Ivan Varvakis

Ivan Andrejewitsch Varvakis (Warwazzi), portrait of Vladimir Borowikowski

Iwan Varvakis ( Russian Иван Андреевич Варваци , Greek Ιωάννης Βαρβάκης or Ioannis Varvakis ; * 1745 on Psara as Ioannis Leontidis ; † 1825 in Zakynthos ) was a Greek -born Vladimir- Russian nobleman, awarded the Saint Anne and Russian nobleman . Varvakis was famous for his charity and an important member of the Greek secret society Filiki Eteria . In old age he was an active participant in the Greek Revolution .

Life

Iohannis Varvakis (in Russian first Jan Warwatsch , then Iwan Andrejewitsch Warwazzi or Warwazzij ) was born in 1745 on the small island of Psara . His birth name was Ioannis Leontides.

At 35 he was a well-known pirate , on whose head the Turkish sultan had put 1,000  piastres . In 1770 he voluntarily joined the Russian Baltic fleet , which appeared unexpectedly in the Aegean Sea during the Russo-Turkish War under the leadership of Count Orlov and Admiral Spiridow. The Baltic fleet had received an adventurous mission: to sail around Europe in secret , if possible, to support the partisan war of the Balkan peoples and to attack the Turkish Navy from the front. To the astonishment of all of Europe, the task was accomplished and the Turks were defeated on July 7th, 1770 in the night sea ​​battle of Çeşme .

With the Battle of Çeşme, the Russian service of Captain Varvakis began, although the historical sources do not give a precise answer. In the general register of noble families of the Russian Empire: "Ivan Varwazij came to the Russian service from Greece in 1770 and also fought in many sea battles during the war against Turkey." For his services he was appointed lieutenant by decree of the Empress Catherine the Great .

Varvakis family coat of arms

Shortly thereafter, the peace of Küçük Kaynarca was concluded in the Turkish village of Kaynarca (today northeastern Bulgaria ) . Russia got southern Ukrainian lands as far as the Southern Bug , free access to the Black Sea and the Crimean Khanate was declared independent from the Ottoman Empire . The Russian Navy returned to Kronstadt (Baltic Sea port near Saint Petersburg ). Many Greek and Slavic families were settled in the won areas ( New Russia ).

The situation of Varvakis was not easy. He was formally an Ottoman citizen and was also an officer in the Russian Navy ; he was a merchant, but his entire fortune consisted of a ship. He decided to continue serving the Russian state on the Black Sea, where Russia had recently taken the fortresses of Kerch and Kinburn .

In 1789 the Greek was granted Russian citizenship "forever". He now used all his skills and energy for commerce and charity. Iohannis Varvakis, who has since been referred to as "Mr. Hofrat Iwan Andrejewitsch Varwazij", soon became a millionaire.

Greek Jerusalem Monastery in Taganrog

It is known that Varvaziy began negotiations with the Taganrog City Council on the construction of the Alexander Nevsky Church in the Greek Jerusalem Monastery in 1809. In 1825 the coffin with the embalmed body of Tsar Alexander I stood in this church . In 1813 he moved to Taganrog. At that time, two affiliated companies were formed in southern Russia. One of them - Filomuson Eteria - was legal. Filomuson Eteria was founded by Count Ioannis Kapodistrias (1815–1822 - Foreign Minister of Russia, 1827–1831 - elected President of Greece ).

The other Filiki Eteria society was a secret society . Its leader was Alexander Ypsilantis , son of the former ruler of Moldova , general in the war against Napoléon Bonaparte in 1812, friend of Denis Davydov and Decembrist Mikhail Fyodorowitsch Orlov . If Ypsilantis had organized an uprising in Jassy in March 1822 , which became the impetus for the Greek revolution , Varvazij, an important member of the Eteria, bought weapons in Tula and sent them to the rebels. Apparently around 1823 (around the same time as Byron ) he left illegally for Greece. With his own money he equipped the insurgents' department and took part in the storm of the fashion fortress with them. For more than a year - until his death on Zakynthos before Christmas 1825  - Iohannis Varvakis lived and fought in his homeland again.

Varvakis was first buried on Zakynthos. However, his remains were reburied in Athens in the First Athens Cemetery . There is a monument on the grave of Iohannis Varvakis in Athens . The Varvakeion, a free state secondary school, was financed from his inheritance. It opened in Athens in 1860.

literature

• Ėnciklopedija Taganroga. 2 izdanie. Rostov-na-Donu: Rostizdat, 2003. ISBN 5-7509-0662-0 .
• О.П.Гаврюшкин: По старой Греческой. Таганрог, 2003