Difference between revisions of "Timeline of Orthodoxy in Greece"

From OrthodoxWiki
Jump to: navigation, search
(→‎Byzantine Imperial era (843-1204): *10th c.)
(→‎Published works)
Line 616: Line 616:
 
* John Meyendorff. ''[http://books.google.ca/books?id=GoVeDXMvY-8C&pg=PP5&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=0_1 Byzantine Theology: Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes.]'' 2nd ed. Fordham Univ Press, 1979. ISBN 9780823209675
 
* John Meyendorff. ''[http://books.google.ca/books?id=GoVeDXMvY-8C&pg=PP5&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=0_1 Byzantine Theology: Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes.]'' 2nd ed. Fordham Univ Press, 1979. ISBN 9780823209675
 
* J. M. Hussey. ''Church & Learning in the Byzantine Empire, 867-1185.'' Oxford University Press, 1937.
 
* J. M. Hussey. ''Church & Learning in the Byzantine Empire, 867-1185.'' Oxford University Press, 1937.
 +
* Liebeschuetz, John Hugo Wolfgang Gideon. ''[http://books.google.ca/books?id=t2MbAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s Barbarians and Bishops: Army, Church, and State in the Age of Arcadius and Chrysostom].'' Clarendon Press, 1990. ISBN 0198148860
 
* [http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/vryonis_memoirs.html 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.
 
* [http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/vryonis_memoirs.html 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.
 
* [http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/vryonis_memoirs.html 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.
 
* [http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/vryonis_memoirs.html 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.

Revision as of 07:03, February 21, 2010


This is a timeline of 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.[1]

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] During the Ottoman occupation up to 6,000 Greek clergymen, ca. 100 Bishops, and 11 Patriarchs knew the Ottoman sword.[2]

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.[3] 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 (except for the dioceses of Crete, the Dodecanese, and Mount Athos which 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.[1]

Among the current concerns of the Church of Greece are the Christian response to globalization, to interreligious dialogue, and a common Christian voice within the framework of the European Union.[1]

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

Apostolic era (33-100)

Mosaic of Saint Paul Preaching in Veria, Greece.
  • 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)

Map of the Roman Empire showing the Dioceses created by Diocletian, ca. 293 AD., and the four Tetrarchs' zones of influence.

Patriarchate of Rome Era (325-732)

Nicene era (325-451)

Icon of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, 325 AD.

Early Byzantine era (451-843)

Eastern Roman Empire ca.477, showing the extent of Koine Greek.
An interior view of Hagia Sophia today.
The Byzantine Empire during its greatest territorial extent under Justinian. ca.550.
Spread of Christianity to 325 AD (dark blue); Spread of Christianity to 600 AD (light blue)
Byzantine Empire by 650; by this year it lost all of its southern provinces except the Exarchate of Carthage.
Byzantine-Arab naval struggles, ca. AD 717-1025.

Patriarchate of Constantinople Era (732-1850)

Medieval plate depicting Acrites, the frontiersmen or border guards of the Byzantine Empire, about which epic songs were written.
  • 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.
St. Theodore the Studite abbot of the Stoudios monastery in Constantinople and a zealous opponent of Iconoclasm.

Byzantine Imperial era (843-1204)

Byzantine Empire, ca. 867 AD.
Byzantine Themes in Asia Minor, ca. 950 AD.

Latin Occupation (1204-1456)

