• DOI:10.1086/237518
• Corpus ID: 144899655

The Greek Church of Constantinople and the Ottoman Empire

@article{Arnakis1952TheGC,
  title={The Greek Church of Constantinople and the Ottoman Empire},
  author={G. Georgiades Arnakis},
  journal={The Journal of Modern History},
  year={1952},
  volume={24},
  pages={235 - 250}
}

• G. G. Arnakis
• Published 1 September 1952
• History
• The Journal of Modern History

A STUDY of the relations of the Greek Orthodox church and the Ottoman Empire during the long period of Turkish rule in the Near East reveals so many inconsistencies on the part of the Turks that one may be led into thinking that their much-spoken-of policy of religious toleration was of an erratic, haphazard nature and was conveniently ignored when new circumstances seemed to suggest a different course of action. At times information pertaining to practically the same era leads to widely divergent conclusions, and there is an almost irresistible temptation for the historian to give up his search as futile, with the perfunctory remark that in the Ottoman autocracy the whim of the reigning sultan became the law of the land and that therefore there could be no question of a consistent religious policy. This attitude seems to underestimate the peculiar theocratic character of the Ottoman Empire and the influence of tradition upon the individual sultans. Whatever views one may hold concerning Ottoman autocracy, the fact remains that there was method in it on account of the tendency to follow time-