The Greeks, ancient and modern--Origin of the modern
Greeks--Mohammed the Conqueror and the Greeks--The Greeks under
Selim I--The rise of the Phanariot Greeks--The work of the Orthodox
Church--The Greek literary revival--The trade of the Greeks--The
revival of Hellenism--The first Pan-Hellenic rising--The revolt of
the Islands--Ali Pasha's assistance--Massacres--The battle of
Navarino--The last war between Greece and Turkey--Joachim III--The
story of the Patriarchate--The funeral of His Holiness Joachim
III--The Greeks in the last war--A legend of Balukli.
When Mohammed II completed the conquest of the Eastern Empire by the
capture of Constantinople he made himself master of a large population,
both in the City and the former Empire of old Byzantium, which had for
some time been considered Greek, and which was subsequently called
Greek. This classification was religious from the Turkish point of view,
from that of the Greeks themselves it became racial as time went on. To
the conquering Moslem all those were Greeks who belonged to the Orthodox
Church; the Greeks, however, insisted on their descent from the historic
people who had made their country famous before the days of the Romans
even, the Hellenes, whose literature they adopted, whose art they basely
imitated, and with whose high attributes they consider themselves
endowed.
This people, the classic Greeks, the Hellenes, had inhabited the
Peloponese Peninsula from those dark ages before recorded history, and
even in prehistoric times had occupied the islands between Greece and
Asia Minor. No doubt the Hellenes moved down from the plains of Central
Europe, the cradle of the Aryan race, in successive waves, being urged
forward by seething masses of young nations behind them. We have some
indications as to what manner of men they were in the early works of art
of the sixth century B.C., which tend to show that these ancient
immigrants were large, blue-eyed, fair-haired men. Anthropologists
maintain after studying the skulls of ancient Greeks that these were
dolichocephalic, long-headed, which tends further to the conclusion that
the first invaders of this peninsula were akin to the races of Northern
Europe. The first immigrants were probably the Arcadians, who spread
from the coasts to the islands and populated Crete, Rhodes, and Cyprus.
They were followed by the Doric tribe, kinsmen who came from Thrace, who
probably brought the first immigrants to submission and gradually
absorbed them, and such of the aboriginals, the Ionians, who did not
migrate to Asia Minor. Within the range of history another people came
down from the north to influence the Peloponese, the Macedonians. Their
origin is uncertain, but what traces are left of their old language, a
name here and there, suggests that they were akin to the Illyrians, had
adopted Greek culture, and were ruled by princes who wished to be
considered pure Greeks. It would seem, therefore, that the ancient
Hellenes were a mixture of various northern Aryan races and aboriginal
inhabitants, Illyrians, Ionians, whose origin forms a yet unsolved
historical problem. The Peloponese was, as it were, a pier, standing out
into the Mediterranean Sea, and from which northern ideas extended and
spread southward to Africa, eastward over the Archipelago to Asia. The
subtle attraction of an outlet must have acted on the subconsciousness
of other northern races, in that the Hellenes, far from feeling secure
in their peninsula, were constantly exposed to the visits of strange
barbaric visitors whenever "Wanderlust" moved the tribes of Central
Europe. Of course, Romans left their impress, and so did wandering
Goths, but strongest of all was the influence of the Slavs, and they so
seriously affected the Peloponese that at one time it was known as
Slavinia.
To all this came an Albanian invasion in the thirteenth century, so that
the Greeks of to-day cannot lay claim to anything more than spiritual
descent from the ancient Hellenes. The type has changed completely from
that of the traditional Greek: he was tall, fair-haired, and
long-headed; the Greek of to-day is of medium height, they have not ten
per cent of fair-haired people amongst them, and they are
brachycephalic, like the Slavs. Other Slav influences may be traced in
the language, in the names of places and rivers. The Hellenes of to-day
may be spiritual children of Hellas, physically they are certainly the
result of a mixing of races--Illyrian, Ionian, Hellenes, Latins, Goths,
Slavs of various tribes, Vlachs, Albanians, and a dash contributed by
the pious Crusaders of Western Europe. These Greeks are widely
distributed over the Balkan Peninsula, throughout the Turkish Empire,
and over the Archipelago, and are considered a nation on the basis of an
assertion made by M. Kapodistrias, the first President of the new
Hellenic State. When asked, Who are the Greeks? he answered: "The Greek
nation consists of the people who, since the conquest of Constantinople,
have never ceased to profess adherence to the Orthodox Church, to speak
the language of their fathers, and who have remained under the
jurisdiction, both spiritual and temporal, of their Church, wherever
they might live in the Turkish Empire." This is, of course, a very
inaccurate description, but at least serves to illustrate Greek
pretensions.