The beginning of Frangokratia: the division of the Byzantine Empire after the Fourth Crusade, 1204 AD.
  • 1204 Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople, laying waste to the city and stealing many relics and other items; Great Schism generally regarded as having been completed by this act; Venetians use the imperial monastery of Christ Pantocrator as their headquardters in Constantinople.
  • 1204 Latin Occupation of mainland Greece under Franks and Venetians: the Latin Empire of Constantinople, Latin Kingdom of Thessalonica, the Principality of Achaea, and the Duchy of Athens; The Venetians controlled the Duchy of the Archipelago in the Aegean.
  • 1205 Latins annex Athens and convert the Parthenon into a Roman Catholic Church - Santa Maria di Athene, later Notre Dame d'Athene.
  • 1211 Venetian crusaders conquer Byzantine Crete, retaining it until ousted by Ottoman Turks in 1669.
  • 1224 The Byzantines recover Thessaloniki and surrounding area, liberated by the Greek ruler of Epirus Theodore Ducas Comnenus.
Eastern Mediterranean ca. 1230AD.
The Deësis mosaic with Christ as ruler, probably commissioned from 1261 to mark the end of 57 years of Roman Catholic use and the return to the Orthodox faith.
  • 1265-1310 Arsenite Schism of Constantinople, beginning when Patr. Arsenius Autoreianos excommunicated emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.
  • 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 in both literature and art, many churches and monasteries built.
  • 1300-1400 The "Chronicle of Morea" (Το χρονικό του Μορέως) narrates events of the establishment of feudalism in mainland Greece, mainly in the Morea/Peloponnese, by the Franks following the Fourth Crusade, covering a period from 1204 to 1292.
  • 1309 Rhodes falls to the Knights of St. John, who establish their headquarters there, renaming themselves the "Knights of Rhodes".
Saint Gregory Palamas, Abp. of Thessaloniki (1347-1359).
  • 1310 Arsenite Schism of Constantinople is brought to an end by the reconciliation of the Arsenites to the Josephites.
  • 1326 The city of Prusa in Asia Minor falls to the Ottoman Turks after a nine-year siege.
  • 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.
  • 1337 Nicomedia captured by Ottoman Turks.
  • 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.
  • ca.1351 Holy Royal Patriarchal Stavropegic Monastery of the Vlatades (Moni Vlatadon) is founded in Thessaloniki.
  • 1354 Ottoman Turks make first settlement in Europe at Gallipoli.
  • 1359 Death of Gregory Palamas.
    The right-believing Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos the Ethnomartyr.
  • 1360 Death of John Koukouzelis the Hymnographer.
  • 1365 Ottoman Turks made Adrianople their capital.
  • 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.
  • 1422 Second unsuccessful Ottoman siege of Constantinople.
  • 1426 Death of New Martyr Ephraim of Nea Makri (a "newly revealed" ("νεοφανείς") saint in 1950).
  • 1429 The Turks capture Thessaloniki.
  • 1430 The monks of Mount Athos submit to Sultan Murad II and keep their autonomy.
  • 1438 Council of Florence unsuccessfully tries to unit Greek East and Latin West.
  • 1450 Death of Empress Helena Palaeologus (St. Ipomoni of Loutraki).
  • 1452 Unification of Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches in Hagia Sophia on West's terms, when Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos, under pressure from Rome, allows the union to be proclaimed.
  • 1453 Constantinople falls to invasion of the Ottoman Turks, ending Roman Empire; Hagia Sophia turned into a mosque; martyrdom of Constantine XI Palaiologos, last of the Byzantine Emperors; many Greek scholars escape to the West with books that become translated into Latin, triggering the Renaissance; beginning of the genre of lamentation folk songs known as "Moirologia", or dirges (Byzantine secular music).

Ottoman Turkish Occupation (1456-1821)

O Epitaphios Threnos ("The Lamentation at the Tomb") by Theophanes the Cretan, 16th century (Stavronikita monastery, Mount Athos).
The Divine Liturgy. Michael Damaskinos, 16th century.

Greek War of Independence (1821-1829)

