Timeline of Orthodoxy in Greece

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The History of the Church is a vital part of the Orthodox Christian faith. Orthodox Christians are defined significantly by their continuity with all those who have gone before, those who first received and preached the truth of Jesus Christ to the world, those who helped to formulate the expression and worship of our faith, and those who continue to move forward in the unchanging yet ever-dynamic Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church.

This is a timeline regarding the presence of Orthodoxy in Greece. The history of Greece traditionally encompasses the study of the Greek people, the areas they ruled historically, as well as the territory now composing the modern state of Greece.

Christianity was first brought to the geographical area corresponding to modern Greece by the Apostle Paul, although the church’s apostolicity also rests upon St. Andrew who preached the gospel in Greece and suffered martyrdom in Patras, Titus, Paul’s companion who preached the gospel in Crete where he became bishop, Philip who, according to the tradition, visited and preached in Athens, Luke the Evangelist who was martyred in Thebes, Lazarus of Bethany, Bishop of Kittium in Cyprus, and John the Theologian who was exiled on the island of Patmos where he received the Revelation recorded in the last book of the New Testament. In addition, the Theotokos is regarded as having visited the Holy Mountain in 49 AD according to tradition. Thus Greece became the first European area to accept the gospel of Christ. Towards the end of the 2nd century the early apostolic bishoprics had developed into metropolitan sees in the most important cities. Such were the sees of Thessaloniki, Corinth, Nicopolis, Philippi and Athens.

By the 4th century almost the entire Balkan peninsula constituted the Exarchate of Illyricum which was under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome. Illyricum was assigned to the jurisdiction of the patriarch of Constantinople by the emperor in 732. From then on the Church in Greece remained under Constantinople till the fall of the Byzantine empire to the Turks in 1453. As an integral part of the Ecumenical Patriarchate the church remained under its jurisdiction up to the time when Greece won her freedom from Turkish domination.[1]

The Greek War of Independence of 1821-28, while leading to the liberation of southern Greece from the Turkish yoke, created anomalies in ecclesiastical relations, and in 1850 the Endemousa Synod in Constantinople declared the Church of Greece autocephalous.

In the twentieth century during much of the period of communism, the Church of Greece saw itself as a guardian of Orthodoxy. It cherishes its place as the cradle of the primitive church and the Greek clergy are still present in the historic places of Istanbul and Jerusalem, and Cyprus.[2] The autocephalous Church of Greece is organised into 81 dioceses, however 35 of these are nominally under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople but are administered as part of the Church of Greece; the dioceses of Crete, the Dodecanese, and Mount Athos however are under the direct jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Archbishop of Athens and All Greece presides over both a standing synod of twelve metropolitans (six from the new territories and six from southern Greece, who participate in the synod in rotation and on an annual basis), and a synod of the hierarchy (in which all ruling metropolitans participate), which meets once a year.

The population of Greece is 11.1 million (UN, 2007), 98% of which are Greek Orthodox (CIA World Factbook).

Apostolic era (33-100)

  • ca. 47-48 Apostle Paul's mission to Cyprus.
  • ca. 49 Paul's mission to Philippi, Thessaloniki and Veria.
  • 49 Paul's mission to Athens.
  • ca. 51-52 Metropolis of Korinthos founded in its Apostolic during Paul's first mission to Corinth; Paul writes his two Epistles to the Thessalonians.
  • ca. 54 Paul writes his First Epistle to the Corinthians.
  • ca. 55 Paul revisits Corinth.
  • ca. 56 Paul revisits Macedonia; he writes his Second Epistle to the Corinthians.
  • ca. 61 Paul shipwrecked in Crete.
  • 62 Crucifixion of Apostle Andrew in Patras.
  • ca. 95 Apocalypse of John written on the island of Patmos.
  • 96 Martyrdom of Dionysius the Areopagite of the Seventy.
  • 100 Death of St. John the Theologian in Ephesus.

Ante-Nicene era (100-325)

Patriarchate of Rome Era (325-732)

Nicene era (325-451)

Early Byzantine era (451-843)

Eastern Roman Empire ca.480, showing the extent of Koine Greek.
The Byzantine Empire during its greatest territorial extent under Justinian. ca.550.
Byzantine Empire by 650; by this year it lost all of its southern provinces except the Exarchate of Carthage.
The Byzantine Empire at the accession of Leo III, ca.717. Striped area is land raided by the Arabs.