The Greeks reckon the total of their nationals in the Balkan Peninsula
at roughly eight millions, but I doubt whether they number more than
five millions, for the Helenophils who have been making propaganda for
years among the Slavs in Macedonia are much inclined to count in those
converts, many of whose sons, by the way, have been won back by the
Slavs and now call themselves Serbs or Bulgars, according to the
nationality of their teachers. About two millions of these five make up
the population of the Kingdom of Greece, the remainder are scattered
about in the other Balkan States. The majority are to be found in Turkey
and along the coasts from Saloniki to Varna, between two and three
hundred thousand live in Constantinople and by the shores of the
Bosphorus, in fact, they are to be found in all the important towns, not
only of Turkey in Europe and Asia Minor, but also in Bulgaria and
Russia. No doubt the preference for town life dates from the days of
barbarian invasions. The Greeks are chiefly engaged in trade and
business, though many are fishermen employed in the coasting trade.
Mohammed II, on his triumphal entry into Constantinople, found a smaller
population than might have been expected from a large and important
city. Many of the Greeks had fled, not a few had been massacred, and it
took some skill and statecraft to induce the fugitives to return. This
Mohammed succeeded in doing by reinstating the Greek Patriarch with
great and solemn ceremony, and by promising perfect religious freedom to
the Greek community. The Greeks had always devoted more attention to the
affairs of their Church than to outside matters of state (which fact
helped to ruin the Eastern Empire), and the Sultan encouraged this
spirit. He increased the importance of the Greek community in the
capital by numerous concessions, such as ranking the Patriarch among the
Viziers of State, giving him temporal control over his flock in matters
of marriage, divorce, inheritance, management of schools, in which he
was assisted by officials of the Church with such high-sounding names as
Logothete, Grand Treasurer, Chatophylax. Mohammed could afford to
strengthen the Greek element in Constantinople as it was always under
his eyes; in the country he endeavoured to break what remained by
importing fifteen thousand Greeks from the land to the capital as
settlers. The Turks were not much interested in trade, a pursuit that
does not appeal to warriors, so business was left to the Greeks, and
both parties were sufficiently satisfied to get on very well together at
first.
There was some discontent in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
and Selim I had an idea that a massacre might do good; however, he was
dissuaded by the Mufti. About this time it was decided to take no more
Greek children for the ranks of the Janissaries; the method formerly
used kept the provincial Greeks in order by means of their own progeny
converted to Islam and unrelenting foes to Christianity, and no more
Greeks joined the Army of Turkey because none others than Moslems were
allowed to serve in it. Christians might, however, become Armatoles, a
kind of mounted gendarmes which the communities raised and kept at their
own expense, as the Turk has never seen the necessity of securing any
one's life or fortune, and used what police force there was to nose out
conspiracies and such matters of interest. Brigandage, if committed by
Moslems upon Christians, was not looked upon as a serious crime, and
went unpunished until Western nations began to interfere in Turkish
affairs. The Greeks in the country therefore kept their own
gendarmerie, who, after the example of the Turkish zaptiehs, looked with
no unfriendly eye on the reprisals committed by the Klephts, outlaws and
brigands of their own race.
On the whole the Greeks had quite a bearable time under Turkish rule,
especially in the capital, where their importance increased
considerably. In the course of time a colony of patricians grew up
around the Phanar, much in the same neighbourhood inhabited by those
connected with the Byzantine Court before the conquest. These patricians
were not descended from nobles of the former Empire, but came from
families of merchants who had settled in Constantinople around the
residency of the Patriarch.
