1. The Greek Church. — When the Turks took, in 1453, possession of Constantinople, the foremost episcopal see of the Eastern Church became subject to their rule. The patriarch of (,'onstantinople had graiiually become for the Eastern (Jhurch what the patriarcli of Rome became for the West. See (iIikkk Ciii'itcii. When the termination of ecclesiastical communion between the ])atriarchs of Rome and Constantinople became a tixed fact, all of the Orthodox Eastern churches looked upon the patriarch of Constantinople as the most emi- nent bishop of the Orthodox churclies, although many of them, like the churches of Russia, were entirely inde- pendent of his jurisdiction. As long as there was a shadow of hope that the Eastern Roman empire would be aided by the Catholic Church of Western ICurope in its resistance to the advance of the Turks, several patri- archs of (Constantinople had shown a readiness to re- unite with Rome. To the bulk of the clergy and the laity the idea of such a reunion was extremely distaste- ful, and after the conquest of Constantinople it was en- tirely abandoned. The sultans claimed the same rights with regard to the appointment of the patriarchs that had been possessed by the Eastern or Byzantine emper- ors, and the Eastern Church submitted to the demand. Georgius Scholarius, who was elected patriarch soon after the conquest of Constantinople, and assumed the name of (iennadius, accepted from sultan JNIohammed II the investiture as patriarch of New Rome, The sultan showed, however, but little respect for the authorit}' of the patriarch, and finally compelled him to resign, not- withstanding the petitions of the faithful in his behalf. The next patriarch, Joasaph, was banished by the sul- tan because he had refused to acknowledge the unlaw- ful marriage of a Mohammedan minister with the daughter of an Athenian jirince. Patriarch Simon, also living in the second half of the 15th century, was the tirst who offered to the sultan one thousand ducats for the patriarchate. This money for the confirmation of the new patriarch is called kharatzion or peskesion; it has not only been always paid since, but the amount was constantly increased, and the Turkish government generally showed a disposition to sell the patriarchate to the highest bidder, and to vacate it as often as pos- sible. Only a few of the patriarchs were allowed to re- main in office for a long term ; generally, after holding it for a short term, they were either compelled to resign, or they were banished, throttled, or degraded. The habit of the patriarch to purchase the confirmation by the sultans had a most disastrous influence upon the Church. The Simonistic corruption descended from the patriarchs to the archbishops and bishops, who had to pay heavy sums for their confirmation, and, in return, tried to indemnify themselves by extorting as much money as possible from their people. For political reasons, the external form of the Ciinrch was changed as little as possible; but in consequence of the corrup- tion'prevailing in the high places, the Church fell into great decay. The lower clergy, wdio were generally destitute of a higher education, showed but little sym- pathy with the people; and when the government con- ferred upon them some privileges, they looked with in- difference upon the heavy taxes which oppressed the laity. Little resistance was even made by the clergy to the cruel institution of the Janizaries, a military corps formed by the children of Christians, who were taken away from their parents, educated as fanatical Moslems, and used for the compulsory extension of Mo- hammedanism. In some of the provinces the power of the Ciiristian people to resist the proselytism of the Turks gradually relaxed. Especially was this the case in Albania, where the Christian population decreased
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from 350,000 to 50,000 during the period from 1G20 to 1650. Among the apostates were even many priests and monks. The subsequent liistory of the Greek Church of Turkey does not offer many points of great interest. The growing power of Russia extorted from the Ottoman Porte in a number of treaties the official promise to protect the Christian religion and the Chris- tian'churches, and made itself chiefly felt in behalf i>f the coreligionists of Russia, the Orthodox Eastern Church. Between Constantinople and Rome an entire estrangement continued to exist. At the beginning of the 17th century the patriarch Neopliytus II of Con- stantinople was believed to be favorable to a union with Rome; but no formal negotiations were opened, and none of the following patriarchs of Constantinople has shown any leaning in that direction. All the invi- tations and overtures that were made by the popes met, in Constantinople, with a tirm and decided refusal: thus, in 18i8, an invitation from Pius IX, addressed to the entire Eastern Church, for a cor|iorate union with Rome, and another in 18G9, adilressed by the same pope to the Greek bishops to attend the Vatican Council, were promptly and firmly declined iu Constantinople and throughout the (ireek Church. In the Asiatic part of Turkey the patriarch Athanasius IV of Antioch, who was elected in 168(), joined the communion of Rome, and was followed by a |iart of the clergy and laity. Thus arose the United Greek Church of Turkey [see (jREEK Ciu'RCii, United], which, from Syria, spread over all parts of the Turkisli empire. In the ItUh cen- tury both the Lutheran and the (Jalvinistic theologians endeavored to establish friendly relatifins with the Greek Church, and entered into correspondence with several patriarchs of Constantinople. The Lutheran attempts were never attended with any success. The Calvinists completely gained over to their side one of the most gifted patriarchs that have ever occupied the see of Constantinople, Cyril Lucar (q. v.), who went so far as to transmit to Geneva the form of a Calvinistic con- fession of faith ; but, with the violent death of the pa- triarch, who was strangled, and wiiose memory was ex- ecrated by the Oriental patriarchs, this attempt, too. came to an end. and the Greek Church in Turkey, as well as in other countries, has ke(it aloof from all cor- porate negotiations with Protestant churches. In the 19th century the attempts made by the more congenial Anglican churches of the British isles and the United States to establish intercommunion with the various I'^piscopal churches of the East led to friendly corre- spondence between the patriarchs of the (ireek Chnrcli, on the one hand, and the archbishop of Canterbury and other Anglican bishops, on the other. At the union conferences held at Bonn, Germany, in 1874 and 1875, between Oriental, Anglican, and Old -Catholic theolo- gians, the Greek Church of Turkey was also represent- ed by several theologians. See Russia.