Bp. Germanos of Old Patras blessing the Greek banner at Agia Lavra, 25 March 1821. Theodoros Vryzakis (1851).
  • 1821 Greek War of Independance begins as Metr. Germanos of Patra declares Greek independence on Day of Annunciation (March 25), also Kyriopascha, at the Monastery of Agia Lavra, Peloponessos; martyrdom of Patr. Gregory V of Constantinople, Abp. Kyprianos of Cyprus, and Abp. Gerasimos of Crete in retaliation; Former Ecumenical Patr. Cyril VI of Constantinople is hanged at the gate of Adrianople's cathedral; Metropolitans Gregorios of Derkon, Dorotheos of Adrianople, Ioannikios of Tyrnavos, and Joseph of Thessaloniki are decapitated on Sultan orders in Constantinople; Metropolitans Chrysanthos of Paphos, Meletios of Kition and Lavrentios of Kyrenia are executed in Nicosia, Cyprus; liberation fighters started calling themselves "Hellenes" (for continuity with their ancient Hellenic heritage), rather than using the generic "Romioi" (Ρωμιοί) (which referred to both their Roman citizenship and religious affiliation to Orthodox Christendom).
  • 1823 Wonderworking Icon of Panagia Evangelistria found on Tinos, led by a vision from Pelagia of Tinos, becoming the most venerated pilgrimage item in Greece, at the Church of Evangelistria; martyrdom of Hieromonk Christos of Ioannina.
  • 1825 Archimandrite Gregorios Dikaios ("Papaflessas") is killed during the Battle of Maniaki on June 20, fighting against the forces of Ibrahim Pasha at Maniaki, Messenia.
  • 1827 Europe recognises the autonomy of Greece.
  • 1828 John Capodistrias first president of Greece and confiscates Athonite metochia; Greek church opened in London (2nd time).
  • 1829 Treaty of Adrianople ends Greek War of Independence, culminating in the creation of the modern Greek state.

First Hellenic Republic (1829-1832)

  • ca. 1829 The purified and formal Katharevousa language of Modern Greek is promoted as the official language (to 1976).
  • 1830 The fully sovereign status of Greece was accepted in the London Protocol of February 3, 1830.
  • 1832 Treaty of Constantinople, European powers establish Greek protectorate; Otho I enthroned as Greek King.

Kingdom of Greece (1833-1924)

  • 1832-35 "Bavarokratia" closes down 600 monasteries and nationalises monastic land-holdings
  • 1833 The National Assembly at Nauplio declares the Church of Greece as independant from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
  • 1834 Suppression of many monasteries in the new Greek kingdom.
  • 1837 School of Theology at the National and Capodistrian University of Athens founded.
  • 1838 Death of New Martyr George of Ioannina.
  • 1839 Theofilos Kairis of Andros condemned and imprisoned for teaching a form of Deism.
  • 1843 Georgios Rizaris, a benefactor, merchant, and member of the Filiki Eteria organization, funded the building of the Rizareios Ecclesiastical School in Athens, which continues to function as a religious and educational institution today, based in Halandri, Athens.
  • 1844 Prime Minister Ioannis Kolettis first coined the expression the "Great Idea" (Megali Idea), envisaging the restoration of the Christian Orthodox Byzantine Empire with its capital once again established at Constantinople, becoming the core of Greek foreign policy until the early 20th century; King Otho I accepts constitution.
  • 1845 Death of priest and scholar Neophytos Doukas, author of a large number of books and translations of ancient Greek works, and one of the most important personalities of the Greek Enlightenment during the Ottoman occupation of Greece.

