1828: Patriarch Agathangelos Asked Kapodistrias to Subject to the Sultan!!

Some things never change!  Two hundred years ago, in 1828, Patriarch Agathangelos sent a committee of four Metropolitans to ask Governor Kapoditrias to quit fighting and to submit again to the Ottoman Sultan!! The Governor rejected the letter… A few months later,  the Treaty of Adrianople (signed by the Sultan after the Ottomans’ catastrophic defeat by the Russians to avoid the Russians entering Constantinople), finally granted Greece complete independence!!…

By Helleniscope’s Editorial Team

Some things never change – and in our case, they have become worse!! In 1828, during the turbulent years of the Greek War of Independence, Patriarch Agathangelos I of Constantinople (1826–1830) — under pressure from the Ottoman Sultan — sent envoys to Greece bearing a letter urging Greeks to submit to Ottoman authority and accept his pardon. The mission was entrusted to the Metropolitans of Nicaea, Chalcedon, Larissa, and Ioannina, accompanied by the Great Protosyncellus. Their goal: distribute the Sultan’s message urging restoration of harmony under Ottoman rule.

The Metropolitans, after first meeting Ibrahim (the Egyptian military leader who was still occupying much of the Peloponese), then went to Nafplio, where the prefect Genovelis did not let them enter, so as not to influence the population. The same happened in Tripolitsa, where the prefect Vlachopoulos forbade them from entering the city.

When in April they arrived in Poros and dared to tell Kapodistrias that they would read the patriarchal proclamation, which called on the Greeks to submit to the Sultan, he not only did not allow them, but also spoke to them in very harsh language. In May of that year, he composed a firm and dignified reply, masterfully balancing ecclesiastical respect with unyielding defense of Greek independence. In his response, he stressed that the Greek nation would rather die than return to subjugation under Ottoman rule.

Below you can see the Governor’s reply in the original Greek and in English – it’s a remarkable historical document.  Yes, Kapodistrias was well aware that the Patriarch was under pressure from the Turks.  But he also knew that his antepredecessor (Gregorios the 5th) became a martyr (after having forced to excommunicate the revolted Greeks) and he was hanged at the gate of the Phanar rather than cross the line of betrayal. In our days, we are dealing with a Patriarch, Bartholomew, who betrayed nation and faith and everything else he swore to hold sacred and holy… He even blessed the Turkish Army as they invaded Syria to kill civilians as the usually do…

A few months later,  the Treaty of Adrianople (signed by the Sultan after the Ottomans’ catastrophic defeat by the Russians to avoid the Russians entering Constantinople), finally granted Greece complete independence!!… In mid-1830, Patriarch Agathangelos was voted out of office, a not-unusual occurrence in these years, as his immediate predecessor was also deposed. Can someone explain to us what the rules are for a Patriarch to be deposed? In our days, it should be our first order of business!! Actually, Helleniscope will research and return with the fascinating history and the Canons applying in this case… 

HERE IS THE RESPONSE BY KAPODISTRIAS IN ENGLISH, FOLLOWED BY THE ORIGINAL GREEK

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No. 2683
Hellenic State

The Governor of Greece

To His All-Holiness, the Ecumenical Patriarch,
and the holy Synod around him.

The letter of Your Holiness and the Holy Synod, addressed in the month of February to the notables, clergy, elders, and all the Christian inhabitants of the Peloponnese and the islands of the Aegean Sea of every rank and class, had already appeared in the newspapers of all Europe—and even of Greece itself—when most recently the venerable Archbishops and Metropolitans of Nicaea, Chalcedon, Larissa, and Ioannina, together with the Great Protosyncellus, arrived on the island of Poros, where at present we also reside.

However small our expectation may have been, we cannot conceal from Your Holiness the inexpressible sorrow we felt when it was confirmed to us that the sole purpose of the mission of these Hierarchs was to deliver into our hands that same letter of February and, at the same time, to urge us in every pressing manner to give them at least some hope that the Greek nation might accept the admonitions of Your Holiness.

We ourselves, having received the letter from their very hands, openly and frankly declared the reasons why this step could not have any effect, nor bear any fruits in any way corresponding to the wishes of Your Holiness.

We feel most deeply what we owe to the dignity both of the Great Church and of Your Holiness. For this reason, we refrain from recapitulating here the contents of the synodical letter.

This people, encircled and assailed on the one side by terrible armies, often pushed to the very brink of the abyss—this people still exists!

