600 years of brutal persecution by Turkish oppressors culminated in the Greek Genocide of Asia Minor. We’ll talk historical context and introduce Asa Jennings, the humble American who said “Enough!”
He rescued children, averted a famine, and was the patron saint of sailors, brides, and pirates. Nearly 1,700 years later St. Nicholas continues to inspire the best in us.
The Real St. Nick is a Far Cry From the Santa We Know
The Bones of the Real-Life Santa Claus
Could Ancient Bones Suggest Santa Was Real? U of Oxford
Inside NYC's new National Shrine: St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church
What led up to the ethnic cleansing of Anatolia and the destruction of Türkiye’s most beautiful and ethnically diverse city. Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians and Jews were erased from the region for the first time in 2,500 years. Guest Helen Vardakis shares her family’s escape in 1922 from Kemal’s blueprint for genocide.
1922 The Destruction of Smyrna