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".
  • 1856 Death of Neophytus Vamvas, Greek cleric and educator who had translated the Bible into Modern Greek.
  • 1857-66 J.P. Migne produces the Patrologia Graeca in 161 volumes, including both the Eastern Fathers and those Western authors who wrote before Latin became predominant in the Western Church in the 3rd century.
  • 1863 George I enthroned as King of Greece.
  • 1864 Holy Trinity Church, 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; beginning of the Great Cretan Revolution (1866-1869); 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 Apostolos Makrakis' "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.
Nicholaos Gysis, "To krifó scholió", Oil painting, 1885/86.
  • 1885 Prominent Greek painter Nicholaos Gysis paints the famous "Secret school" ("κρυφό σχολειό"), refering to the underground schools provided by the Greek Orthodox Church in monasteries and churches during the time of Ottoman rule in Greece (15th-19th c.) for keeping alive Orthodox Christian doctrines and Greek language and literacy.
  • 1888 Typikon of the Great Church of Christ is published with revised church services, prepared by Protopsaltis George Violakis, issued with the approval and blessing of the Ecumenical Patriarch, while the Sabaite (monastic) Typikon continues to be used in Russia (i.e. from 1682-1888 the Greek and Russian Churches had shared a common Typikon); 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.
  • 1894 On March 8th, Nektarios of Pentapolis was appointed Dean of the Rizarios Ecclesiastical School, remaining as Dean until 1908, becoming a spiritual guide to many.
  • 1897 Greco-Turkish War.
  • 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.
  • 1902 Church of Greece takes responsibility for Greek Orthodox parishes in Australasia from the Church of Jerusalem.
  • 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.
Monastery of Agios Nectarios, built ca. 1904-1910 by the Bishop of Pentapoleos Nektarios; still under construction today, it is one of the largest churches in Greece.
  • 1904-1910 Nektarios of Pentapolis began building the Convent of the Holy Trinity on the island of Aegina, while yet Dean of the Rizarios School.
  • 1905 Death of Apostolos Makrakis.
  • 1907 Archim. Eusebius Matthopoulos founds Zoe Brotherhood.
  • 1908 Death of Methodia of Kimolos; jurisdiction of the Greek Church in America and the Greek Church in Australia was given to the Church of Greece under an agreement made between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Holy Synod of Athens (until 1922 in America; until 1924 in Australia); Nektarios of Pentapolis took up permanent residence on Aegina, where he spent the last years of his life, devoting himself to the direction of his convent and to very intense prayer.
  • 1912 Balkan Wars: Epirus, Macedonia and eastern Aegean islands are liberated and come under the administration of the Greek Church, but remain under the nominal authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople.
  • 1914-18 World War I.
  • 1913-14 Greeks anex Crete, Chios and Mytiline.
  • 1914 According to the Corfu Protocol Northern Epirus is granted autonomy within Albania; Byzantine & Christian Museum is founded in Athens, becoming one of the most important museums in the world in Byzantine Art.
  • 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; Greek Genocide eliminates the Christian population of Trebizond and Anatolia.
Ethnomartyr Metr. Chrysostomos (Kalafatis) of Smyrna (1910-1922).

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.
  • 1930 Mustapha Kemal Atatürk officially renamed Constantinople to Istanbul, which comes from the Greek expression "eis tin poli" (to the City) .
  • 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; Greek Old Calendarist groups maintain that they have not separated over a mere calendar, rather that the calendar is a symptom of what has been called "the pan-heresy of ecumenism;" Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, transformed Hagia Sophia into a museum.

Kingdom of Greece Restored (1935-1967)

Abp. Damaskinos of Athens and All Greece (1941-49).
Elder Ieronymos (Apostolides) of Aegina.

Military Dictatorship (1967-1974)

  • 1968 Orthodox Academy of Crete (OAC) founded by the Archdiocese of Crete, near the Moni Gonia Monastery.
  • 1970 Death of Amphilochios (Makris) of Patmos.
  • 1971 Halki Seminary, Orthodoxy's most prominent theological school, is 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; death of missionary Archimandrite Chrysostomos Papasarantopoulos, having laboured to spread the Orthodox faith in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Congo.
  • 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Turkish forces advance capturing the 37% of the island, 3,000 are killed or missing, 200,000 become refugees; the Monarchy is voted out by a plebiscite vote of 69%.

Third Hellenic Republic (1974-Present)

