Nikolas “Nikos” Printezis

NIKOLAS PRINTEZIS 1921-1984 Nikolas Printezis, known to his friends as 'Nikos', was born on 17 July 1921 in Greece. In 1984, when asked how he became a Baha'i, he dictated the following reply to a member of the History Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of Greece: 'I was working as a manager at the Delos Hotel in Athens in 1958. A beautiful lady named Ramona Brown, from Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. rented a room in this hotel for a few days. At this time, Erik Blumenthal, now a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors, was a pioneer in the Athens area. Erik came to visit Ramona at the hotel and their spiritual radiance impressed me. On the day she left, I asked her "What is your Faith?" and was told that she was a Baha'i. I wanted to know about the Baha'i Faith but she was on her way out and could not pause to explain it to me. She apologized and gave me a pamphlet which I put in the drawer of my desk. Some time later, Annie (Anni) Langenhorst and a friend of hers entered the hotel. When I saw them, I had the feeling that they had come to see me. They asked me whether Ramona had left a forwarding address and I answered that she had not. However, because of the radiance of their countenances, I felt moved to ask them if they knew about the Baha'i Faith. They spoke to me for hours about it. After a few weeks they brought me to Erik's house and there I met Miss Ketty Antoniou, Mr. George Krustis and Dr. Nikolas Mavromatis, the rather new Greek Baha'is living in the Athens area. Three months later, at Naw-Ruz 1960, after meeting with Baha'is from time to time and learning more about the Faith, I became a Baha'i.' Later, as a result of a fall, Nikos lost entirely the sight of one eye and retained only partial vision in the other. There were very few Baha'is living in Greece then, and only Dr. J. E. Esslemont's Baha'u'llah and the New Era had been translated into Greek. Nikos yearned to know more and more of the Holy Writings of the Faith and to be able to read them in his own language, and he believed that other Greeks would feel the same way. He had many Tablets and prayers translated into Greek and would write them out by hand, to read for himself and to give to his friends. He made, by hand, little prayer books and gave them as gifts. He memorized many prayers in several languages and felt just as comfortable reciting a Baha'i prayer in Persian or Arabic as in his native Greek. Later he was given a typewriter and spent hours typing translated Writings. This was difficult work because his eyesight was so seriously impaired, but he performed the task joyfully until the end of his life. At the beginning of the Nine Year Plan (1964--1973) some Iranian pioneers came to settle in Greece. He helped many of them to learn the Greek language. The children, who are now adults, still remember him as their loving Greek teacher. The Five Year Plan (1974--1979) brought many pioneers to Greece because its goals called for the establishment of six Local Spiritual Assemblies in order that the National Spiritual Assembly could be formed. Nikos was a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Athens for many years after its re-formation during the Nine Year Plan, and before the National Spiritual Assembly was formed in 1977 he served on the National Coordination Committee which functioned for three years under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany, 'mother' of the Greek community. He was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of Greece in 1977 and frequently in subsequent years. He attended the International Convention for the election of the Universal House of Justice in Haifa in 1978. He was elected as a delegate for the election of the National Spiritual Assembly of Greece many times throughout the years and was a member of several national committees. Nikos travelled all over mainland Greece and to the islands to sow seeds. Twice he went as a travelling teacher to Cyprus. He was very concerned with filling the goals set for Greece by the Universal House of Justice, and tried to help in every way he could. In 1983, Nikos became the first Baha'i born in Greece to have his Greek registration card state that his religion was Baha'i. Around the beginning of December 1984, Nikos suffered a sudden stroke which partly paralyzed him for a short time but from which he appeared to recover sufficiently to permit his being discharged from hospital. However, on 14 December at about 5 a.m. his heart stopped. He was buried in the third cemetery in Athens the following day with Baha'is from all over Greece in attendance because all knew and loved him. On 17 December the National Spiritual Assembly received the following cable from the Universal House of Justice: GREATLY DISTRESSED NEWS PASSING NIKOS PRINTEZIS DEPRIVING GREEK BAHAI COMMUNITY ONE OF ITS MOST OUTSTANDING MEMBERS. CONVEY PROFOUND SYMPATHY BEREAVED FAMILY ASSURE FERVENT PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHA'IS OF GREECE