Philologist, historian, scholar, researcher, author, and publisher, Dr Patroclos Stavrou has served as Under Secretary to the President of the Republic of Cyprus for thirty continuous years (1963-1993), a unique case in the history of the government of Cyprus. He has served under four Presidents, starting with the founder of the Republic of Cyprus and its first President, Archbishop Makarios, with whom he worked closely for twenty seven years.
Born in 1933, in Nicosia, and originally from Mitsero Village of the Nicosia district, he graduated from the Pancyprian Gymnasium in 1951. He then went to Greece to study at the University of Athens, School of Philosophy, on a scholarship granted by Archbishop Makarios. During his studies in Athens, he was very active in the promotion of his country's rights for self-determination and liberation from the British colonial rule. He served as President of the "Platon" Student Association of the School of Philosophy of the University of Athens, the All-student Committee for the Cypriot Struggle, the Administrative Associations Committee of the University of Athens, and the National Student Association of Cypriots. During the years 1957-1960 he served as Executive Secretary of the Archbishop Makarios in Athens and Nicosia. On August 16, 1960, after a lengthy, yet successful anti-colonial struggle, Cyprus gained its independence. That same year, Patroclos Stavrou was appointed Director of the Office of the President.
In 1963, he became Under-Secretary to the President of the Republic of Cyprus (the equivalent of Secretary of State) and remained in office until June 1993. Within his official capacity, he visited numerous countries and participated in political and cultural International Conferences, and International Conventions. He attended General Assembly Sessions of the United Nations as member of the Cypriot delegation, Summits of the Non-Aligned Nations Movement, and Heads of State Conventions of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Within the framework of his official duties, Patroclos Stavrou has always worked toward the cultural development of Cyprus, which he promoted, not as a land of conflicts, but as a cradle of Culture and the Arts. His book Cyprus, The Sweet Land (published in English and German) epitomizes the history and culture of Cyprus, illustrating its beauty, hospitality and luminous landscapes. Patroclos Stavrou’s personal commitment to literature was never hindered by his challenging governmental responsibilities. The Academy of Athens in 1969 awarded him for his book entitled: Ο Παλαμάς και η Κύπρος 1 which was the culmination of his extensive study on the work of Kostis Palamas, the national poet of Greece and Hellenism. He was, in fact, the first Cypriot to ever have been awarded by the Academy of Athens until that time. Furthermore, he has published Captain P. S. Le Geyt’s book entitled: Makarios in Exile. He wrote and published the “Catalogue of Paintings, Artifacts and Historical Documents” of the Holy Archbishopric of Cyprus, and he has co-translated the two-volume Historical Album of the Greek War of Independence 1821: An Illustrated Chronicle, also awarded by the Academy of Athens.
In 1983, he proposed to the great scholar and humanitarian Konstantinos Leventis, President of the Anastasios Leventis Foundation, the systematic collection and publication of the entirety of the works of Cypriot authors, from Antiquity to Early Christianity.
His proposal was met with enthusiasm, and since then, Patroclos Stavrou has organized, coordinated and supervised the publication of a six-volume project entitled: Αρχαία Κυπριακή Γραμματεία,2 complete with a Modern Greek translation, commentary and critical annotation by Professors of the University of Athens and the University of Cyprus. This six volume book was completed and officially presented at the University of Athens in December 2009 and at the University of Cyprus in March 2010. In addition, he began to compile archived material from Greece and Cyprus, which concerns the participation of Cyprus in the Greek Revolution of 1821. He has also collected texts of Nikos Kazantzakis, scattered in newspapers and magazines since the beginning of the last century, for the purpose of publishing them.
On July 15, 1974, during the military coup of the Greek junta against the Republic of Cyprus, Patroclos Stavrou was inside the Presidential Palace when heavily armored battle tanks forced through the gates to assassinate President Makarios. Patroclos Stavrou helped coordinate the President’s escape. Subsequently, he was arrested by the junta forces, and was not released until the day of the Turkish invasion in Cyprus, on July 20, 1974. On that very day, his wife, Mary, his eighteen month old daughter, Niki, and Eleni N. Kazantzakis, were being captured by Turkish soldiers at the shores of Kyrenia and were held there as prisoners of war. They were eventually rescued by a British helicopter.
Following the military coup, Archbishop Makarios fled to London and from there to New York and Washington D.C. to plead for international assistance for Cyprus. He spoke at the Security Council of the United Nations, which resulted to Resolution No. 353/1974 calling for “respect of the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Cyprus” – to no avail. After President Makarios’s return to London in self-exile, Patroclos Stavrou joined him there and offered his services. Upon the fall of the Military junta in Athens, on July 24, 1974, its tentacles in Cyprus also withdrew, along with its appointed interim dummy government.