Archbishop Seraphim (Tikas) of Athens
(1974-1998).
Cathedral of Saint Andrew in Patras, Achaea, Greece.
Blessed Elder Archimandrite Philotheos (Zervakos) (Paros, Greece).
Elder Paisios (Eznepidis) of Mount Athos.
Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece (1998-2008).
  • ca.2000 Notable Greek Orthodox modern writers of the younger generation include: Metr. John Zizioulas of Pergamon, Archimandrite Vasileios Gontikakis, Prof. Christos Yannaras, Prof. Fr. John S. Romanides (+2001), Bp. Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos, Protopresbyter Nikolaos Loudovikos, Protopresbyter George Metallinos, Protopresbyter Theodore Zisis, and Panayiotis Nellas, among others.
  • 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 Death of Elder Haralambos Dionysiatis, teacher of noetic prayer; 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; a day earlier some 1,000 Orthodox conservatives took to the streets to denounce his visit; in March, Abp. Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens blessed the Hellenic Genocide Petition Effort, which urged that the government not violate Law 2675/98 by deleting the term "genocide" when explaining the destruction of Hellenism in Asia Minor; Abp. Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens visits the Patriarchate of Moscow, being also received by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
  • 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 situation of the Greek capital being the only EU capital without a Muslim place of worship; Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople declared the monks of Esphigmenou Monastery (Athos) as being in schism with the Orthodox Church.
  • 2003 Orthodox Churches in Europe commemorated the 550th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople in May; the Greek Minister of Culture Evangelos Venizelos informs Europarliament session that the status of the monasteries on Holy Mount Athos and its way of life will remain unchanged, citing official recognition of this status fixed in Article 105 of the Greek Constitution and also legally confirmed in the special Athens Treaty clause specifying conditions on which Greece joined the European Union; in February, the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church issued a statement opposing the threat of war in Iraq.
  • 2003 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; Abp. Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens inaugurated the Office of the Representation of the Church of Greece to the European Union in Brussels.
  • 2004 In September, a helicopter carrying Patr. Petros VII (Papapetrou) of Alexandria along with 16 others (including 3 other bishops of the Church of Alexandria) crashed into the Aegean Sea while en route to the monastic community of Mount Athos 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; in October, the "Grey Wolves" Turkish terrorist group staged a rally outside the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Phanar, proceeding to the gate where they laid a black wreath, chanting "Patriarch Leave" and "Patriarchate to Greece", inaugurating the campaign for the collection of signatures to oust the Ecumenical Patriarchate from Istanbul; Britain's Prince Charles arrived on the monastic community of Mount Athos for a three-day visit in May; Vladimir Putin becomes the first Russian state leader to visit Mount Athos.
  • 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, signing a Joint Declaration on the importance of the Christian roots of Europe and protecting fundamental human rights; 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; Abp. Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens castigated globalisation as a "crime against humanity"; Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis goes on a three-day pilgrimmage to Mount Athos; Pope Benedict XVI met with Greek Orthodox Seminarians from the Apostoliki Diakonia theology college in Greece who were visiting Rome, urging them to confront the challenges that threaten the faith by working to unify all Christians; a ruling by a first-instance court in Athens approved the formation of an association of people who worship the 12 gods of Mount Olympus, linked to New Age practises by the Church of Greece.
  • 2006 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, witnessing to a modern modest revival in monasticism; in September, barely 48 hours after a Somali Islamic cleric called for Muslims to kill the Pope, Abp. Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens told a sermon in Athens that Christians in Africa were suffering at the hands of "fanatic Islamists", citing the example of Roman Catholic monks who were slaughtered the previous year "because they wore the cross and believed in our crucified Lord"; Abp. Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens criticized the authors of a state issued elementary school sixth grade history textbook, as attempting to conceal the Church's role in defending Greek national identity during Ottoman occupation, the book being later removed in 2007; death of Elder Athanasios Mitilinaios, having authored thousands of recorded lectures in the spirit of patristic traditional Orthodoxy.
St. George (Karslidis) the New Confessor of Drama.
  • 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; the International Association of Genocide Scholars passed the IAGS Resolution on Genocides Against Assyrians, Greeks, Armenians, and Other Christians by the Ottoman Empire 13 July 2007, affirming that the Ottoman campaign against Christian minorities between 1914-1923 was genocide; a half-finished painting in the Church of the Holy Virgin in Axioupolis, northern Greece, of Russian communist leader Vladimir Lenin cutting off the beard of St Luke - painted as a symbol of communist oppression of the Church - offended traditionalists who wanted it removed.
    Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens, (2008-Present).
  • 2008 Death of Abp. Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens, proving to be one of the most popular archbishops in Greek history, reviving the appeal of the Church in a secular age, especially among young people; Abp. Ieronymos II (Liapis) of Athens elected; Glorification of George (Karslidis) of Drama (+1959); 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"; the 13-member standing committee of the Church of Greece denounced government plans to introduce a civil partnerships law, saying government support for common law marriage would amount to state-sanctioned “prostitution.”
  • 2009 The European Court on Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Turkey violated the property rights of the Bozcaada Kimisis Teodoku Greek Orthodox Church on the Aegean island of Bozcaada; the Ecumenical Patriarchate has filed more than two dozen cases with the ECHR to recover some of the thousands of properties it has lost; US President Barack Obama made an explicit appeal in his speech to the Turkish Parliament for the reopening of the hotly contested Greek Orthodox seminary on Halki, viewed by the European Union and others as a test case for religious freedom in Turkey; a delegation from the Orthodox Church of Greece headed by Metropolitan Nectarios of Kerkira, Paxoi and Diapontioi Nisoi visited several monasteries in West Ukraine; Patr. Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas of the Oriental Church of Antioch went on an official visit to Greece, as the guests of the Greek Government and the Greek Orthodox Church to congratulate the new Abp. of the Greek Church and to renew the relationship between both churches; Elder Joseph of Vatopedi reposes peacefully, funeral service held July 1; Russian Orthodox Patr. Kirill called on Turkish authorities to re-open the Theological Seminary on Halki; over 1,000 Muslims rallied in the city streets of Athens over unsubstantiated claims that Greek police allegedly tore up and trampled on the Quran, smashing 75 cars, injuring 14 people, overturning trash bins and attacking banks; a group of Orthodox clergy in Greece, led by three senior archbishops, published a manifesto, A Confession of Faith Against Ecumenism, pledging to resist all ecumenical ties with Roman Catholics and Protestants, amongst its signatories including six metropolitans, as well as 49 archimandrites, 22 hieromonks, and 30 nuns and abbesses, as well as many other priests and church elders.

