the greeks, ancient and modern—origin of the modern greeks—mohammed the conqueror and the greeks—the greeks under selim i—the rise of the phanariot greeks—the work of the orthodox church—the greek literary revival—the trade of the greeks—the revival of hellenism—the first pan-hellenic rising—the revolt of the islands—ali pasha’s assistance—massacres—the battle of navarino—the last war between greece and turkey—joachim iii—the story of the patriarchate—the funeral of his holiness joachim iii—the greeks in the last war—a legend of balukli.
when mohammed ii completed the conquest of the eastern empire by the capture of constantinople he made himself master of a large population, both in the city and the former empire of old byzantium, which had for some time been considered greek, and which was subsequently called greek. this classification was religious from the turkish point of view, from that of the greeks themselves it became racial as time went on. to the conquering moslem all those were greeks who belonged to the orthodox church; the greeks, however, insisted on their descent from the historic people who had made their country famous before the days of the romans even, the hellenes, whose literature they adopted, whose art they basely imitated, and with whose high attributes they consider themselves endowed.
this people, the classic greeks, the hellenes, had inhabited the peloponese peninsula from those dark ages{234} before recorded history, and even in prehistoric times had occupied the islands between greece and asia minor. no doubt the hellenes moved down from the plains of central europe, the cradle of the aryan race, in successive waves, being urged forward by seething masses of young nations behind them. we have some indications as to what manner of men they were in the early works of art of the sixth century b.c., which tend to show that these ancient immigrants were large, blue-eyed, fair-haired men. anthropologists maintain after studying the skulls of ancient greeks that these were dolichocephalic, long-headed, which tends further to the conclusion that the first invaders of this peninsula were akin to the races of northern europe. the first immigrants were probably the arcadians, who spread from the coasts to the islands and populated crete, rhodes, and cyprus. they were followed by the doric tribe, kinsmen who came from thrace, who probably brought the first immigrants to submission and gradually absorbed them, and such of the aboriginals, the ionians, who did not migrate to asia minor. within the range of history another people came down from the north to influence the peloponese, the macedonians. their origin is uncertain, but what traces are left of their old language, a name here and there, suggests that they were akin to the illyrians, had adopted greek culture, and were ruled by princes who wished to be considered pure greeks. it would seem, therefore, that the ancient hellenes were a mixture of various northern aryan races and aboriginal inhabitants, illyrians, ionians, whose origin forms a yet unsolved historical problem. the peloponese was, as it were, a pier, standing out into the mediterranean sea, and from which northern ideas extended and spread southward to africa, eastward over the archipelago to asia. the subtle attraction of an outlet must have acted{235} on the subconsciousness of other northern races, in that the hellenes, far from feeling secure in their peninsula, were constantly exposed to the visits of strange barbaric visitors whenever “wanderlust” moved the tribes of central europe. of course, romans left their impress, and so did wandering goths, but strongest of all was the influence of the slavs, and they so seriously affected the peloponese that at one time it was known as slavinia.
to all this came an albanian invasion in the thirteenth century, so that the greeks of to-day cannot lay claim to anything more than spiritual descent from the ancient hellenes. the type has changed completely from that of the traditional greek: he was tall, fair-haired, and long-headed; the greek of to-day is of medium height, they have not ten per cent of fair-haired people amongst them, and they are brachycephalic, like the slavs. other slav influences may be traced in the language, in the names of places and rivers. the hellenes of to-day may be spiritual children of hellas, physically they are certainly the result of a mixing of races—illyrian, ionian, hellenes, latins, goths, slavs of various tribes, vlachs, albanians, and a dash contributed by the pious crusaders of western europe. these greeks are widely distributed over the balkan peninsula, throughout the turkish empire, and over the archipelago, and are considered a nation on the basis of an assertion made by m. kapodistrias, the first president of the new hellenic state. when asked, who are the greeks? he answered: “the greek nation consists of the people who, since the conquest of constantinople, have never ceased to profess adherence to the orthodox church, to speak the language of their fathers, and who have remained under the jurisdiction, both spiritual and temporal, of their church, wherever they{236} might live in the turkish empire.” this is, of course, a very inaccurate description, but at least serves to illustrate greek pretensions.