Patriarchate of Constantinople Era (732-1850)

  • 732-33 Byzantine Emperor Leo the Isaurian transfers Southern Italy (Sicily and Calabria), Greece, and the Aegean from the jurisdiction of the Pope to that of the Ecumenical Patriarch in response to Pope St. Gregory III of Rome's support of a revolt in Italy against iconoclasm, adding to the Patriarchate about 100 bishoprics; the Iconoclast emperors took away from the Patriarch of Antioch 24 episcopal sees of Byzantine Isauria, on the plea that he was a subject of the Arab caliphs; the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople became co-extensive with the limits of the Byzantine Empire.
  • 734 Death of Peter the Athonite, commonly regarded as one of the first hermits of Mount Athos.
  • 739 Emperor Leo III (717-41) publishes his Ecloga , designed to introduce Christian principle into law; Byzantine forces defeat Umayyad invasion of Asia Minor at Battle of Akroinon.
  • 746 Byzantine forces regain Cyprus from the Arabs.
  • 754 Iconoclastic Council held in Constantinople under the authority of Emperor Constantine V Copronymus, condemning icons and declaring itself to be the Seventh Ecumenical Council; Constantine begins dissolution of the monasteries.
  • 787 Seventh Ecumenical Council held in Nicea, condemning iconoclasm and affirming veneration of icons.
  • 789 Death of Philaret the Merciful.
  • 803 Death of Irene of Athens, wife of Byzantine Emperor Leo IV; St. Luke's icon brought to Agiassos on Mytiline.
  • 814 Bulgarians lay siege to Constantinople; conflict erupts between Emperor Leo V and Patr. Nicephorus on the subject of iconoclasm; Leo deposes Nicephorus, Nicephorus excommunicates Leo.
  • 824 Byzantine Crete falls to Arab insurgents fleeing from the Umayyad Emir of Cordoba Al-Hakam I, establishing an emirate on the island until the Byzantine reconquest in 960.
  • 828 Death of Patr. Nicephorus I of Constantinople.
  • ca. 829-842 Icon of the Panagia Portaitissa appears on Mount Athos near Iviron Monastery.
  • 836 Death of Theodore the Studite.
  • 838 Caliph al-Mu'tasim captures and destroys Ammoria in Anatolia.
  • ca. 839 First Rus'-Byzantine War, where the Rus attacked Propontis (probably aiming for Constantinople) before turning east and raiding Paphlagonia.
  • 840 Panagia Proussiotissa icon found near Karpenissi.

Byzantine Imperial era (843-1204)

Byzantine Empire, ca. 867 AD.
The Byzantine Empire under Basil II - ca. 1025.
The Byzantine Empire and its themata in 1045. At this point, the Empire was the most powerful state in the Mediterranean.

Latin Occupation (1204-1456)

The beginning of Frangokratia: the division of the Byzantine Empire after the Fourth Crusade.
Eastern Mediterranean ca. 1263AD.
  • 1274 Orthodox attending the Second Council of Lyons, accept supremacy of Rome and filioque clause.
  • 1275 Unionist Patr. of Constantinople John XI Beccus elected to replace Patr. Joseph I Galesiotes, who opposed Council of Lyons.
  • 1275 Persecution of Athonite monks by Emp. Michael VIII and Patr. John XI Beccus; death of 26 martyrs of Zographou monastery on Mount Athos, martyred by the Latins.
  • 1281 Pope Martin IV authorizes a Crusade against the newly re-established Byzantine Empire in Constantinople, excommunicating Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos and the Greeks and renouncing the union of 1274; French and Venetian expeditions set out toward Constantinople but are forced to turn back in the following year due to the Sicilian Vespers.
  • 1283 Accommodation with Rome officially repudiated.
  • 1287 Last record of Western Rite Monastery of Amalfion on Mount Athos.
  • 14th c. "Golden Age" of Thessaloniki, many churches and monasteries are built.
  • 1309 Rhodes falls to the Knights of St. John, who establish their headquarters there, renaming themselves the "Knights of Rhodes".
  • 1326 The city of Prusa in Asia Minor falls to the Ottoman Turks.
  • 1331 The city of Nicaea, capital of the Empire only 100 years previously, falls to the Ottoman Turks.
  • 1336 Meteora in Greece are established as a center of Orthodox monasticism.
  • 1338 Gregory Palamas writes Triads in defense of the Holy Hesychasts, defending the Orthodox practice of hesychast spirituality and the use of the Jesus Prayer.
  • 1341-47 Byzantine civil war between John VI Cantacuzenus (1347–54) and John V Palaeologus (1341–91).
  • 1341-51 Three sessions of the Ninth Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople, affirming hesychastic theology of Gregory Palamas and condemning rationalistic philosophy of Barlaam of Calabria.
  • 1354 Ottoman Turks make first settlement in Europe at Gallipoli.
  • 1359 Death of Gregory Palamas.
  • 1360 Death of John Koukouzelis the Hymnographer.
  • 1382 Founding of the Great Meteora Monastery.
  • 1390 Ottomans take Philadelphia, last significant Byzantine enclave in Anatolia.
  • 1391-98 Ottoman Turks unsuccessfully besiege Constantinople for the first time.
Eastern Mediterranean ca.1450 AD.

