Orthodox monasteries in the Ottoman Empire

Osmanlı Devleti hâkim olduğu geniş coğrafi alanda çok sayıda farklı ulustan ve inançtan insan topluluklarını sınırları içerisinde barındırmıştır. Bu süreçte toplulukların tamamının, oluşturulan kanun ve kurallara riayet etmesi zorunlu tutulmuş, kanunlara aykırı davranışlarda bulunulması ise suç kabul edilmiş ve çeşitli şekillerde cezalandırılmıştır. Osmanlı Devleti kanunlara aykırı olmaması şartıyla, farklı etnik ve dinî grupların gelenek, görenek ve inançlarına uygun bir yaşam sürdürmelerine izin vermiştir. Ancak Osmanlı Devleti’nin geleneksel yaşamına uymayan ve aykırı davranışlarda bulunan gayrimüslimlere ise çeşitli şekillerde yaptırım uygulanmıştır. Patrikliğin padişaha doğrudan veya dolaylı olarak yapmış olduğu şikâyet sonucunda suçlu bulunan gayrimüslim vatandaşlar, padişahın emriyle cezalandırılmıştır. Uygulanan cezalar çeşitli olmakla beraber, sıklıkla hapis cezaları ile karşılaşılmaktadır. Kayıtlarda suçluların yerleştirildiği mekânlardan dolayı farklı isimlerle adlandırıl...

Συνοπτική παρουσίαση των περιηγητικών κειμένων και του συνοδευτικού εικονογραφικού υλικού από τα ύστερα βυζαντινά χρόνια και τον Cristoforo Buondelmonti ως και το 19ο αι. Όπως είναι αναμενόμενο, το ενδιαφέρον των περιηγητών από την πέραν των Βαλκανίων Ευρώπη μονοπωλούν σχεδόν η αξιοπερίεργη για εκείνους μοναστική πολιτεία του Άθω, με τον ακένωτο πλούτο λειψάνων, κειμηλίων, σκευών, τους αυστηρούς κανόνες διαβίωσης, τον πλούτο των βιβλιοθηκών και αρχειοφυλακίων, καθώς και η αδιαμφισβήτητη πρωτεύουσα της Μακεδονίας, η πόλη της Θεσσαλονίκης. Τα κίνητρά τους δεν περιορίζονται στην αγνή επιθυμία εξερεύνησης του χώρου όπου ήκμασε ο πολιτισμός στην αρχαιότητα και μεγαλούργησε επί 11 αιώνες το Ανατολικό Ρωμαϊκό Κράτος, αλλά συχνά είναι πολύ ταπεινότερα, καθώς πρόκειται για απεσταλμένους ηγεμόνων και ευγενών με την εντολή συγκέντρωσης με κάθε τρόπο αρχαιοτήτων, νομισμάτων, χειρογράφων / Α brief presentation of travellers’ texts and accompanying iconographic material from the Late Byzantine period and Cristoforo Buondelmonti up to the 19th century. As expected, the interest of travellers from European countries beyond the Balkans is almost monopolized by the exotic monastic state of Athos, with the endless wealth of relics and sacred vessels, the strict living rules, the wealth of libraries and archives, as well as the city of Thessaloniki, the undisputed capital of Macedonia. Their motives are not limited to the pure desire to explore the area where civilization flourished in antiquity and the Eastern Roman State thrived for 11 centuries, but are often much humbler, as they are emissaries of rulers and nobles with the mandate to collect antiquities, coins and manuscripts by all means possible.

Though the self-presentation of the Holy Mountain as a bastion of Orthodoxy and implacable foe of church union is in some respects justified, popes and western rulers in fact played an important, and not always a hostile, role in the history of Mount Athos. Some of the founding figures of Athonite monasticism had Roman connections, and there were even periods in which the monasteries of Mount Athos sought the protection of popes and potentates from the West. While Athonite archives contain numerous charters stemming from Byzantine and other Orthodox rulers, and the monasteries' vast Ottoman holdings have received increasing attention in recent years, charters issued by Latin Christian potentates and prelates have largely been overlooked. This contribution adds new information to previous studies of the relationship of Mount Athos with the Medieval West and applies the notion of interreligious founding to the Athonite context, attempting thereby to nuance the notion that Byzantine and Latin religious patronage operated in mutually exclusive spheres, even after the so-called "Great Schism" of 1054.

ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΓΡΑΦΙΕΣ ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΣ ΠΑΠΑΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ, Ρωμανού του Μελωδού κοντάκιον «εἰς τὴν Σαμαρείτιδα». Νέα κριτική έκδοση με παρατηρήσεις FREDERICK LAURITZEN, Paraphrasis as interpretation. Psellos and a canon of Cosmas the Melodist (Poem 24 Westerink) ΔΗΜΟΣΘΕΝΗΣ N. ΣΤΡΑΤΗΓΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ, Η παρουσία υμνογραφι κών κειμένων στις σχεδογραφικές συλλογές: η περίπτωση του κώ δικα Lesbiacus Leimonos 91 CYRIL PAVLIKIANOV, Unknown document of the Metropolitan of Lakedaimon, Matthew, preserved in the Archbishopric of Ochrid (1442) ΠΟΛΥΜΝΙΑ ΚΑΤΣΩΝΗ, Δρόμοι και ορεινές διαβάσεις στη μεσαιω νική Δυτική Μακεδονία ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΣ ΧΡ. ΧΑΡΙΖΑΝΗΣ, Το μετόχι της Λαύρας στο νησί του Αγί ου Ευστρατίου έως την ἔφοδον τῶν ἀθέων ἐθνῶν (Τούρκων) στις αρ χές του 14 ου αιώνα ΜΑΡΙΑ ΜΑΥΡΟΥΔΗ, Ελληνική φιλοσοφία στην αυλή του Μωάμεθ Β΄ ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΣ Α. ΛΕΒΕΝΙΩΤΗΣ, Ο ἐπείκτης και οι αρμοδιότητές του κα τά τους ύστερους ρωμαϊκούς και τους βυζαντινούς χρόνους (3 ος-11 ος αι.) ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ ΧΑΤΖΑΚΗΣ, Η κατάσταση του δικαίου στην Ιταλία την εποχή του Ιουστινιανού. Παρατηρήσεις με αφορμή την έκδοση της Pragmatica Sanctio pro petitione Vigilii ΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΙΟΣ ΤΑΝΤΣΗΣ, Ο Προφήτης Ηλίας, η Άννα της Σαβοΐας και η Αυλή του Συργή ΔΕΣΠΟΙΝΑ ΜΑΚΡΟΠΟΥΛΟΥ-ΠΕΤΡΟΣ ΚΑΨΟΥΔΑΣ, Το παλαιο χριστιανικό συγκρότημα στην Κολχίδα Κιλκίς. Νέα δεδομένα και παρατηρήσεις CONSTANTINOS M. VAFEIADES, Painting work systems in the four teenth century: the case of Markov Manastir ΙΩΑΝΝΑ Π. ΑΡΒΑΝΙΤΙΔΟΥ-ΛΑΜΠΡΙΝΗ Κ. ΤΡΑΪΑΝΟΥ, Δύο μι κροί ναοί με πλευρικούς χορούς στη νοτιοδυτική

E.K. Pringipakis, “Alexander Archbishop of Alexandria (c. 250-328)”, in A.G.C. Savvides (ed.), New Biographical Dictionary of Byzantium (NBLB), Vol. II/III (double), Athens : Papazisis Publ., pp. 109-117 (in Greek).
π. Ευάγγελος Κ. Πριγκιπάκης, «Αλέξανδρος Αρχιεπίσκοπος Αλεξανδρείας (περ. 250-328)», στο Α.Γ.Κ. Σαββίδη, Νέο Βιογραφικό Λεξικό Βυζαντίου [ΝΒΛΒ], τ. ΙΙ/ΙΙΙ, Αθήνα : Παπαζήσης, 2024, σ. 109-117.

of Xeropotamou is regarded as one of the most important ascetic figures of Mount Athos in the 10 th century. Until now, it was considered that the oldest version of his vita was the one included in the Neon Eklogion of Nikodemos the Hagiorite, which was published in 1803. It was, however, overlooked that in 1967 the Soviet scholar Sigurd Schmidt published an article on four texts concerning Mount Athos from a Russian Slavonic codex of 1557/8, which was copied at the monastery of the Archangel Michael Skovorodskiy in Novgorod, with the fourth text being a brief account of the life of Paul of Xeropotamou. This proves the existence of a vita considerably older than that of the 18 th-century version. In this paper, I compare the two versions, suggesting that the original form of the vita, as it is found in the Novgorod manuscript, may have been formed during the early 15 th century and written in the milieu of two Protoi of Mount Athos, Serapheim and Gabriel, after 1500 in Karyes.

Filozofická fakulta, Katolícka univerzita v Ružomberku "A place where no woman has ever entered…" The unique spiritual heritage of the Athos peninsula in the context of history and present time From the viewpoint of the history of Christian spirituality, the Athos peninsula takes a very interesting and precious position. For centuries, Athos was the centre of eastern monastic life, art, and science. It played a huge spiritual role in the history of spirituality. Even in the times before Christ, there were small inhabited cities on Athos, for example Sani, Dion, etc. Athos is mentioned in the works of Thucydides, Homer, Plutarch, and many other Greek authors. During the Turkish occupation, Athos was the centre of national renewal and refuge of Greek education, art, and science. 2 1 The priest doc. ThDr. Peter Caban, PhD, is a docent at the Department of Religious Studies and Religious Education of the Faculty of Arts and Letters of the Catholic University in Ružomberok. In his scientific and Literary pursuits activities, he described the history of Christianity, sacral art, and Christian archaeology. He lectured at several European universities and he authors more than 160 books. As a priest, he works in the Cathedral of St.

This book provides an in-depth analysis of the social structure of Late Byzantine society (mid 13th - mid 15th c.), including the norms and ideas that governed social relations, and the Byzantine perceptions of their society. It includes an analysis of all social groups, the social networks and the patron-client relations proliferating in this period, and the distribution of social and political power between the different social groups and the state. The deficiencies inherent in Byzantine society are recognised as one of the main factors behind the fragmentation and the collapse of the Byzantine empire.
Ιntroduces the basic patterns, ideas and gestures that governed the system of social relations and the construction of social profiles and roles of Byzantine society
Identifies the main traits of Late Byzantine society and the ideas of the Byzantines about their social system, the social values and the organisation of their society.
Explores the use of modern sociological and anthropological theories in order to better understand Byzantine society.
Provides thorough and up-to-date analysis of the different social groups in the Late Byzantine society (character, composition, relation to the economic, political and ideological resources).
Emphasises the networks of patron-client relations and their effect on the structures of Byzantine society.
Offers a new explanation of the collapse of Byzantine society and the state in the face of external threats.

