Vasilis Kartsios, a researcher descending from Emmanouil Papas and author of various studies on local history, has claimed in his work "Dovista, a post-Byzantine settlement: history of Darnakochoria region with the birthplace of the hero Emmanouil Papas as benchmark" (Δοβίστα, μια υστεροβυζαντινή παροικία: η ιστορία των Δαρνακοχωρίων με σημείο αναφοράς τη γενέτειρα του ήρωα Εμμανουήλ Παπά, 1991)[3] that the village was founded in the mid-17th century by Greek populations of the nearby Byzantine town of Zichna (near modern Nea Zichni), who had fled to the slopes of Mount Menoikio shortly after the Ottoman conquest of the area, remained there for some centuries in order to avoid oppression and arbitrariness of Ottoman authorities and landlords that were very common during the first centuries of Ottoman rule and eventually returned to the lowlands and founded new settlements only when Ottoman administration became less harsh.

For instance, Vasilios Nikolaidis wrote in 1859 on Dovista in his Francophone book "Les Turcs et la Turquie contemporaine" (The Turks and contemporary Turkey, vol.

[7] Bulgarian Metodi Kusev (Методий Кусев), Exarchist Bishop of Stara Zagora, whose descent was from Ohrid, mentioned Dovista (as "Douvischta") with 212 families and 600 Greek inhabitants in page 28 of his Francophone book Ethnographie des Vilayets d'Andrinople, de Monastir et de Salonique (Ethnography of the Vilayets of Adrianople, Monastir and Salonica, 1878).

[8] The major of the engineer corps of the Greek army Nikolaos Schinas (Νικόλαος Σχινάς) wrote in page 444 of his work "Travelling notes on Macedonia, Epirus, the new borderline and Thessaly, vol.

2" (1886) (Οδοιπορικαί σημειώσεις Μακεδονίας, Ηπείρου, νέας οροθετικής γραμμής και Θεσσαλίας, B τόμος):[9] "To the north of it and in the same foothills of Mount Menoikio, lies in a distance of 1/2 hour the village Dovista, with around 150 Christian families, church and schools for both boys and girls".

[10] The Serb Spiridon Gopčević (Спиридон Гопчевић), a leading figure of Serbian propaganda in Macedonia, mentioned Dovista (as "Duvišta") with 232 houses and 600 Greek tax-paying inhabitants (only adult males or widows that were family leaders due to lack of adult males were considered as tax payers by the Ottoman authorities, so the real population must have been much bigger than the number of tax payers), in page 380 of his work "Makedonien und Alt-Serbien" (Macedonia and Old Serbia, 1889)[11] The Bulgarian historian Georgi Strezov (Георги Стрезов) whose descent was from Ohrid wrote on Dovista in page 30 of his work "Два санджака от Източна Македония" (Two Sanjaks of East Macedonia, 1889) "Dovista, big village to the east of Serres, in the foothills of Boz Dag (Menoikio).

According to what the renowned Serb geographer Jovan Cvijić (Јован Цвијић) wrote in page 521 of his work "Основе за географију и геологију Македоније и Старе Србије" (Basic principles of Geography and Geology of Macedonia and Old Serbia, 1906): "It is interesting that the Greek populations between Serres and Ziliachova (modern Nea Zichni) are called Darnaci (Darnakes) by the Slavs.

"Гръцки села около Сяр са Тополен, Зили, Тумба, Сармуксали, Довища, Патрик, Субаш Кьой, Везник и Сокол.

Като се основава върху някои местни предания Веркович вярва, че дарнаците са преселени от Тива.

Според тълкуванието на гръцки филолози името дарнаци произлиза от думата δάρε, която тия селяни употребяват вместо τώρα (сега)"[15] In page 177 of the same book, Kanchov mentions Dovista with 1,500 Christian Greek inhabitants (Kanchov followed the usual Bulgarian tactic of using the native language of Macedonian populations as only criterion to determine their ethnic belonging, as opposed to Ottoman authorities that used in their censuses religion for that purpose).

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.