When the military power of the Osmanli declined and they were obliged to
use treaties where formerly threats had served their purpose, the
Sublime Porte felt a need for trained intellects to carry on intricate
negotiations, especially as the Turks were much too indolent to learn a
foreign language. So Jews and renegades were called in as interpreters,
and in course of time Greeks discovered a suitable field for their
abilities in the welter of Turkish foreign affairs. The Turks were
equally sensible to the uses of intellectual, though generally servile,
Phanariots, and employed them in ever-increasing numbers and extended
their responsibilities. A Greek, Panayoti, was made dragoman to the
Porte by Achmet Kiüprilü; another Greek, Mavrocordato, signed the Treaty
of Carlowitz as Turkish plenipotentiary; and so by degrees Greeks came
into the public service of the Ottoman Empire. Phanariots rose to yet
higher honours when at the beginning of the eighteenth century Turkey
had reason to distrust the nationalist parties in Wallachia and
Moldavia. Hospodars were sent from Constantinople to those provinces,
and many of these were of Greek Phanariot families, introducing into
Roumania names well known there to-day: Mavrocordato, Soutza, Ypsilanti,
Ghika.
The Orthodox Church was very active, especially in Macedonia, and it is
thanks to her that the members of the Slav race in that province have
not lost every trace of their nationality, every vestige of their faith
during those long centuries when Servia groaned under the iron heel of
Sultans passing through triumphant, and Bulgaria had ceased to be. That
Christianity was kept alive in Servia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and that any
culture remained in those countries after their conquest by the Turks,
is due to the insistence with which the Patriarchate at Constantinople
pursued its work of maintaining schools, distributing literature, etc.,
in those districts. True, their tendency and probably their aim was to
Hellenize Serbs and Bulgarians. Moreover, they would have succeeded had
not those nationalities, which the Orthodox Church had kept alive, felt
their own strength and in their turn insisted on a line of their own.
Certainly for many generations, and until within the memory of man,
Bulgars and Serbs in Macedonia have described themselves as Greeks.
This propaganda continued unchecked so long as the Phanariots did not
lay themselves open to the suspicion of Hellenism. Turkish rule was
strict, often unjust, but the Turk had not come to realize that the
subject races could make their way out of the mire into which Islam's
conquests had thrust them.
The literary spirit of the Greeks had been all but killed by the Moslem
conquest of their capital, and when it revived at last spent its
energies in theological controversy for several centuries. But by
degrees colleges were started, theatres opened, and the world beyond the
confines of the Turkish Empire was called in to witness the Greek
revival by assiduous Pan-Hellenic agencies, clubs, and societies in
Vienna, Bucharest, Corfu. This revival was strongest, at least in its
literary efforts, in the middle of the eighteenth century, towards the
end of that, and at the beginning of the nineteenth century. As no
revival can hold its head up without a poet or two, the Pan-Hellenes
raised two, Rhigas and Coreas, poets and patriots who found it
convenient to sing their inspired song some distance from home, for
exile is always the most suitable setting for genius of that order, and
is, moreover, so much safer. Unhappily this did not apply to Rhigas, who
had settled somewhere in Austria; the Government of that country handed
him over to the Turkish authorities, who executed him at Belgrade. His
death inspired other poets to further efforts of the patriotic order, so
all was not yet lost.
The commercial genius of the Greeks ever stood them in good stead; they
defied the competition of others, and left even Jews and Armenians far
behind. This quality led to their being preferred for the consular
service of the Ottoman Empire. They managed to make considerable profits
out of the treaty between Russia and Turkey in 1774, and soon the
carrying trade of the Levant was in their hands. This attracted numbers
of the seafaring Greeks into the mercantile marine, and left the Turkish
Navy in recruiting difficulties, for it had depended on the Greeks for
seamen. The prosperity of the Greek merchants carried them further
afield, and they started large business houses in Odessa, Trieste,
Venice, and London, and it was largely owing to these merchants that the
patriotic songs of Rhigas were revived, and by them the nationalist
ambitions of the Pan-Hellenes. The French Revolution fanned the spirit
of revolt into living flame, and by 1815 a strong political union called
the Hetaireia was called into being, with the object of freeing Greece
from Turkish rule by organized revolt. Four Greek merchants of Moscow
started this union, and it was decorated with the usual accessories of
conspiracy, symbols, ceremonies, a mysterious language, in fact, the
whole outfit suitable to the occasion. Moreover, it flourished, and
numbered two hundred thousand members by 1820. The Turks had taken the
alarm meanwhile, and were preparing in characteristic fashion to meet
all contingencies. Special officials, mostly Albanians, were appointed
to keep a strict control over the mountain-passes from Macedonia and
Epirus into Thessaly and Acarnania, and these officials managed their
oppressive measures so well that by the middle of the eighteenth century
they had removed all the little jealousies among the different Greek
communities and led them all to coalesce; even the Klephts and
Armatoles, official opponents as they were, became reconciled and united
with the others against the Turks.
