Grigoris Afxentiou left his own mark on the Greek Cypriot struggle against the British colonialists of Cyprus, as one of the leading members of the E.OCA. On 3 March 1957, on Mount Troodos, he single-handedly resisted a strong detachment of the occupying forces of Cyprus.
The British dropped incendiary bombs on him and he was burned alive. He was only 29 years old.
He was born in the village of Lysi Famagusta on 22 February 1928. After graduating from high school, he went to Greece to study at the Military School of Evelpidonus. He eventually entered the Reserve Officers' School while studying to enroll in the School of Philosophy. He served on the Greek-Bulgarian border as an infantry lieutenant and then returned to Cyprus, where he worked as a taxi driver.
On January 20, 1955, Afxentiou had his first meeting with Georgios Digenis - Grivas, who was the leader of the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters and joined the fight against the British. In the spring of the same year he participated in the attacks against the Electric Company and the Radio Station of Nicosia. During his brief resistance action he received the nicknames "Zidros", "Rigas", "Aeantas", "Ares", "Mastros" and "Zotos".
The English conquerors made many attempts to arrest him and put a bounty of 5,000 pounds on his head. Voxentius always eluded them and never lost his courage. Once he disguised himself as a monk and bought his English pursuers without their recognizing him. On 10 June 1955 he found the opportunity to marry his beloved Vasiliki in the monastery of Achiropoyotos.
On 12 December 1955, Afxentiou and the entire EOKA hierarchy were trapped by the British on Mount Troodos, near the village of Spilia. Afxentios not only led his comrades to safety, but left the British to shoot at each other and suffered many casualties.
In late February 1957 the British security forces received information from a shepherd that Afxentios and his group were hiding in a cave near the Mahera Monastery on Mount Troodos.
In late February 1957 the British security forces received information from a shepherd that Afxentios and his group were hiding in a cave near the Mahera Monastery on Mount Troodos. Immediately, a detachment of 60 soldiers arrived there on the afternoon of 2 March. He surrounded the cave and called on Afxentios to surrender. The head of the British detachment, Lieutenant Middleton, approached the entrance to the cave and shouted: "Drop your weapons and surrender, or we will attack." Someone replied, "All right, we surrender." Four men came out, not including Afxentius. Middleton again called on him to surrender, but received the proud reply, "Molon lave."
Immediately, four soldiers rushed into the cave. Afxentius greeted them with a volley of fire. The three British retreated in fear; the fourth, a corporal, fell dead. Middleton called for reinforcements, which immediately arrived in helicopters. The battle continued for 10 hours, to no avail for the attackers. In the face of Afxentius' unyielding courage and after using all kinds of weapons, the British dropped oil bombs into the cave. Huge flames covered the cave, only to envelop the body of Afxentius in a moment.
The battle ended at 2 a.m. on March 3, 1957. The body of the heroic patriot was found charred and was buried the next day in the Nicosia Central Prison, in the place known today as "The Prisoner's Memories".
Gregory Afxentiou was only 29 years old.
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