Γεωγραφική Θέση Southwestern Asia Minor. Ιστορική Περιοχή Pisidia, Pamphylia, Lycia. Διοικητική Υπαγωγή Patriarchate of Constantinople

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1 Περίληψη : One of the dioceses of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Asia Minor. From the 14th century expanded and absorbed other Byzantine ecclesiastical dioceses. Its seat during the period of the Ottoman dominion was Attaleia and Sparta. Γεωγραφική Θέση Southwestern Asia Minor Ιστορική Περιοχή Pisidia, Pamphylia, Lycia Διοικητική Υπαγωγή Patriarchate of Constantinople 1. The 14th century The ecclesiastical diocese of Pisidia has a long history that goes back to the early Christian centuries, with its main characteristic the expansion, from the 14th century thereafter, of its geographical area and the absorption of other dioceses that existed during the Byzantine times. Consequently, the study of the diocese of Pisidia, acquiring particular interest in relation to the late Medieval and Modern era, is ought to be expanded to a parallel study of all the adjacent dioceses that later were absorbed by Pisidia, that is of the old Byzantine metropolises of Perge, Side, Syllaion, Attaleia and Myra. Although since the centuries of the Byzantine dominion no essential information survives about the diocese of Pisidia and the adjacent metropolises, an interesting body of information is preserved in the patriarchal documents of the 14th century. This was the difficult period after the Muslim conquest and the remarkable coincidence of the political change on these territories, being a recent fact that the dynasty of the Hamid-oğullan undertook the power (the wider region of Pisidia, Lycia and Pamphylia was entirely under the dominion of the Seljuks of Iconium since the beginnings of the 13th century and was devolved upon the Hamid-oğullan around the beginnings of the 14th century). A main element of this period, as long as the ecclesiastical history of the region of Asia Minor is concerned, are the great difficulties the Church faced in relation to its organization and function, because of the big reduce of the Christian population, its dependency upon the will of the Turkman leaders, its poor financial means, the difficulty in the communication with the Patriarchate, and the subsequent unwillingness of the elected archbishops to go to their dioceses (a situation that could have led to the full wiping out of the clergy from a region, because the canonical consecration of clergymen was impossible due to the non existence of a bishop). After a period of two centuries crisis and formation of these unfavorable conditions for the Church, a first glimpse on the formatted situation emerges during 1315, the year of the composition of the most ancient ones of a series of documents concerning these regions. Based on this information, in an active state and in operation were the metropolises that are mentioned below. 2. The metropolis of Pisidia Gregory was its metropolitan. It is unknown whether the see of the metropolitan was still at Antioch (Yalnaç), as it was during the Byzantine times, or it had already been transferred to Eğirdir (Egirdir), which was a metropolitan see later (although of another metropolitan as we will see later). Gregory is located on the area of his metropolis in 1315 when it was granted to him due to its proximity as well as the archbishopric of Leontopolis that had been initially planed for the reactivated metropolis of Side. 1 Until 1324 Gregory had left the region of his metropolis and was residing at Constantinople, where from 1324 until 1340 he participated in the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate. 2 As a reason for his withdrawal from his diocese stands, that means that it is assumed that the Δημιουργήθηκε στις 12/1/2017 Σελίδα 1/15

2 local ruler of the Hamid-oğullan had hardened his attitude against the Christian church, rendering the presence of the metropolitan there impossible. 3 In the mean time, and after Gregory s death, the Holy Synod, after petitions of the Christians from the region, decided in 1345 to fill up again the seat of the metropolitan of Pisidia, by choosing the until then bishop of Sozopolis. 4 It seems that the choice of the bishop of Sozopolis created a preceding, because 24 years later, in 1369, another metropolitan of Sozopolis, Athanasios, was chosen as a metropolitan of Pisidia and at the occasion of this event the area of jurisdiction of the metropolis expanded by the assignment of the neighboring metropolis of Mistheia. 5 On both occasions, however, we do not know with certainty if the chosen bishops, ex bishops of Sozopolis, went to the location of their new authority. 3. The metropolis of Myra The metropolis of Myra preserved its substance and cohesion, as well as some of its bishoprics (the bishoprics of Stena, of Kyanai and of Makres and Livisi - an older writing of Libysion - are recorded). The last metropolitan before 1316 was Luke, who had consecrated bishop of Kyanai and the latter in turn a group of priests, possibly in a non canonical way as it is attested by a protestation to the Patriarchate by Michael Archon, the vicar of the bishopric of Stena. These consecrations were finally accepted by the Patriarchate, obviously because of the inborn difficulties of finding people to serve the Church in the Turkish-occupied area, with the only exception that of the bishop of Makres and Libision, whose petition, even though he went to Constantinople in order to be officially consecrated by the Synod, was rejected and he was forbidden to exercise any duty at the bishopric. 