(Christian Orthodox Turkish-speaking Scholarship as a Precursor of the Philocalic Renaissance of the 18th Century)

Abstract: The goal of this article is to illuminate some historical and spiritual aspects of the orthodox Turkish-speaking Hellenism of Asia Minor during the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries using a prosopographical approach. During this period, Turkish-speaking ecclesiastic scholars from Roman Anatolia (Karamanlis) were situated in the Athos peninsula, in the Aegean islands, and also in the mainland of Asia Minor peninsula. These Turkish-speaking scholars, in accord with the ecclesiastic tradition advocated by the Collyvades, constitute a network of persons whose action operates on multiple levels. On the one hand, their copying task of orthodox Anatolian ascetic (neptic) literature from the 4th to 14th century, constituted a precursor to the revival of Philocalia, founded by the saint fathers Makarius Notaras, Nicodemus Hagiorites, Paїsiij Velichkovskij. On the other hand, these scholars’ network demonstrated a work of translation and publication of Collyvades’ literature and a broad action of preaching and teaching, advocating the maintenance of the orthodox ecclesiastic status and tradition. Thereby, their work awakened the Turkish-speaking Hellenism of Anatolia, who gradually had to confront the new social-economical wave of Enlightenment.

Authors: Christodoulou, Georgia

DOI: 10.17846/CL.2017.10.1.121-139

Publication order reference: phd cand. Georgia Christodoulou; Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece; email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Source: Konštatínove listy, 2017, vol.: 10, issue: 1, pages: 121-139 (PDF file)

Key words: PHILOCALIC REVIVAL, RUM-ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS, TEXTS KARAMANLIS, MOUNT ATHOS, COLLYVADES ISSUE, PAISIJ VELICHKOVSKIJ

Language: FRENCH