1. Foundation of the Hospital

The first Hospital of the Greek Orthodox was founded in 1723 in Smyrna thanks to contributions by individuals and guilds. The establishment and the church of St. Fotini had the same board. The church had the initiative to purchase the plot in Neos Machalasfrom Baroness Clara De Hospiller, the widow of the Dutch Consul. All initial costs needed for the hospital were covered by donations from worshippers and church income. Several members of the board contributed large amounts so that the plot could be purchased.¹

2. Constitution of the Brotherhood

However, there were no adequate subsidies and because of financial distress a ‘brotherhood’ was formed in 1745 by twelve Greek Orthodox from Smyrna under the then metropolitan of Smyrna Neophytos. Its members undertook to cover ‘all the needs of the Hospital with their best intentions’ and invited the Christians urged by ‘religious zeal’ to pay ‘with their best intentions whatever God would tell them’.² The generous contributions by the Chian merchants Ioannis Mavrokordatos and Pantelis (Pantaleon) Sevastopoulos played an important role in restoring and backing the establishment, which was named ‘Greek Hospital’ in 1748.

3. Historical Background of the Greek Hospital

In 1797 the building was destroyed during the looting that occurred all through the 'Rempelio' riots in Smyrna in 1797, before it was rebuilt in 1804 thanks to generous donations from Greek Orthodox inhabitants of Smyrna. Throughout the 19th century the hospital underwent a steady development. In 1857 the Italian Storatti described it in a city guide as the best among the 9 hospitals existing in Smyrna at the time. In 1909 the hospital was attempted to be renamed ‘Hellenic Hospital’, but the Turkish newspaper Ittihatreacted strongly and critically posed the question ‘of whether we live in Greece or in an Ottoman country’. Until 1922 the establishment was constantly restored, expanded and equipped with the most advanced equipment of the time, always thanks to fund-raising and donations from Greek Orthodox from both Smyrna and abroad.³

4. The Plague Strikes

In the early 19th century the Greek Hospital was also given the name ‘St Charalambos’, who was held among Christians as a protector from the plague. In 1833 the patriarchal church of St Charalambos was built within the hospital yard, where people from the hospital as well as from various guilds and brotherhoods attended religious service. The name of the hospital reveals the close association of the establishment with the plague epodemics that struck Smyrna. As Smyrna was an important harbour and commercial centre, merchants and seamen, who might have been infected with diseases, always arrived there. That is why the foundation of hospitals was a pressing need. At first, the Greek Hospital used the old metropolitan church of St Paraskevi, later named Lazaretto – on the western side of Mount Pagos –, as a quarantine station for infectious diseases. This church also served as the meeting place for guilds. However, a new quarantine station was built behind the Greek Hospital in 1769 because of lack of space and problems occurring when the patients were transported. The plague epidemic that struck Smyrna in 1835 urged the Greek Orthodox of the city, in cooperation with the board of the Greek Hospital, to establish a new quarantine station close to the Catholic one, in the hospital of San Rocco.⁴

5. Charitable Activities of the Hospital

The hospital functioned also as a poorhouse and a home for the the elderly. It also served as a place where the moral principles and etiquette of the Greek Orthodox bourgeoisie were imposed on social groups, such as the prostitutes. In 1857 the magazine Nea Pandora reports that ‘the Greek Hospital, apart from its patients, also takes care of the poor, nurses lunatics and accommodates immoral women, thus trying to make them return to the path of virtue’. In 1882 a house of correction for the mentally ill was established in the hospital; there was special provision for women. According to Sokratis Solomonides, Kyrillos, the assistant of the bishop of Smyrna, aided by a hospital guard, cut the hair of a young Christian girl and put a wild cat into her underwear to make her change her mind about forsaking her religion and marrying an infidel.⁵ A founding hospital for the abandoned babies was also established in 1902. Admission to the hospital was free for all the poor regardless of their religion and nationality. Medication was also free for the poor. Indeed, between 1896 and 1899, 49,941 medicines were offered free to men and women.⁶

6. Hospital Departments

The above multiple operation of the establishment called for its continuous expansion because the number of patients admitted to the hospital was on the increase. In 1912 the Hospital was in full operation comprising the following departments: operating theatre, pathological clinic, maternity – gynaecological clinic, quarantine station for infectious diseases, psychiatric – neurological clinic, nursing clinic for old men and women, radiology department and outpatient clinic (dispensary, quarantine station). It was so famous that lots of Europeans and Muslims preferred to be nursed there rather than in their own hospitals. According to travellers from the 19th century and hospital records, patients of all nationalities were admitted, although most of them were Greek Orthodox. For example, 10,530 patients were nursed between 1896 and 1899, 9,557 of whom were Christian Orthodox. The patients came not only from the wider area of Smyrna but also from remote regions, including seamen, merchants and travellers from the Aegean islands and Asia Minor mainland.⁷

7. Financial Base and Administrative Operations of the Hospital

The services the hospital offered resulted in the steady increase in its operational costs. It is worth noting that even at times when the hospital was threatened with financial failure the costs of the establishment were fully covered by charitable contributions by people from Smyrna in the form of money, donations of real estate, free services provided to the hospital, as well as donations from worshippers to the churches considered branches of the Greek Hospital. According to the administrative documents of the hospital, there were very few permanent sources of income between 1896 and 1899. In addition, a great number of the staff worked for free either permanently or occasionally. In 1896 there was 65 salaried staff at the hospital. However, charitable activities did not prevent the establishment from being funded by hospitalisation fees as well, although they were paid only by wealthy patients. The Greek state never really supported the operation of the establishment with the exception of a measure introduced in 1854, according to which the Greek Hospital would receive a part of the money paid from berthed ships to the Greek Consulate. The budget of the establishment as well as all hospital matters were managed by a twelve-member board, which served a three-year term and consisted of notable citizens of Smyrna. At the beginning of a new term, the members of the board reported to the assembly of the hospital, which elected a three-member committee to examine the activities of the previous asdministration.⁸

8. The Last Years of the Establishment