Tag: Diaspora

 The soldiers who defended Constantinople just before the Fall were hopelessly few, because the city's population was small and many young men betook to monasteries in order to avoid the recruitment. When Constantine Palaeologus asked to know about the last general recruitment’s results before the final confrontation with the Ottomans, his close partner Frantzis told him that only 4,937 out of 30,000 men were finally conscripted because the rest of them weren't able to carry arms. The king then sighed and asked him to keep the number secret.

We arrived at the Church of St. Mary of Blachernae on Easter Eve, right before the beginning of the Mass and our glance fell on the marble plate, where the Akathyst Hymn, a hymn of the Eastern Orthodox tradition, was engraved.

The Greeks remaining in Constantinople are few but there are plenty of Greek Orthodox churches. Even if all of the Orthodox population went to church every day, some of them would be empty. But that does not stop the Greeks from finding ways to liven up the churches and prevent them becoming decorated. Every Good Friday they worship the Seven Epitaphs , ensuring that all processions have a small number of attendees. Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras used to say: "We the Greeks of Constantinople are few, but countless".

Zografeion Greek High School, which is in the historical district of Peran, was built in 1893. It was mainly funded by the benefactor Christakis Zografos and the lead architect was Pericles Photiades. Today it has only 49 students, many of whom live far from the school and even have a boat ride in front of them in order to get there. They uncomplainingly wake up very early in the morning, under hard weather conditions and cross long distances, not only to obtain Greek education but also to meet with other Greeks and keep their school and their nation alive.

"Put the camera down immediately because it is forbidden in this place". The guard's tone didn't take any objections. A few hours ago, when we were among tourists from all over the world at the ground floor of Saint Marcus's temple in Venice, no one prevented us from taking pictures of the place. When we got on the balcony, though, where pieces of art that had been snatched from Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1204 were being kept, after its conquest by the crusaders, we were almost treated as criminals.

Two blocks away from the popular Saint Mark's square in the centre of Venice, there is the canal of the Greeks (Rio dei Greci), which delimits the homonymous islet (Campo dei Greci). This islet is where thousands of Greek immigrants from Greece and fugitives from the fallen Constantinople (Istanbul) have lived, succeeded and produced a priceless spiritual work for ages.

Eighty six years have passed since the Greek daily newspaper "Evening Post" was first released in Constantinople. Along with the Turkish Cumhuriyet, they are both Turkey's oldest newspapers. The Evening Post used to sell 30,000 papers, which was more than the Turkish newspapers used to sell, as the Greeks were numerous and they used to read a lot, due to their high educational level. Nowadays it sells 600 papers, 90% of which are being sold in Constantinople and the rest of them in Greece. As the number of the Greek-speaking families in Constantinople is equal to the Evening Post's circulation, this newspaper could be easily included in the Guinness Book, since it's being read by the 99,9% of its potential readers.

Every year, the Greek Community of Trieste celebrates the Epiphany in great splendor. In the morning, the Greeks gather at the church of Saint Nicholas, which is on the coastal avenue, in order to watch the liturgy. Then they walk together to the port's pier, where they throw the cross in the sea and bless the waters.

The Patriarchate of Alexandria has the whole Orthodox Christian population of Africa under its spiritual jurisdiction and is the second Orthodox patriarchate, according to the canonical order (after the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople). Its missionary work is in the depths of Africa is prominent, where theological guidance and charity work is continuously expanding and is increasingly embraced by the unfortunate continent.

In February of 1451 sultan Murad died and he was succeeded by his son Muhammad, who was barely twenty years old. Constantine Palaeologos seemed to be happy when the young sultan promised to maintain the peaceful coexistence of Greeks and Turks in Byzantium, and continuing his father's policy.

During the period of the Greek community's bloom in Alexandria many schools for the expatriated were built so that the educational needs of thousands of Greek children could be covered. Education was previously not limited in elementary schools and high schools, but it was extended in a higher level. Salvagios School of Commerce used to be in the building where the elementary school is being housed, which was a donation of Constantine Salvagos, the banker, and many recherché accountants who were never left without a job graduated from this school. In addition, the famous Zervoudakios Urban School, a donation of the banker George Zervoudakis, used to be in the building where the high school is now being housed.

The blooming Greek community of Cairo, at the beginnings of the 19th century, was followed by the construction of many Greek schools, which were scattered all around the city and were attended by thousands of students. But the social rearrangements that took place during the 50's, when Egypt nationalized foreign companies, led to the beginning of the Greek community's decline and the decrease in the number of Greek students.

When Alexander the Great crossed the area of Alexandria in 332 B.C., he kneeled on the vast beach and carved on the sand the amphitheatrical shape of the future town, which would later become the capital of Egypt and would be named after him.

"The greatest satisfaction for me here in Venice is when I see the joy on young scholars' faces, every time they discover files related to the historical course of Hellenism in the Institute's libraries".

The Greek hospital Baloukli in Constantinople was founded in 1753 and has 800 beds distributed in 17 buildings spread over 42,000 square metres. Its financial resources come from the exploitation of real estate and Greek family's manors, and from patients' medical expenses. The indigent Greek patients are treated free of charge and the hospital is reasonably priced for the rest of Turkish and Greek patients.

Baloukli's Greek nursing home is situated beside the Greek hospital of Constantinople. Its financial resources come from the exploitation of real estate and Greek family's manors while it only houses Orthodox Greeks, free of charge. Today more than 110 elderly live there.

Vasilis Lamprianides is lives at the Baloukli Greek nursing home in Constantinople. His room is clean as a whistle and filled with books and Greek dictionaries. He went to Greece in 1977 and returned to Constantinople in 2005 to spend the rest of his life there. He is not abandoned in the nursing home, on the contrary; he lives in a decent, well-staffed environment with the Greek hospital's doctors just a door away in case of emergency.

"We can see that Hellenism is fading out but we won't leave. It's hard to leave behind something that works for you and rebuild your life from scratch. Besides, even though we were spoilt as children, we are also taught how to stand on our feet during hardships. We are not only 'fair weather' children".

Myron Lagouvardos, from the village Apostoloi in Rethymnon, studied pharmaceutics in Trieste but preferred to permanently live there, because he was charmed by its beauty and multicultural character. He never thought he was going to like being a pharmacist. He preferred to open what was to be a marvellous Cretan restaurant. Many of his cooking ingredients come directly from Crete and they are very popular to his customers, many of whom are famous Italian politicians and artists.

“The old stories, the ones about past glories and Emperor Constantine Paleologos, we’ve heard them all being narrated in conferences in Greece and we’ve understood them well. The issue is what we are going to do from now on in order not to become extinct. The Greeks of Constantinople who permanently returned to Greece ask us why we haven’t left too. We don’t like this question. Did we ever ask them why they left? We justified them, we understood them, we felt their pain, but let us not be judged in the end”.