See also

Wikipedia

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."[4]

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)
  • Romioi (Ρωμιοί)

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

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. ISBN 9780208016157
  • E. Brown. "The Cistercians in the Latin Empire of Constantinople and Greece." Traditio 14 (1958), pp.63-120.
  • Kenneth M. Setton. Catalan Domination of Athens, 1311-1388. Mediaeval Academy of America, 1948.
  • P. Charanis. "Byzantium, the West and the Origin of the First Crusade." Byzantion 19 (1949), pp.17-36.
  • R. Wolff. "The Organisation of the Latin Patriarchate of Constantinople 1204-61." Traditio 6 (1948), pp.33-60.
  • William Miller. The Latins in the Levant: A History of Frankish Greece 1204-1566. Cambridge, Speculum Historiale, 1908.

Ottoman Turkish Occupation

  • Apostolos E. Vacalopoulos. The Greek Nation, 1453-1669: The Cultural and Economic Background of Modern Greek Society. Transl. from Greek. Rutgers University Press, 1975. ISBN 9780813508108 (One of the few scholarly studies in English of this period)
  • 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 P. Henderson. The Revival of Greek Thought, 1620-1830. State University of New York Press, 1970. ISBN 9780873950695 (Focuses on the intellectual revivial preceeding the War of Independence in 1821)
  • George A. Maloney, (S.J.). A History of Orthodox Theology Since 1453. Norland Publishing, Massachusetts, 1976.
  • Leften S. Stavrianos. The Balkans Since 1453. Rinehart & Company, New York, 1958.
  • 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. (Very comprehensive, masterpiece of scholarship)
  • 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.
  • Dimitri E. Conomos, Graham Speake. Mount Athos, the Sacred Bridge: The Spirituality of the Holy Mountain. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2005.
  • Herman A. Middleton. Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit: The Lives & Counsels of Contemporary Elders of Greece. 2nd Ed. Protecting Veil Press, 2004.
  • 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.
  • John L. Tomkinson. Between Heaven and Earth: The Greek Church. Anagnosis Books, Athens, 2004. ISBN 960-87186-5-1
  • Mother Nectaria McLees. EVLOGEITE! A Pilgrim's Guide to Greece. 1st Ed. St. Nicholas Press, Kansas City, MO, 2002. 927 pp. ISBN 09716365-1-6
  • Norman Russell. Modern Greek Theologians and the Greek Fathers. Philosophy & Theology Volume 18, Issue 1. 2007.10.17. Pages 77-92. (ISSN 08902461)
  • 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. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 World Council of Churches: Church of Greece.
  2. ↑ Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens. Address to the Conference organised by the Synodal Committee on European Issues, entitled “Islam: the extent of the problematics”. Holy Monastery of Penteli, Attica, 12/5/2007.
  3. ↑ The Globe and Mail (Canada's National Newspaper). "Orthodox Church at Crossroads." November 10, 1995. p.A14.
  4. ↑ "Religion of Greece." at Greece Index.
Retrieved from "https://en.orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Timeline_of_Orthodoxy_in_Greece&oldid=90777"