Another cause of unrest in Greece was the constant changing of the
ruling power in Morea. Mohammed II took this province, all but a number
of towns which Venice retained till 1540 and then handed over to the
Turks. But the Venetians wanted them back, and re-annexed them about a
century later, during the reign of a weak Sultan, and held them until
they were again accorded to the Turks by the Peace of Passarowitz, in
1718.
As may be supposed, Russia and Greece entered into some kind of private
understanding, and Peter the Great was by no means disinclined to assist
in any revolt which would tend to weaken Ottoman power and make it
easier for him to acquire those outlying bits of the Sultan's Empire
upon which he had set his heart. But no advantage came to Greece through
Peter the Great's policy, nor through the influence of Russia during the
first rising of the Hellenes, in 1770. Greece built firmly on Russian
support, for Orloff, the favourite, had drawn Catherine's attention to
the state of affairs in that country, described to him by one
Papadopoulo. However, something went wrong; the Greeks accused the
Russians of treachery, the Russians the Greeks of cowardice, and in the
end Greece got nothing and Russia the Crimea, which was probably the
sole object of the manoeuvre as far as the Northern Empire was
concerned. The Turks, by way of admonition, let loose Albanian troops,
with permission to plunder and ravage; fifty thousand Greeks were
massacred and the country given over to desolation. The Albanians went
out of hand so completely that they were beyond the control of the Porte
for nine years after this unsuccessful Greek rising, and were not
reduced to a semblance of submission until defeated by a Turkish army at
Tripolitza. Nevertheless, when next Russia declared war on Turkey the
latter at once let loose the Albanians over Greece again. In the
meantime Klephts and Armatoles, united as wild men of the mountains, had
become a formidable asset for purposes of revolt.
A number of islands were the first to throw off the Turkish yoke: Corfu,
Paso, Zante, Ithaka, Kephalonia, and two others. These islands had
belonged to Venice from the fifteenth century till the end of the
eighteenth, when they were ceded to France, and after several changes
became the United Republic of the Seven Ionian Islands, under Great
Britain's protection, until incorporated, without their consent, in the
Kingdom of Greece, in 1863.
Assistance came to Greece in her struggle for freedom from a very
unlikely quarter, from Ali Pasha of Janina, who, to further his ambition
of becoming an independent ruler, used the Greeks for his purposes by
inducing them to unite with him against the Sultan. Ali Pasha died
before his plans could mature, but, what he probably did not intend,
Greece remained united, and were urged on by patriotism to go to further
lengths.
The first serious revolt of the Hellenes against the Turks was
engineered by Alexander Ypsilanti, son of a Hospodar, in Moldavia and
Wallachia, but met with little sympathy from the Roumanians; and as
Russia disowned Ypsilanti, the movement was crushed by the Turks in a
few months. The attempted rising provoked the Moslems to a general
massacre of Christians; the sons of Islam were summoned to a jehad, and
racial and religious passions were roused to frenzy. Massacres occurred
on both sides, savage executions took place; for instance, the Patriarch
was hanged at his own gate, and many bishops and nobles were executed
the same day, simply because they were suspected of complicity in a
fresh revolt in Morea.
While the Morean rebels were being exterminated, the Porte found time
for organized massacres in Macedonia and Thrace; but still revolution
held its own, even gained some successes, assisted largely by foreign
gold. Revolt had been in full swing for three years, without any
evidence of calming down, so the Sultan ordered Mehemet Ali of Egypt to
despatch an army of invasion to Morea. This was done; the army of
Ibrahim Pasha, son of Mehemet Ali, had fairly easy work with the
insurgents, stamping out the revolt in the usual, time-honoured manner,
by exterminating the Greek population. Athens fell, Missilonghi was
besieged, and Europe, sickening at the sights and sounds of devastation
in Morea, determined to interfere. The combined squadrons of Great
Britain, France, and Russia met at Navarino, to make what has since
become quite a popular method of dealing with Turkey, a naval
demonstration. Ibrahim misunderstood the situation, and fired on a
British boat, instead of advising the Sultan to make a number of
promises he never would keep, and thus rid himself of those who
interfered with his methods of government. This, of course, was too
much; a battle ensued, after which there was no more Turkish fleet.
