The year 2022 marks two important anniversaries for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Greece: 100 years since the first documented instances of conscientious objection, and 25 years since the institution of alternative civilian service.

In the 1900’s, Greece was beset by military conflicts. These conditions meant that our brothers had to face the issue of neutrality repeatedly. Brothers Nikos Abatzis and Nikolaos Rebebos were the first two of Jehovah’s Witnesses (then called Bible Students) in Greece to take a stand for their Bible-trained conscience.

Brother Abatzis refused to fight in the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922. Speaking of that time, Brother Abatzis related: “I was sent to the military barracks [in Asia Minor] . . . There I took courage and began to preach to [the soldiers] and to say that war is incompatible with the Gospel, where it mentions that we should love our enemies.” Once the war ended, Brother Abatzis continued to preach the Bible’s message in many areas of Greece.

Nikolaos Rebebos was a soldier in the Greco-Turkish War. But as he read the Scriptures and a tract that he received from the Bible Students, his view of war changed. He eventually told his superiors that he would no longer fight, knowing that this could mean execution by a firing squad. Nikolaos boldly proclaimed that ‘not a hair of his head would get lost if God did not permit it.’ After the war, he sought out the Bible Students and got baptized in 1925.

Brothers Abatzis and Rebebos were just the first of many Greek brothers who remained neutral despite intense pressure to take up arms. During World War II and the Greek Civil War of 1946-1949, our brothers continued to take a bold stand against joining either the military or guerrilla forces—to the point of some being executed. Not giving in to persecution, they continued to preach the Bible’s peaceful message, and the number of Witnesses in Greece increased from 178 in 1940 to 2,808 in 1949.

Imprisonment continued for those who conscientiously declined military service. In all, 3,788 brothers served a prison sentence for their neutral stand. Finally, in 1997, Greece passed a law allowing alternative civilian service. Currently, some 100 of our brothers in Greece have accepted alternative civilian service.

During the 2022 service year, Greece had a peak of 27,995 publishers and 420 were baptized.

Over the last century, it has been evident that Jehovah is supporting our brothers in Greece in their firm determination not to learn war.—Isaiah 2:4.