In September 1917 Kazantzakis left for Switzerland, where he stayed as the guest of his childhood friend Yiannis Stavridakis, then Greek consul in Zurich. He travelled around Switzerland for about a year in the company of Elli Lambridi, with whom he had a relationship.  At the same time, he joined forces with Stavridakis in setting up an “intellectual” organisation known as the “Order”, the aims of which bore the hallmarks of Ion Dragoumis’ ideology. The Order’s mission was “to elevate Greece, stretching all its powers to create a new Greek culture”.