Over the second half of the sixteenth century a new form of
monasticism, idiorrhythmia (“living according to one’s own devices”), seemed to be spreading across the Orthodox monasteries of the Eastern Mediterranean. The communal regime practiced for centuries in the venerable monasteries of the East was gradually collapsing: first at St. Catherine’s on Sinai around 1557, then at the monasteries of Palestine, including the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem. When the patriarchs of Alexandria (Sylvester [1569-1590]) and Constantinople (Jeremiah II [1572-1579; 1580-1584; 1587-1595]) came together to celebrate Christmas at Thessaloniki in 1573, Sylvester was tasked with travelling to Mount Athos to investigate the state of the monastic life there. His
inquest revealed a shocking state of affairs: monks moving without hindrance to and from Athos and engaging in the sale of goods to the outside world, including spirits which they drank themselves. Beardless youths and laypersons lived in monasteries; livestock were allowed to pasture on the Holy Mountain. This contribution will examine Patriarch Sylvester’s inquest and the subsequent effort to restore communal life at the major monasteries on Athos.

The later tradition of the Patria of Mt. Athos (Sixteenth century) accuses
Michael VIII Palaiologos of cruelty and violence and of causing the death of many monks, as well as the destruction of several Athonite monasteries to impose the Church union. Despite this, contemporary sources from the second half of the Thirteenth century paint a quite different picture from that of the Patria. In this study we re-evaluate the relevant sources and investigate how the anti-unionists managed to damage Michael's reputation so much, particularly after the union synod of Ferrara-Florence in 1438 1439.

is published quarterly by Cambridge University Press in January, April, July and October. Four parts form a volume. The subscription price, which includes delivery by air where appropriate, plus electronic access to institutional subscribers (but excluding VAT) of volume 73 in 2022 is £573 (US $986 in USA, Canada and Mexico) for institutions ; the print only price for institutions is £550 (US $953) and £115 (US $208) for individuals ordering direct from the publishers and certifying that the journal is for their personal use. Single parts are £158 net (US $274 in USA, Canada and Mexico) plus postage. The electronic only price available to institutional subscribers is £448 ($774 in USA, Canada and Mexico). EU subscribers (outside the UK) who are not registered for VAT should add VAT at their country's rate. VAT registered members should provide their VAT registration number. Japanese prices for institutions (including ASP delivery) are available from Kinokuniya Company Ltd, P.O. Box 55, Chitose, Tokyo 156, Japan.

people have shaped the ideas explored in this paper through their writings and conversations. Especially I owe a debt of gratitude to Prof. Kin-ichi Watanabe, who has furthered my work for a long period, as well as to Prof. Michel Kaplan, who generously accepted me as a visiting scholar, and inspired me with his insightful advice. This paper was first written in Japanese to introduce the current situation of some important topics on Byzantine SocioEconomic History to Japanese readers and included in

Monasteries and the records they produced are a promising source base for writing a history of the mountains of the western Balkans. These mountains are, by and large, absent from accounts of the Ottoman presence in the Balkans and, as with mountainous areas more generally, are often considered to exist outside of the main historical narrative. Using the example of a monastery that was founded in the Pindus mountains in 1556, I argue that the monastery’s beginnings are best understood within the context of the Ottoman sixteenth century, even as due regard for Byzantine precedent must also be made. In addition, I pay close attention to the monastery’s location, for two reasons. First, this opens up a new set of questions for the history of monasteries during the Ottoman period; to date most studies have focused on taxation, land ownership and the relationship to the central state. Second, the monastery’s location offers a way into the environmental history of these mountains at the E...

These two volumes continue the superb series of editions of the archival documents of the monasteries of Mount Athos. The fifty-three documents in this second volume from the archives of Iviron, the monastery of the Georgians (see Archives de l'Athos 14 [Paris, 1985], by the same editors), extend from 1056 through the first decade of the twelfth century. The volume for Pan- tocrator includes editions of twenty-nine documents extending from 1039 to 1501, plus in an appendix an edition of a modern Greek translation (seventeenth or eighteenth century) of a lost, undated document attributed by the editor to the end of the fourteenth or the beginning of the fifteenth century. Both volumes include extensive introductions treating the history of the monasteries for the period covered by the documents. Together they represent a landmark in the history of this project, in the transition of general editorship from Paul Lemerle to Jacques Lefort.

This re-edition of the Greek archival documents from the Athonite monastery of Kutlumus is a photographic reprint of the 1945 edition (pp. 1-281) followed by 157 pages of new commentary. The commentary for documents 1-47 has been thoroughly and systematically revised, reflecting research since 1945. Revision of post-Byzantine documents is limited mostly to correcting readings and adjusting the corresponding notes and commentary.

Osmanlı Devleti hâkim olduğu geniş coğrafi alanda çok sayıda farklı ulustan ve inançtan insan
topluluklarını sınırları içerisinde barındırmıştır. Bu süreçte toplulukların tamamının, oluşturulan kanun ve kurallara
riayet etmesi zorunlu tutulmuş, kanunlara aykırı davranışlarda bulunulması ise suç kabul edilmiş ve çeşitli şekillerde
cezalandırılmıştır. Osmanlı Devleti kanunlara aykırı olmaması şartıyla, farklı etnik ve dinî grupların gelenek, görenek
ve inançlarına uygun bir yaşam sürdürmelerine izin vermiştir. Ancak Osmanlı Devleti’nin geleneksel yaşamına
uymayan ve aykırı davranışlarda bulunan gayrimüslimlere ise çeşitli şekillerde yaptırım uygulanmıştır. Patrikliğin
padişaha doğrudan veya dolaylı olarak yapmış olduğu şikâyet sonucunda suçlu bulunan gayrimüslim vatandaşlar,
padişahın emriyle cezalandırılmıştır. Uygulanan cezalar çeşitli olmakla beraber, sıklıkla hapis cezaları ile
karşılaşılmaktadır. Kayıtlarda suçluların yerleştirildiği mekânlardan dolayı farklı isimlerle adlandırılan hapis
cezalarının bir kısmı ise manastırlarda uygulanmıştır ve manastırbend olarak ifade edilmiştir. Osmanlı Devleti’nde
sadece Hristiyan vatandaşlara uygulanan manastırbend cezası ile suçlular ıslah olana kadar manastırlarda
tutulmaktadır. Ayrıca manastırlara bağlı olan kale veya kulelerde de suçlular mahkûm edilmiştir. Manastırlarda
mahkûm olan kişilerin merkeze ıslah olduğuna dair arzuhâl gönderdikleri görülmektedir. Gönderilen arzuhâllerin
Divanda incelenmesi sonucunda ıslah olduğu kanaatinin oluşması durumunda mahkûm affedilip serbest bırakılmıştır.
Bu çalışma, Osmanlı Devleti’nde 1789-1839 yıllar arasında kayıtlarda yer alan manastırbend cezalarını analiz etmeyi
amaçlamaktadır.

