The first Metropolitan of Glyfada, Pavlos I (13 February 1943 – 19 February 2019), the son of an Asia Minor refugee, envisioned the creation of an ark for the preservation and promotion of the refugee heritage.
The collection of icons, ecclesiastical treasures, and folk artefacts of historical and emotional significance was inspired by an icon of the Archangel Michael, a precious gift to the late Metropolitan from his father. It had arrived as a treasured relic from Asia Minor when his father returned as a soldier from Bursa.
Having now lost their original, purely liturgical function, the objects in the collection are transformed into bearers of memories and emotions from a deeply charged past. They become “witnesses” to the abrupt rupture of the family, social, and professional life of the Greeks of Asia Minor and Pontus, and serve as a means of creating a new narrative that connects the past with the present and looks toward the future.
The Ecclesiastical Treasury was inaugurated on 27 May 2017.