Ottoman Turkish Occupation (1456-1821)

Greek War of Independence (1821-1829)

First Hellenic Republic (1829-1832)

  • ca. 1829 The purified and formal Katharevousa dialect of Modern Greek is promoted as the official language (to 1976).
  • 1831 The fully sovereign status of Greece was accepted at the London Conference of 1831.
  • 1832 European powers establish Greek protectorate; Otho I enthroned as Greek King.

Kingdom of Greece (1833-1924)

Autocephalous Era (1850-Present)

The expansion of Greece from 1832 to 1947, showing territories awarded to Greece in 1919 but lost in 1923.
  • 1850 Endemousa Synod in Constantinople presided over by by Patriarch Anthimos IV of Constantinople recognised Autocephaly of the Church of Greece; due to certain conditions issued in the "Tomos" decree, the Greek National Church must maintain special links to the "Mother Church".
  • 1863 George I enthroned as King of Greece.
  • 1864 First Orthodox parish established on American soil in New Orleans, Louisiana, by Greeks.
  • 1866 Greek church takes the diocese of the Ionian Islands from Constantinople; the holocaust of Arkadi Monastery in Crete.
  • 1871 Body of Patriarch Gregory V returned to Athens and entombed in cathedral.
  • 1877 Death of Arsenios of Paros (August 18).
  • 1878 Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Procopius I of Athens, condemned the Makrakists, obtaining closure of Makakris' "School of the Logos" on the pretext that it taught doctrines opposed to the tenets of the Church, and addressed an encyclical to the whole body of Christians in Greece that was read in the churches, charging Makrakis with attempting to introduce innovations.
  • 1878 Cyprus is ceded to Britain by Ottoman Empire at the Congress of Berlin.
  • 1881 Turks cede Thessali and Arta regions to Greece; Thessaly and part of Epirus added to the Church of Greece.
  • 1882 During the Patriarchate of Joachim III, the Great School of the Nation was housed in a new large building in the area of the Phanar.
  • 1888 Death of Panagis of Lixouri (Cephalonia).
  • 1890-1917 Emigration of 450,000 Greeks to the United States, many as hired labor for the railroads and mines of the American West.
  • 1901 "Evangelakia" riots in Athens Greece in November, over translations of New Testament into Demotic (Modern) Greek, resulting in fall of both government and Metropolitan of Athens, and withdrawal of publications from circulation.
  • 1904 Ecumenical Patriarchate publishes the "Patriarchal" Text of the Greek New Testament, based on about twenty Byzantine manuscripts, the standard text of the Greek-speaking Orthodox churches today.
  • 1905 Death of Apostolos Makrakis.
  • 1907 Archim. Eusebius Matthopoulos founds Zoe Brotherhood.
  • 1912 Epirus, Macedonia and eastern islands, from Northern territories of Greece, are liberated and come under the administration of the Greek Church.
  • 1912-13 First and Second Balkan Wars; liberation of Thessaloniki from the Turks.
  • 1913-14 Greeks anex Crete, Chios and Mytiline, World War I.
  • 1917 Hierarchy of the Greek Church changed in accordance with political control of the country.
  • 1918-24 Emigration of 70,000 Greeks to the United States.
  • 1919-22 Greco-Turkish War; a million refugees flee to Greece joining half a million Greeks who had fled earlier; Pontic Greek Genocide eliminates the Christian population of Trebizond.
  • 1920 Death of Nektarios of Pentapolis (Aegina); Dodecanese Islands ceded to Greece by Italy; publication of Encyclical Letters by Constantinople on Christian unity and on the Ecumenical Movement; Treaty of Sèvres cedes Eastern Thrace and Ionia (Zone of Smyrna) to Greece, but is superceded in 1923 by the Treaty of Lausanne by which these areas were again lost.
  • 1921 Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America formed.
  • 1922 Metropolis of Aitolia and Akarnania founded in its modern form; death of Ethnomartyr Metropolitan Chrysostomos (Kalafatis) of Smyrna, lynched by a Turkish mob Sunday September 10; Greek troops advancing on Constantinople are routed by Turks; the predominatly Orthodox Christian city of Smyrna is destroyed, ending 1900 years of Christian civilization.
  • 1923 Exchange of Christian and Moslem population between Greece and Turkey; Treaty of Lausanne affirmed the international status of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, with Turkey guaranteeing respect and the Patriarchate’s full protection, also granting control of the Holy Mountain to Greece; Patriarch ceases to be regarded as head of the Christian Orthodox Millet in Turkey; Patriarch Meletios Metaxakis promulgates reformed calendar.

