Yiannis Pharmakis

Yiannis Pharmakis or Ioannis Farmakis ( _el. Ιωάννης Φαρμάκης; _ro. Ioan Farmache) (1772-1821), born in Vlasti, Macedonia was a Greek revolutionary leader, active in Wallachia and Moldavia. Initially a commander of the Princely guard in Bucharest, Pharmakis joined the Philikí Etaireía movement and became an aide to Alexander Ypsilantis, establishing a permanent link with the non-Greek Oltenian Pandurs led by Tudor Vladimirescu. He and Iordache Olimpiotul reached an agreement with Tudor in the early months of 1821, but, since the relation between the two factions soured as an effect of Russian and Ottoman Empire intervention, the two - joined by Dimitrie Macedonski - decided to arrest Vladimirescu (who was to be executed on June 7). As the insurgency crumbled under Turkish attacks, Pharmakis retreated to the Secu Monastery in Neamţ county, organising his last stand together with 380 to 500 of his men. They gave in to the ruthless Ottoman siege in the last days of August, trusting the word of Salih Pasha that no further harm will come to them. The promise was not kept and the Turks raided and destroyed much of the monastery, killing the majority of the rebels (clerics included). Yiannis Pharmakis and fourteen others were captured and escorted to Constantinople, where they were publicly executed in 1821.

ee also

*Alexander Ypsilantis
*Giorgakis Olympios
*Greek War of Independence
*List of Macedonians (Greek)

External links

* [http://www.neamt.ro/Info_utile/Manastiri/M-rea_Secu.htm Secu Monastery: Pharmakis' Final Resistance (in Romanian)]