Monks and Sultans: the Orthodox Church in the Ottoman Empire

Invitation to an Online Lecture

Wednesday, 27th March 2024, 19:00 (Turkish time; GMT +3)

Prof. Dr. Jannis Niehoff-Panagiotidis

Institute for Byzantine Studies, Freie Universität Berlin

Monks and Sultans: the Orthodox Church in the Ottoman Empire

In his presentation, Prof. Dr. Niehoff-Panagiotidis sheds light on the defining elements of “The Orthodox Church”, a term often used on the basis of misconceptions.

Taking the ecclesiastical pattern among the Eastern Oriental Churches as a starting point, his talk will explore why  Greek has been, and continues to be, in use as a liturgical Language over a wide geographic area that has not a Greek realm in a national sense. A basic notion of what is “Pentarchia” is also given, as it is key for understanding the relation between the sees in Jerusalem, Damascus, Alexandria and Istanbul.

The prominent role of monks within the Orthodox Church shall be illustrated by drawing on three examples:

– the Church of Antioch and her use of Arabic, as for the Church in the Near East the Patriarchate of Antioch/Damascus is historically the most important one;

– the implemention of Mount Athos/Aynoroz as the Centre of Orthodoxy in Early Ottoman times during the reigns of Sultans Murad I until Murad II. By this token, an overview of the special archival situation will be given;

– the modern-day situation in the national states of Greece and Turkey.

Jannis Niehoff-Panagiotidis is deparment chair for Byzantine Studies at Freie Universität Berlin. Of particular interest in his work are the relations between the Greek and the Muslim realm in the Eastern Mediterranean. He is currently a visiting professor at the Orient-Institut Istanbul where he works on a project for the catalogisation of Ottoman manuscripts, Greek-Arabic Alchemy, Christian-Muslim relations, and Ibn Bibi and the Christians.