Second Hellenic Republic (1924-1935)

  • 1924 Death of Arsenios of Cappadocia; Constitution of the Holy Mountain agreed; Greek government adopts new calendar.
  • 1925 School of Theology established at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
  • 1925-45 Emigration of less than 30,000 Greeks to the United States, many of whom were "picture brides" for single Greek men.
  • 1926 Proposal for Mount Athos to be turned into a Casino by Dictator Pangalos.
  • 1928 The Ecumenical Patriarchate issued a tome by which it ceded to the Church of Greece on a temporary basis 35 of its metropolitan dioceses in northern Greece to be administered by it.
  • 1931 Benaki Museum opens in Athens, housing Byzantine, Post-Byzantine, and Neo-Hellenic ecclesiastical and national art collections.
  • 1932 Death of Papa-Nicholas (Planas).
  • 1933 Church of Greece bans Freemasonry.
  • 1935 Old Calendar schism, when three bishops declared their separation from the official Church of Greece stating that the calendar change was a schismatic act.

Kingdom of Greece Restored (1935-1967)

  • 1936 Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece founded.
  • 1938 Death of Silouan of Mt Athos.
  • 1939-49 WWII and subsequent Greek civil war (1942-49), famine and widespread bloodshed.
  • 1943 Germans destroy Kalavryta, massacre of townspeople and monks of Agia Lavra.
  • 1945 October 17th, Archbishop Damaskinos serves as regent in an attempt to stabilise Greece.
  • 1946-82 Approximately 211,000 Greeks emigrated to the United States.
  • 1947 The Dodecanese Islands are liberated but remain under the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
  • 1948 Death of Savvas the New of Kalymnos.
  • 1950 Uncovering of the relics of St. Ephraim of New Makri.
  • 1952 New Monastery of Panagia Soumela built in the village of Kastania, in Macedonia, Greece, housing the wonderworking icon of Panagia Soumela, becoming a center of religious pilgrimage.
  • 1953 The Athonite School was officially re-established in Mount Athos, now named the ‘Athonite Ecclesiastical Academy’, it occupies a wing of the Skete of St Andrew in Karyes, and follows the Greek secondary school curriculum combined with ecclesiastical education.
  • 1955 In September in Istanbul an organised mob was turned against the ethnic Greek community and the Ecumenical Patriarchate in an orchestrated pogrom, destroying 73 churches, 1,004 residences, 5,000 small- and medium-sized businesses, two cemeteries, 23 schools and 5 athletic centres; the number of ethnic Greeks who were forced to leave Turkey by 1960 as a result of these events is estimated at around 9,000.
  • 1959 Death of Blessed Elder Joseph (Spilaiotis) the Hesychast.
  • 1960 Death of Anthimos of Chios.
  • 1963 Soter Brotherhood is created, as the more traditionalist members broke away from the Zoe Brotherhood to form a smaller new brotherhood under the leadership of Prof. Panagiotes N. Trembelas, having a profound influence on the Church of Greece; Second Pan-Orthodox Conference held in Rhodes; 1000th anniversary celebration of founding of Mount Athos.
  • 1964 Panagia Malevi icon of the Mother of God begins gushing myrrh; third Pan-Orthodox Conference held in Rhodes; in March Turkey denounced the 1930 bilateral agreement on disputes arising from the exchange of populations and expelled more than 17,000 ethnic Greeks, who were deprived of all access to their real estate, goods and chattels, subsequently followed by the de facto exodus of 40,000 ethnic Greeks of Turkish citizenship.
  • 1965 First Metropolitan for Piraeus is elected, His Eminence Chrysostomos (Tabladorakis) of Argolidos; Monastery of Panagia Pantanassa (Kranidiou) founded; Pope Paul VI of Rome and Patriarch Athenagoras I (Spyrou) of Constantinople mutually nullify the excommunications of 1054.
  • 1966 Death of Righteous Father Ieronymos (Apostolides) of Aegina; Center for Byzantine Research established at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Military Dictatorship (1967-1974)

