Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate
Encyclopedia
The Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate , also referred to as the Turkish Orthodox Church , is an unrecognised Orthodox Christian denomination, with strong influences from Turkish nationalist ideology.
General Congregation of the Anatolian Turkish Orthodox
The start of the Patriarchate can be traced to the Greco-Turkish War. In 1922 a pro-Turkish OrthodoxEastern Christianity
Eastern Christianity comprises the Christian traditions and churches that developed in the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Middle East, Northeastern Africa, India and parts of the Far East over several centuries of religious antiquity. The term is generally used in Western Christianity to...
group, the General Congregation of the Anatolian Turkish Orthodox
General Congregation of the Anatolian Turkish Orthodox
The General Congregation of the Anatolian Turkish Orthodox was a pro-Turkish nationalist Orthodox Christian group set up in 1922 and mainly active in the Turkish-speaking, Orthodox Christian Karamanlides population of central Anatolia...
was set up with the support from the Orthodox Bishop of Havza
Havza
Havza is a district of Samsun Province of Turkey. The mayor is Murat İkiz ....
, as well as a number of other congregations representing a genuine movement among those among the Turkish speaking, Orthodox Christian Karamanlides
Karamanlides
The Karamanlides , or simply Karamanlis, are a Greek Orthodox, Turkish-speaking people native to the Karaman and Cappadocia regions of Anatolia...
population of Anatolia who wished to remain both Orthodox and Turkish. There were calls to establish a new Patriarchate
Patriarchate
A patriarchate is the office or jurisdiction of a patriarch. A patriarch, as the term is used here, is either* one of the highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, earlier, the five that were included in the Pentarchy: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, but now nine,...
with Turkish as the language of worship.
Foundation
On 15 September 1922 the Autocephalous Orthodox Patriarchate of Anatolia was founded in KayseriKayseri
Kayseri is a large and industrialized city in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It is the seat of Kayseri Province. The city of Kayseri, as defined by the boundaries of Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality, is structurally composed of five metropolitan districts, the two core districts of Kocasinan and...
by Pavlos Karahisarithis a supporter of the General Congregation of the Anatolian Turkish Orthodox (Umum Anadolu Türk Ortodoksları Cemaatleri). He was supported by 72 other Orthodox clerics.
The same year, his supporters, with his tacit support assaulted Patriarch Meletius IV on 1 June 1923.
On 2 October 1923 Papa Eftim besieged the Holy Synod and appointed his own Synod. When Eftim invaded the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate he proclaimed himself "the general representative of all the Orthodox communities" (Bütün Ortodoks Ceemaatleri Vekil Umumisi).
With a new Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory VII
Patriarch Gregory VII of Constantinople
Gregory VII was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1923 until 1924.He imported the New Style Calendar to the Church of Constantinople. He died suddenly of a massive heart attack in 1924.-External links:*...
elected on 6 December 1923 after the abdication of Meletius IV, there was another occupation by Papa Eftim I and his followers, when he besieged the Patriarchate for the second time. This time around, they were evicted by the Turkish police.
In 1924, Karahisarithis started to conduct the liturgy
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
in Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, and quickly won support from the new Turkish Republic formed after the fall of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. He claimed that the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was ethnically-centered and favored the Greek population. Being excommunicated for claiming to be a bishop while still having a wife (married bishops are not allowed in Orthodoxy) Karahisarithis, who later changed his name into Zeki Erenerol, called a Turkish ecclesial congress, which elected him Patriarch in 1924.
On 6 June 1924, in a conference in the Church of the Virgin Mary (Meryem Ana) in Galata, it was decided to transfer the headquarters of the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate from Kayseri to Istanbul. In the same session it was also decided that the Church of Virgin Mary would become the Center of the new Patriarchate of the Turkish Orthodox Church.
Karahisarithis and his family members were exempted from the population exchange
Population exchange between Greece and Turkey
The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey was based upon religious identity, and involved the Greek Orthodox citizens of Turkey and the Muslim citizens of Greece...
as per a decision of the Turkish government, although there was not the exemption for either Karahisarithis' followers or the wider Karamanlides
Karamanlides
The Karamanlides , or simply Karamanlis, are a Greek Orthodox, Turkish-speaking people native to the Karaman and Cappadocia regions of Anatolia...
communities of Turkish speaking Christian that was hoped for. Most of the Turkish speaking Orthodox population remained affiliated with the Greek Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople , part of the wider Orthodox Church, is one of the fourteen autocephalous churches within the communion of Orthodox Christianity...
.
Support for ultra nationalism
Alpaslan Turkes, who would later lead the Grey Wolves
Grey Wolves
The Idealist Youth , commonly known as Grey Wolves , is an ultra-nationalist neo-fascist youth organization. It is accused of terrorism. According to Turkish authorities, the organization carried out 694 murders between 1974–1980.-Name:...
and was involved in the post 1960 coup government took an interest in the Patriarchate, although this was stymied when he fell out of favour with the government and was exiled.