While it is often unclear where court cases were held in the Byzantine provinces, evidence from the Athonite archives for the region of Macedonia suggests the imperial judges heard cases in specific ?assize towns? and other places as well as in the theme capital of Thessalonike. Based on case-studies from the Athonite archives and using the occurrence of the term kathisma as an indication of the existence of an provincial administrative and judicial centre, it is suggested that regular judicial circuits still took place in the 10th and 11th centuries. The imperial government thus demonstrated its concern for the provision of justice in the provinces in the same way as had its Roman predecessors.

The present study aims at giving a comprehensive and consistent account of the founding of the Benedictine house on Mount Athos at the end of the first millennium. It belonged to the first generation of coenobia that started the structured monastic life on the Holy Mountain. It was a Western outpost in the stronghold of the Eastern monastic tradition for three centuries, from circa 985 to 1287 A.D. In spite of the violent split between the Eastern Church and the Western Church and, more generally, between East and West, the Benedictine Athonite house not only took an active part in governing the community of Mount Athos, but became a chief monastery.
Dating and rationale of the construction of this “anomalous” monastery remained an open discussion for a long time. Previous studies acknowledged a reasonable founding date, but due to their misunderstanding of some Latin signatures on Athonite acts, the myth of an Amalfitan foundation of the Athonite Benedictine coenobium was established.
Merlini explains that this once thriving medieval monastery known only since 1010 as Amalfion (Αμαλφιόν) was possibly founded around 985 as “Apothikon” (τῶν  Ἀποθηκῶν, of the Warehouses) by Longobards of Benevento. Around the turning of the millennium, other Benedictine fathers from the small but dynamic duchy of Amalfi took possession and ruled it. They could then easily assert themselves over the brothers who founded Apothikon, who enjoyed much less economical resources and were politically less influential.
The study describes the reasons why this monastic foundation was associated with the city of Amalfi in the subsequent Athonite collective memory as well as in most modern scholarship, even if Apothikon originated from the political-religious plans of the autonomous Longobard Principality of Benevento. The Principality of Benevento was basically obedient to the Western imperial authority and often in open diplomatic and military confrontation against the Duchy of Amalfi, which was pro-Byzantine, free of any Longobard political and legal control, and strictly Roman-Orthodox.
The article sets up the origin of Apothikon and the related foundation myth within the Grand Game at the turning of the first millennium that was based on the subtle balance of conflict-cooperation between Mount Athos, the Longobard kingdom and in particular the southern Principalities of Benevento and Capua, the Byzantine Empire, the Papacy, the Benedictine Order, the town of Amalfi, and the powers of Jerusalem. The construction of the Latin house by a Longobard noble person occurred under the tradition according to which the earliest not-Greek Athonite monasteries have been built or taken over by monks who were rulers, in their previous secular life, of their respective countries, or members of the reigning families. They were driven by Christian piety, spiritual prestige, and strategic geopolitical approach. These aristocratic monks arrived and settled at the Holy Mountain in topic moments of the relationship between their countries of origin and the Byzantine Empire.

Following the re-establishment of the Cult of Images in 843, the Bithynian Olympus (present-day Uludağ, Turkey) became the site of so many monastic settlements that it was all but impossible for the ascetics there to find true solitude. Therefore, they set their sights on Mount Athos in Chalkidiki, and began to settle there from the ninth century onwards. It was a turbulent time for the region, and as a result of complex political developments the land was abandoned and reverted to the state (klasma lands), with the tax revenues benefitting central authorities rather than local communities. The economic growth of the ninth century thus explains the conflicts over the lands around Mount Athos between the peasant population, the monasteries founded in the Chalkidiki region, and the monks on Athos itself. These conflicts were exacerbated by the foundation of the large institutions of Xeropotamou, Lavra and Iviron-the latter two of which also enjoyed the status of »imperial monasteries«. The extant documentation allows us to better understand both the attempts by the monastery to appropriate the lands and the resistance to these attempts by the village communities, who were particularly concerned with retaining grazing lands for their animals. Interestingly, the officials and judges in charge of the region seemed to have favoured the village communities in these conflicts.

Filozofická fakulta, Katolícka univerzita v Ružomberku "A place where no woman has ever entered…" The unique spiritual heritage of the Athos peninsula in the context of history and present time From the viewpoint of the history of Christian spirituality, the Athos peninsula takes a very interesting and precious position. For centuries, Athos was the centre of eastern monastic life, art, and science. It played a huge spiritual role in the history of spirituality. Even in the times before Christ, there were small inhabited cities on Athos, for example Sani, Dion, etc. Athos is mentioned in the works of Thucydides, Homer, Plutarch, and many other Greek authors. During the Turkish occupation, Athos was the centre of national renewal and refuge of Greek education, art, and science. 2 1 The priest doc. ThDr. Peter Caban, PhD, is a docent at the Department of Religious Studies and Religious Education of the Faculty of Arts and Letters of the Catholic University in Ružomberok. In his scientific and Literary pursuits activities, he described the history of Christianity, sacral art, and Christian archaeology. He lectured at several European universities and he authors more than 160 books. As a priest, he works in the Cathedral of St.