6 Since the metropolitan Luke had stopped to exercise his duties, the metropolis was administered and the mass was celebrated by the metropolitan of Attaleia in a non-canonical way and without the permission of the Patriarchate, an event that the political situation facilitated, since the region of Lycia was ruled by the branch of the Hamid-oğullan of Attaleia. In 1316 the placement of a metropolitan of Myra was decided and for that reason the metropolitan of Attaleia was notified to stop interfering in that metropolis. In fact, an unnamed person was elected as the metropolitan of Myra and sat at two sessions of the Holy Synod in 1316, which constitute the only information that we have about him. 7 The former bishop of Keltzenes is appointed as the new metropolitan of Myra in 1365 or a little earlier, as well as Matthew in The latter was a particularly efficacious metropolitan. He was active for at least until the year 1401, when the information stops, and he went to his diocese with the exception of some intervals during which he was at Constantinople as a synodical (1383 right after his election, 1394, 1401). He had succeeded in being entrusted with the administration of Rhodes, Kos and the rest of the Dodecanese, until 1394, when they were assigned to the bishop of Stauroupolis of Karia, whereas until 1387 he arbitrarily intervened in the affaires of the metropolis of Attaleia because of the absence of a local metropolitan. 9 In spite of the election and sending of a new metropolitan at Attaleia, of Athanasios in 1387, he did not managed to remain because of the obvious difficulties and by the year 1389 he had returned to Constantinople, where he took part in the synod, and thus the administration of the metropolis of Attaleia returned to the bishop of Myra Matthew by an official approval of the Patriarch until 1397, when Theophylaktos was elected as the new metropolitan of Attaleia (within this interval Matthew confronted as well an action of conspiracy by the metropolitan of Seleukeia in 1394 aiming to his removal from the administration of Attaleia). 10 After the removal of the metropolitan of Attaleia Theophylaktos and his placement at the metropolis of Sougdaia and Phoulla there is no information about any further dependency of the metropolis of Attaleia. 11 As long as Matthew was remaining the metropolitan of Myra at least until 1401, it is possible that he resumed the administration of Attaleia The metropolis of Side The metropolis of Side is characterized in 1315 as unguided for many years, and probably one of the adjacent metropolises that were Δημιουργήθηκε στις 12/1/2017 Σελίδα 2/15

3 governed by the metropolitan of Attaleia as well as the one of Myra, when the Patriarch and the synod decided to appoint a metropolitan and send there the until then bishop of Sinope. In addition, the neighboring metropolis of Syllaion (or Perge) would be assigned to him, as well as the archbishopric of Leontopolis, even though the metropolitan of Pisidia Gregory claimed the latter and was the one who finally possessed it. 13 It is not known what really happened with the ex bishop of Sinope and if he went on the spot in order to exercise his duties as metropolitan of Side. It is fact that later, around the middle of the century, an elected metropolitan of Side existed, Cyril, for whom some facts are preserved in relation to his office as archbishop and it is possible to establish its chronological framework. A document referring to his election is preserved, undated unfortunately, but judging from the presence of an unnamed metropolitan of Side in the Holy Synod from the April of 1342 until the April of 1343, we can presume with some certainty that it could be Cyril who had been recently elected, probably during the beginnings of 1342, and partook of the Holy Synod before departing for his diocese. 14 From later undated documents we are informed that Cyril, after staying for some time at his diocese, afterwards he left and resided at Cyrpus because of big troubles that he faced at his metropolis, caused by the pressures from the side of the Muslim rulers and by the indifference of the local Christians. In addition, he was accused for heresy as Barlaamist, but the synod had released him from this charge. 15 The last information that these documents provide is that Cyril was about to go soon from Cyprus to Constantinople, which combined to the presence of an unnamed metropolitan of Side in the Holy Synod on June 1357, allow the estimation that this metropolitan was Cyril, for whom the period is established as the chronological framework of his priesthood. 16 He seems to have gone to the seat of the diocese for probably a short period of time during the beginning of his office as archbishop. Until 1345 he was himself entrusted with the administration of the diocese of Pisidia, which had remained without a bishop after the depart of the metropolitan Gregory before Afterwards, all things related to the existence of elected metropolitans of Side and the possibility of their presence there is rather obscure. According to an information of the year 1369 the metropolitan of Side and exarchos all over Pamphylia undertook the administration of Rhodes and the rest of the Dodecanese; however, two years later, in 1371, we are informed that the place of the metropolitan of Side held the metropolitan of Larissa, as well as the bishop of Pontoherakleia at an undefined period of time, meaning that at these occasions there was no elected metropolitan of Side. 18 The final thereafter dependency of the diocese of Side to the metropolitan of Attaleia, that means the essential unification of the two dioceses, occurred in From documents of these years we are informed that the diocese stayed for a long time ( ) unguided because of the lack of the last metropolitan, who somehow or other had not sufficiently exercised his duties because of illness and laziness (it is not clear if Cyril is understood or some later metropolitan, neither if it is allowed to identify him with the one mentioned for the year 1369), and because the number of the Christians was small and insufficient for the maintenance of a genuine metropolitan, it was decided that, as long as Theophylaktos had been elected as metropolitan of Attaleia and Perge, the diocese of Side to be one of his dependencies. 19 Thus starts the tradition of a continuous dependency of Side to the metropolitan or administrator of the metropolis of Attaleia each time, although Side typically maintains its substance and it is not fused with the metropolis of Attaleia in contrast to the diocese of Perge earlier. 5. The metropolis of Attaleia The metropolis of Attaleia was administered by a metropolitan who resided there and who interferred against the rules in the administration of neighboring dioceses, like probably the ones of Myra and of Side, taking advantage of the absence of bishops there. This happened from an uncertain time before 1316, since on may 1316 he was informed by the Patriarch that he had to stop interfering, because of the imminent sending of bishops to these dioceses. 20 Within a short period of time, around , this metropolitan reached Constantinople, where he participated in the Holy Synod. 21 While presenting the situation of the diocese, the metropolitan posed the problem that had occurred in his metropolis from the arbitrary and abusive management of the churches and the monasteries of the diocese from the side of the clerics and the laymen charged with their supervision and from the appropriation of the relevant sources leading he above-mentioned churches and Δημιουργήθηκε στις 12/1/2017 Σελίδα 3/15