Patroclos Stavrou was able to return to Cyprus with President Makarios on December 7, 1974, and resumed his duties as Under Secretary to the President. Archbishop Makarios entrusted him with the responsibility of the coordination of humanitarian relief ensuing the Cyprus tragedy, and in particular on humanitarian issues pertaining to missing persons and the enclaves in the occupied territories. Makarios died three years later, on August 3, 1977. Patroclos Stavrou remained in office, in his position as Under Secretary to the President, offering his services to his toiling homeland until his retirement in 1993.
During the last thirty five years, Patroclos Stavrou has immersed himself in the work and life of Nikos Kazantzakis devotedly researching, editing, promoting and publishing his work. Eleni N. Kazantzakis, the wife and life companion of Nikos Kazantzakis, adopted Patroclos Stavrou in 1982, and bequeathed to him the intellectual rights of the works of Nikos Kazantzakis, of which Patroclos Stavrou is the sole and rightful owner. Since 1989, after suffering an accident in Geneva where she resided, Eleni N. Kazantzakis came to live with Patroclos Stavrou’s family in Voula, Athens. She remained there until she passed away, 101 years old, on February 18, 2004.
In June 1991, the University of Athens, School of Philosophy, awarded Patroclos Stavrou with an honorary doctorate as “a just recognition of his life-long contribution to the Modern Greek sciences and service with regard to the Cyprus issue”. Patroclos Stavrou has also earned numerous distinctions, state and ecclesiastical medals, and meritorious service awards by the governments of Greece and Cyprus, and other foreign nations.
The President of the Hellenic Republic bestowed upon him the Cross of Commander of the Order of the Phoenix and the Grand Cross of the Order of the Phoenix. In 1963 the Mayor of the Holy City of Messolonghi – the only city in Greece bearing the title “Holy” in recognition of the heroic stance its brave inhabitants held against the Ottoman siege – honored him with the Medal of the Sacrifice of Christos Kapsalis. In 1998, the Armenian National Committee of Cyprus proclaimed him “Personality of the Year”. On March 9, 2001, Vassilis Papageorgopoulos, Mayor of Thessalonica, presented Patroclos Stavrou with the honorary plaque of the Municipality of Thessalonica as “a token of our acknowledgement of his rich contribution to the service of Letters and the Cyprus cause”. On May 16, 2001, George E. Pataki, Governor of New York, awarded him with an honorary diploma “in recognition of his impressive contribution and service to Greek Letters and Culture, and to the National Struggle of Cyprus, as well as the enlightening and edifying promotion and dissemination of the life and work of Nikos Kazantzakis”.
In 2001, Patroclos Stavrou was honored by the United Cretan Associations of New York, where they invited him to speak about the Battle of Crete. Among the countries that honored him are Egypt, Lebanon, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Ethiopia, Austria, Spain, and Portugal. Furthermore, he was awarded by the Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa Parthenios III and the Armenian Patriarch of the Great House of Kilikia Aram I. On October 2, 2002, the Mayor of Athens, Demetris Avramopoulos, bestowed upon him the Medal of the City of Athens “for his contribution to the promotion of Greek Letters and towards the reinforcement of the brotherhood between Greece and Cyprus”.
Patroclos Stavrou has lectured extensively about Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios and Nikos Kazantzakis in Universities, Academic Institutions, the Greek Diaspora, Museums, and other associations, and has also given interviews to national and foreign newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations of many countries such as Greece, France, the United Kingdom (BBC), Germany, Italy, Sweden, Korea, United States, Canada, etc. An extensive excerpt from his speech has been included in the Transcripts of the American Congress regarding the plunder and destruction of Cyprus’s cultural heritage by Turkish soldiers. (Vol. 133, No 97, June 15, 1987).
Patroclos Stavrou is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Archbishop Makarios Foundation and the A.G. Leventis Foundation in Cyprus, and also a member of the Committee of the Research Programs of the A.G. Leventis in the University of Cyprus. Alongside Eleni N. Kazantzakis, he worked tirelessly for the foundation of the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum at Varvaroi (Myrtia) of Heraklion, Crete; the Museum largely consists of documents, photographs, books, manuscripts, and Nikos Kazantzakis’s memorabilia, which G. Anemogiannis, was given permission to collect from her apartment in Geneva.
Patroclos Stavrou diligently continues his active participation in public, political and cultural affairs and makes frequent appearances in newspapers, magazines, television and radio stations on issues and topics pertaining to Nikos Kazantzakis and Cyprus. Numerous books and publications concerning Nikos Kazantzakis’s life and work have been made possible with his guidance and support as well as about Archbishop Makarios, Cyprus, its history, Art, culture, its toils and tribulations.
Patroclos Stavrou’s life mission is the vindication of Cyprus and the fulfillment of his moral obligation to the memory of Nikos and Eleni N. Kazantzakis, who chose him to carry her torch for the promotion and dissemination of the work of Nikos Kazantzakis.