the greeks reckon the total of their nationals in the balkan peninsula at roughly eight millions, but i doubt whether they number more than five millions, for the helenophils who have been making propaganda for years among the slavs in macedonia are much inclined to count in those converts, many of whose sons, by the way, have been won back by the slavs and now call themselves serbs or bulgars, according to the nationality of their teachers. about two millions of these five make up the population of the kingdom of greece, the remainder are scattered about in the other balkan states. the majority are to be found in turkey and along the coasts from saloniki to varna, between two and three hundred thousand live in constantinople and by the shores of the bosphorus, in fact, they are to be found in all the important towns, not only of turkey in europe and asia minor, but also in bulgaria and russia. no doubt the preference for town life dates from the days of barbarian invasions. the greeks are chiefly engaged in trade and business, though many are fishermen employed in the coasting trade.
mohammed ii, on his triumphal entry into constantinople, found a smaller population than might have been expected from a large and important city. many of the greeks had fled, not a few had been massacred, and it took some skill and statecraft to induce the fugitives to return. this mohammed succeeded in doing by reinstating the greek patriarch with great and solemn ceremony, and by promising perfect religious freedom to the greek community. the greeks had always devoted more attention to the affairs of their church than to outside matters of state (which fact helped to ruin the eastern empire), and{237} the sultan encouraged this spirit. he increased the importance of the greek community in the capital by numerous concessions, such as ranking the patriarch among the viziers of state, giving him temporal control over his flock in matters of marriage, divorce, inheritance, management of schools, in which he was assisted by officials of the church with such high-sounding names as logothete, grand treasurer, chatophylax. mohammed could afford to strengthen the greek element in constantinople as it was always under his eyes; in the country he endeavoured to break what remained by importing fifteen thousand greeks from the land to the capital as settlers. the turks were not much interested in trade, a pursuit that does not appeal to warriors, so business was left to the greeks, and both parties were sufficiently satisfied to get on very well together at first.
there was some discontent in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and selim i had an idea that a massacre might do good; however, he was dissuaded by the mufti. about this time it was decided to take no more greek children for the ranks of the janissaries; the method formerly used kept the provincial greeks in order by means of their own progeny converted to islam and unrelenting foes to christianity, and no more greeks joined the army of turkey because none others than moslems were allowed to serve in it. christians might, however, become armatoles, a kind of mounted gendarmes which the communities raised and kept at their own expense, as the turk has never seen the necessity of securing any one’s life or fortune, and used what police force there was to nose out conspiracies and such matters of interest. brigandage, if committed by moslems upon christians, was not looked upon as a serious crime, and went unpunished until western nations began to interfere in turkish affairs.{238} the greeks in the country therefore kept their own gendarmerie, who, after the example of the turkish zaptiehs, looked with no unfriendly eye on the reprisals committed by the klephts, outlaws and brigands of their own race.
on the whole the greeks had quite a bearable time under turkish rule, especially in the capital, where their importance increased considerably. in the course of time a colony of patricians grew up around the phanar, much in the same neighbourhood inhabited by those connected with the byzantine court before the conquest. these patricians were not descended from nobles of the former empire, but came from families of merchants who had settled in constantinople around the residency of the patriarch.
when the military power of the osmanli declined and they were obliged to use treaties where formerly threats had served their purpose, the sublime porte felt a need for trained intellects to carry on intricate negotiations, especially as the turks were much too indolent to learn a foreign language. so jews and renegades were called in as interpreters, and in course of time greeks discovered a suitable field for their abilities in the welter of turkish foreign affairs. the turks were equally sensible to the uses of intellectual, though generally servile, phanariots, and employed them in ever-increasing numbers and extended their responsibilities. a greek, panayoti, was made dragoman to the porte by achmet kiüprilü; another greek, mavrocordato, signed the treaty of carlowitz as turkish plenipotentiary; and so by degrees greeks came into the public service of the ottoman empire. phanariots rose to yet higher honours when at the beginning of the eighteenth century turkey had reason to distrust the nationalist parties in wallachia and moldavia. hospodars{239} were sent from constantinople to those provinces, and many of these were of greek phanariot families, introducing into roumania names well known there to-day: mavrocordato, soutza, ypsilanti, ghika.
