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#299182 09/09/08 04:27 AM
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International Herald Tribune
Orthodox Christianity under threat
By Nicholas Gage
Monday, September 8, 2008

When Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and his Islamic-rooted party came under fierce fire this summer from secularists, who came close to persuading the country's supreme court to bar both from politics, he called the campaign an attack against religious freedom and a threat to Turkey's efforts to join the European Union.

Yet in nearly six years in power, Erdogan has shown no inclination to extend even a modicum of religious freedom to the most revered Christian institution in Turkey - the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the spiritual center of 300 million Orthodox Christians throughout the world. As a result, Turkey's persecution of the Patriarchate looms as a major obstacle to its European aspirations, and rightly so.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate, which was established in the fourth century and once possessed holdings as vast as those of the Vatican, has been reduced to a small, besieged enclave in a decaying corner of Istanbul called the Phanar, or Lighthouse. Almost all of its property has been seized by successive Turkish governments, its schools have been closed and its prelates are taunted by extremists who demonstrate almost daily outside the Patriarchate, calling for its ouster from Turkey.

The ecumenical patriarch, Bartholomew I, is often jeered and threatened when he ventures outside his walled enclave. He is periodically burned in effigy by Turkish chauvinists and Muslim fanatics. Government bureaucrats take pleasure in harassing him, summoning him to their offices to question and berate him about irrelevant issues, blocking his efforts to make repairs in the few buildings still under his control, and issuing veiled threats about what he says and does when he travels abroad.

Successive Turkish governments have followed policies that deliberately belittle the patriarch, refusing to recognize his ecumenical status as the spiritual leader of a major religious faith but viewing him only as the head of the small Greek Orthodox community of Istanbul.

Last year 42 of the 50 members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to Erdogan urging his government to "end all restrictions" on the religious freedom of the Patriarchate, described by Tom Lantos, who then chaired the committee, as "one of the world's oldest and greatest treasures." The congressmen urged the Turkish government to join the rest of the world in recognizing the ecumenical standing of the Patriarchate, to return expropriated property, to reopen its schools, including the renowned theological seminary on the island of Halki, and to end all interference in the process of selecting the patriarch, particularly the "continued insistence that he be a Turkish citizen."

As Orthodox Christians have been systematically persecuted in Turkey and there are now less than 2,500 of them left in the country, the congressmen wrote, the Patriarchate will soon cease to exist if future patriarchs have to be Turkish citizens. "It is the church, not the Turkish state, that should determine who becomes ecumenical patriarch," their chairman declared.

Despite their letter and other efforts by statesmen from many countries to try to persuade the Turkish government to liberalize their policies toward the Patriarchate, its leaders have not budged - even though they know their stand may harm their chances of entering the European Union.

Their intransigence clearly demonstrates that while they want to enter Europe for its economic advantages, they are not prepared to liberalize their policies enough to alleviate Western concerns about allowing them to join. Until Turkey moves to make the fundamental changes necessary, starting with its policies toward the Patriarchate, admission of the country into the EU will pose major risks.

When I was covering Turkey for The New York Times in the late 1970s, its population was 34 million. Today it is 71 million and growing, while the birthrate in Europe is falling precipitously. In addition, Turkey's combined troop strength of 1.1 million overwhelms the armed forces of even the biggest European nations. If Turkey becomes a full member of the European Union, will it accommodate to Europe's liberal traditions or will it use its demographic and military prowess to bend Europe to its will? The EU has already ruled that Turkey must allow the ships of Cyprus, an EU member, to use Turkish ports, but Turkey has completely ignored the ruling despite its eagerness to join Europe. So the key question is whether Turkey is willing to adapt to Europe or wants only to join the EU on its own terms. It is crucial for Europe to know Turkey's real intentions before opening its doors to the country.

Turkey's treatment of the Patriarchate, therefore, must remain a litmus test of its readiness to join the European Union. If Turkey cannot recognize the value of "one of the world's oldest and greatest treasures" in its own midst, how can it be expected to appreciate and respect the liberal values and traditions that define Europe? If Turkey insists on entering Europe on its own inflexible terms, the danger that it will overwhelm Europe, engulf it and change it radically cannot be underestimated.

The Patriarch of Constantinople himself has said that he believes the risk is worth taking and that he strongly supports Turkey's admission. I, too, believe that Turkish membership holds great benefits for all concerned, especially the Turkish people, but not as Turkey is constituted today - intolerant, suspicious, inflexible.

For Turkey to join Europe, it must show that it is ready to take great strides in adopting a European outlook, not the baby steps it has taken until now. The best way to begin is with the Patriarchate at the Phanar, "the Lighthouse," which can become a beacon to light a path for Turkey into Europe, if only the country's leaders find the wisdom to see it.

Nicholas Gage writes often about the Eastern Mediterranean.

