Vlasis Gavriilidis

Vlasis Gavriilidis (Greek: Βλάσης Γαβριηλίδης; 1848–1920) was a prominent Greek journalist who in 1883 founded the progressive newspaper Akropolis in Athens. He played a significant role in the politics of the day, often supporting the demoticist movement in the Greek language question; at one stage, "It was said that a critical article by Gavriilidis could topple a Greek government."^: 114

Gavriilidis and Akropolis also played a large part in the events leading up to the Gospel Riots of 1901. The newspaper had published a translation of the Gospel of St Matthew into modern spoken Greek (by now very different from the ancient Koine Greek of the original gospel, still used liturgically by the Greek Orthodox Church). This provoked a hostile reaction in some political and cultural quarters, which gradually became more violent until "Black Thursday", when eight demonstrators were killed.