Papa Georgios Skrekas (1910 – April 11, 1947)

Papa Georgios Skrekas (1910 – April 11, 1947)

From the village of Megarchi, west of Trikala in Thessaly, he was a Priest, who was kidnapped, bashed, tortured and then crucified by communists, during their insurgency of Greece following World War 2.

A respected local, brought up in an idyllic part of Greece, he was born to a devout and respected Greek Orthodox family, he finished his early schooling in his home village and his secondary schooling in Trikala.

He married a local girl, Efthimia and by 1937, was ordained as a priest and was eventually a father to 6 children, Ioannis, Stefanos, Vasilis, Andreas, Achilleas, Georgios.

He was beloved not only in his home-town, but also in the surrounding villages, where he urged his fellow Greeks to be devoted to their families, to their faith and to their country.

During the despicable communist insurgency of Greece, which followed right after the years of World War 2, many priests were murdered by the anti-Greek terrorists, it must be remembered that quite a large % of the communist guerrillas – some estimates say 40% of them – were non-Greeks and communist fanatics from neighbouring countries (Albania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria).

Papa Georgios Skrekas, was kidnapped and over several days was assaulted and tortured by the communists and then crucified by them on a tree, on Good Friday 1947.