In honor of the hero, the Pedoulas community has built an impressive monument in the courtyard of the Chapel of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on Fithkia Hill.
Similarly, a bust of the hero exists in the city of Ioannina, Greece, alongside the bust of his comrade Christodoulos Sozos (Mayor of Limassol).
read more ...The Twenty-Year-Old Hero from Pedoulas Who Fought and Fell for the Liberation of Ioannina
Michael Stivaros (1892-1912), from Pedoulas, was killed at Bizani during the Balkan War of 1912-14.
The Cypriot people have always been present in every battle for Greece’s freedom and national sovereignty. Thousands of Cypriots fought as volunteers in every corner of Greece, offering their blood and Greek spirit to the common homeland, with the secret hope of Cyprus’ swift liberation from its oppressor and union with mother Greece.
One of these was Michael Stivaros. He was born in 1892 in Pedoulas, a village built on the slopes of Mount Troodos. Michael’s father died just before his son’s birth, and so Stivaros was named after him. He attended the Pedoulas Primary School, the Limassol Semi-Gymnasium, and the Pancyprian Gymnasium, graduating in 1911. He then enrolled at the Medical School of the University of Athens.
On October 5, 1912, Greece declared war on Turkey with the aim of liberating the unliberated Greek territories (First Balkan War). In a meeting held by Cypriot students in Athens, they decided to enlist in the Greek army. This was a way for them to honor their origins and history, and stay true to the lessons learned from their parents and teachers. However, Michael Stivaros had already volunteered before this meeting. He was placed in the 1st Battalion of the Independent Cretan Regiment and fought in the battles of Peston and Aetorachis. He heroically fell in the battle of Bizani in December 1912, fighting for the liberation of Ioannina!
His sacrifice was honored by his fellow countrymen in Cyprus and Greece. His name is inscribed on a memorial in the schools he attended and on the column of fallen students at the University of Athens.
In 2013, as part of the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the liberation of Ioannina, the Municipality of Ioannina erected a bust of the Cypriot hero in collaboration with his family. The bust is located next to that of another Cypriot hero, the Mayor of Limassol, Christodoulos Sozos, who also heroically fell in the battles of Bizani on December 6, 1912. A monument dedicated to the hero also exists in his birthplace, the village of Pedoulas, at the top of the Fidia hill, next to the chapel of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Honor and glory to the Hero! Immortal!
