Eastern Orthodoxy in Turkey

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Hagios Georgios cathedral in Istanbul, at the Ecumenical Patriarchate

Greek Orthodox Church
.

History

Phanarion quarter, the historical centre of the Greek community of Constantinople in Ottoman times
, ca. 1900.

The

Ecumenical Patriarch was recognized as the highest religious and political leader (millet-bashi, or ethnarch) of all Orthodox Christian subjects of the Sultan, though in certain periods some major powers, such as Russia (under the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca of 1774), or Great Britain
claimed the rights of protection over the Ottoman Empire's Orthodox subjects.

For those that remained under the

Gülbahar Hatun was a Pontic Greek
.

The roots of Greek success in the Ottoman Empire can be traced to the Greek tradition of education and commerce exemplified in the

Eastern Orthodox
church.

Modern history

Before World War I, there were an estimated 1.8 million Orthodox Greeks living in the

Levantines.[9] Greeks and Armenians form the largest Christian population in the city. While Istanbul's Greek population was exempted from the 1923 population exchange with Greece, changes in tax status and the 1955 anti-Greek pogrom prompted thousands to leave.[10]

The Orthodox population of Turkey was substantially reduced as a result of World War I. Additionally, the vast majority of Greek Orthodox Christians were forced to leave the territory of Turkey in a population swap following the

Halki Seminary
, the main theological school of the Orthodox community. Despite a 40-year campaign to reopen the school and periodic discussion of the matter by Turkish politicians, it remains closed.

Antiochian Greek Christians from Antakya.

Indeed,

Paul of Tarsus
was from Turkey and performed his first of three missions trips recorded in Acts exclusively in that area.

A significant number of

Istanbul Pogrom orchestrated by Turkish authorities against the Greek community in that year, their number was dramatically reduced to only 48,000.[13] Today, the Greek community numbers about 2,000 people.[14]

Patriarchate of Constantinople

Main article: Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

After the

Byzantine emperor among subjugated Christians, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople was recognized by the Sultan as the religious and national leader (ethnarch) of Greeks and the other ethnicities that were included in the Greek Orthodox Millet. The Patriarchate earned a primary importance and occupied this key role among the Christians of the Ottoman Empire because the Ottomans did not legally distinguish between nationality and religion, and thus regarded all the Orthodox Christians
of the Empire as a single entity.

The position of the Patriarchate in the Ottoman state encouraged projects of Greek renaissance, centered on the resurrection and revitalization of the Byzantine Empire. The Patriarch and those church dignitaries around him constituted the first centre of power for the Greeks inside the Ottoman state, one which succeeded in infiltrating the structures of the Ottoman Empire, while attracting the former Byzantine nobility.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eastern Orthodoxy in Turkey.

References

  1. ^ Mazower 2000, pp. 105–107.
  2. ^ "History of Europe, The Romans". Encyclopædia Britannica. United States: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. 2008. Online Edition.
  3. ^ Mavrocordatos, Nicholaos (1800). Philotheou Parerga. Grēgorios Kōnstantas (Original from Harvard University Library). Γένος μεν ημίν των άγαν Ελλήνων
  4. ^ "Phanariote". Encyclopædia Britannica. United States: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. 2016. Online Edition.
  5. ^ a b "History of Greece, Ottoman Empire, The merchant middle class". Encyclopædia Britannica. United States: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. 2008. Online Edition.
  6. ^ Alaux & Puaux 1916.
  7. ^ Roudometof & Robertson 2001, p. 91.
  8. ^ Lekka 2007, p. 136: "At the start of the war, the Greeks were a thriving community in Asia Minor, a land they had inhabited since the time of Homer. But things deteriorated quickly. Before the Turkish implementation of a nationalist policy, the Greek population was estimated at around 2.5 million, with 2,300 community schools, 200,000 pupils, 5,000 teachers, 2,000 Greek Orthodox churches, and 3,000 Greek Orthodox priests."
  9. ^ Çelik 1993, p. 38
  10. ^ Magra, Iliana (5 November 2020). "Greeks in Istanbul keeping close eye on developments". www.ekathimerini.com. Ekathimerini. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  11. ^ The Greeks of Turkey, 1992-1995 Fact-sheet Archived 2011-08-30 at the Wayback Machine by Marios D. Dikaiakos
  12. ^ "Η μειονότητα των Ορθόδοξων Χριστιανών στις επίσημες στατιστικές της σύγχρονης Τουρκίας και στον αστικό χώρο". Demography-lab.prd.uth.gr. Archived from the original on 2021-05-09. Retrieved 2015-08-11.
  13. ^ Karimova Nigar, Deverell Edward. "Minorities in Turkey" (PDF). The Swedish Institute of International Affairs. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-05-28. Retrieved 2014-12-08.
  14. ^ Gilson, George. "Destroying a minority: Turkey's attack on the Greeks Archived 2013-02-18 at archive.today", book review of (Vryonis 2005), Athens News, 24 June 2005.

Sources

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