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A long excerpt from an article published April 9, 1994, inTheTampa Tribune
Copyright (1994) & written byAnastasiaStanmeyer
ISTANBUL, Turkey -- His footsteps echo loudly in the empty, expansivehallway. Images of
professors and pupils emerge from the shadows as the monk walks in solitude.
To Father Isaias Simonopetritis, the seminary on the Turkish island ofHeybeliada near
Istanbul never closed. Yet he knows it has, as he paces where leadersof the Eastern Orthodox
Church once were groomed.
"It's necessary to have a continuance. Somebody must be a line," says Simonopetritis,the
theological school's keeper. "What has been handed to us has been so precious."
"I do get sometimes very frustrated. We're shackled. We can't do what wewant."
The Eastern Orthodox faith -- encompassing Greek, Russian, Romanian andother ethnic
groups -- was born more than 1,600 years ago in Istanbul. The seat of thereligion remains there,
but its future is unclear in the overwhelmingly Muslim country, where theIslamic religion
permeates everyday life.
Ethnic cleansing gradually has pushed out most Eastern Orthodox, who havegiven up on
their homeland amid government restrictions and fundamentalist attacks.Where once hundreds
of thousands of Greek Orthodox lived, no more than 5,000 remain.
The most apparent restriction is the closing of the theological school,the greatest threat to the
Eastern Orthodox faith and its leadership. The Turkish governmentshut the 150-year-old
seminary in 1971, when it decided religious and ethnic minoritiescouldn't run universities or
other institutions of higher learning.
"This is something which is really impermissible," says Archbishop Iakovos,spiritual leader of
the Eastern Orthodox faith in North and South America. "Education cannotbe limited.
Religion must be free to exercise its mission. This threat lies there undisturbed,
and no one cares."
In December, the World Council of Churches sent a letter to the prime ministerof Turkey,
asking that the seminary function again. The government hasn't responded.
Unsuccessful appeals to reopen the school leave in question the futureof the Ecumenical
Patriarchate in Istanbul, where the Eastern Orthodox Church officiallysettled in 325 A.D. and
where the spiritual headquarters of 300 million faithful remains.
In the past year, there have been other indications that this religionis unwelcome in Turkey.
Local elections on March 27 indicate that Muslim fundamentalists are gainingstrength and
popularity. The (Islamist) Welfare Party won 22 mayoral races out of 61cities across Turkey,
including Istanbul and the capital, Ankara. The 22 victories were twiceas many as the nearest
total for any other party.
Following the elections, [....] [a] few Molotov cocktails [..] wereplanted in the Ecumenical
Patriarchate compound, nestled within a concentration of Muslim extremists.At least one bomb
went off, but no one was hurt, according to reports. Someone also wrote"Down With
Christians/Islamic Up" outside the Patriarchate's gate.
Vandals last year desecrated a cemetery where 10,000 Greeks were buried,smashing marble
tombs and scattering the remains of five corpses.
And a homemade bomb crashed through the window of one Greek school; atanother, some
Greeks guarded the front of the building to keep a bulldozer from demolishingit.
Greeks weren't always treated this way. As late as 1920, there were morethan 100,000 Greeks
in what is now called Istanbul. As political conflicts arose between Turkeyand Greece, the
numbers dropped drastically. By 1970, that number dwindled to 30,000.
Official counts show 5,000 Greeks in Turkey now, but some say the numberis perhaps half
that. Ninety-eight percent of the 59.6 million people in Turkey areMuslim.
"There's still that Turkish or Muslim element that wants all minoritiesto leave the land," says
Deacon Tarasios Antonopoulos, 37, at the Patriarchate. "It's a systematicway to eliminate
minorities. There's no security for tomorrow."
Antonopoulos' deep faith took him from Texas to Turkey three years agoto learn the roots of
his religion. He leaves the country every three months to renew his passportbecause it's difficult
for Greeks to become citizens.
"We just want to be left alone, with speech, education and religious freedom,"he says. "That
all might be written in the constitution, but it's not practiced."
A LONG TRADITION
The history of Istanbul extends long before the time of Jesus Christ. Thecity of Byzantium--
later named Constantinople, then Istanbul -- was built by Greeks in 657B.C. After the fall
of Rome in the fifth century, Constantinople was the capital of theByzantine Empire, the
"New Rome," for 1,000 years. Constantine the Great was the firstChristian ruler, making the
religion legal.
The city fell in 1453 to the Ottoman Turks, who ruled a vast empire formore than 400 years.
After Turkey's defeat in World War I, the Republic of Turkey was declaredin October 1923.
Istanbul, stretching across 98 square miles, straddles both sides of theBosporus strait, which
separates Europe from Asia. Once the country's capital before the modernrepublic was
established, Istanbul remains the largest Turkish city where manyremaining Greeks live.
