16,951
edits
Changes
m
link
The principal '''Ottoman Turk Documents''', the '''Firman''', also '''Fermân''', and '''Berât''', were used by the Ottoman Sultan to control the [[Church of Constantinople|Patriarch of Constantinople]], as ethnarch of the Orthodox Christian nation, the other hierarchs, and the Orthodox Church as a whole within the [[Ottoman empire|Ottoman Empire]] after the [[fall of Constantinople]] in 1453. Their use continued until the dissolution of the empire in the early twentieth century.
Through the use of these Ottoman Turk Diplomatic Documents, the rulers of the Ottoman empire kept the Orthodox Church within the empire as functionaries of the government and made the Patriarch of Constantinople responsible for the actions of the Orthodox Christian "nation". The main documents issued by the sultan to establish this relationship were the '''Fermân''' and '''Berât'''. By these documents the sultan approved the election of the [[patriarch]]s and authorized their holding that position and specified the responsibilities of the office.