Karahisarithis' son, Selçuk Erenerol, who took the title Papa Eftim III, renounced office protest over growing links between the Turkish state and the Greek Patriarch of Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
and Turkish attempts to join the EU.
In 2008, Sevgi Erenerol, who is the daughter of Papa Eftim III and the sister of the current primate Papa Eftim IV, and who is also the spokeswoman for the Patriarchate, was arrested for alleged links with a Turkish nationalist underground organisation named Ergenekon
Ergenekon network
Ergenekon is the name given to an alleged clandestine, Kemalist ultra-nationalist organization in Turkey with possible ties to members of the country's military and security forces...
. It was also alleged that the Patriarchate served as headquarters for the organisation. Sevgi Erenerol is known for her nationalist activities. During the time of Alparslan Türkeş, she ran as a parliamentary candidate
Grand National Assembly of Turkey
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey , usually referred to simply as the Meclis , is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Constitution. It was founded in Ankara on 23 April 1920 in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence...
for the MHP
Nationalist Movement Party
The Nationalist Movement Party , is a far-right political party in Turkey.In the 2002 general elections, the party had lost its 129 seats as it had won only 8.34% of the national vote...
, the political arm of the Grey Wolves .
Attempts of integrating the Gagauz to the church
There have been a number of attempts from the 1930s into the 21st century to tie the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate with the ethnically Turkish, Greek Orthodox Gagauz minorityGagauz people
The Gagauz people are Turkic speaking group living mostly in southern Moldova , southwestern Ukraine , south-eastern Romania and northeastern Bulgaria. Unlike most other Turkic speaking people, the Gagauz are predominantly Orthodox Christians...
in Moldavia.
In the 1930s, attempts were made to integrate the adherents to the church by Gagauz Christians within Turkey as a congregation for the church. Hamdullah Suphi Tanriöver, Turkish ambassador to Romania tried to attract a number of communities in Gagauzia
Gagauzia
Gagauzia , formally known as the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Găgăuzia , is an autonomous region of...
and Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
regions, at the time integrated with Romania, presently part of the republic of Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
. Gagauz, Christian Orthodox people spoke a Turkish dialect known as Gagauzo, written using the Greek alphabet
Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
. In spite of the similarities with the Karamanlides
Karamanlides
The Karamanlides , or simply Karamanlis, are a Greek Orthodox, Turkish-speaking people native to the Karaman and Cappadocia regions of Anatolia...
, Greek Orthodox, Turkish-speaking
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
people native to the Karaman
Karaman
Karaman is a town in south central Turkey, located north of the Taurus Mountains, about south of Konya. It is the capital district of the Karaman Province. According to 2000 census, the population of the province is 231 872 of which 132,064 live in the town of Karaman. The district covers an area...
and Cappadocia
Cappadocia
Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine...
regions of Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
in Turkey. Tanriöver's plans were to establish Gagauz communities in the Turkish region of Marmara
Marmara
-Places:Greece* Marmara, Greece, a beach in Chania Prefecture, CreteTurkey* Marmara District, a district in Balıkesir Province, Marmara* Marmara Island, an island in Balıkesir Province, Marmara* Marmara Region, a region comprising 11 provinces...
, such that these communities would be attached to Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate founded by Eftim I. In 1935, about 70 Gagauz took the offer of the Turkish diplomat and settled down in Turkey. The new immigrants facing a lot of hardship finally converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. Eftim I was furious sending a letter to the diplomat Hamdullah Suphi Tanriöver, in which asked: "Where are my 70 devotees?" His failure to conserve the Gagauz Christians and to reintegrate them within his church was a great source of deception for him. With the onslaught of the Second World War, plans were put on hold and no further Gagauz were offered to join the church.
The plans of incorporating the Gagauz within the Turkish Orthodox Church resurfaced after the fall of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in the early 1990s. The Turkish government proposed to Stepan Topal
Stepan Topal
Stepan Mikhailovich Topal is a Gagauz politician from Moldova. From 1990 to 1995 he served as Governor of Gagauzia.-Leader of Gagauzia's separatist movement:By training, Topal is a road engineer...
, President of the independent region of Gagauzia
Gagauzia
Gagauzia , formally known as the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Găgăuzia , is an autonomous region of...
, to tie the Gagauz Christians, numbering according to estimates to up to 120,000 Christians to the Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate. Stephan Topal visited Turkey in 1994 and met with Papa Eftim III and eventually 100 families accompanied by 4 priests came to Istanbul to be possibly part of the Turkish Orthodox Church community. Nevertheless, the Gagauz leaders reconsidered their plans preferring to stay committed through bonds to the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate instead. Author Mustafa Ekincikli says if the plan had succeeded, the Gagauz would truly establish a valid Turkish Orthodox Church community.
During the 8th Friendship, Brotherhood and Cooperation Congress of Turkish Sates and Communities held 24-26 March 2000, calls were made particularly to the Gagauz, but also to Moldavian Orthodox Christian communities of Turkish origin in general to consider joining the Turkish Orthodox Church, but this plan was never realized. The efforts of Eftim III however were recognized by the ultranationalist Turkish movement as a valid attempt to reunite Turkic nations with their origin.