The chapter provides an overview of the social, political and economic functions of Byzantine monasteries from the ninth to the fifteenth century. It discusses the relations that existed between monasteries and the state, the church and lay society. The monks received donations and protection in exchange for various spiritual and material services. The study also focuses on the great landowning monasteries that engaged in large scale agrarian production and trade and played a substantial role in local or regional economies. The chapter finally discusses the fate and significance of monasteries in the long period of crisis that began in the middle of the fourteenth century and ended with the substitution of the Byzantine by the Ottoman Empire.

As it is known, Max Weber highlighted the role of Protestantism in the gradual shaping of the capitalist system. On the contrary, the Eastern Orthodox world was considered to have entered the new era with a considerable delay. However, the late 19th and early 20th centuries would witness great changes also in the Orthodox monastic communities, resulting in their gradual integration in the secular economic spectrum.
At around the same time (1904-05) that Weber started publishing the articles that would comprise his famous work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Greek banks were embroiled in serious competition over the deposits of Mt Athos monasteries. For years the monastic center had sought, in a capitalistic spirit, to secure its assets in a changing and fragile environment. This occurred along national lines since, beyond the serious Russian influence, a preference for the Greek side was clearly evident.
The paper argues that the main aim of the Athonite monasteries was to achieve a level of economic growth that would allow them to be self-sufficient, be independent from state policies and constraints, and to prosper with a sustainable future.

H ανασύσταση του Πατριαρχείου Kωνσταντινουπόλεως το 1454 επέτρεψε στους ορθόδοξους χριστιανούς που βρέθηκαν στον κλοιό της οθωμανικής κυριαρχίας να έχουν ξανά μιαν ανώτατη εκκλησιαστική αρχή και ταυτόχρονα μια θεσμική οργάνωση της κοινωνίας τους. Για να μελετηθεί αυτό το φαινόμενο και να διερευνηθούν οι πολλαπλές συνέπειες που ανέκυψαν είχαμε ανάγκη από αξιόπιστες πηγές, με πρώτα τα πεπραγμένα του ίδιου του Πατριαρχείου.
Το 2013 (και σε αναθεωρημένη έκδοση το 2016) παρουσιάσαμε τα σαράντα δύο πατριαρχικά κείμενα που σώζονται από την περίοδο 1454-1498. Στον δεύτερο τόμο, που βλέπει σήμερα το φως της δημοσιότητας, παρουσιάζονται εκατόν πέντε κείμενα που χρονολογούνται από την περίοδο 1498-1565, κείμενα από τα οποία μόνο τρία σώζονται στα Αρχεία του Πατριαρχείου, τα υπόλοιπα εντοπίστηκαν σε αρχεία και βιβλιοθήκες της Ελλάδας και του εξωτερικού.
Με το δημοσίευμα αυτό η ιστορική έρευνα αποκτά ένα πολύτιμο βοήθημα, όπου ο μελετητής θα βρει συγκεντρωμένα σε εύχρηστη και έγκυρη έκδοση τα εκατόν πέντε σωζόμενα επίσημα κείμενα. Από τα κείμενα αναδύεται ένα ευρύ φάσμα θεμάτων που αφορούν την εσωτερική ζωή της Eκκλησίας, κείμενα με τα οποία η ανώτατη εκκλησιαστική αρχή απευθύνεται σε μοναστικά ιδρύματα, σε ορθόδοξους χριστιανούς που ζούσαν στην Οθωμανική Aυτοκρατορία, κείμενα που αφορούν τις σχέσεις της Oρθόδοξης Eκκλησίας με την ορθόδοξη κοινότητα της Βενετίας, τη μονή του Σινά ή τους ηγέτες της Ρωσίας. Ο τόμος ολοκληρώνεται με αναλυτικό ευρετήριο ονομάτων, τόπων και όρων και έναν πίνακα με τα αρχεία και τις βιβλιοθήκες όπου εντοπίστηκαν τα πρωτότυπα ή τα αντίγραφά τους. Η έκδοση πραγματοποιήθηκε στο πλαίσιο Ερευνητικού Προγράμματος που επιχορηγήθηκε από το Ίδρυμα Ωνάση.

The re-establishment of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1454 provided the Orthodox Christians within the Ottoman Empire once more with a supreme ecclesiastical authority and, at the same time, an institutional organization of their social group. The study of this phenomenon and the examination of its multiple effects required the use of reliable sources, the most fundamental of which being the acts of the Patriarchate itself.
In 2013 (and in a revised edition in 2016) we presented the forty two patriarchal documents extant from the period 1454-1498. In the second volume, which is now published, one hundred five texts dating from the period 1498-1565 are presented, among which only three are found in the patriarchal Archives, with the remaining having been located in archives and libraries in Greece and abroad.
This publication comes as a precious tool for historical research, in which the researcher can find the one hundred five extant texts presented in a useful and reliable edition. A wide range of issues emerges from the texts concerning the internal affairs of the Church, texts sent by the supreme ecclesiastical authority to monastic establishments, or the Orthodox Christians living in the Ottoman Empire, texts regarding the relations of the Orthodox Church with the Orthodox community of Venice, the Sinai monastery, or the leaders of Russia. The volume also contains a general index of names and terms, together with a table outlining the archives and libraries where the original documents or their copies are currently located. The publication has been realized within the framework of a Research Program funded by the Onassis Foundation.

While it is often unclear where court cases were held in the Byzantine provinces, evidence from the Athonite archives for the region of Macedonia suggests the imperial judges heard cases in specific ?assize towns? and other places as well as in the theme capital of Thessalonike. Based on case-studies from the Athonite archives and using the occurrence of the term kathisma as an indication of the existence of an provincial administrative and judicial centre, it is suggested that regular judicial circuits still took place in the 10th and 11th centuries. The imperial government thus demonstrated its concern for the provision of justice in the provinces in the same way as had its Roman predecessors.

The topic of Mount Athos and political thought in the Slavic world can be approached in two ways. On the one side, it is by perceiving the role, importance and influence that Mount Athos had, as a monastic centre, on the development of political thought in the Christian Slavic states, i.e. among the Christianised Slavic peoples. On the other, it would be important to answer the question placed in a reverse perspective: what place was given to Mount Athos in the political thought that developed in the Slavic states, i.e. among the Slavic peoples? On this occasion I would like to comment on two aspects of the said issue: the first is about the specifics of the so-called Russian, Bulgarian and Serbian models, which can be traced from the very foundation of the Slavic monasteries. The second aspect is connected with the territorial inclusion of Mount Athos into the borders of the Slavic states and its adjustment to the “domestic” political and ideological concept (the example of Bulgarian and Serbian rule over Athos).

Monasteries and the records they produced are a promising source base for writing a history of the mountains of the western Balkans. These mountains are, by and large, absent from accounts of the Ottoman presence in the Balkans and, as with mountainous areas more generally, are often considered to exist outside of the main historical narrative. Using the example of a monastery that was founded in the Pindus mountains in 1556, I argue that the monastery's beginnings are best understood within the context of the Ottoman sixteenth century, even as due regard for Byzantine precedent must also be made. In addition, I pay close attention to the monastery's location, for two reasons. First, this opens up a new set of questions for the history of monasteries during the Ottoman period; to date most studies have focused on taxation, land ownership and the relationship to the central state. Second, the monastery's location offers a way into the environmental history of these mountains at the Empire's western edge. This article aspires to extend the nascent field of Ottoman environmental history into mountainous terrain.

Η ηγετική φυσιογνωμία του κρητικής καταγωγής Μελετίου Μεταξάκη αποτελεί εξέχουσαν φυσιογνωμίαν του 20ού αιώνος εις τον χώρον της ελληνοφώνου Ορθοδοξίας, κατορθώσασα να συνταυτίση το όνομά της με την περίοδον κατά την οποίαν εδραστηριοποιήθη και εμεγαλούργησεν.
Ο κατ' εξοχήν χώρος δράσεως, εις τον οποίον ο Μελέτιος Μεταξάκης κατώρθωσε να ξεδιπλώση την πολυτάλαντον προσωπικότητά του, υπήρξεν ο Αλεξανδρινός Θρόνος, επί κεφαλής του οποίου διετέλεσε δια μίαν σχεδόν δεκαετίαν (1926-1935). Είναι δε άκρως ενδιαφέρον δια τον μελετητήν της νεωτέρας εκκλησιαστικής ιστορίας το γεγονός ότι η πλέον γόνιμος περίοδος της πρωθιεραρχικής διακονίας του Μελετίου Μεταξάκη συμπίπτει με την τελευταίαν περίοδον του επιγείου βίου του, δεδομένης μάλιστα της πολυκρότου και πολυδιαστάτου κληρικής και πρωθιεραρχικής πορείας του Μελετίου εις όλα σχεδόν τα μεγάλα κέντρα της ελληνοφώνου Ορθοδόξου Οικουμένης της εποχής (με το πέρασμά του από τα Ιεροσόλυμα, την Αντιόχειαν, τας Αθήνας, την Κωνσταντινούπολιν και την Αμερικήν) κατά την προγενεστέραν εκκλησιαστικήν του διακονίαν, πολλώ δε μάλλον καθ' όσον αι πρώται δεκαετίαι του παρελθόντος αιώνος συνυφαίνονται μέσα από τας περιπετείας των αιματηρών διεκδικήσεων των διαφόρων Βαλκανικών λαών, οίτινες επεζήτουν την εθνικήν των ολοκλήρωσιν δια της οριστικής διαλύσεως της Οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας και της εγκαθιδρύσεως του διαδόχου πολιτικού σχήματος των εθνικών κρατών κατά τα προτάγματα του Ευρωπαϊκοϋ Διαφωτισμού. [...] (Από τον πρόλογο της έκδοσης)

One of the most useful tools for research contained in the Archives de l'Athos  series is the enumeration of actes mentionnés  (further documents whose existence is mentioned in, or can be surmised from, references in the edited  item) contained in the commentary to each document. Often these further  documents no longer survive, so we are reliant on allusions to them in the Athonite archives to know of their very existence. Consulting the actes mentionnés  is of particular value when attempting to compile a dossier of material relating to an particular issue, or indeed a particular asset (an estate, for example) of concern to an Athonite house. This is particularly true in the case of disputes, which often engaged the attention of Athonite houses, local administrators and even the imperial power for long periods of time. Taking examples from records of the 10th and 11th centuries, this paper will discuss how the study of actes mentionnés can shed light on the working methods of Byzantine record-takers (whether monastic or lay), on the methods employed to build up dossiers and archives and, above all, on the ways in which matters of concern to institutions could be actively promoted over generations.

This paper deals with an unpublished lead seal was found duringt he excavation works within the chandler'sw orkshop of Vatopedi, al ater structure which was added to the eastern face of the bell tower (1427). The seal namesa Constantine, chartoularios and epi tou patriarchikou sekretou and dates back to 10th till early1 1th century.I ti so ne of the rare direct sources regarding the very earlyp eriod of the monastery,f rom which we have no other information, and serves to highlight the attention which the central ecclesiastical administration placed upon it alreadyf rom the first yearsa fter its founding.I ta lso shows the vibrant activities of its monks and their notable network of contacts with high-ranking political and ecclesiastical officials in the capital.