the orthodox church was very active, especially in macedonia, and it is thanks to her that the members of the slav race in that province have not lost every trace of their nationality, every vestige of their faith during those long centuries when servia groaned under the iron heel of sultans passing through triumphant, and bulgaria had ceased to be. that christianity was kept alive in servia, macedonia, bulgaria, and that any culture remained in those countries after their conquest by the turks, is due to the insistence with which the patriarchate at constantinople pursued its work of maintaining schools, distributing literature, etc., in those districts. true, their tendency and probably their aim was to hellenize serbs and bulgarians. moreover, they would have succeeded had not those nationalities, which the orthodox church had kept alive, felt their own strength and in their turn insisted on a line of their own. certainly for many generations, and until within the memory of man, bulgars and serbs in macedonia have described themselves as greeks.
this propaganda continued unchecked so long as the phanariots did not lay themselves open to the suspicion of hellenism. turkish rule was strict, often unjust, but the turk had not come to realize that the subject races could make their way out of the mire into which islam’s conquests had thrust them.
the literary spirit of the greeks had been all but killed by the moslem conquest of their capital, and when it revived at last spent its energies in theological controversy for several centuries. but by degrees colleges were started, theatres opened, and the world beyond the confines of the{240} turkish empire was called in to witness the greek revival by assiduous pan-hellenic agencies, clubs, and societies in vienna, bucharest, corfu. this revival was strongest, at least in its literary efforts, in the middle of the eighteenth century, towards the end of that, and at the beginning of the nineteenth century. as no revival can hold its head up without a poet or two, the pan-hellenes raised two, rhigas and coreas, poets and patriots who found it convenient to sing their inspired song some distance from home, for exile is always the most suitable setting for genius of that order, and is, moreover, so much safer. unhappily this did not apply to rhigas, who had settled somewhere in austria; the government of that country handed him over to the turkish authorities, who executed him at belgrade. his death inspired other poets to further efforts of the patriotic order, so all was not yet lost.
the commercial genius of the greeks ever stood them in good stead; they defied the competition of others, and left even jews and armenians far behind. this quality led to their being preferred for the consular service of the ottoman empire. they managed to make considerable profits out of the treaty between russia and turkey in 1774, and soon the carrying trade of the levant was in their hands. this attracted numbers of the seafaring greeks into the mercantile marine, and left the turkish navy in recruiting difficulties, for it had depended on the greeks for seamen. the prosperity of the greek merchants carried them further afield, and they started large business houses in odessa, trieste, venice, and london, and it was largely owing to these merchants that the patriotic songs of rhigas were revived, and by them the nationalist ambitions of the pan-hellenes. the french revolution fanned the spirit of revolt into living flame, and by 1815 a strong political union called the hetaireia was called{241} into being, with the object of freeing greece from turkish rule by organized revolt. four greek merchants of moscow started this union, and it was decorated with the usual accessories of conspiracy, symbols, ceremonies, a mysterious language, in fact, the whole outfit suitable to the occasion. moreover, it flourished, and numbered two hundred thousand members by 1820. the turks had taken the alarm meanwhile, and were preparing in characteristic fashion to meet all contingencies. special officials, mostly albanians, were appointed to keep a strict control over the mountain-passes from macedonia and epirus into thessaly and acarnania, and these officials managed their oppressive measures so well that by the middle of the eighteenth century they had removed all the little jealousies among the different greek communities and led them all to coalesce; even the klephts and armatoles, official opponents as they were, became reconciled and united with the others against the turks.
another cause of unrest in greece was the constant changing of the ruling power in morea. mohammed ii took this province, all but a number of towns which venice retained till 1540 and then handed over to the turks. but the venetians wanted them back, and re-annexed them about a century later, during the reign of a weak sultan, and held them until they were again accorded to the turks by the peace of passarowitz, in 1718.