  • 1968 Orthodox Academy of Crete (OAC) founded.
  • 1970 Death of Amphilochios (Makris) of Patmos.
  • 1971 Halki Seminary closed by Turkish authorities, breaching Article 40 of the Lausanne Treaty and Article 24 of the Turkish Constitution which both guarantee religious freedom and education.
  • 1972 Ecclesiastical coup in Cyprus fails to remove Makarios from the Presidency.
  • 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Turkish forces advance capturing the 37% of the island, 3,000 are killed or missing, 200,000 become refugees.
  • 1974 The Monarchy is voted out by a plebiscite vote of 69%.

Third Hellenic Republic (1974-Present)

  • 1975 Death of Papa-Dimitris (Gagastathis); Article 3 of the Greek Constitution officially declares the prevailing religion in Greece as Eastern Orthodoxy under the authority of the autocephalous Church of Greece, united in doctrine to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
  • 1976 The Dimotiki (Demotic) dialect of Modern Greek was made the official language, replacing the purified and formal Katharevousa dialect of Modern Greek which had been in use for nearly two centuries since foundation of the modern Greek state.
  • 1980 Death of Elder Philotheos (Zervakos) of Paros; Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue, 1st plenary, met in Patmos and Rhodes.
  • 1981 Greece joins the European Community, January 1.
  • 1982 Monotonic orthography was imposed by law on the Greek language, however the Greek Orthodox Church continues to use polytonic orthography.
  • 1983 Death of Elder Arsenios the cave-dweller of Mt. Athos.
  • 1984 Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Commission, 3rd plenary, meets in Khania, Crete.
  • 1986 Root of Jesse icon of the Mother of God in Andros begins gushing myrrh.
  • 1988 Radio Station "Church of Piraeus 91.2 FM" begins transmitting in October; Mount Athos is designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.
  • 1989 Elder Ephraim of Philotheou begins founding Athonite-style monasteries in North America.
  • 1991 Death of Elder Porphyrios (Bairaktaris) the Kapsokalivite (Evangelos (Bairaktaris)) February 7.
  • 1992 Deaths of Gabrielia (Papayannis) and Chrysanthi of Andros; Synaxis of primates of Orthodox churches in Constantinople.
  • 1994 Death of Elder Paisios (Eznepidis) of Mt. Athos July 12; Museum of Byzantine Culture is inaugurated in Thessaloniki.
  • 1998 Death of Monk Ephraim of Katounakia; Thessaloniki Summit held to discuss Orthodox participation in WCC.
  • 2000 Government of Greece orders removal of compulsory reference to religious affiliation on state identity cards, despite campaigns against this from the Church of Greece and the majority of the public.
  • 2001 On the first trip to Greece by a Pope since AD 710, Pope John Paul II of Rome apologizes to Orthodox Church for Fourth Crusade.
  • 2002 Metropolis of Glyfada is established as a new metropolis separating from Metropolis of Nea Smyrni; Abp. Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens consented to the construction of a mosque in Athens to end the anomalous situation of the Greek capital being the only EU capital without a Muslim place of worship.
  • 2003 Orthodox Churches in Europe commemorated the 550th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople in May; Abp. Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens has falling out with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew over who should have the final say in the appointment of bishops in northern Greece, but rift is mended four months later; the proposal to build a mosque outside Athens before the 2004 Olympics was blocked due to opposition from residents and Greece's Orthodox Church which disagreed with the location and plans for the funding for the multimillion-pound mosque to come from Saudi Arabia's King Fahd.
  • 2004 In September, a helicopter carrying Patriarch Peter VII of Alexandria along with 16 others (including journalists and 3 other bishops of the Church of Alexandria) crashes into the Aegean Sea while en route to the monastic community of Mount Athos, arguably after an explosion, with no survivors.
  • 2005 Church of Greece hosted the WCC World Conference on Mission and Evangelism in Athens, the first in an Orthodox country in the history of this body.
  • 2006 Abp. Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens visits Vatican, the first head of the Church of Greece to visit the Vatican, reciprocating the Pope's visit to Greece in 2001, and signing a Joint Declaration that committed both churches to the theological dialogue; government of Greece announces it will fund and build a €15 million (US$19 million) new mosque in Athens, to be the the first working mosque in the Greek capital since the end of Ottoman rule over 170 years prior, welcomed by Abp. Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens and the Church of Greece in accordance with its established position; witnessing to a modest modern revival in monasticism, the church reported that there were 216 men’s monastic communities and 259 for women along with 66 sketes, with a total of 1,041 monks and 2,500 nuns.
  • 2007 Greek Minority Lyceum at the Phanar (Megali tou Genous Sxoli - today a middle and high school of the Greek minority) wins a judgement condemning Turkey at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), for violation of the European Convention On Human Rights (protection of property); 1600th anniversary celebration of the repose of John Chrysostom.
  • 2008 Abp. Ieronymos II (Liapis) of Athens elected; Glorification of George (Karslidis) of Drama; Pan-Orthodox meeting in Constantinople in October of the Primates of the fourteen Orthodox Churches, signing a document calling for inter-orthodox unity and collaboration and "the continuation of preparations for the Holy and Great Council".