Karamanlıca İstanbul’un Fethi: Feth-i Konstantiniye
(The Conquest of Constantinople in Karamanli Turkish with Greek Script)

Sevim Yılmaz Önder - Elif Özcan Uğur
Dergah Yayınları, İstanbul/2021

The Karamanli People (Καραμανλήδες) who are an Orthodox, Turkish-speaking people, lived in Anatolia in the Ottoman Empire and spoke their mother tongue, called Karamanli Turkish. They published three books on the conquest of Constantinople. One of these works—probably the last one—was written by Arhimandritis Athanasios Simeonidis (Αρχιμανδρίτης Αθανάσιος Συμεωνίδης) in 1909.
A few passages from the book: The Byzantine Empire's Struggles during the Siege
While Sultan Mehmet ll was dealing with the preparations for war in Edirne, Emperor Konstantinos sent three ships to Mediterranean islands to get supplies and ammunition after escorting the people of the villages around Istanbul and their supplies into the city itself.
The Pope's envoy, Cardinal Isidoros took Leonardo, the Catholic Episcopal of Lesbos, 150 Catholics, and a ship with him and arrived in Istanbul. When he arrived, the issue of the unification of churches was discussed again, and on December 12 of 1452, Catholics and Greeks together held a ritual in the Hagia Sophia Church. This ritual angered the people no end.
Georgios Sholarios, who had become a monk named Gennadios, wouldn’t come out when many people arrived at the monastery where he was. He wrote on a piece of paper, “Miserable and poor Greeks! You despaired of Allah and took the side of the Europeans? Istanbul will be conquered by the Ottomans anyway. You will only have atheism, shame on you!” Then he hung this on the door of the room known as the Califactory, or warming room. The emperor's emissary, Grand Duke Lukas Notaras, was also not willing to unite with the Catholics. He said “I would rather see a Turkish turban in Constantinople than the Latin mitre.” This angered the people all the more.
The people of Istanbul were divided in two, and those who wanted to remain Orthodox cursed those who supported unification with the Catholics. Some 700 Greeks decided to leave the country to escape Catholicism. Although the beloved Gennadios Sholarios had said "Istanbul will be conquered by the Ottomans anyway," no one committed treachery by ceasing to stand up to the enemy and taking shelter under Ottoman protection.
On Tuesday, May 29, 1453: When the sun rose, the flag with the eagle—the symbol of the Greek Empire—was still flying around Topkapi. The soldiers were encouraged once more and the emperor said with great joy “Brothers! God is our helper. Don't be afraid, we'll save our homeland with a little patience. At that time, cannons began to beat the fortress from the outside.
The Ottomans entered in waves through the Sulukule Gate (now closed), which had been opened when the guards were killed, and they spread to the inner parts of the city. When Emperor Konstantinos Paleologos lost hope during the crisis, he immediately remembered that he was the last of the Greek emperors. According to a rumor, he said “There's no Christian left to kill me” and  according to another rumor he said “Despite Constantinople being conquered, is Constantine alive?” At the moment that the emperor wanted to die, a Janissary soldier hit his forehead with a sword and the emperor fought for the last time and knocked down the soldier who wanted to kill him. Meanwhile another Janissary stabbed him in the back with the sword of revenge and he felled the last emperor.

Around 1571 an Athenian noblewoman, Philothei Benizelou, established the nunnery of Haghios Andreas in the heart of Ottoman Athens. Twelve years later, in 1583, she sent the monk Serapheim Pangalos to Venice to represent the monastery before the Venetian authorities and to submit her request for financial support. Along with Philothei’s solicitation, Serapheim also submitted a report to the Doge, where he stated, among other things, that Philothei was following the religious order of the Capuchins in her monastery: “servando la regola di scapucini”. A few years later (in the end of the century) the Orthodox Church recognized Philothei as a saint.
In my paper I investigate the meaning and historical context of Serapheim’s intriguing formulation. Specifically, I examine the history of Haghios Andreas’ nunnery during the last decades of 16th century as documented by contemporary and later sources, detecting particular aspects of Philothei’s monastic activity that were similar to practices of Latin Monasticism.

Ο θεσμός του ορθόδοξου μοναχισμού γνώρισε αξιοσημείωτη άνθηση κατά τη διάρκεια του 16ου αιώνα στα εδάφη της Οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας. Το φαινόμενο, ωστόσο, αυτό δεν εκδηλώθηκε παντού με την ίδια ένταση, καθώς σε αρκετές περιοχές σημειώθηκε ένα «κύμα» ίδρυσης νέων και ανακαίνισης παλαιών ορθόδοξων χριστιανικών μοναστηριών, ενώ σε άλλες η σχετική δραστηριότητα ήταν πιο περιορισμένη. Στη μελέτη παρουσιάζονται τρεις περιπτώσεις, η περιφέρεια του καζά Αθηνών, το νησί της Άνδρου, και οι δύο με αξιοσημείωτη δραστηριότητα ίδρυσης και ανακαίνισης, και η Κωνσταντινούπολη με την ενδοχώρα της, όπου τα σχετικά παραδείγματα είναι ευάριθμα. Μέσα από τη συγκριτική εξέταση των τριών αυτών περιοχών αναδεικνύονται ορισμένοι παράγοντες που επέδρασαν θετικά ή αρνητικά και συνέβαλαν στην κατά τόπους διακύμανση του φαινομένου.