Greece thereupon became independent.
As was only natural, there were no more high offices in the Ottoman
Empire filled by Phanariots after Greece became an independent kingdom,
and many of those patricians emigrated. This and other matters had a
serious effect on Greek commerce, especially the carrying trade in the
Levant, which has since passed into other hands. But the Hellenic
culture has not fallen off, and the Greeks are probably among the best
educated and most intelligent of the Sultan's subjects.
There were a number of Greeks admitted into the Army under the regime of
the Young Turks, and many of these took part in this Balkan war. I have
heard that all work requiring skill and intelligence was left to them,
that they formed the best engineers, pioneers, and were trusted as
gunners rather than the simple souls who were hurried to the front from
their Anatolian farms.
The Greeks are full of music too; you may hear their quaint, pathetic
songs of an evening by the shores of the Bosphorus. To my mind they have
a strange but attractive cadence. Some say that they are taken from the
Italians, others that the Italians came here for them. I do not believe
either version, but consider that these songs, like those of any other
nation, are the natural expression of the soul of the people.
My readers may judge for themselves, as I include some Greek songs in
this work. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a setting of the
most interesting song I have ever heard in these parts, a song with a
wistful beauty of its own, entirely spoilt by a travesty of it made by
the Turks, who took it as their National Anthem or Hymn of Liberty--I
forget which. All I know is that here, again, they had destroyed without
rebuilding.
[Illustration: musical notation, THALASSA.]
[Illustration: musical notation, THALASSA.]
2.
Den éhortasses akoma
thalassa tosson kéro,
apo ta kormia pou troi
t'almyro sou to nero
Thalassa t'almyro sou to néro,
(_bis._)
3.
Ossa vassana ki' an éhi
pali o naftis den bori
mia stighmi dihos ésséna
tin zoï tou na hari
Thalassa tin zoï tou na hari,
(_bis._)
[Illustration: musical notation, I YIFTOPOULA.]
[Illustration: musical notation, I YIFTOPOULA.]
2.
Me to hamoyélio
ti ghlikia matia sou
yiro sou skorpizis ti hara,
Mon' yia mena, fos mou,
i aghni kardhia sou
mon' yia mena kor' ine psihra!
REFRAIN.
Ela, yiftopoula, na yiatrepsis
m' ena mono sou ghliko fili, etc., etc.
3.
Dies me pos yia sena
ap' aghapi liono
dies yia sena pos kardhioktipo
Pes mou na elpizo,
pes mia lexi mono,
Yiftopoula, ki' ola ta xehno.
REFRAIN.
Ela, yiftopoula, na yiatrepsis
m' ena mono sou ghliko fili, etc., etc.
[Illustration: musical notation, TO TRELLOKORITSO.]
[Illustration: musical notation, TO TRELLOKORITSO.]
2.
Ti aôelôisia me ôianei hotan thymêthô
san mouleges ôôs m' agaôas
male naziarimo
kai ta trella sou logia
m' emaman phôs mou gia na chathô
yiati den êxeura o dystychês
ôôs êsoune zouliarimo.
2.
Ti apelpissia mé piani otan thimitho
san mouleyes pos m' agapas
kalé naz[i)]ariko
kè ta trela sou loy[i)]a
m' ékaman fos mou y[i)]a na hatho
y[i)]ati den ixevra o distihis
pos issoune zoul[i)]ariko.
Some fourteen years ago an ill-advised, excited section of the Hellenes
forced their King to declare war on the Porte, and brought no great
credit on themselves nor honour to their country's arms, for Greece was
far from ready for such a struggle, and those in office knew it, but
were powerless to stop the trouble. However, the war was well managed in
this respect, that the leaders of the Army contrived to withdraw from it
without any serious disaster; no guns were lost, and out of the 50,000
Greeks pitted against 150,000 Turks, only 400 were killed and 1800
wounded, which is quite good management considering the difficulties of
the manoeuvring in such very unusual circumstances.
