Emmanouil Pappas (municipality)
Emmanouil Pappas () is a municipality in the Serres regional unit, Greece. The seat of the municipality is in Chryso. The municipality takes its name after a local historical figure who played an important part as a leader in the Greek War of Independence against Ottoman rule. Emmanouil Pappas was born in the village that was previously called "Dovista" (Δοβίστα), probably of Slavic origin, though historians are uncertain of the exact root of that word. One conjecture involves the mispronunciation of the Latin 'Dove est', meaning 'where is it?', because, apparently, the village was undetectable from a distance.
Emmanouil Pappas (village)
During Ottoman time, the population of the village was organized according to the typical Greek communal institutions system that already existed in Byzantine time. This is documented in the "Codex" (a kind of archive held by Greek Orthodox churches in the past) of the main church of the village, dedicated to Saint Athanasius (Άγιος Αθανάσιος). In the mid 19th century there existed in Dovista a kindergarten and two separate Greek elementary schools for boys and girls. In 1885, the public assembly of the village population decided that a new school building should be erected because the old one lacked space and could barely host the continuously increasing number of pupils. The erection of the new building was to be funded by compulsory contributions of the inhabitants,that would be credited through the tobacco sales, which was already back then the main crop of the area. Τhe relevant agreement goes as follows: