Σύλλογος Καστοριάς") which was founded in 1872. For this task he was helped materially and morally by some scholars of the age, mainly
Anastasios Goudas
Anastasius (Latinized) or Anastasios ( el, Αναστάσιος, translit=Anastasios) is a masculine given name of Greek origin derived from the Greek word (''anastasis'') meaning "resurrection". Its female form is ''Anastasia'' ( el, Αναστ ...
and
Konstantinos Asopios
Konstantinos Asopios ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Ασώπιος) was a Greek scholar and academic teacher of the 19th century from Epirus.
Biography
Konstantinos Asopios was born in Grammeno near Ioannina around 1790. He was a child of a poor ...
, both Epirotes from
Grammeno,
Ioannina
Ioannina ( el, Ιωάννινα ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. According to the 2011 census, the c ...
, the first being a doctor and scholar and the second being a professor of the
University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...
.
New Filiki Etaireia
In 1867 he founded the ''National Committee'' ("Εθνική Επιτροπή"), with Nikolaos Philippides from
Monastir, Thomas Pashides from
Epirus
sq, Epiri rup, Epiru
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = Historical region
, image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinrich ...
and Ioannes Argyropoulos from
Kleisoura, which quickly expanded from
Vogatsiko
Vogatsiko ( el, Βογατσικό, ''Vogatsikó'') is a village and a community in northern Greece in the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Macedonia, located at the southeast corner of Kastoria (regional unit), Kastoria regional unit. ...
to
Korytsa, with the participation of Ioannes Siomos,
Argyrios Vouzas
Argyrios Vouzas ( el, Αργύριος Βούζας) was a Greeks, Greek revolutionary and doctor of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Biography
Vouzas was born in 1857 in Kastoria, then Ottoman Empire (now Greece). He studied at a Greek school of K ...
, Nikolaos Toutountzes, Vasileios and Nikolaos Orogopoulos Retzis and Apostolos Sahines.
The ''New Filiki Etaireia'', as it was named after its expansion, aimed to incite an uprising in
Macedonia against the
Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic o ...
. At the start of 1888, 15 Kleisourans and more than 40 Kastorians together with Vogatsians mainly and Korytsans were arrested by the Ottoman authorities and finally led to the prisons of Monastir to be tried. Anastasion Pichion took responsibility and in the end didn't lose his life because of the impact his arrest made internationally. The phrase of the Kastorians as they saw Ioannis Argyropoulos being led to the prisons became proverbial: "''...again they brought you doctor!''" ("''...πάλι σε φέρανε γιατρέ!''").
Because of his activities he was imprisoned for six months in Monastir and later transferred to the fortress of
Acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imp ...
, from where he escaped to Athens with the help of the Greek deputy ambassador. After of two years of fruitless effort to find employment, he was appointed as a professor in the
Rizareios School, where he taught until 1908. With the amnesty given in 1908 with the
Young Turk Revolution
The Young Turk Revolution (July 1908) was a constitutionalist revolution in the Ottoman Empire. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), an organization of the Young Turks movement, forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II to restore the Ottoman Constit ...
he returned to Kastoria.
He died in 1913, a year after the annexation of Kastoria by Greece.
[Konstantinos Vakalopoulos, "''Ο Βόρειος Ελληνισμός κατά την πρώιμη φάση του μακεδονικού αγώνα (1878-1894)'', έκδοση ΙΜΧΑ", Thessaloniki, 1983]
See also
*
Macedonian Revolution of 1878
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pichion, Anastasios
1836 births
1913 deaths
Greek people of the Macedonian Struggle
Greek people of Aromanian descent
People from Ohrid
Prisoners and detainees of the Ottoman Empire
Aromanian military personnel
Greek Macedonians