Father Papastavros Papagathangelou

Papastavros Papagathangelou was born on March 25, 1911 in Agia Varvara. His father, the village priest, Papa Agathangelos, and his mother, Sophia Hadjisavva Souroupi, nurtured his Christian love and faith. His parents were "his first educators", they taught him through their lives piety, hard work and love for one's neighbor. Papagathangelos captures the warmth and "educative atmosphere" of his family home through his poem "Our home".

In our beloved little house
Christ is our leader,
He has our hearts as a throne
and we His will is light.

He learned his first letters at the village primary school. Later, he studied at the Pancypriot Seminary and graduated with honors in 1931. He, in his speech, described with emotion his path from elementary school to the Pancypriot Seminary, with the following:

"When I finished elementary school, my desire to serve the Church one day convinced my respected father - he was very poor - to send me to the Pancypriot Seminary".

Immediately after graduation, he worked as a private servant and cantor. Then, as an educator, initially as a teacher and later as a religious teacher. In particular, from 1933 to 1936, he was the director of the Greek School of Alexandretta. From the aforementioned year to 1972, with the exception of a period of time in the 50s, he taught in various schools, first Primary and then Secondary. Marathevtis I. Michalakis writes characteristically about the educational work of Papastavros that "as an educator he harmoniously combines theoretical teaching with moral and spiritual education". In 1939, he was ordained a priest and then a priest. Papastavros, for these years, mentioned in his speech:

"When I finished it (the Pan-Cypriot Seminary), I worked for some time in an order-receiving office and then as a young man I was appointed and became the director of the Greek School of Alexandretta. The desire to serve the Church and those within, since my cassock was not favored, but most favored in the external appearance (thoria), since it was worn by my late father, I hastened at the age of 27 to enter the ranks of the holy clergy".

As a priest, as stated in the work of the children of the community, he "served at the Holy Church of Agios Ioannou Nicosia, the Holy Church of Faneromeni, the Metropolitan Church of Athens and the Agios Nektarios Foundation".

In the same year of his ordination, in 1939, he founded the Catechetical Schools of Nicosia, initially the Higher and then the Lower. In his aforementioned speech, he also referred to the establishment of Catechetical Schools with the following:

"Along with my clerical duties, I also made sure that the first Catechetical Schools functioned. I believed at that time that the solution of the great problems could be successfully realized, only if there were enlightened and virtuous people. The Catechetical Schools pursued this goal and are pursuing it.".

Almost at the same time, he founded EΧΕΝ. He was one of the founders of the Pancypriot Organization of Religious Orthodox Institutions (P.O.T.O.I.). Later, in 1945, he founded the Night School of OHEN and then the Afternoon School for Working Girls. A year later, in 1946, he organized with the help of his partners, the 1st Charity Market of Nicosia, which was aimed at the children of Catechetical Schools.

Before he was ordained, he married Ioanna Kostantinou Eutychiou. They had five children. Papastavros described his wife:

"his faithful companion in life and on his spiritual path".

From 1949 to 1950, he studied at the School of Preachers, Confessors, Catechists of the Church of Greece.

Papastavros was spreading the "grace of God" to thousands of believers. Hundreds of believers managed to be spiritually reborn under the guidance of the enlightened priest. Papastavros, through the Mystery of Divine Confession, "emerged as the spiritual father" of many children of the Church.

Equally "rich and varied" is both his writing and musical work. Papastavros, as mentioned in the book by Maratheutis I. Michalakis, "wrote fourteen books of poems about childhood and youth, prayers for children of all grades of primary school, texts for the holidays of the Orthodox Church and biographies of Saints".

It is worth mentioning that the Papastavros Papagathangellou Foundation publishes works by the enlightened and active priest. Some of the works published by the foundation for the public are:

• WITH THE VOICE OF PAPASTAVROS

Two digital discs.

MY TESTIMONY

How I experienced the preparation and the EOKA match.

• FORMS THAT SANCTIFIED CYPRUS
• FELLOWSHIP WITH THE SAINTS
• GET TO KNOW OUR CELEBRATION
• BEAUTIFUL YEARS
• PSALMS AND MELODIES ISSUE I
• I DO NOT FORGET

Songs of the heart and soul

• PAPASTAVRO PAPAGATHANGELOU FOUNDATION

The first decade 1989-1999

The book "Forms that sanctified Cyprus" holds a special place among his works. In it are the biographies of sixty Forms of Orthodoxy.

The musical work of Papastavros consists of six books. In these, as Marathevtis I. Michalakis writes, "includes his own original musical compositions or arrangements of religious hymns in Byzantine and European notation". Most of his tunes are accompanied by lyrics written by himself. The lyrics are enriched with lyrical elements, "full of love for God, man and nature". The songs of Papastavros were sung "by the youth of Cyprus in the Catechisms, in the Camps in the lairs of the EOKA fighters".

Below is one of his national poems:

Cyprus

Many enemies envied her
over the years and came and spread pain
in this calamity.

Many times they left her
covered in blood,
but they did not spare her soul
and left in shame.

And the daughter, always immortal
like a bright candle,
passionately turns the soul
towards eternal Greece.

Papastavros' contribution to the awakening of Orthodox Hellenism in Cyprus during the years of English colonialism was significant. In 1952, he founded the Revolutionary Organization KARI - Cypriot Fighters Risky Leaders, in collaboration with doctor Ioannis Ioannidis Hatzipavlou, Director of the Children's Hospital. The specific Organization, subsequently, was integrated into EOKA, National Organization of Cypriot Athletes.

At the same time, he took over the editing of the secret revolutionary bulletin "Enosis", which stopped being published with the beginning of the national liberation struggle against the English colonialists.

During the National Liberation Struggle, Papastavros was the ardent recruiter of the EOKA fighters. The first fighters who were introduced to the fight came from OXEN. Papastavros, as Marathevtis characteristically writes, "sworn in hundreds of fighters, some of whom fell singing his own hymns or climbed with a weakened soul to the gallows of the Central Prisons".

In 1956, the fiery priest was sent into exile in the Seychelles together with Archbishop Makarios III, Metropolitan Kyprianos of Kyrenia and Polykarpos Ioannidis. The following year, they are released and taken to Athens, where they are declared honorary citizens.

In 1989, Papastavros founded the Papastavros Papagathangelou Foundation, which was mentioned above. It is a spiritual and charitable foundation. The priest offered the foundation a community estate as well as the rights to all the books. In addition, on this estate he erected a Chapel, dedicated to Agios Nektarios.

In the same estate, in 1995 a nursery school was built for children of both the community and the wider area. The station began its operation on December 28, 1997. At the inauguration of the station, Papastavros expressed "his noble vision and his holy desire". Without a doubt, the construction of the station is one of the most important projects that took place in the community, as it provided significant help to working mothers.

Papastavros, spent the last years of his life with his wife, in his beloved village, Agia Varvara. On May 10, 2001, Papastavros left the world. In the funeral oration delivered at the Holy Church of Saint Barbara, an excerpt from the speech of the dear priest was included. In this passage, Papastavros' feelings about the course of life emerge. The quote is as follows:

Another Poem he made:

"Those who thirst for freedom<
that all lusted first,
let them embrace firmly
and let them live bravely again
the years of EOKA."

Source from: https://ayiavarvara.org.cy