Baptism of Five Converts in Athens

On October 1, 1905, President J. Wilford Booth of the Turkish Mission and his wife, Mary, arrived in Athens to meet with individuals who had expressed interest in the Church. Rigas Pofantis and Nicholas Malavetis had begun seeking gospel truths as early as 1895, and Pofantis had maintained contact with the Church, translating one hundred pages of the Book of Mormon into Greek and publishing a pamphlet titled 'Rays of Living Light.' On October 6, 1905, President and Sister Booth knelt on Mars Hill to offer a prayer that the people of Greece might be receptive to the gospel. On Sunday, October 22, 1905, President Booth performed the first baptisms in Greece in this dispensation in the waters of the sea near Old Phaleron in the Saronic Gulf. The five converts were Rigas Pofantis (aged 55), Andromache Malaveta (the widow of Nicholas Malavetis, aged 52), Constantine Theodoseon (aged 36), George Zdralis (aged 41), and John Lazos (aged 36). Following the baptisms, the group gathered at the home of Rigas Pofantis on Kaningos Square in Athens, where the sacrament was administered for the first time in the country.