Η καταχώρηση στο οθωμανικό φορολογικό κατάστιχο του 1543 μιας προσόδου 150 άσπρων από το «μοναστήρι του Παπά Νίκου» είναι η παλαιότερη αναφορά στη μονή Ζάβορδας και η εγγύτερη, χρονικά, προς την ίδρυση της μονής, είτε θεωρήσουμε ως έτος κτίσης της το 1532/34, είτε το 1543/44. Οι αναφορές στη μονή συνεχίζονται μέχρι και το 1613 οπότε και διακόπτονται λόγω έλλειψης άλλων πηγών. H μονή του αγίου Νικάνορα κατέβαλε τα χρηματικά ποσά στους κατά διαστήματα τιμαριούχους της Αιανής, τότε Kalyani, η οποία σε όλη τη διάρκεια του 16ου αιώνα είχε το φορολογικό καθεστώς του zeamet, το δε 1613, όπως και ολόκληρος ο καζάς Σερβίων / Serfice, υπήχθη στις κτήσεις του σουλτάνου (hass).

New evidencer egarding the early history of the Monastery of Vatopedi (Mt Athos): unpublished sigillographical material Abstract: This paper deals with an unpublished lead seal was found duringt he excavation works within the chandler'sw orkshop of Vatopedi, al ater structure which was added to the eastern face of the bell tower (1427). The seal namesa Constantine, chartoularios and epi tou patriarchikou sekretou and dates back to 10th till early1 1th century.I ti so ne of the rare direct sources regarding the very earlyp eriod of the monastery,f rom which we have no other information, and serves to highlight the attention which the central ecclesiastical administration placed upon it alreadyf rom the first yearsa fter its founding.I ta lso shows the vibrant activities of its monks and their notable network of contacts with high-ranking political and ecclesiastical officials in the capital.

This is an accepted manuscript version of an article accepted for publication in Makedonika https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/makedonika License: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) Document Version Peer reviewed version Citation for published version (Harvard): Manafis, P 2019, 'A liturgical manuscript of the monastery of Timios Prodromos in Pieria and a previously unknown scribe, the hieromonk Karykes', Makedonika, vol. 44.
Link to publication on Research at Birmingham portal Publisher Rights Statement:

This study deals with confinement to monasteries during the Ottoman period as a case study to demonstrate how the sources produced by the Orthodox non-Muslims which have so far remained relatively unknown can contribute to Ottoman historiography. Confinement to monasteries was a kind of punishment of exile and imprisonment applied by the patriarchs to Orthodox people, and this study examines confinement to monasteries through published monastic documents in addition to Ottoman archival materials. The Ottoman documents demonstrate the steps of the procedure in the Ottoman central administration, the decision mechanisms and the actors efficient in this mechanism. On the other hand, the negotiations in the monastic archive documents give information on the following steps. Focusing on a time period from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries, this study analyzes the implementation of monastic confinement not on the basis of individual cases but as a procedure, and reconsiders the position of the Ottoman Orthodox vis-à-vis/in the central Ottoman administration, and aims to demonstrate the potential of monastic sources for Ottoman studies.

Bu çalışmada Osmanlı gayrimüslimleri tarafından üretilmiş ve henüz yeteri kadar bilinmeyen kaynakların Osmanlı tarihyazımına ne şekilde katkıda bulunabileceğine bir örnek olarak manastırbend uygulaması ele alınmıştır. Osmanlı döneminde patrikler aracılığıyla Ortodokslara uygulanan bir tür sürgün ve hapis cezası olan manastırbend uygulaması, bu çalışmada Osmanlı arşiv belgelerinin yanı sıra manastır arşivlerinde bulunan yayınlanmış dokümanlarla birlikte kullanılarak incelenmiştir. Osmanlı arşivinde bulunan belgeler sürecin Osmanlı merkezi idaresindeki aşamalarını, karar mekanizmalarındaki süreci ve bu süreçte etkili olan figürleri ortaya koyarken, manastırlarda bulunan yazışmalar bu sürecin devamındaki aşamalar hakkında bilgi verir. Manastırbend uygulamasını tekil olaylar değil bir süreç olarak ele alarak kaynakları analiz eden bu çalışma, on sekizinci yüzyıl ortasından on dokuzuncu yüzyıl ortasına kadar geçen bir zaman dilimi üzerine odaklanarak, Osmanlı Ortodokslarının bu dönemde merkezi idare karşısındaki/içindeki konumunu yeniden değerlendirmekte ve manastır kaynaklarının Osmanlı çalışmalarına sunabileceği katkı potansiyelini ortaya koymaya çalışmaktadır.

In the Ottoman Empire extortion on a local level was a frequent practice and it took diverse forms. The Ottoman documents preserved in the archive of the Monastery of Hilandar (Mount Athos) give us a picture of the ways in which its monks struggled to preserve their privileges and protect their large metochion at Zdravikion (about 700 dönüms). Their basic tax obligation to the "master of the land" (sahib-i arz) was paid annually in a lump sum (maktu') ever since 1481, when sultan Bayezid II exempted them from paying the tithe at the express request of the Wallachian voivode Basarab II Țepeluș. The annual lump sum of 600 akçes accounted for only a half of the total tax burden-they had been relieved of paying the other half by the sultan himself. This privilege was confirmed by all subsequent sultans, most likely until 1569. Local masters of the land (at first sipahis, then hass and finally vakıf authorities) persistently and in various ways sought to impose the payment of the tithe. This paper presents different arguments they used in the attempt to extort the payment of the tithe and the monks' firm attitude in defending their rights before the kadı' s court and the Imperial Divan. Monks were able to prove their rights because they conscientiously kept, sometimes for centuries, all the necessary documents relating to their land possessions, producing them as evidence in court proceedings.