List of Patriarchs of the Turkish Orthodox Church
- Papa Eftim IPapa Eftim IPapa Eftim I , was the first Turkish Orthodox Patriarch of the Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate, an unrecognised Orthodox Christian denomination, that he founded. Eftim I had strong influences from Turkish nationalist ideology...
(1923-1962) - Born name Pavlos Karahisarithis, later changed to Zeki Erenerol. He resigned for health reasons. He died on 14 March of 1968. - Papa Eftim IIPapa Eftim IIPapa Eftim II was the elder son of Papa Eftim I, the founder of the Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate, an unrecognised Orthodox Christian denomination, with strong influences from Turkish nationalist ideology.Karahisarithis was a doctor of medicine by profession...
(1962-1991) - Born name Yiorghos Karahisarithis, later changed to Turgut Erenerol, elder son of Papa Eftim I. Died on 9 May 1991 - Papa Eftim IIIPapa Eftim IIIPapa Eftim III was the third patriarch of the Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate. He was given the title of Turkish Orthodox Patriarch of the Turkish Orthodox Church, an unrecognised Orthodox Christian denomination, with strong influences from Turkish nationalist ideology.Papa Eftim III...
(1991-2002) - Selçuk Erenerol, younger son of Papa Eftim I. Resigned after political disagreements with the Turkish government over growing links between the Turkish state and the Greek Ecumenical Patriarch and Turkish attempts to join the European Union. He died on 20 December 2002 just weeks after his resignation. - Papa Eftim IVPapa Eftim IVPapa Eftim IV is the fourth and incumbent patriarch of the Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate. He was given the title of Turkish Orthodox Patriarch of the Turkish Orthodox Church, an unrecognised Orthodox Christian denomination, with strong influences from Turkish nationalist ideology.Papa...
(2002- ) - Paşa Ümit Erenerol, grandson of Papa Eftim I and son of Papa Eftim III. He was arrested in February 2008 with accusations of participating in the Ergenekon network.
Churches
A number of churches have been seized from the Greek Orthodox Christians in Istanbul over the years, all in Karaköy
Karaköy
Karaköy, the modern name for the ancient Galata, is a commercial neighborhood in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey, located at the northern part of the Golden Horn mouth on the European side of Bosphorus....
area of Istanbul and the environs. The Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate, the original owners of the churches has never recognized the usurpations and continue demanding the restitution of the temples to their jurisdiction. These have included:
- The Church of the Virgin Mary (Meryem Ana) in GalataGalataGalata or Galatae is a neighbourhood in the Beyoğlu district on the European side of Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey. Galata is located at the northern shore of the Golden Horn, the inlet which separates it from the historic peninsula of old Constantinople. The Golden Horn is crossed by...
, seized in 1924 and which is now the headquarters of the Patriarchate. From 2008 no religious services are held. Built in 1583 by Tryfon Karabeinikov, it is also popularly known as Santa Maria de Kaffa (Panagia Kaphatiani) because it was founded by the Greek community of Kaffa (Crimean Greeks) and is located at 2 Ali Paşa Değirmen Sokağı. The church underwent a number of fires and several reconstructions with the major one in 1840, the date to which the present construction belongs. - The Church of Christ (Hristos), was seized by the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate in 1926. But it was handed back to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate after the intervention of the Turkish government in 1947.
- Saint John Chrysostomos Church (Aya Yani) seized after the anti-Greek riots of 1956. Church was built by Tryfon Karabeinikov and is located on 15 Vekilharç Sokağı. After a fire destroyed it in 1696 and replaced by a new one in 1698. Reconstructions were made in 1836 and finally 1853 by architects Matzini and Stamatis Falieros, with the permission of Sultan Abdülmecit I, giving the church the present form. From the 1990s, the church was leased to the Assyrian Church of the EastAssyrian Church of the EastThe Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...
who lacked a temple in Istanbul. - The church of Saint Nicholas (Aya Nikola), seized after the anti-Greek riots of 1956 The church was built by Tryfon Karabeinikov and is situated on the corner of Hoca Tahsin Sokağı with Mumhane Caddesi. The last reconstruction was realized in 1804. A fire in the 21st century destroyed some parts of the church, rendering it redundant.
Besides these churches, the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate owns an important number of the commercial premises, an office building and a summer palace. They are run under the name of "Independent Turkish Orthodox Foundation".
Turkish Orthodox Church in America
The Turkish Orthodox Church in AmericaTurkish Orthodox Church in America
The Turkish Orthodox Church in America was an independent Old Catholic church active in the 1970s.It claimed to pay allegiance to the Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate, an unrecognised Orthodox church based in Istanbul....
was an Old Catholic group of 20 predominantly African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
churches in the United States loosely linked to the Patriarchate. It formed in 1966 under Christopher M. Cragg, an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
physician. He changed his name to Archbishop Civet Kristof. It continued to exist throughout the 1970s, but fell away in the early 1980s when Cragg opened a clinic in Chicago.