During those days when the Greeks of Constantinople were rejoicing over
the defeat of their old enemy, over the victory of the Allies, a great
sorrow cast its shadow upon the Phanar and the members of the Orthodox
Church. Death took His Holiness Joachim III, OEcumenical Patriarch of
Greek Orthodoxy in Constantinople, suddenly from amidst his devoted
flock. He died at four o'clock in the afternoon of November 26th, and
with him passed away one of the greatest of many great men who have held
the high office of Patriarch here in the City of Constantine.
When Constantine the Great became a Christian, and made Constantinople
his capital and residence, he was guided in his doings by the Patriarch
of the time, and as that dignitary's seat, and to the "greater glory of
God," the Cathedral Church of St. Sophia arose on the narrowing tongue
of land between the Sea of Marmora and the Golden Horn.
Among the great predecessors of His Holiness Joachim III was St. John
Chrysostom, "the Golden Mouth," whose fearless zeal brought him into
conflict with Empress Eudoxia, wife of Arcadius. Though St. John
Chrysostom died in exile, his body was brought back to the scene of his
former activity and met with all the solemn pomp of funeral rites, which
Theodosius II attended as chief mourner, and in expiation of his guilty
parents' sin in banishing the saint.
Other strong men followed, and piloted the Church over the deep,
troubled waters of Byzantine politics, defending their flock against an
Emperor's whim, or shielding it from the subtle influences of heresy.
When Constantinople fell before the sword of Othman, in 1453, the Cross
vanished from the dome of St. Sophia, for Mohammed the Conqueror made
that church his mosque; but he was too great not to respect the faith of
others. The Greek remnant of the population had gathered together when
sufficiently assured of safety to life and liberty, and of the free use
of their religion. Then, only a fortnight or so after the conquest of
the City, and long before the sights and signs of the desolation there
wrought had been removed, a singular scene was witnessed by those who
crowded the narrow streets. The Sultan held an investiture on old
Byzantine lines. With all the pomp and traditional splendour of the
ceremony, he invested Gennodius with the office of Patriarch. With his
own hands the Conqueror delivered into the hands of Gennodius the
crozier, or pastoral staff, the symbol of his high office. His Holiness
was then conducted to the gate of the Seraglio, presented with a richly
caparisoned horse, and led by viziers and pashas to the palace allotted
to him as residence.
[Illustration: At the Phanar
Mourning Greeks at the Gate of the Patriarchate.]
During all the centuries of Turkish rule the office of Patriarch of
Constantinople was no easy one, and difficulties became even greater
as the younger nations grew up around Turkey in Europe, clamouring for
freedom, insisting on their racial rights; those younger nations which
during the last few weeks have overrun the vilayets, and are now
hammering at the outer defences of Constantinople.
So His Holiness Joachim III's term of office was one of everlasting
difficulties, his path beset by endless, varied troubles. But happily he
was fully endowed to cope with all the troubles that crowded in upon
him. A man of striking personality, strong character, and just in all
his doings, he was respected by the Power in whose midst he held his
"Imperium in Imperio" among the hearts of men; he was beloved by the
masses of the people who follow the teachings of Greek Orthodoxy. The
late Patriarch's liberal training, his wide outlook on life, and his
deep insight into the vexed political questions of his time have helped
him through the rapids of racial, nationalist ambitions here in the City
of Constantine the Great.
Joachim III has held the high office of Patriarch on several occasions
with now and then a hiatus. He was Patriarch under Abdul Hamid's reign
of Absolutism, and served his flock so well that when the constitution
was granted and he was recalled as shepherd of the Orthodox Greek
Church, he was acclaimed with intense enthusiasm. Then came the
troublous times of strife caused by successive Young Turk cabinets. But
Joachim III was master of the situation, and proved it by his skilful
handling of the Greek National Assembly at the Phanar, which prevented
very serious consequences.
Towards the end of his long, eventful life, some eighty years or more,
Joachim III had the satisfaction of seeing the turbulent waters of
strife which had raged round his See during all his years of office
subside, calm down, and so he died in peace.
No doubt he longed to see the Cross replace the Crescent on St. Sophia,
yearned to complete the Mass interrupted by the conquering Osmanli at
that Feast of Pentecost in May, 1453. But he has passed away with the
knowledge that those young Christian nations have felt and proved their
strength. They are without the gates even now, as Joachim III is being
carried to his rest. Nevertheless the enemy of his faith, the Turk,
preserved order and acted as escort to His Holiness Joachim III on his
last journey.