as may be supposed, russia and greece entered into some kind of private understanding, and peter the great was by no means disinclined to assist in any revolt which would tend to weaken ottoman power and make it easier for him to acquire those outlying bits of the sultan’s empire upon which he had set his heart. but no advantage came to greece through peter the great’s policy, nor through the influence of russia during the first rising of{242} the hellenes, in 1770. greece built firmly on russian support, for orloff, the favourite, had drawn catherine’s attention to the state of affairs in that country, described to him by one papadopoulo. however, something went wrong; the greeks accused the russians of treachery, the russians the greeks of cowardice, and in the end greece got nothing and russia the crimea, which was probably the sole object of the man?uvre as far as the northern empire was concerned. the turks, by way of admonition, let loose albanian troops, with permission to plunder and ravage; fifty thousand greeks were massacred and the country given over to desolation. the albanians went out of hand so completely that they were beyond the control of the porte for nine years after this unsuccessful greek rising, and were not reduced to a semblance of submission until defeated by a turkish army at tripolitza. nevertheless, when next russia declared war on turkey the latter at once let loose the albanians over greece again. in the meantime klephts and armatoles, united as wild men of the mountains, had become a formidable asset for purposes of revolt.
a number of islands were the first to throw off the turkish yoke: corfu, paso, zante, ithaka, kephalonia, and two others. these islands had belonged to venice from the fifteenth century till the end of the eighteenth, when they were ceded to france, and after several changes became the united republic of the seven ionian islands, under great britain’s protection, until incorporated, without their consent, in the kingdom of greece, in 1863.
assistance came to greece in her struggle for freedom from a very unlikely quarter, from ali pasha of janina, who, to further his ambition of becoming an independent ruler, used the greeks for his purposes by inducing them to unite with him against the sultan. ali pasha died{243} before his plans could mature, but, what he probably did not intend, greece remained united, and were urged on by patriotism to go to further lengths.
the first serious revolt of the hellenes against the turks was engineered by alexander ypsilanti, son of a hospodar, in moldavia and wallachia, but met with little sympathy from the roumanians; and as russia disowned ypsilanti, the movement was crushed by the turks in a few months. the attempted rising provoked the moslems to a general massacre of christians; the sons of islam were summoned to a jehad, and racial and religious passions were roused to frenzy. massacres occurred on both sides, savage executions took place; for instance, the patriarch was hanged at his own gate, and many bishops and nobles were executed the same day, simply because they were suspected of complicity in a fresh revolt in morea.
while the morean rebels were being exterminated, the porte found time for organized massacres in macedonia and thrace; but still revolution held its own, even gained some successes, assisted largely by foreign gold. revolt had been in full swing for three years, without any evidence of calming down, so the sultan ordered mehemet ali of egypt to despatch an army of invasion to morea. this was done; the army of ibrahim pasha, son of mehemet ali, had fairly easy work with the insurgents, stamping out the revolt in the usual, time-honoured manner, by exterminating the greek population. athens fell, missilonghi was besieged, and europe, sickening at the sights and sounds of devastation in morea, determined to interfere. the combined squadrons of great britain, france, and russia met at navarino, to make what has since become quite a popular method of dealing with turkey, a naval demonstration. ibrahim misunderstood the situation, and fired on a british boat, instead of advising{244} the sultan to make a number of promises he never would keep, and thus rid himself of those who interfered with his methods of government. this, of course, was too much; a battle ensued, after which there was no more turkish fleet. greece thereupon became independent.
as was only natural, there were no more high offices in the ottoman empire filled by phanariots after greece became an independent kingdom, and many of those patricians emigrated. this and other matters had a serious effect on greek commerce, especially the carrying trade in the levant, which has since passed into other hands. but the hellenic culture has not fallen off, and the greeks are probably among the best educated and most intelligent of the sultan’s subjects.
there were a number of greeks admitted into the army under the regime of the young turks, and many of these took part in this balkan war. i have heard that all work requiring skill and intelligence was left to them, that they formed the best engineers, pioneers, and were trusted as gunners rather than the simple souls who were hurried to the front from their anatolian farms.