It is a neoclassical building which still decorates the place near the church of Saint Athanasius, bearing the inscription "ΕΚΠΑΙΔΕΥΤΗΡΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗΣ ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΟΥ ΚΟΙΝΟΤΗΤΟΣ ΔΟΒΙΣΤΗΣ 1906" (School of the Greek Orthodox community of Dovista).

According to local tradition, the Pappas' family house was used for storing weapons and ammunition which were first landed at the harbor of Tsayezi (close to modern Nea Kerdyllia and ancient Amphipolis) on the Strymonian Gulf and then transported to Dovista through the (drained since 1938) lake of Tachinos (named after the nearby village of Achinos), whose northernmost shores were lying in a distance of around 16–17 km from Dovista.

The presence of people from Dovista in armed bands that were active even as far as the soil of modern Bulgaria is documented in a telegram, sent on October 12, 1878, by the consul of Greece in Serres Ioannis Papakostopoulos to the Prime Minister Theodoros Deligiannis: "In Kiz-Dervent, in the region of Razlog, eight insurgents, mostly from the Greek villages and with a Greek from Dovista as their leader, a village in a distance of two hours from Serres, seized the straits, attacked and robbed a company of 30 Turkish men, women and children.

Δέκα φορτία λαφύρων, ληφθέντων κατ' εκλογήν, απήγαγον επί ίππων ανηκόντων εις την ληστευθείσαν συνοδείαν).

[20] Some years later, around 1904, the first agents of the Hellenic Macedonian Committee appeared in Dovista, usually disguised as pedlars, who came in contact with the inhabitants of the village and tried to ascertain what were their beliefs and ethnic sentiments.

Also Michalis Tsiapos joined the guerrilla band of Kapetan Doukas, after having killed a Turk from the neighbouring village of Sokol (modern Sykia) for insulting the Christian faith.

[21] According to narrations of elderly inhabitants, some days before their arrest the guerrillas were hiding in the nearby hill of Saint Demetrius, and their rifles were hidden in the belfry of the homonymous church.

During the First Balkan War Emmanouil Pappas and the whole territory of modern Serres regional unit to the east of Strymonas river was captured by the Bulgarian army on November 6, 1912.

A small Bulgarian garrison was installed in the village but it left just few days before the decisive Greek victory in the battle of Kilkis-Lahanas of the Second Balkan War, which marked the liberation of East Macedonia after 550 years of foreign rule.

The inhabitants of Emmanouil Pappas could not enjoy their freedom for a long time because their village, like the rest of Eastern Macedonia fell during World War I again under Bulgarian occupation ( a period known in local historical memory as "Thefteri Voulgaria"-literally "Second Bulgaria") after the events of the National Schism in 1916.

The Bulgarians, being confident that the region will remain in their possession after the war, are engaged in an orgy of repression and persecution of the native Greek populations, in order to force them either to be Bulgarized or to leave their homeland.

[25] However, the most inhumane measure is the so-called "hostageship", the displacement of Greek civilians aged 17–60 years to different regions of Bulgaria and the present-day Republic of North Macedonia (which was then also under Bulgarian occupation), where they are forced to perform hard labour and die by the thousands, due to the unacceptable living conditions, malnutrition, exhaustion, diseases etc.

A committee of the American Red Cross that came to Eastern Macedonia to provide humanitarian aid when the war ended, estimated that the total number of displaced to Bulgaria (and other Bulgarian-occupied areas) Greek civilians from Eastern Macedonia and Western Thrace during the Bulgarian occupation of these areas during World War I was nearly 200,000, of whom around 60,000 died and never came back, while many of those who returned were in such wretched health condition that had become incapable of any work.

[33] During the interwar period a significant economic and cultural growth took place in the village of Emmanouil Pappas, especially in the 1920s and until the aftermath of the great financial crash of 1929 reached Greece.

The enormously high prices which US and European companies offered for Greek tobacco at that time brought to most inhabitants an economic prosperity, landmarks of which are a few neoclassical houses that were built then and survived until today.

A lot of various shops opened for the needs of this newly emerged working class and there was also set up a private power plant, which electrified the houses and streets of the village.

At the same time there was a remarkable intellectual blossoming and there were founded several clubs that developed a significant cultural activity, such as presenting theatrical plays and the publishing of a magazine, already mentioned in a previous chapter.