4 monasteries to the devastation. A particular interest presents the report to monasteries that due to these conditions were abandoned by the monks. 22 These facts provide one more example of an essential difficulty in the administration of the ecclesiastical mechanism on those territories of Asia Minor outside the Christian authority. In addition, based on the same facts, it seems that the metropolitan was about to return to Attaleia, because he was supplied with an encyclical letter constituting the reestablishment of the immediate administration of the metropolis and the return of the usurped property. 23 Since then and for a long period of time there is no information about the metropolis of Attaleia, whereas it is not absolutely certain if the metropolitan active in really came back to his seat after his staying at Constantinople. In the mean time, the metropolis of Attaleia was being steadily fused with the metropolis of Perge and Syllaion, an event of which the first mention is found in a notitia from the time of Andronikos III ( ) and it is definitely confirmed from a testimony of 1381, a year during which some Theophilos is recorded as the metropolitan of Perge and Attaleia. 24 It is true that for most part of the 14th century the diocese of Attaleia was unguided, an event that in 1361 allowed the metropolitan of Germanikopolis of the klima of Antioch to administer in an arbitrary and non-canonical way with the permission of the local emir. 25 The same thing happened some time later with the metropolitan of Ikonion, about whom we are informed that by the year 1385 he had abandoned his seat and had resided at Attaleia, where he was consecrating and celebrating the mass non canonically, an event due to which the Patriarch committed him for trial in order to unseat him, whereas at the same time the metropolitan of Myra was interfering as well in the same diocese. 26 As far as the elected metropolitan of Perge and Attalleia is concerned, about whom we are informed by a testimony from 1381, it is not known if he had ever actually gone to his diocese. 27 The one that actually went was the next metropolitan, Athanasios, in There he found himself faced with severe financial difficulties, due to the taking away of its property by the ruler, for the confrontation of which the Patriarch asked from the metropolitan of Myra Matthew to assign to Attaleia some of the locations under his jurisdiction. 28 Finally, Athanasios withdrew from Attaleia and until February of 1389 he had returned to Constantinople, where he participated in the Holy Synod during the same year. 29 The withdrawal of Athanasios allowed the anew dependency of the diocese of Attaleia to the metropolitan of Myra Matthew, this time by an official patriarchal permission, although afterwards the administration of the latter was not without problems. Around the metropolitan of Seleukeia Theodotos tried to undertake the administration of the diocese of Attaleia, by depriving the metropolitan of Myra from it in a conspiratorial way. While being at Constantinople, he accused the metropolitan of Myra, probably falsely, that he had never gone to Attaleia and that he was indifferent for the local Christians. Thus, supplied with a patriarchal letter he resided himself at Attaleia where he undertook the duties of the metropolitan. About this case an epistle of the Patriarch to Theodotos on January 1394 informs us, through which he was asked, after having been condemned for fraud, to return to his metropolis under the threat of being unseated and to hand over to the metropolitan of Myra the episcopal vestments that he had appropriated and the revenues that he had collected. 30 Thus, the metropolitan of Myra resumed the administration of the metropolis of Attaleia, but it was thereafter obvious that his preoccupation with the issues of this metropolis was incomplete because of the wide geographical area that he had under his supervision. Soon, thus, in 1397, it was decided the election of a new metropolitan of Attaleia, of the monk-priest Theophylaktos, who after undertaking the administration of the diocese of Side as well, he was resided at Attaleia, only to leave after a short period of time and return to Constantinople, before May 1400, because of the pressures from the side of the local authorities ( ). 31 Thus, from May 1400, when hieromonachos (hieromonk) Theophylaktos was elected metropolitan of Sougdaia and Phoulla, the metropolis of Attaleia was again without an bishop and possibly returned under the administration of the metropolitan of Myra. In all later reports the dioceses of Attaleia, of Myra and of Side, are under the same administration (with the exception of the period when an autonomous archbishopric of Myra is activated with the main diocese of Myra as its area of responsibility). 6. The 15th-18th century Δημιουργήθηκε στις 12/1/2017 Σελίδα 4/15

