The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-06

GDhhAHAOh VI NAOhbANa
intermineled with them.
At first sight, the capture Of Constantfnopls
in 1453 by Mahomet II. would seem to have
crushed the last remnant Of Greek nationality.
Already the barbarian invasions had, for centu
ries. been driving gradually what survived OF
Hellenic culture within the walls of the capital.
The collapse, however. Of the last bulwark OF
the ancient civilization produced q result other
than had been expected; for It was tho dispersal
of the Greek scholars which followed the fall OF
Constsntinople that led directly TO the great re-
vival OF Hellenism which is known to us as the
Renaissance; q movement destined, In modern
times. to react, through literary leaders, on
the Hellenes themselves. For the time, indeed,
tho last cord that bound the Greeks TO the
classical traditions seemed to have been
snapped. They survived, indeed. as q people,
yet the tic which united them was no longer tho
memory Of their ancient greatness. but that OF
their common religion. an influence, however,
all the stronger because their conquerors wero
of an alien faith. In most of the other parts of
Europe tho barbarian invaders had been con-
verted to tho faith Of tho nations they con-
oucred. and had gradually intermingled with
the subject populations go as to produce nation
alities of an entirely now type. Tho Mohamme-
dan conquerors, on the other hand. disdaining
to mix with the rdyahs, or subject races. have.
by their very exclusiveness. served to maintain
the national characteristics of tho Christian
peoples they s%ubdued, except, of course, in those
instances where they succeeded in imposing their
own faith upon the conquered. Tho tie then,
which, after l453. bound together the scattered
Greek communities, was the organization Of
the Orthodox Church. The Sultans were glad
to employ an instrument of government which
they found ~rcady-msde to their hand. and 1t was
by their authority that the Patriarch Of Constan-
tinople displaced the Byzantine Cesar as official
head of the Greek-Christian subjects of the
1.orto. Himself, by the exigencies of his posi-
Ton, the nero creature of tho Sultan, depend
ont on the whims and ~caprices of court favor
ties. and bound to acquire and maintain his po-
sition by lavish brides, tho Patriarch, neverthe-
less, exercised over tho Christian sub
jects of tho Porto an immense influence,
and was invested by tho policy OF
tho Sultan with great temporal as we'll as
spiritual power. What the Patriarch was to
tho whole Greek world the Bishop was to his
own diocese, to wit, tho embodiment, at once,
of spiritual and temporal, authority. To him
were brought suits by Christians for settle
ment; and even Mussulmans would occasionally.
in disputes with Christians, prefer Episcopal
arbitration to tho dilatory processes of the
Cadi's court. 1t was, however. through the
lower clergy that the organization Of the Ortho-
dox Church was most intimately bound up with
II llo VI tno peOpies lOT, rs mhrTleu Hen,
the parish priests shared to the full in the
feelings and aspirations of their flocks,
from whom, though set apart by the
sanctity of their office. they were hardly
distinguished by culture or attainments.
just as in tho West. then, the idea of i'm
perial unity had been preserved all through tho
troubled period of the barbarian invasion by the
Church Of Rome, so. throughout the Ottoman
dominions. the theocratic basis of Greek unity
had been deliberately maintained by the policy
of the Ottoman conquerors. The creation or
federation Of such an imperium in imperio,
though to far-sighted Moslems it may we'll have
seemed Of doubtful wisdom, worked we'll enough
from the Sultan's point of view so long as the
Patriarch remained completely at his mercy.
The danger of the system became apparent
when, with the decay Of the Ottoman Empire,
tho Christian subjects Of the Sultan began to
look abroad for support, and the Patriarch of
Constantinople could reckon upon the assistance
of q foreign power.
The Greek, in fine. after tho Ottoman con-
quest, became attached to his religion by the
double tie of faith and national sentiment. To
his religion and to the head of his religion alone
did he ever recognize that no owed allegiance;
no element of loyalty ever entered into his
relations with the Sultan. who ruled him.
and rules him. by force alone. As soon,
then. as tho rigor of Turkish tyranny
was r~elapsed. no obligation lay upon the
rdydh to obey q government which could no
longer enforce its claims. 1t Is a mistake to sup
pose that 1t was the intolerable tyranny of
the Porto which forced the Greeks into re-
bellion. Experience proves that people will bear
without murmuring the most crushing burden;
and 1t is only when the load is lightened that
the oppressed feels the energy to turn upon the
oppressor. 1t was the conscientious efforts at
reform Of the government OF Louis XVI. which
directly produced the French Revolution. 1t
was the lessening pressure of Turkish rule and
the growing prosperity of the Greek population
that rendered tho Hellenic revolt possible and
inevitable.