History of the Eastern Orthodox Church under the Ottoman Empire
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Eastern Orthodox Church |
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Overview |
In AD 1453, the city of
Isolation from the West
As a result of the Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, and the Fall of Constantinople, the entire Orthodox communion of the Balkans and the Near East became suddenly isolated from the West. The Russian Orthodox Church was the only part of the Orthodox communion which remained outside the control of the Ottoman Empire.
It is, in part, due to this geographical and intellectual confinement that the voice of Eastern Orthodoxy was not heard during the Reformation in sixteenth century Europe. As a result, this important theological debate often seems strange and distorted to the Orthodox; after all, they never took part in it and thus neither
The Orthodox Church under the Ottoman Empire
Social structure |
Court and aristocracy |
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Ethnoreligious communities |
Rise of nationalism |
Classes |
Islam not only recognized Jesus as a great prophet, but tolerated Christians to a limited degree. Because Islamic law makes no distinction between nationality and religion, all Christians, regardless of their language or nationality, were considered a single Rum Millet (millet-i Rûm), i.e. Roman millet, or nation. In contrast to Catholicism which was associated with enemy Austria, the Orthodox Church was an accepted institution under the Ottomans, but the number of churches and monasteries was greatly reduced so as to make room for the new mosques being built, and the majority of churches became mosques during Ottoman rule.[1][2] Only some churches were given maintenance and, even more rare, were new ones built.
The majority of the city's inhabitants were converted to Islam from their original Eastern Orthodox Christian faith, and the Patriarch had less influence over the court and secular affairs. Though his power did increase over other Orthodox ethnic groups, though.
As such, the Orthodox Church was not extinguished nor was its canonical and hierarchical organization completely destroyed. Its administration continued to function though in lesser degree, no longer being the state religion. One of the first things that Mehmet the Conqueror did was to allow the Church to elect a new patriarch, Gennadius Scholarius. The Hagia Sophia and the Parthenon, which had been Christian churches for nearly a millennium were converted into mosques, yet some other churches, both in Constantinople and elsewhere, remained in Christian hands. Many of these became mosques by the time the 16th century was coming to a close, like the Chora Church, for example. Many churches were also destroyed. They were endowed with civil as well as ecclesiastical power over all Christians in Ottoman territories. The patriarch, as the highest ranking hierarch, was thus invested with civil and religious authority and made ethnarch, head of the entire Christian Orthodox population. Practically, this meant that all Orthodox Churches within Ottoman territory were under the control of Constantinople. Thus, the authority and jurisdictional frontiers of the patriarch were enormously enlarged.
Establishment and development
After the
Belonging to this Orthodox commonwealth became more important to the common people than their ethnic origins.[3] This community became basic form of social organization and source of identity for all the ethnic groups inside it and most people began to identify themselves simply as Christians.[4][5] However, under Ottoman rule ethnonyms never disappeared, which indicates that some form of ethnic identification was preserved. This is evident from a Sultan's Firman from 1680 which lists the ethnic groups in the Balkan lands of the Empire as follows: Greeks (Rum), Albanians (Arnaut), Serbs (Sirf), Vlachs (Eflak) and the Bulgarians (Bulgar).[6]
Christians were guaranteed some limited freedoms, but they were not considered equals to
The
Rise of nationalism and decline
In the early 19th century the Greek Orthodox intellectuals tried to reconceptualize the Rum Millet. They argued for a new, ethnic “Romaic” national identity and new Byzantine state, but their visions of a future state included all Balkan Orthodox Christians. This Megali Idea implied the goal of reviving the Eastern Roman Empire by establishing a new Greek state. It spread among the urban population of Vlach, Slavic and Albanian origin and it started to view itself increasingly as Greek. On the other hand, the Ottoman Tanzimat reforms in the middle of 19th century were aimed to encourage the Ottomanism among the secessionist subject nations and stop the nationalist movements within the Empire, but failed to succeed.