5 From the four active dioceses, with a temporary presence of a metropolitan, existing during the 14th century in the area of the later extended metropolis of Pisidia, two have essentially left at the beginnings of the following century, the diocese of Pisidia and an expanded diocese with the metropolises of Attaleia, Side and Myra under the same administration. This expanded diocese may have been administered at the beginnings of the 15th century by the metropolitan of Myra, later, though, and as it is proved by the patriarchal berat of the years 1483 and 1525 mentioning Attaleia as the seat of a metropolitan, it seems that the expanded diocese was administered by an bishop with the latter city as his seat. 32 Who was, however, this metropolitan? This question occurs from the moment that the earliest notitia of the period of Turkish occupation do not mention a metropolitan of Attaleia, Side or Myra. On the other hand, the berat of 1483 and 1525 record Attaleia as the seat of a metropolitan, as well as Eğirdir. A convincing answer has been given by Zachariadou, who believes that in Attaleia sat the metropolitan of Pisidia already since then and that the metropolitan mentioned having his seat in Eğirdir was the bishop of Iconium. 33 That means that a translocation of the administration of both the metropolitans of Pisidia and Iconium, to another, although adjacent, diocese from the one their title declared, is observed. Thus, during that period can be found the very beginning of the connection of Attaleia to the extended diocese with those born the church dignity of the metropolitan of Pisidia, and it is probably inaccurate the mention in a patriarchal sigillion of 1651 that the exarchates of Myra, Side and Attaleia were put for the first time under the administration of the metropolitan of Pisidia during the first office of Metrophanes III as patriarch ( ). 34 For the par excellence metropolis of Pisidia we do not know for how long time lasted its essential unification with the metropolis of Iconium and its dependency upon the bishop of the latter. The next relevant testimonies come from the middle of the 17th century and present the above-mentioned dioceses divided and each one under its own bishop, the one of Iconium and Tyana under Clemens (until 1655), of Pisidia under Euthymios (until 1649) and Sylvester ( ). 35 This separation may have been occurred already under the office of Metrophanes III as patriarch, when for the first time the dependency of three villages of Lykaonia on the metropolis of Pisidia was decided, renewed afterwards by the following patriarchs, because under the state of a unified administration of the two metropolises such regulations were unnecessary. 36 In a parallel way, the administration of the extended diocese of Attaleia was assigned in 1646 to the newly elected metropolitan of Myra, Jeremiah II, who undertook the administration of the exarchates of Attaleia, Alaiye, Kastelorizo and Livisi, detached from the administration of the metropolitan of Pisidia on whom they were depended until then. 37 This arrangement was short-lived and in 1651 this exarchates were put again under Sylvester of Pisidia, 38 an event that meant their final incorporation into the metropolis of Pisidia and the final formation of the geographical area that this diocese possessed thereafter and until An exemption constitute Myra, Livisi and Kastelorizo that were being detached at times and were constituting a patriarchal exarchate granted to dignitaries of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as well as an independent archbishopric between the years 1785 and 1790, with John of Rhodes as the only bishop. 39 Through the events of 1651 it seems that Sylvester of Pisidia managed to restore a status quo that must have been prevailing at least since the last quarter of the 16th century, the most probable date for the separation of the dioceses of Pisidia and Iconium, that means the administration of the metropolitan of Pisidia in his diocese par excellence as well as in the older extended diocese of Attaleia, something that temporarily was interrupted by the placement of a metropolitan of Myra in In addition, Sylvester of Pisidia succeeded in evolving to a super-metropolitan in 1655, when he undertook the administration of the diocese of Iconium as well after the removal of its metropolitan Clemens. 40 Chronologically close to these events is the berat of 1662 (next in a row after those of 1483 and 1525 and known from a Greek translation) that throw light on some details in relation to the administration of these dioceses, but creates some confusion as well. In the area of the metropolis of Pisidia, as it was finally formed in 1651, this berat mentions two towns as seats of metropolitans, Attaleia and Elmali. 41 As far as Attaleia is concerned, it seems that by the metropolitans of Pisidia, by Sylvester already and by his successors Joachim and Methodios, the city was used as permanent seat and not only as a place of recess and rest (as the decision of its granting to the metropolitan of Pisidia in 1651 records). 42 The constant use of Attaleia as the only seat of the metropolis, at least as long as 1835, appears as well from its mention in the berat of the 18th century, and in the notitia of 1725 (the latter includes a mention on the Δημιουργήθηκε στις 12/1/2017 Σελίδα 5/15

6 seats of the metropolises). 43 A confusion results due to the mention of Elmali in the berat of 1662, of the most important large village of Lycia, where someone can assume that an episcope or a metropolitan was settled then. However, this was impossible to happen then and the most probable explanation for the mention of this settlement is that there was the seat of the bishop of the recently, although for a short period of time, reestablished metropolis of Myra (and of Attaleia, Alayia etc.). Even though the metropolis was activated only for the period of and ever since the exarchates were depended on Pisidia, the relatively short period of time until the writing of the berat had as a consequence the recording of Elmali as well, either due to a lack of information or most probably because the patriarch maintained the right to place anew a metropolitan of Myra if this was considered as necessary, that means that Elmali was assumed to be for some years as a potential metropolitan s seat. The fact that the metropolitan of Myra, during the period of , had Elmali as his seat and not Myra (Demre) itself, as it was expected to be because of the existence of the old and famous monastery of Saint Nicholas there, is explained by the strong possibility that the monastery was by then inactive and without monks, because during the first centuries of the Ottoman dominion at Myra it seems that there was no Christian population until the colonization by Kastelorizians during the second half of the 18th century. 