Some Byzantine-style Eastern Orthodox churches still stand in Istanbul,many used as mosques
or museums. Where once hundreds of Greek Orthodox priests served, only50 are left in Turkey,
most older than 60.
George Jahos has been a caretaker for 12 years at a smaller church in downtownIstanbul, where
nine people attend Sunday services. Old icons adorn the 114-year-old holyplace, where a faint
scent of incense hangs near the altar. "Here in Turkey, we are finished,"says Jahos, 60.
In nearby Fener, a section of Istanbul, is the Ecumenical Patriarchate,a compound behind
concrete walls and iron gates that is the center of the Eastern OrthodoxChurch. Anyone serving
there, including the patriarch, must be a Turkish citizen.
"We are accustomed to living in more or less severe situations," says EcumenicalPatriarch
Bartholomew.
Greeks and other minorities still encounter difficulties in day-to-daydealings with government
employees. But in the past few years, top Turkish officials have changedtheir attitude toward
the Patriarchate because they want the country to be part of the European[Union] and want to
show that minorities are treated well, Bartholomew speculates. Governmentofficials often greet
him at airports and offer him special luncheons.
"The Turkish government is sensitive to accusations that it is lettingfundamentalists gain more
power in Turkey," says Iakovos, 82, who was born on a Turkish island andnow lives in New
York.
Bartholomew, 53, who became the spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodoxreligion in October
1991, says Eastern Orthodox hierarchs must play a visible role internationally.
The world is opening, such as the former Soviet Union, where most Christiansare Russian
Orthodox. In the United States alone, there are about 5 million EasternOrthodox followers.
As the faith is more well-known, there could be greater global awarenessof the Greek Orthodox
situation in Turkey, adds Bartholomew.
Although many Greeks in Turkey say they have no future there, Bartholomewand other high
priests hope the religion can remain strong in its homeland.
"We will not give even one inch of our history," says Iakovos. "If Godwills that we are
eradicated from there, it will be done -- but not because the Turks didit."
Many Greeks in Turkey fear speaking out. Still, they strive for religiousfreedom, says Iakovos.
He and other high Orthodox priests strongly believe that the theologicalschool must reopen to
maintain centuries-old traditions.
The Monastery of the Holy Trinity with the Theological School of Halki-- the [...] Greek
name of the island of Heybeliada -- rests on a hill's summit in thecenter of the Princes Islands.
The monastery was established more than 1,180 years ago and was expandedin 1844 to
accommodate the theological school. It was an institution where EasternOrthodox leaders
attended classes. Nearly 2,000 students graduated from there, with 120students in the school at
any one time.
For the past 23 years, candidates have been sent to the University of Salonikain Greece. Most
stay there after completing their studies, contributing to a shortage ofOrthodox clergy in
Turkey.
"It's not easy to find candidates to ordain. These are negative consequencesof the elimination
of our people," Bartholomew says, sitting at his desk in Istanbul.
A small icon of Jesus hangs from a heavy chain around his neck. A paintingof modern Turkey's
founder -- Mustafa Kemal Atatürk -- hangs on a nearby wall.
In the background, daily Muslim religious chanting carries over loudspeakers.
"It is a problem to see the diminution of our flock, which creates practicalproblems,"
Bartholomew says. "We put our future in the hands of our Lord. We havefull confidence of our
divine providence."
FULFILLING A DREAM
Eastern Orthodox patriarchs and archbishops, including Bartholomew, attendedthe theological
school, with 55,000 volumes of Byzantine manuscripts and books, somedating to the
1500s. "Each book has a history, a past," seminary caretaker Simonopetritissays, lightly
touching a book dated 1562. He reads aloud in Latin from the worn,brown pages. The next
generation of Eastern Orthodox leaders, he says, won't come from a commonpool of clergy.
"There has to be a central powerhouse," says Simonopetritis, 45. "It securessolidarity and
oneness of mind, with the hierarchs from here."
He has lived on the island for nearly four years. Heybeliada, in the MarmaraSea, is less than an
hour's boat ride from Istanbul.
Villas, small peaks, pine-covered slopes, horse-drawn carriages and outdoormarketplaces
predominate. About 60 Greeks live on the densely populated island. Onlythe military and
police are allowed cars. Most people walk.
Simonopetritis, born in Wimbledon, England, was assigned to the seminaryby the Patriarchate.
He keeps the place alive, poring over ancient writings and directing visitors.He speaks Turkish,
Russian, Greek and English.
"It's my daydream, the school being reopened and giving good fruits tothe church," he says. So
he waits, patiently. Everything is perfectly maintained and in place,down to the chalk for the
blackboard.
"We need fresh blood in the body of our church," Bartholomew says. "Wecannot be isolated
anymore."
"Dwindling, Elderly and Frightened?"
The Greek Minority in Turkey
Revisited
AIMAthens, January 31, 2000
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