Archbishop Damaskinos Papandreou was elected to that position in Athens in 1938, but the dictator of Greece at the time cancelled his election. When the Germans invaded Greece in 1941 and overthrew the government, Damaskinos finally was given the job. He displayed his moral courage by fighting against the German forces who wanted to take Greeks hostage - and executing them if they refused. Damaskinos often went to comfort those charged with crimes, and even attended their executions before he found the task too troubling to continue.
In 1943, Germany started to send Greek Jews to concentration camps. Damaskinos produced a document of protest - a singular voice of that type in all of Europe during World War II. The Germans said they would execute the archbishop for his views. This was his response: "According to the traditions of the Greek Orthodox Church, our prelates are hanged, not shot. Please respect our traditions!" The execution order eventually was dropped. Later, Damaskinos ordered the production of baptism certificates to hand out to Jews in the Athens area, saving thousands of lives. He ordered his priests to do everything they could to save Jewish lives.
In 1945, Damaskinos was named the Regent of Greece until the King could be recalled. There were some internal problems in Greece late in 1944 and early in 1945, but eventually a treaty was signed. When Winston Churchill visited Greece on the way back from the Yalta Conference in 1945, he and Damaskinos rode through the streets of Athens to the cheers of 40,000 people.
The King returned in 1946, and Damaskinos eventually began to work for a charity. He died in 1949. That's a hero.
Here's a newsreel clip on Churchill's 1945 trip:
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