44 In addition, although from what it seems Elmali constituted the official seat of the metropolitan of Myra for the period , the most possible is that he would stay for the most part of his office at Attaleia, which from the point of the presence of Christians was the most important center among those cities he had under his administration. A main characteristic of the ecclesiastical history on the territories of Lycia, Pisidia and Pamphylia during that period is obviously the struggle for the maintenance and preservation of the ecclesiastical institutions themselves and the elementary reply to the needs for the holding of cult practices and of the ecclesiastical administration of the Orthodox population of the region. The above-mentioned procedures are particularly difficult due to the numerical and social weakness of the Christian population, which was constantly weakening because of the conversion to Islam and of other damaging factors. This tendency towards shrinkage and marginalisation of the Christian element was being steadily reversed during the 18th century (possibly at an advanced period of that century), as the development of the trade was improving the financial and social situation of the Christians occupied with it and with handicraft and creating from time to time wealthy communities not only at Attaleia but at Sparti and at other centers of the diocese as well. At the same time, during the same period the very beginning of the colonization of Kastelorizians is located on different parts of Lycia and new orthodox communities are, thus, created in a region that had reached a point of almost total effacing of the Christian element. It is possible that the short-lived reestablishment of the archbishopric of Myra in 1785 took place exactly because of the reappearance of an Orthodox population in the region. Until then the only center of the region that presented some interest for the ecclesiastical affaires was Attaleia. Remaining an important harbor and a commercial center preserved during the whole period its financial importance and provided its numerically non-negligible Orthodox community with the presuppositions for development. As an intermediate station along the route to the Holy Land accommodated those traveling towards there (chatzi), an event that is raised to an issue of particular importance for all the implicated ecclesiastical factors. For such an issue happening at Attaleia of the middle of the 17th century we have the lack to be informed by preserved testimonies. Around the middle of the 17th century there was at Attaleia the church of Saints Theodores, donation and property of the local Christian Chatze Basil. He consecrated around 1660 the church to the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulcher and at the same time donated a nearby area for the erection of cells and lodging where the Fathers of the Holy Sepulcher (Agiotaphitai) could reside as well as those going for a pilgrimage. Thus, the Agiotaphitai, within the framework of their permanent politics to manage themselves the whole procedure of the pilgrimage, acquire a very useful base for this purpose at Attaleia. Furthermore, and in order the control of the Agiotaphitai over the complex of the church to be better assured, the donator Chatze Basil succeeded in proclaiming it stauropegiakos church in 1665 on condition that the Agiotaphitai would possess and manage it for the, symbolical as it appears, revenue of 6 okes of sugar to the Patriarchate and for the commemoration of the Ecumenical Patriarch s name. As it appears, the role of Attaleia in the procedure of the pilgrimage was then the most important local ecclesiastical affaire and, as it Δημιουργήθηκε στις 12/1/2017 Σελίδα 6/15

7 was about a lucrative procedure, could not leave the local bishop indifferent. What appeared Chatze Basil to be afraid of and due to which he tried and succeeded in proclaiming the church as stauropegiakos, in order to assure its possession by the Agiotaphitai, was the eventual interference of the metropolitan of Pisidia aiming to appropriate its management. And that indeed happened, so that in 1673 a new patriarchal sigillion was edited confirming the status of the church as stauropegiakos and its possession and management by the Agiotaphitai, a confirmation that resulted after the actions of Chatze Basil s descendants because of the effort of the metropolitan Methodios to undertake himself the management by displacing the Agiotaphitai. 45 Another interesting element that is enlightened by the preceding case is the practice of donation. Already by the 17th century the presence of wealthy Christians, as Chatze Basil, is confirmed at Attaleia, who supported the Church by the building and the conservation of churches. It is characteristic that the patron of the church of Saints Theodores is himself a chatze, as well as another group of donators from Attaleia in the 18th century, who sponsored the publication of the book of the - Attaleiates as well - metropolitan of Ankara Serapheim Pisidian in The 19th century By entering the 19th century the data of the historical approach related to the diocese of Pisidia changed. There aren t any important gaps of information upon basic historical parameters (e.g. geographical area, seat, bishops etc.) and its historical approach can focus on qualitative matters, such as the research of its role and function, in an epoch when the Greek Orthodox element was upgrading demographically, economically and politically. During the previous years, the essential priority of the ecclesiastical authorities of the Asia Minor s area was nothing else than their survival and maintenance in a state of an active function, as well as the protection as best as possible of their spiritual flock from damaging factors with conversion to Islam as the most serious one. Since the first decades of the 19th century, however, has already been crystallized the dynamic of the economical and demographical rebirth of the Greek Orthodox element of Asia Minor, an event that results the surpassing of the financial hardship for the ecclesiastical authorities, constituting the most important communal institution. Furthermore, through the tanzimat s reformations, the Orthodox Church acquired an institutionally safeguarded role in the political procedure with its active participation in every level of the mechanism of administration. These developments are obvious within the area of jurisdiction of the diocese of Pisidia, where the economical development of the Greek community of Sparta through the handicraft