Orian Holliday

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The Muslim Turks loved flaying (skinning) alive Christians. They applied it mainly against Greek rebels to deter and discipline others. As usual, the Christian victim was beaten, publicly humiliated, and tied to a special scaffold for immobilization. Then, skilled executioners removed his skin with sharp knives before the crowd. Here are 3 characteristic cases. The first concerns Dionysios, Greek Bishop of Larisa and Trikki, who lived in the 16th–17th centuries. An enlightened hierarch with brilliant studies in philosophy, medicine, theology, and more at major Western universities, he earned the title "Philosopher." In the early 17th century (1601 and 1611), he initiated two revolutionary movements in Thessaly and Epirus. Both failed, and in 1611 he was captured alive. In Ioannina's central square, before a crowd, he was skinned alive in a martyrdom lasting five hours, aged around 70. The vandalism continued: his flayed body was thrown to dogs, while his skin was stuffed with straw and bran, dressed in archiepiscopal vestments, and paraded through the city with music for days. Finally, it was sent to the Sultan and ended up discarded in the royal stables. Another well-known case is that of Daskalogiannis. On June 17, 1771, he was led to a central square in Chandax (Heraklion). A wooden scaffold with a special seat had been erected. Tied tightly to it, he was flayed starting from the head by a monstrous executioner who threw pieces of skin to the crowd, saying: "Take leather for your boots!" A second executioner periodically showed him his flayed face in a mirror, mocking: "Look, captain, how well the red suits you!" Relatives (brother and daughter) in the crowd went mad at the sight. He endured steadfastly and died when the flaying reached his shoulder blades. His flayed body remained exposed in the June heat for days in that square (now named in his honor) until the stench forced the Turks to bury it. The third case is that of the Venetian Marco Antonio Bragadin. He was executed by flaying in August 1571 in Famagusta, Cyprus, after defending the island alongside the Greeks. They first cut off both of Bragadin’s ears and his nose. While he was in captivity, a massacre of all the remaining Christians in the city took place. After being left in prison for two weeks with his wounds festering, he was dragged around the city walls carrying sacks of earth and stone on his back. Next, he was tied to a chair and hoisted to the yardarm of the Turkish flagship, where he was exposed to the taunts of the sailors. Finally, he was taken to the main square, tied naked to a column, and flayed alive. Bragadin’s quartered body was then distributed as war trophies among the army, while his skin was stuffed with straw, sewn back together, reinvested with his military insignia, and exhibited riding an ox in a mocking procession through the streets of Famagusta. In 1580, his skin was stolen by Girolamo Polidori and brought back to Venice, where it remains today in the Basilica di San Giovanni e Paolo. The martyrdom of flaying (skinning alive) is ancient. Herodotus mentions that it was originally practiced by the Scythians. He describes how Scythian warriors treated conquered foes, using their enemies' skin to manufacture leather trophy items. Archaeology has recently confirmed Herodotus' account. Scalp flaying was called "periskythismos" due to this Scythian custom. It was always a sign of barbarity and fortunately an exception rather than the rule. The punishment was also used by the Romans during persecutions of Christian martyrs, the best-known case being the apostle Bartholomew. - Homer Pavlos

A cross where Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass during his visit to Poland in 1979 was set on fire by Muslims today.