[Illustration: FUNERAL OF AN ARMENIAN ARCHBISHOP
The face of the corpse is uncovered, some say in order to convince the
populace that the dignitary is really dead, not imprisoned; others
contend that this custom dates from a Turkish police ordinance, during
the Greek risings, when arms were often smuggled into the towns in
coffins.]
On Sunday, December 1st, a great multitude assembled about the Phanar
and crowded the streets leading to it, for the Patriarch was buried that
day. The crowd was mostly composed of Greeks, members of the Church of
which Joachim III was the spiritual head, and Turkish soldiers and
police kept the turbulent crowd in its place without violence, with
great courtesy in fact, despite the abuse hurled at them. Guards of
honour from the Russian warships lined the aisles of the Cathedral
Church, another from the Roumanian warship, the entrance to the Phanar.
Preceded by Turkish cavalry His Holiness was borne on his throne to the
waterside and there placed on a steamer which carried him down the
Golden Horn, round Seraglio Point, and out to Psamatia; there the
remains were landed again, and escorted by Turkish soldiery and Armenian
priests, the solemn procession moved through the thronged streets
towards Yedi Koulé, where stand the ruins of the Golden Gate, through
which conquering Byzantine Emperors were wont to make their triumphant
entry. Under the shadow of the strong towers whence Yedi Koulé derives
its name, the procession moved out beyond the walls which Theodosius II
built to safeguard this most eastern stronghold of Western civilization
against the Asiatic enemies who surged up against these strong
defences in successive waves, till at last they fell before the sword of
Othman.
But a short way beyond the old walls of Constantinople stands the
Monastery of Balukli, the last resting-place of a long line of
Patriarchs. Joachim III had requested that he should be buried on Mount
Athos, whither he went for peace in monastic seclusion from time to
time, a place he loved. But the Greek ecclesiastical authorities decided
to please the populace by disregarding the Patriarch's wish, and so he
will not rest at Balukli, the Lourdes of the Orthodox Church. Pilgrims
from afar come to worship here and seek healing in the wonder-working
waters of the well at Balukli.
And hither His Holiness Joachim III has been escorted by the enemies of
his creed and of his people; while Turkish soldiers showed this last
honour to the head of a Church whose members have long been subjects of
the Porte, Greek armies have marched victorious over the plains of
Thessaly and are occupying Turkish towns and provinces. Yet it was the
courteous sons of Othman who solemnly, reverently escorted Joachim III
to the grave.
But before he died His Holiness Joachim III had watched the victorious
march of the Hellenes towards Constantinople; those few thronged weeks
of warfare brightened the last days of the great Patriarch, though his
kind heart must have bled for the many sacrifices Bellona demanded of
the Allies, and of the enemies of his faith. Very different from the
last campaign of 1898 was this victorious progress of the Hellenes.
Short and sharp it was; war was declared on Turkey on October 17th, on
the following day the Greek fleet had put to sea and the army of the
Hellenes, led by the Crown Prince, had invaded Turkey and occupied
Elassona. Three days later the Greek fleet seized Lemnos, an island in
the Ægean Sea. Fighting their way fiercely against formidable
resistance, the Hellenes on land gained ground towards Janina, captured
Veria and Thasos, and after a check at Florina, marched towards
Saloniki. The Greek left column captured Prevesa as the Servians took
Gostivar on November 3rd, the right column entered Saloniki five days
later. From here the Greeks proceeded with the conquest of other islands
in the Ægean, till all but a few are in their possession, and the Greek
fleet blocks the southern exit of the Dardanelles. All this had happened
before His Holiness Joachim III was called away; pity that peace had not
been restored before Osmanli troops escorted him from the Phanar, down
the Golden Horn, to his last resting-place of Balukli.
There is a quaint legend attached to the Monastery of Balukli. It is
said that while the troops of Mohammed the Conqueror were making their
last assault on the walls of Constantinople, the monks of Balukli were
engaged in frying fish. The City fell and the monks fled before the fish
were quite fried, so these jumped out of the frying-pan back into the
water. The legend goes on to aver that when Christian troops retake
Constantinople those fish will leave their native element and return to
the frying-pan.
Life must hold endless possibilities for those who can believe such
legends as this one.