Unanimous and universal is this conviction: neither the notables, nor the clergy, nor the people to whom Your Holiness addresses yourself have, nor can they have, any other conviction than this—without ceasing thereby to be men and Christians.

Much blood has been shed, many fortunes have been ruined in the course of eight years of war and suffering, during which this land has been laid utterly waste, so that it is absolutely impossible for it to return to any former condition of things founded upon the past!

In Poros, the 28th of May (9th of June) 1828

The Governor,
Ioannis A. Kapodistrias

The Secretary of State,
S. Trikoupis

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«Αρ. 2683

Ελληνική Πολιτεία

Ο Κυβερνήτης της Ελλάδος

Προς τον Παναγιώτατον Οικουμενικόν Πατριάρχην και την περί αυτόν αγίαν Σύνοδον.

Η προς τους προύχοντας, κληρικούς, προκρίτους και λοιπούς χριστιανούς κατοίκους της Πελοποννήσου και των νήσων του Αιγαίου Πελάγους εκάστης τάξεως και βαθμού διευθυνθείσα παρά της Υμετέρας Παναγιότητος και της ιεράς Συνόδου επιστολή του Φεβρουαρίου μηνός είχε φανή και εις τας εφημερίδας όλης της Ευρώπης, και αυτής ακόμη της Ελλάδος, ότε εσχάτως οι άγιοι Αρχιεπίσκοποι και Μητροπολίται Νικαίας, Χαλκηδόνος, Λαρίσσης και Ιωαννίνων μετά του Μεγάλου Πρωτοσυγκέλλου έφθασαν εις την νήσον Πόρον, όπου κατά το παρόν και ημείς διατρίβομεν…

Όσον ολίγων ελπίδων και αν ήτον η προσδοκία μας, δεν δυνάμεθα να υποκρύψωμεν εις την Υμετέραν Παναγιότητα την ανέκφραστον λύπην, την οποίαν ησθάνθημεν, όταν εβεβαιώθημεν, ότι η αποστολή των Ιεραρχών τούτων σκοπόν μόνον είχε του να εγχειρίσωσι προς ημάς την ιδίαν του Φεβρουαρίου επιστολήν και να μας προτρέψωσιν εν ταυτώ, καθʼ όλους τους κατεπείγοντας τρόπους, ώστε να τους δώσωμεν καν ελπίδας ότι Ελληνικόν έθνος ήθελε παραδεχθή τας νουθεσίας της Υ. Παναγιότητος.

Οι ίδιοι ημείς, δεξάμενοι παρά των ιδίων αυτών την επιστολήν, είπομεν μεθʼ όλης της παρρησίας τα αίτια, με τα οποία το βήμα τούτο ούτε συνέπειάν τινα εδύνατο να έχη, ούτε καρπούς παντελώς να φέρη αναλόγους προς τας επιθυμίας της Υ. Παναγιότητος…

Βαθύτατα αισθανόμεθα ο,τι οφείλομεν εις την θέσιν και της Μεγάλης Εκκλησίας και της Υ. Παναγιότητος, δια τούτο και δεν εγκρίνομεν να ανακεφαλαιώσωμεν το περιεχόμενον της συνοδικής επιστολής…

Περικυκλούμενος και πολεμούμενος ο λαός ούτος εξ ενός μέρους από φοβερά στρατόπεδα … ωθούμενος συχνάκις έως του χείλους της αβύσσου, ο λαός ούτος υπάρχει ακόμη…

Ομόφωνος και γενική είναι η πεποίθησις αύτη· ούτε οι προύχοντες ούτε ο κλήρος ούτε ο λαός, προς τους οποίους η Υ.Π. διευθύνεται, έχουσιν ούτε δύνανται να έχωσιν άλλην παρʼ αυτήν την πεποίθησιν, χωρίς να εξαχρειωθώσι και να παύσωσι του να είναι άνθρωποι και χριστιανοί.

Πάμπολυ αίμα εχύθη, πάμπολλαι ουσίαι εφθάρησαν εις διάστημα οκτώ ετών πολέμου και δυστυχιών, καθʼ ους ο τόπος ούτος κατηφανίσθη, ώστε όλως διόλου αδύνατον είναι να επανέλθη εις οποιανδήποτε κατάστασιν πραγμάτων βάσιν έχουσαν το παρελθόν!

Εν Πόρω την 28η Μαΐου (9 Ιουνίου) 1828

Ο Κυβερνήτης Ι. Α. Καποδίστριας

Ο Γραμματεύς της Επικρατείας Σ. Τρικούπης»