and the trade, as well as the use of the city as the seat of a sanjak, resulted in being elevated to the second seat of the metropolitan, along with Attaleia, the former equal to the latter, a development that is first attested in a berat of Later, by the legislation of the provincial councils composition, the metropolitan of Pisidia participates in both the councils of the sancak of Sparta and Attaleia. The history of the metropolis of Pisidia during this later period stood apart due to all the typical elements that characterize the role and the function of the ecclesiastical authorities in the area of Asia Minor, as well as due to local particularities. Among the general characteristics of the activities of the ecclesiastical authorities, observed in the area of the diocese of Pisidia as well, belong the communal administration and the representation of the Orthodox population in front of the provincial authorities, the development of the means of worship, and the enforcement and spreading of the Greek education, of which main factors have been the ecclesiastical authorities. On the other hand, the special conditions that characterize the ecclesiastical activity in this region have something to do with the heterogeneity of the Orthodox population and the need of exercising a special policy related to each one of its groups. Especially, the building of churches and the existence of priesthood in all the settlements with an orthodox presence indicate the development of the means of worship, a procedure that had been concluded until , when a relevant statistical table was published. 48 According to these data, the diocese disposed 43 priests in a total Greek Orthodox population of (including Kastelorizo). A problem and an issue for improvement constituted at that time the relevant absence of educated priests, as only 7 out of a total of 43 are characterized as such. We know that this issue had constituted a subject of special care of the active and distinguished metropolitan Gerasimos Tantalides ( , ), who had already organized the priests of Sparta in a sacerdotal association, within the framework of which they owed to proceed to a mutual instruction in order to develop their ethos and mind. 49 The result of this action of the metropolitan was Sparta to become the city with the largest proportion of educated priests Δημιουργήθηκε στις 12/1/2017 Σελίδα 7/15

8 within his region, as 3 out of a total of 7 priests were characterized as such in the registration of As far as the building of churches is concerned, this activity reflected the will of the ecclesiastical authorities for the promotion of the means of worship, as well as the economical situation of the Greek Orthodox population. As it is natural, this activity was all the more intensive within the wealthiest communities. At Sparta, besides the four main parish churches, were built one or two more churches in every parish resulting in the existence of 11 churches in total until 1904, some of them particularly lavishly-constructed and grandiose, and with preserved treasuries of a total value of more than golden Ottoman lira. 50 At Attaleia, the total of 5 churches inside the city and of 2 country chapels (exokklesia), existing during the beginnings of the 20th century, constituted some relatively recent constructions, and they had all of them been built at the expense either of the community or of wealthy individuals, with distinctive example that of the members of the Danieloglou family. 51 It is remarkable that, as there existed a possibility of building new churches, churches existing from previous centuries are not mentioned any more during the latest period, such as the one of Saints Theodores reported during the second half of the 17th century as controlled by the brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre. As it is mentioned above, the policy and in general the activity of the ecclesiastical authorities in the area of the diocese of Pisidia, was determined by peculiar local conditions as well, occurred from the heterogeneity of the local Orthodox population. As long as this population was composed of three distinctive groups as far as the spoken language and the origin are concerned, the Turkish speaking natives of Attaleia, Alaiye and the par excellence Pisidia, the Greek speaking natives of Livisi and Makri, as well as the Kastelorizians and their settlers in Lycia, the ecclesiastical authorities owed to take into consideration the special needs and expectations of each one of these groups. With the exception of the wealthy communities of Sparta and Attaleia in this field, the Turkish-speaking people generally constituted the most difficult group and the weak link within the procedure for the promotion of the Greek education and the consolidation of the religious, and furthermore during the most recent period the ethnic, conviction. The expansion of the factors of the Greek education took place during the last decades of the 19th century by the founding of schools for males from every community of the region, although the use of the Greek language from the side of the Turkish-speaking people does not seem to have marked any particular progress. It was considered that this problem would be resolved by the spreading of the Greek education on women as well by the founding of schools for females. 52 Thus, until 1904 schools for females were in operation at Sparti, at Attaleia, at Burdur and at Alayia, besides some other ones inside the settlements with Greek-speaking population. 53 A distinctive case for the importance that was given to the education of the Turkish-speaking girls forms the transfer of sheltering of the school for girls of Attaleia to the newly built and splendid Elikoniades mansion in 1905, by the actions of the metropolitan Gerasimos Tantalides, whereas for the general promotion of the education in the city a library was founded. 54 Besides the language issue, the Turkish-speaking populations generally were more vulnerable on the proselytizing activities of the Protestant missionaries that constituted at that time one of the biggest problems the authorities of the Orthodox Church were facing. Within the area of jurisdiction of the metropolitan of Pisidia this problem was not intense, because the Armenian element, within which Protestantism was mainly spread and through which the proselytizers were acting, was very weak. Only one case of proselytizing action is known, when an Armenian settled in Burdur since 1883 attracted to Protestanism some of the Armenians and Orthodox of the town; in the case of the latter ones they were persons who for personal reasons were disappointed by the local ecclesiastical authorities. 