the greeks are full of music too; you may hear their quaint, pathetic songs of an evening by the shores of the bosphorus. to my mind they have a strange but attractive cadence. some say that they are taken from the italians, others that the italians came here for them. i do not believe either version, but consider that these songs, like those of any other nation, are the natural expression of the soul of the people.
my readers may judge for themselves, as i include some greek songs in this work. unfortunately, i have not been able to find a setting of the most interesting song i have ever heard in these parts, a song with a wistful beauty of its own, entirely spoilt by a travesty of it{245} made by the turks, who took it as their national anthem or hymn of liberty—i forget which. all i know is that here, again, they had destroyed without rebuilding.
musical notation, thalassa.
musical notation, thalassa.
2.
den éhortasses akoma
thalassa tosson kéro,
apo ta kormia pou troi
t’almyro sou to nero
thalassa t’almyro sou to néro,
(bis.)
3.
ossa vassana ki’ an éhi
pali o naftis den bori
mia stighmi dihos ésséna
tin zo? tou na hari
thalassa tin zo? tou na hari,
(bis.)
musical notation, i yiftopoula.
musical notation, i yiftopoula.
2.
me to hamoyélio
ti ghlikia matia sou
yiro sou skorpizis ti hara,
mon’ yia mena, fos mou,
i aghni kardhia sou
mon’ yia mena kor’ ine psihra!
refrain.
ela, yiftopoula, na yiatrepsis
m’ ena mono sou ghliko fili, etc., etc.
3.
dies me pos yia sena
ap’ aghapi liono
dies yia sena pos kardhioktipo
pes mou na elpizo,
pes mia lexi mono,
yiftopoula, ki’ ola ta xehno.
refrain.
ela, yiftopoula, na yiatrepsis
m’ ena mono sou ghliko fili, etc., etc.
musical notation, to trellokoritso.
musical notation, to trellokoritso.
τι ??ελ?ισ?α μ? ?ινει ?ταν θυμηθ?
σ?ν μο?λεγε? ??? μ’ ?γα???
μαλ? ναξ ι?ριμο
κα? τ? τρελλ? σου λογια
μ’ ?μαμαν φ?? μον γ ι? χαθ?
γιατ? δ?ν ?ξευρα ? δυστυχ??
??? ?σουνε ζουλ??ριμο.
2.
ti apelpissia mé piani otan thimitho
san mouleyes pos m’ agapas
kalé naz[i)]ariko
kè ta trela sou loy[i)]a
m’ ékaman fos mou y[i)]a na hatho
y[i)]ati den ixevra o distihis
pos issoune zoul[i)]ariko.
some fourteen years ago an ill-advised, excited section of the hellenes forced their king to declare war on the porte, and brought no great credit on themselves nor honour to their country’s arms, for greece was far from ready for such a struggle, and those in office knew it, but were powerless to stop the trouble. however, the war was well managed in this respect, that the leaders of the army contrived to withdraw from it without any serious disaster; no guns were lost, and out of the 50,000 greeks pitted against 150,000 turks, only 400 were killed and 1800 wounded, which is quite good management considering the difficulties of the man?uvring in such very unusual circumstances.
during those days when the greeks of constantinople were rejoicing over the defeat of their old enemy, over the victory of the allies, a great sorrow cast its shadow upon the phanar and the members of the orthodox church. death took his holiness joachim iii, ?cumenical patriarch of greek orthodoxy in constantinople, suddenly from amidst his devoted flock. he died at four o’clock in the afternoon of november 26th, and with him passed away one of the greatest of many great men who have held the high office of patriarch here in the city of constantine.
when constantine the great became a christian, and made constantinople his capital and residence, he was guided in his doings by the patriarch of the time, and as that dignitary’s seat, and to the “greater glory of god,” the cathedral church of st. sophia arose on the narrowing tongue of land between the sea of marmora and the golden horn.