See also

Notes

  • Some of these dates are necessarily a bit vague, as records for some periods are particularly difficult to piece together accurately.
  • The division of Church History into separate eras as we do here will always be to some extent arbitrary, though we have tried to group periods according to major watershed events.
  • This timeline is necessarily biased toward the history of the Orthodox Church, though a number of non-Orthodox events are mentioned for their importance in history related to Orthodoxy.

Church and State

The Orthodox Church in Greece has been considered historically as the protector of the so-called “Hellenic Orthodox Civilization.” The actual role of the Orthodox Church since the creation of the Greek nation-state has been interpreted in many diverse and opposing ways; nevertheless, in all Greek Constitutions the Orthodox Church is accorded the status of the “prevailing religion".
Article 3 of Greece's Constitution defines the relations between the Church and the State :

"The prevailing religion in Greece is that of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ. The Orthodox Church of Greece, acknowledging our Lord Jesus Christ as its head, is inseparably united in doctrine with the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople and with every other Church of Christ of the same doctrine, observing unwaveringly, as they do, the holy apostolic and synodal canons and sacred traditions. It is autocephalous and is administered by the Holy Synod of serving Bishops and the Permanent Holy Synod originating thereof and assembled as specified by the Statutory Charter of the Church in compliance with the provisions of the Patriarchal Tome of June 29, 1850 and the Synodal Act of September 4, 1928."[3]

Greece is the only Orthodox state in the world. The relationship between the Church and the State can be characterized as sui generis, since there is no complete separation nor is there an established church. The Church is the State-Church. The role of the Orthodox Church in maintaining Greek ethnic and cultural identity during the 400 years of Ottoman rule has strengthened the bond between religion and government. Most Greeks, whether personally religious or not, revere and respect the Orthodox Christian faith, attend church and major feast days, and are emotionally attached to Orthodox Christianity as their "national" religion.