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I see no indication that Turkey is about to remove the chains from the Ecumenical Patriarchate - or withdraw its occupation from "Northern Cyprus". Even if the Turkish government should utter some fine words, that would not be sufficient. May I suggest some positive steps which would actually be convincing?

1) Remove the ridiculous restrictions on the Ecumenical Patriarchate and other Christian Churches. This includes the ban on wearing clergy clothes in public places, and the reopening of the Theological School on Halki, without any numerus clausus against students who are not citizens of Turkey.

2) Permit the offering of the Divine Liturgy and other church services in Agia Sophia and certain other churches on stated days of the year, according to an agreed rota.

3) Get out of Cyprus.

4) formally accept the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights.

Father Serge

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Well, won't it be better for the Ecumenical Patriarchate to just move to Thessaloniki or Crete? Even the Popes fled Rome several times, in cases of extreme necessity. I can understand why Patriarch Bartholomew would want to stay in Constantinople, but this is just too much.

Then we can leave Turkey to rot on the vine until, hopefully, the day comes when Greece and / or Russia have an excuse to invade it and wrest Constantinople back into Christian Europe.

Turkey, as a state, deserves to be crushed and punished. It is a criminal state that has not paid for its crimes. No other government has done as much to destroy Eastern Christianity as the Turkish state.

At the same time, I think it is but fair to note that Turkey's "deep state", the secular establishment that continues to persecute the Patriarchate, has also mercilessly persecuted countless Sunni Muslims for their religious beliefs. Non-Sunni Muslims have been persecuted very harshly too. All Muslim imams who preach on Fridays must even submit their sermons for government approval: something, that AFAIK, is at least not required of the Orthodox and Catholics in Turkey.

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Originally Posted by Michael_Thoma
As Orthodox Christians have been systematically persecuted in Turkey and there are now less than 2,500 of them left in the country, the congressmen wrote, the Patriarchate will soon cease to exist if future patriarchs have to be Turkish citizens. "It is the church, not the Turkish state, that should determine who becomes ecumenical patriarch," their chairman declared.

Among the Ecumenical Patriarchate's 100+ current hierarchs, how many are actually
Turkish citizens? It is my understanding that most of them are actually Greek or American citizens.

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I don't quite understand how Turkey can decide that future Ecumenical Patriarchs must be Turkish citizens. How can they enforce that?

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The Turkish Government has a veto power over the election to the Patriarchal Throne (when Athenagoras died, somebody was elected, was Patriarch for 24 hours, whereupon Ankara vetoed his election and Demetrios was elected instead.

In case you're wondering, the last time that the election of a Pope of Rome was subjected to a veto was early in the 20th century! Francis Joseph exercised his imperial veto power.

Fr. Serge

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Fr. Serge,

Thank you for the info.

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Shlomo Abun Sarkis,

I agree with your points, but we have to look at the politics of Turkey.

Quote
1) Remove the ridiculous restrictions on the Ecumenical Patriarchate and other Christian Churches. This includes the ban on wearing clergy clothes in public places, and the reopening of the Theological School on Halki, without any numerus clausus against students who are not citizens of Turkey.

The problem is not with Christians, but with Muslims. If the government does overturn this ban, then the military or the courts will ban the government and cause it to fall. It is the secularist that are the road block.

Quote
2) Permit the offering of the Divine Liturgy and other church services in Agia Sophia and certain other churches on stated days of the year, according to an agreed rota.

They will never permit the offering of the Divine Liturgy at Hagia Sophia, but the other Churches are fair game, and should be pressed.

Quote
3) Get out of Cyprus.

Agreed, but it was the Greek Cypriots that vetoed the U.N. solution to the division of the island. Both, sides need to be monitored.

Quote
4) formally accept the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights.


Not only that, but also the U.N. Court. If the Phanar would go for it, they could turn jurisdition of certain properties over to the Vatican (which will lease them back at no cost to the Phanar). With said property being Vatican owned, then the Vatican can take Turkey to court under the United Nations charter since it is a sovreign nation.

The only problem with that is certain Orthodox chauvinist will be up in arms over such an arrangement. But what most people do not realize is that St. Peter's itself is the Church for the Patriarch of Constaninople when he is in Rome.

5. Since I hold an Armenian last name, the genocide that was committed against them is very close to my heart. The same type of genocide was carried out in Lebanon in 1860, where thousands of Christians were murdered. Therefore, Turkey needs to as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire admit that genocide was committed against the Armenians.

Turkey wants to be part of Europe, so we all need to hold them to European standards of freedom.

Poosh BaShlomo,
Yuhannon

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Originally Posted by Yuhannon
Not only that, but also the U.N. Court. If the Phanar would go for it, they could turn jurisdition of certain properties over to the Vatican (which will lease them back at no cost to the Phanar). With said property being Vatican owned, then the Vatican can take Turkey to court under the United Nations charter since it is a sovreign nation.