55 Besides the special needs of the Turkish-speaking populations, the second biggest issue that due to special local situations the metropolis of Pisidia was facing had something to do with the handling of the subjects related to the Kastelorizians and their mainland settlements in Lycia (Phoinikas, Kalamaki, Myra, Antiphellos), which were also included within its area of jurisdiction. Constituting a body of people, different in relation to their spoken language and their historical formation, from the rest of the population depended on the metropolis of Pisidia, the Kastelorizians and their settlers in Lycia had been developed to an important factor of the diocese s issues. With their strength due to their dynamic of population, as Kastelorizo itself was registered in the Greek statistics of with inhabitants out of a total of for the whole diocese of Pisidia, constituting its biggest community, yet due to political Δημιουργήθηκε στις 12/1/2017 Σελίδα 8/15

9 factors as well, by exercising an important influence on their mainland colonies for emotional, as well as economical reasons, they were trying to keep an autonomous attitude towards the metropolitan of Pisidia. This attitude of autonomy is indebted to psychological factors as well, because it is natural that as islanders they were feeling removed from the mainland area, and to the fact that after the Ottoman reformations and the formation of provincial councils, their island was subjected to the vilayet of the islands of the Aegean. Thus, their administrative dependency was not identical to the ecclesiastical one and the Kastelorizians did not have the possibility of being represented by their metropolitan in the provincial administration, so they did not have any expectations from him. Examples of tensions in the relations between the community of Kastelorizians and the metropolitan of Pisidia are attested during the year 1869, when the community of Kastelorizo appeared not to have paid the bishopric revenue to the metropolitan, 56 mainly, however, because of the successful effort of the dimogerontia (eldership) of Kastelorizo until 1876 to keep the monastery of Saint Nicholas of Myra under its supervision, being at times in dispute with the metropolitan of Pisidia for that reason, as in the case of the Russian intervention for the control of the monastery between 1856 and 1876 that ended in proclaiming the monastery as stauropegiako. 57 This intense development of the Greek Orthodox element abruptly stopped in the area of the diocese of Pisidia, as well as in the whole of Asia Minor, due to the warlike situation that endured since 1914 and thereafter, and due to the policy of ethnic cleansings that followed. As the orthodox population of the region was living ever since under the conditions of confinement and deportations, the main role of the Church became the relief of the population and the intervention towards the authorities for its safety. Under these circumstances, the metropolitan Gerasimos Tantalides stayed in the area of his diocese until 1919, when he was called at Constantinople as a synodical, only to resign at the end from the metropolitan dignity in The metropolitan was replaced on the spot by the titoularian bishop of Patara Meletios, who soon was deported by the Kemal s authorities, something that did not bother the election of the last metropolitan of Pisidia after the resignation of Gerasimos. In the mean time, the position of the Christians in the region was getting seriously worst because of the activity of cete and the deportation of the male population of the region, an event that made the effort of the Church for the population s relief even more essential. Within the framework of this effort particularly distinguished is the priest and bishopric commissioner of Sparta Joachim Pesmatzoglou, who managed to achieve the safe transfer of the remaining population of Sparta and the rest of Pisidia, around women and children, to Attaleia in order to depart for Greece Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Vienna 1860), n. XVII, pp , n ΧΧΙ, pp Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Βιέννη 1860), n. LV, pp. 98, 99, n. LVII, pp. 102, 105, 109, n. LVIII, p. 111, n. LXIII, pp. 132, 135, n. LXIX, p. 149, n. LXX, pp. 151, 157, n. LXXIII, p. 164, n. LXXVII, p. 178, n. LXXXIX, p. 193, n. XC, p. 195, n. CVI, pp Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Vienna 1860), n. CVIΙΙ, pp Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Vienna 1860), n. CVIΙΙ, p Vryones believes that it is about Sozopolis of Pisidia (Uluborlu), an old bishopric of the metropolis of Pisidia. See Βρυώνης, Σ., Η Παρακμή του Μεσαιωνικού Ελληνισμού στη Μικρά Ασία και η Διαδικασία του Εξισλαμισμού (11ος - 15ος αιώνας) (Athens 1996), p This estimation is not accepted here, because it is all the more unbelievable the bishopric of Pisidia to exist in the 14th century (in an epoch that the feeling of that seat was problematic, even the one of the metropolitan). It is more reasonable to assume that the above-mentioned bishop of Sozopolis is the one of the homonymous city in Bulgaria. 5. Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Vienna 1860), n. CCLIII, p. 509, n. CCLIV, p Mistheia, that are mentioned during the Modern period as a village depended on the metropolis of Iconium, maintained a pure Orthodox population during the whole period of the Turkish occupation. See Αναγνωστοπούλου, Σ., Μικρά Ασία, 19ος αι : Οι Ελληνορθόδοξες Κοινότητες από το Μιλλέτ των Ρωμιών στο Ελληνικό Έθνος (Athens 1997), pp. 229, Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Vienna 1860), n. ΧΙΧ, pp , n. XXXII, p. 58. Δημιουργήθηκε στις 12/1/2017 Σελίδα 9/15

