The sufferings of the Church under Turkish rule were not confined merely to the loss of the places of worship. The “peskesi” levied at each patriarchal election still continued to grow, even attaining the sum of 4,600 gold coins; and since frequent changes of Patriarch meant to Turkish voracity more frequent payment of the “peskesi,” forcible changes became so numerous that during a single period of eighty years (1620-1702) no fewer than fifty Patriarchs ascended the steps of the Patriarchal throne. For what value, in the Sultan's eyes, could be attached to a head of the Greek nation whose very life was constantly in jeopardy? Murad IV in 1638, had the Patriarch, Cyril Lucar, drowned in the Bosphorus. Mohammed IV, in the years 1651 and 1657 respectively, caused the Patriarchs Parthenius II and Parthenius III to be hanged. Whatever happened in the capital had its echo in the provinces. A tribute of money was exacted by the rulers at the appointment of every Metropolitan, just as it was at every Patriarchal election, and the life of a bishop was no more safe than that of a Patriarch. Meanwhile, the “haratsi,” or capital tax, which every Christian subject had to pay for the privilege of bearing his head on his shoulders, also increased. Child-kidnapping, that hungry Minotaur, grew more frequent; not every fourth year, as in the time of the Conqueror, but every year the children were now collected, and not under seven, but under fifteen years of age. There were orgies of forced conversions to Islam at the expense of the subject Christians. According to Meletius Pegas, in Egypt alone thirty thousand Christians had their tongues cut out, so that the parents might not transmit the Christian faith to their children. And according to Montealbani, who travelled through Albania in 1625, there was not one of the remaining Christians whose son or brother or some other relation had not turned Mohammedan. In 1620 the number of Christians in Albania was 350,000. By 1650, they had been reduced to 50,000 — that is, to one-seventh of their former number.

Dawning Improvement in the Conditions of the Subject Race.

   More tolerable days began to dawn for the Christian subjects in Turkey, from the moment that Peter the Great (1682-1725), Emperor of the free and Orthodox country of Russia, began, in pursuance of a definite policy whose ultimate aim was the removal of the Russian capital to Constantinople, o take under his protection those Christians who were groaning beneath the foreign yoke. This policy was followed, after Peter the Great by all his successors, and among others by Catherine II, who indeed incited the Greeks by many promises to rebel against the Turks in 1770, only to abandon them afterwards to the latter's avenging sword. Russia's right of intervention on behalf of the Christians in Turkey was at all events recognized by the European Powers, who confirmed this right in 1774 by the Treaty of Kainartzik. Apart from the self-seeking interest taken in the oppressed Christians by Russia, which was an important factor in the improvement of their position, the Phanariotes themselves also contributed towards this result. These men were Greeks who lived in the district of Phanari, where the Patriarchate had eventually settled, and who, distinguished by their intelligence, politeness, European culture, and knowledge of languages, were often raised by the Sultan to high positions, such as that of secretary, interpreter, privy counselor, or even governor of one of the Turkish provinces of Walachia and Moldavia. Thus, to the best of their ability, they found opportunities to influence the Sultans, and to intercede with them on behalf of their less fortunate fellow-Greeks and Christians.

The Greek Revolution.

   On the 25th March, 1821, in the Hagia Laura, the Archbishop of Old Patras, Germanus, raised the banner of rebellion against the Turks, bearing the motto of “Freedom or Death,” and the whole of the Greek mainland, with the Peloponnesus and the Aegean Islands, rose up to an unequal struggle. This event, which touched the hearts of sensitive people in the West, correspondingly enraged the Sultan, who swore revenge against the revolutionaries. The first victim of his rage was the cultured and ascetic Patriarch of Constantinople, Gregory V, who, on April 22nd, Easter Day of that same year, was hanged from the gates of the Patriarchate, and whose dead body, after having been dragged through the streets of Constantinople by the crowd, was finally flung into the sea. After him, the Metropolitans of Ephesus, Chalcedon, Derki, Salonica and Adrianople, were all put to death in a similar manner in various parts of the Seven-Hilled City. The Great Logothete, Stephen Mavrogenes, was beheaded, and the Grand Interpreter of the Fleet, Nicholas Mourouzes, was butchered with his brother. Not only in Constantinople, but in Adrianople, Larissa, Cyprus, Crete and other places as well, the blood of many venerable bishops was shed, sometimes even upon the holy altar. But after seven years of war, the little country of Greece achieved her independence.