The only problem with that is certain Orthodox chauvinist will be up in arms over such an arrangement. But what most people do not realize is that St. Peter's itself is the Church for the Patriarch of Constaninople when he is in Rome.

5. Since I hold an Armenian last name, the genocide that was committed against them is very close to my heart. The same type of genocide was carried out in Lebanon in 1860, where thousands of Christians were murdered. Therefore, Turkey needs to as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire admit that genocide was committed against the Armenians.

Turkey wants to be part of Europe, so we all need to hold them to European standards of freedom.

Poosh BaShlomo,
Yuhannon

Hey, I like your ideas here! Phanar to turn over its lands to the Vatican, and Vatican leases the same lands to the Phanar.. but we all know how loud the screaming from Athos and Valaam will be.

As for the genocide, I think that the Armenians are actually a bit luckier in that the world already knows of the genocide that they went through. It is my understanding that the Syrians and Assyrians experienced the same level of mass murder from the Ottomans and (in the case of the Assyrians) from the Kurds, but this still has to come to public awareness. Not to speak of the horrendous massacres of Greeks in 1923...


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The Blessing of the Lord!

Dear Yuhannon,

The politics of Turkey - lead me not into temptation!

One can fairly easily spot Muslims dressed like Muslims in public places; the law is enforced quite selectively. As for the so-called "secularists" - ha! They are about as "secular" as a Carthusian monastery.

So why should Agia Sophia not be "fair game"? I did suggest only permitting it for use on certain days of the year (Pascha is the obvious example). Since the place would be thoroughly packed, and not with Turks, this would bring considerable income to the hotels and restaurants of Constantinople, which ought to help assuage the pangs.

The importance so far as we are concerned of Agia Sophia is not an attempt to reverse the Fall of Constantinople, but that the Byzantine Liturgy came into being for and in Agia Sophia, and serving there (again, a few times a year) would be an important aid to education.

I have no objection to the idea of international monitoring of both communities on Cyprus.

The notion of the Vatican as the quasi-landlord of Greek Orthodox ecclesiastical properties in Turkey is amusing - but current Turkish law stands in the way (you wouldn't believe the incredible Turkish laws about the ownership of ecclesiastical properties).

I am painfully aware of Lebanon in 1860, and of the Armenian genocide - AND of the horrible murder of the Greeks in Smyrna and elsewhere in the 20th century.

Abuna Sarkis

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Dear Yuhannon,

I don't think that Turkey cares about being a member of the EU so much anymore. Turkey marches to the beat of its own drums, does what it wants to do, and does not want to listen to or appease any one else.

In any case, perhaps Turkey doesn't really need to be. From what I hear, the resorts are awesome, Istanbul is booming, and tourism is soaring, (the Blue Mosque and the Sultan's palace withstanding, they can give thanks for that to the alien cultures which have existed on their soil, including the loathed Greek Christian Byzantines and their religion *wink*)

The sad thing is that when I talk about Turkey, I talk about it as a political entity, because the culture and people are rather nice.

Alice


Alice #299273 09/10/08 02:04 PM
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At the risk of giving offense (though I suspect that the number of Turks who read the Forum is under control), the motto of the government of Turkey seems to be "Gobble, Gobble"!

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Originally Posted by Serge Keleher
So why should Agia Sophia not be "fair game"? I did suggest only permitting it for use on certain days of the year (Pascha is the obvious example). ...

The importance so far as we are concerned of Agia Sophia is not an attempt to reverse the Fall of Constantinople, but that the Byzantine Liturgy came into being for and in Agia Sophia, and serving there (again, a few times a year) would be an important aid to education.

Do the personnel and knowledge required to serve the liturgy in Agia Sophia still exist? This has been a question with the revival of the Traditional Latin Rite, that for the Pope to celebrate the Pontifical Mass at the Throne would require offices no longer in existence. The knowledge in that case might be recoverable, since there are film recordings and perhaps even some living knowledge (plus books of course), but in the case of Agia Sophia, it hasn't been in the hands of Christians since the 15th century, right?

Has the full-on ceremonial been preserved at the Phanar? Were you perhaps suggesting something more modest?

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The books of ceremonies have been preserved - and the authentic Byzantine ritual survived longest in Thessaloniki.

The most important expert now living is Father Archimandrite Robert Taft.

Fr. Serge

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The most important expert now living is Father Archimandrite Robert Taft.

Fr. Serge


I know little of liturgics, so please forgive a possible stupid question.
Do you mean Taft is the expert of works written in the English language or Western European languages?
I can't help wondering if there are noted scholars writing in Greece, whose works have not been translated.
Can any one comment on the state of scholarship in Greece on liturgics at present?

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