With the
The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 restored the Parliament, which had been suspended by the Sultan in 1878. However, the process of supplanting the monarchic institutions was unsuccessful and the European periphery of the Empire continued to splinter under the pressures of local revolts. Subsequently, with the Balkan Wars, the Ottoman Empire lost virtually all of its possessions in the Balkans, which put de facto to end the community of the Rum millet.
Corruption
The Orthodox Church found itself subject to the Ottoman system of corruption. The patriarchal throne was frequently sold to the highest bidder, while new patriarchal investiture was accompanied by heavy payment to the government. In order to recoup their losses, patriarchs and bishops taxed the local parishes and their clergy.
Nor was the patriarchal throne ever secure. Few patriarchs between the fifteenth and the nineteenth centuries died a natural death while in office. The forced abdications, exiles, hangings, drownings, and poisonings of patriarchs are well documented. But if the patriarch's position was precarious so was the hierarchy's. The hanging of patriarch
Devshirmeh
Fall of the Ottoman Empire in the East
The fall of the Ottoman was precipitated by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox disputed possession of the Church of the Nativity and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. During the early 1850s, the two sides made demands which the Sultan could not possibly satisfy simultaneously. In 1853, the Sultan adjudicated in favour of the French, despite the vehement protestations of the local Orthodox monks.
The ruling Ottoman siding with Rome over the Orthodox provoked out right war (see the
Persecution by the Young Turks
During 1894–1923 the Ottoman Empire conducted a policy of genocide against the Christian population living within its extensive territory.[10] The Sultan, Abdul Hamid, issued an official governmental policy of genocide against the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire in 1894. Systematic massacres took place in 1894-1896 when Abdul killed 300,000 Armenians throughout the provinces. In 1909 government troops killed, in the towns of Adana alone, over 20,000 Christian Armenians.
When World War I broke out, the Ottoman Empire was ruled by the "Young Turks" that allied the empire with Germany. In the 20th century, the number of Orthodox Christians, and of Christians in general, in the Anatolian peninsula sharply declined amidst complaints of Ottoman governmental repression of various Eastern and Oriental Orthodox groups.[11][12]
In the first two decades of the 20th century, there were massacres of Greeks, Slavs, and Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, culminating in the
See also
- Ottoman Greece
- Christianity in the Ottoman Empire
- History of Eastern Christianity
- History of Christianity
- Christian Church
References
- ^ page 23 of Bosnia and Herzegovina By Tim Clancy
- ^ a b page 630 of Eastern Europe: an introduction to the people, lands, and culture ..., Volume 1 By Richard C. Frucht
- ISBN 9052013748, p. 36.
- ISBN 9004121013, p. 17.
- ISBN 0313319499.
- ISBN 9545284676, стр. 23. (Bg.)
- ^ page 430 of Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire By Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Alan Masters
- ^ Paroulakis, Peter H. The Greek War of Independence Hellenic International Press 1984
- ^ Altruistic Suicide or Altruistic Martyrdom? Christian Greek orthodox Neomartyrs: A Case Study
- ^ not certain
- ^ Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I, by David Gaunt, 2006
- ^ The Forgotten Genocide: Eastern Christians, the Last Arameans, p.195, by Sébastien de Courtois
Sources
- Frazee, Charles A. (2006) [1983]. Catholics and Sultans: The Church and the Ottoman Empire 1453-1923. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521027007.
External links
- OrthodoxWiki
- Timeline of Church History
- Orthodox Research Institute
- The Orthodox Tradition
- Orthodox Tradition and the Liturgy
- Eastern Orthodox Christianity
- Directory of Orthodox Internet Resources
- Orthodox Library: History, Doctrine, Practices, Saints
- Background information on the Orthodox Church
- Orthodox Life Info Portal: catalog of resources
- From Rum Millet to Greek Nation: Enlightenment, Secularization, and National Identity in Ottoman Balkan Society, 1453–1821, Victor Roudometof.
- Balkan cultural commonality and ethnic diversity. Raymond Detrez (Ghent University, Belgium).