Names of the Greeks

The Greeks have been known by a number of different names throughout history. Their rise to great heights of power and lapse to near complete destruction were situations that were repeated more than once, which is perhaps why they are such a polyonymous people. The onset of every new historical era was accompanied by a new name, either completely new or old but forgotten, extracted from tradition or borrowed from foreigners. Every single one of them was significant in its own time. From ancient times to the present these included:

  • Achaeans (Αχαιοί)
  • Hellenes (Έλληνες)
  • Graeci (Γραικοί)
  • Romans (Ρωμαίοι)
  • Byzantines (Βυζαντινοί)

Patriarchate of Rome

The Byzantine "themes" of Greece rebelled against the iconoclast emperor Leo III in 727 and attempted to set up their own emperor, although Leo defeated them. Up to this time Greece and the Aegean were still technically under the ecclesiastic authority of the Pope, but Leo also quarreled with the Papacy; the defiant attitude of Popes St. Gregory II and St. Gregory III, who summoned councils in Rome to anathematize and excommunicate the iconoclasts (730, 732) on behalf of image-veneration, led to a fierce quarrel with the emperor. Leo retaliated however by transferring the territories of southern Italy, Greece and the Aegean from the papal diocese to that of the the Patriarch of Constantinople, in effect throwing the Papacy out of the Empire.
Previously the lands which Leo ΙΙΙ now placed under the authority of the Church of Constantinople, although subject to the civil rule of the emperor of Constantinople ever since the end of 395, had nevertheless depended upon Rome ecclesiastically, except for a few brief interruptions including:

  • In 421 (when a decree enacted by Emperor Theodosius II placed all churches within the pale of the Illyricum prefecture (then part of the Eastern Empire) subject to the Archbishop of Constantinople).
  • In 438, through the Theodosian Codex, Illyricum was again placed under Constantinopolitan jurisdiction.
  • To some extent during the Acacian schism, 484-519.

Praetorian Prefecture of Illyricum
The Prefecture of Illyricum was named after the former province of Illyricum and was one of the four principal divisions of the Empire instituted by Diocletian. It originally included two dioceses, the Diocese of Pannoniae and the Diocese of Moesiae. The Diocese of Pannoniae did not belong to the cultural Greek half of the empire, and it was transferred to the western empire when Theodosius I fixed the final split of the two empires in 395.

The Diocese of Moesiae (later split into two dioceses: the Diocese of Macedonia and the Diocese of Dacia) was the area known as "Eastern Illyricum", and in view of the detailed list of provinces given by Pope Nicholas Ι (858-67) in a letter in which he demanded the retrocession of the churches removed from papal jurisdiction in 732-33, this area seems to have been the region affected by Emperor Leo's punitive action.

  • The Diocese of Macedonia consisted of seven provinces: Achaia, Creta, Thessalia, Epirus vetus, Epirus nova, Macedonia Prima, Macedoniae salutaris (Secunda).
  • The Diocese of Dacia consisted of five provinces: Dacia mediterranea, Dacia ripensis, Moesia Prima, Dardania, Praevalitana.

Published works

Byzantine Era

  • Rev. Dr. Andrew Louth. Greek East and Latin West : The Church, AD 681-1071. The Church in History Vol. III. Crestwood, N.Y. : St. Vladimirs Seminary Press, 2007. ISBN 9780881413205
  • John Meyendorff. The Byzantine Legacy in the Orthodox Church. Crestwood, N.Y. : St. Vladimirs Seminary Press, 1982. ISBN 9780913836903
  • Milton V. Anastos. Aspects of the Mind of Byzantium: Political Theory, Theology, and Ecclesiastical Relations with the See of Rome. Ashgate Publications, Variorum Collected Studies Series, 2001.
  • Milton V. Anastos. "The transfer of Illyricum, Calabria, and Sicily to the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 732-33." In: Anastos, Studies in Byzantine Intellectual History. Variorum Collected Studies Series, London, 1979.
  • Prof. Fergus Millar. A Greek Roman Empire: Power and Belief under Theodosius II (408-450). University of California Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0520253919
  • Timothy S. Miller. Medieval Byzantine Christianity. Ed. by Derek Krueger. [A People's History of Christianity, Vol. 3]. Minneapolis, Fortress Press. 2006. pp.252.