10 7. Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Vienna 1860), n. ΧΧΧΙ, p. 57, n. XXV, p. 45, n. XXVII, p Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Vienna 1860), n. CXCVII, p. 454, n. CCII, p. 456, n. CCIII, p. 459, n. CCV, p. 461, n. CCXX, p. 476, n. CCXXI, p. 477, n. CCXXVIII, p. 488, v. ΙΙ, n. CCCLX, p. 48, n. CCCLXI, p. 51, n. CCCCLI, p Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. ΙΙ (Vienna 1862), n. CCCXCVIII, pp , n. CCCCLI, pp Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. ΙΙ (Vienna 1862), n. CCCLXXXVIII, p , n. CCCLXXXIX, pp , n. CCCCII, p. 115, n. CCCCLX, pp , n. DXIII, pp , n. DXVII, pp Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. ΙΙ (Vienna 1862), n. DLXXIV, pp Γαλάνης, Ε., Η Πέργη της Παμφυλίας: συμβολή στην πολιτική και εκκλησιαστική ιστορία της αρχαίας πόλεως (Thessaloniki 1983), p Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Vienna 1860), n. XVII, pp , n. XXI, pp , n. XXXII, p Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Vienna 1860), n. LXXXI, pp , n. XCIX, p. 227, n. CVI, p Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Vienna 1860), n. CLXXV, pp , n. CLXXVI, pp Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Vienna 1860), n. CLXVI, p Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Vienna 1860), n. CVIII, pp Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Vienna 1860), n. CCXII, p. 471, n. CCIX, p. 511, n. CCCXXV, pp. 587, Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. ΙΙ (Vienna 1862), n. DXIII, pp , n. DXVII, pp , n. DXVIII, pp. 287, 291, n. DLXXIV, pp Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Vienna 1860), n. XXXI, p Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Vienna 1860), n. XLI, p. 76, n. XLV, p Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Vienna 1860), n. XLII, pp Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Vienna 1860), n. XLII, pp Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. ΙΙ (Vienna 1862), n. CCCLIII, pp. 38, 39 The metropoleis of Perge and Syllaion had been fused already by the beginnings of the 9th century, with Syllaion as the seat of the unified metropolis, see Γαλάνης, Ε., ibd., pp Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. Ι (Vienna 1860), n. CLXXVIII, p Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. ΙΙ (Vienna 1862), n. CCCLXXXIV, p. 89, n. CCCLXXXVIII, pp , n. CCCLXXXIX, pp Δημιουργήθηκε στις 12/1/2017 Σελίδα 10/15

11 27. Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. ΙΙ (Vienna 1862), n. CCCLIII, pp. 38, Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. ΙΙ (Vienna 1862), n. CCCLXXXVIII, pp , n. CCCLXXXIX, pp It was about the settlements of Phoinikas, Stena, Orykantos and Bathys Potamos. 29. Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. ΙΙ (Vienna 1862), n. CCCCII, p. 115, n. CCCCIII, p. 115, n. CCCCIV, pp. 127, 129, n. CCCCV, p. 130, n. CCCCVI, p Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. ΙΙ (Vienna 1862), n. CCCCLX, pp Miklosich, F. - Müller, J., Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi, sacra et profana, v. ΙΙ (Vienna 1862), n. DXIII, pp , n. DXVII, pp , n. DXVIII, pp. 287, 291, n. DLXXIV, pp Ζαχαριάδου, Ε., Δέκα Τουρκικά Έγγραφα για την Μεγάλη Εκκλησία ( ) (Athens 1996), pp. 115, 157, Ζαχαριάδου, Ε., Δέκα Τουρκικά Έγγραφα για την Μεγάλη Εκκλησία ( ) (Athens 1996), pp Γαλάνης, Ε., Η Πέργη της Παμφυλίας: συμβολή στην πολιτική και εκκλησιαστική ιστορία της αρχαίας πόλεως (Thessaloniki 1983), p Σάθας, Κ.Ν., «Περίληψις Πατριαρχικών Εγγράφων ( )», Μεσαιωνική Βιβλιοθήκη Γ' (Venice 1872), pp. 583, 591, 595 Γαλάνης, Ε., Η Πέργη της Παμφυλίας: συμβολή στην πολιτική και εκκλησιαστική ιστορία της αρχαίας πόλεως (Thessaloniki 1983), p Αποστολόπουλος, Δ.Γ. - Μιχαηλάρης, Π.Δ., Η Νομική Συναγωγή του Δοσιθέου, μία Πηγή και ένα Τεκμήριο (Athens 1987), p Σάθας, Κ.Ν., «Περίληψις Πατριαρχικών Εγγράφων ( )», Μεσαιωνική Βιβλιοθήκη Γ' (Venice 1872), p Αποστολόπουλος, Δ.Γ. - Μιχαηλάρης, Π.Δ., Η Νομική Συναγωγή του Δοσιθέου, μία Πηγή και ένα Τεκμήριο (Athens 1987), pp. 349, It's about the villages Νιτήρι, Πέρματα και Μόνος. 37. Σάθας, Κ.Ν., «Περίληψις Πατριαρχικών Εγγράφων ( )», Μεσαιωνική Βιβλιοθήκη Γʹ (Venice 1872), pp. 577, 580. Γεδεών, Μ., Πατριαρχικαί Εφημερίδες: Ειδήσεις εκ της Ημετέρας Εκκλησιαστικής Ιστορίας Α (Athens 1936), p. 106 Γαλάνης, Ε., Η Πέργη της Παμφυλίας: συμβολή στην πολιτική και εκκλησιαστική ιστορία της αρχαίας πόλεως (Thessaloniki 1983), p Αποστολόπουλος, Δ.Γ. Μιχαηλάρης, Π.Δ., Η Νομική Συναγωγή του Δοσιθέου, μία Πηγή και ένα Τεκμήριο (Athens 1987), pp. 192, 290. In an earlier period as titoularian metropolitans of Myra had been elected Matthew II ( ), Jeremiah I Boris ( ) and Zechariah (before 1642) and that of Sedes, Jacob (until 1637), Kallinikos (1637 and thereafter) and Ierotheos (before 1709). Σάθας, ibd, pp. 554, 569, 572, 573 Γεδεών, ibd., pp. 80, 99, 101. Αποστολόπουλος, Δ.Γ. Μιχαηλάρης, Π.Δ., ibd, pp. 172, , , 417, 418. Δελικάνης, Κ., Τα εν τοις Κώδιξι του Πατριαρχικού Αρχειοφυλακείου Σωζόμενα Επίσημα Έγγραφα τα Αφορώντα εις τας Σχέσεις του Οικουμενικού Πατριαρχείου προς τας Εκκλησίας Αλεξανδρείας, Αντιοχείας, Ιεροσολύμων και Κύπρου ( ) (Constantinople 1904). 38. Σάθας, Κ.Ν., «Περίληψις Πατριαρχικών Εγγράφων ( )», Μεσαιωνική Βιβλιοθήκη, τομ. Γ' (Venice 1872) p Αποστολόπουλος, Δ.Γ. - Μιχαηλάρης, Π.Δ., Η Νομική Συναγωγή του Δοσιθέου, μία Πηγή και ένα Τεκμήριο (Athens 1987) pp It is known that in 1729 Libisi and Kastelorizo constituted a patriarchal exarchate that was assigned to the megas chartophylax of the Patriarchate. The same is repeated for an undefined period of time before 1785, when Myra, which in the mean time had already been colonized and the monastery of Saint Nicholas had been activated again, Libisi and Kastelorizo were assigned to Athanasios Komnenos Ypsilantis, well known from his chronography. With the proclamation of these regions as archbishopric in 1785, Komnenos Ypsilantis was compensated, receiving the amount of a thousand grosia paid by the archbishop John himself. Κομνηνός Υψηλάντης, Αθ., Τα Μετά την Άλωσιν ( ) (Constantinople 1870) pp Γεδεών, Μ.Ι., «Αποσημείωμα περί των Αρχιερέων Πισιδείας», Εκκλησιαστική Αλήθεια 10 (1890) p. 46. Γεδεών, Μ.Ι., «Εξαρχίαι Πατριαρχικαί προ 180 ετών», Εκκλησιαστική Αλήθεια 32 (1912) p. 68. Κονόρτας, Π., Οθωμανικές Θεωρήσεις για το Οικουμενικό Πατριαρχείο: Βεράτια για τους Προκαθήμενους της Μεγάλης Εκκλησίας (17ος αρχές 20ου αιώνα) (Athens 1998) pp Σάθας, Κ.Ν., «Περίληψις Πατριαρχικών Εγγράφων ( )», Μεσαιώνικη Βιβλιοθήκη Γ' (Venice 1872), p Δημιουργήθηκε στις 12/1/2017 Σελίδα 11/15