Latin Occupation

  • Aristeides Papadakis (with John Meyendorff). The Christian East and the Rise of the Papacy: The Church 1071-1453 A.D. The Church in History Vol. IV. Crestwood, N.Y. : St. Vladimirs Seminary Press, 1994. ISBN 9780881410587
  • Deno John Geanakoplos. Byzantine East and Latin West: Two worlds of Christendom in Middle Ages and Renaissance; Studies in Ecclesiastical and Cultural History. Oxford Blackwell 1966.
  • William Miller. The Latins in the Levant: A History of Frankish Greece 1204-1566. Cambridge, Speculum Historiale, 1908.

Ottoman Turkish Occupation

  • Bat Ye'or. The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude: Seventh-Twentieth Century. Translated by Miriam Kochan. Published by Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1996. 522pp. ISBN 9780838636886
  • Fr. Nomikos Michael Vaporis. Witnesses for Christ: Orthodox Christian Neomartyrs of the Ottoman Period 1437-1860. St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2000. 377 pp. ISBN 9780881411966
  • George A. Maloney, (S.J.). A History of Orthodox Theology Since 1453. Norland Publishing, Massachusetts, 1976.
  • Speros Vryonis, (Jr). The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1971.
  • Steven Runciman. The Great Church in Captivity: A Study of the Patriarchate of Constantinople from the Eve of the Turkish Conquest to the Greek War of Independence. Cambridge University Press,1986.
  • Theodore H. Papadopoulos. Studies and Documents Relating to the History of the Greek Church and People Under Turkish Domination. 2nd ed. Variorum, Hampshire, Great Britain, 1990. (Scholarly; Source texts in Greek)
Articles
  • Elizabeth A. Zachariadou. The Great Church in captivity 1453–1586. Eastern Christianity. Ed. Michael Angold. Cambridge University Press, 2006. Cambridge Histories Online.
  • Elizabeth A. Zachariadou. Mount Athos and the Ottomans c. 1350–1550. Eastern Christianity. Ed. Michael Angold. Cambridge University Press, 2006. Cambridge Histories Online.
  • I. K. Hassiotis. From the 'Refledging' to the 'Illumination of the Nation': Aspects of Political Ideology in the Greek Church Under Ottoman Domination. Balkan Studies 1999 40(1): 41-55.
  • Socrates D. Petmezas. Christian Communities in Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century Ottoman Greece: Their Fiscal Functions. Princeton Papers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 2005 12: 71-127.

Greek War of Independence

  • David Brewer. The Greek War of Independence : the struggle for freedom from Ottoman oppression and the birth of the modern Greek nation. Woodstock, N.Y. : Overlook Press, 2001. 393pp.
  • Douglas Dakin. The Greek struggle for independence, 1821-1833. London, Batsford 1973.
  • Joseph Braddock. The Greek Phoenix: The Struggle for Liberty from the Fall of Constantinople to the Creation of a New Greek Nation. NY. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan. 1973. 1st ed. 233pp.
  • Nikiforos P. Diamandouros [et al] (Eds.). Hellenism and the First Greek war of Liberation (1821-1830) : Continuity and Change. The Modern Greek Studies Association of the United States and Canada. Thessaloniki: Institute for Balkan Studies, 1976.

Modern Greece

  • Anastasios Anastassiadis. Religion and Politics in Greece: The Greek Church's 'Conservative Modernization' in the 1990's. Research in Question, No.11, January 2004. (PDF).
  • C.M. Woodhouse. Modern Greece. 4th ed. Boston : Faber and Faber, 1986.
  • Charles A. Frazee. The Orthodox Church and independent Greece, 1821-1852. Cambridge University Press 1969.
  • Demetrios J. Constantelos. The Greek Orthodox Church: Faith, History, and Practice. Seabury Press, 1967.
  • John Hadjinicolaou (Ed.). Synaxis: An Anthology of the Most Significant Orthodox Theology in Greece Appearing in the Journal Synaxē from 1982 to 2002. Montréal : Alexander Press, 2006.
  • Rev. Dr. Nicon D. Patrinacos (M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon)). A Dictionary of Greek Orthodoxy - Λεξικον Ελληνικης Ορθοδοξιας. Light & Life Publishing, Minnesota, 1984.

References

  1. World Council of Churches: Church of Greece.
  2. The Globe and Mail (Canada's National Newspaper). "Orthodox Church at Crossroads." November 10, 1995. p.A14.
  3. "Religion of Greece." at Greece Index.