among the great predecessors of his holiness joachim iii{252} was st. john chrysostom, “the golden mouth,” whose fearless zeal brought him into conflict with empress eudoxia, wife of arcadius. though st. john chrysostom died in exile, his body was brought back to the scene of his former activity and met with all the solemn pomp of funeral rites, which theodosius ii attended as chief mourner, and in expiation of his guilty parents’ sin in banishing the saint.
other strong men followed, and piloted the church over the deep, troubled waters of byzantine politics, defending their flock against an emperor’s whim, or shielding it from the subtle influences of heresy.
when constantinople fell before the sword of othman, in 1453, the cross vanished from the dome of st. sophia, for mohammed the conqueror made that church his mosque; but he was too great not to respect the faith of others. the greek remnant of the population had gathered together when sufficiently assured of safety to life and liberty, and of the free use of their religion. then, only a fortnight or so after the conquest of the city, and long before the sights and signs of the desolation there wrought had been removed, a singular scene was witnessed by those who crowded the narrow streets. the sultan held an investiture on old byzantine lines. with all the pomp and traditional splendour of the ceremony, he invested gennodius with the office of patriarch. with his own hands the conqueror delivered into the hands of gennodius the crozier, or pastoral staff, the symbol of his high office. his holiness was then conducted to the gate of the seraglio, presented with a richly caparisoned horse, and led by viziers and pashas to the palace allotted to him as residence.
at the phanar mourning greeks at the gate of the patriarchate.
at the phanar
mourning greeks at the gate of the patriarchate.
during all the centuries of turkish rule the office of patriarch of constantinople was no easy one, and diffi{254}{253}culties became even greater as the younger nations grew up around turkey in europe, clamouring for freedom, insisting on their racial rights; those younger nations which during the last few weeks have overrun the vilayets, and are now hammering at the outer defences of constantinople.
so his holiness joachim iii’s term of office was one of everlasting difficulties, his path beset by endless, varied troubles. but happily he was fully endowed to cope with all the troubles that crowded in upon him. a man of striking personality, strong character, and just in all his doings, he was respected by the power in whose midst he held his “imperium in imperio” among the hearts of men; he was beloved by the masses of the people who follow the teachings of greek orthodoxy. the late patriarch’s liberal training, his wide outlook on life, and his deep insight into the vexed political questions of his time have helped him through the rapids of racial, nationalist ambitions here in the city of constantine the great.
joachim iii has held the high office of patriarch on several occasions with now and then a hiatus. he was patriarch under abdul hamid’s reign of absolutism, and served his flock so well that when the constitution was granted and he was recalled as shepherd of the orthodox greek church, he was acclaimed with intense enthusiasm. then came the troublous times of strife caused by successive young turk cabinets. but joachim iii was master of the situation, and proved it by his skilful handling of the greek national assembly at the phanar, which prevented very serious consequences.
towards the end of his long, eventful life, some eighty years or more, joachim iii had the satisfaction of seeing the turbulent waters of strife which had raged round his{256} see during all his years of office subside, calm down, and so he died in peace.
no doubt he longed to see the cross replace the crescent on st. sophia, yearned to complete the mass interrupted by the conquering osmanli at that feast of pentecost in may, 1453. but he has passed away with the knowledge that those young christian nations have felt and proved their strength. they are without the gates even now, as joachim iii is being carried to his rest. nevertheless the enemy of his faith, the turk, preserved order and acted as escort to his holiness joachim iii on his last journey.
funeral of an armenian archbishop the face of the corpse is uncovered, some say in order to convince the populace that the dignitary is really dead, not imprisoned; others contend that this custom dates from a turkish police ordinance, during the greek risings, when arms were often smuggled into the towns in coffins.
funeral of an armenian archbishop
the face of the corpse is uncovered, some say in order to convince the populace that the dignitary is really dead, not imprisoned; others contend that this custom dates from a turkish police ordinance, during the greek risings, when arms were often smuggled into the towns in coffins.
on sunday, december 1st, a great multitude assembled about the phanar and crowded the streets leading to it, for the patriarch was buried that day. the crowd was mostly composed of greeks, members of the church of which joachim iii was the spiritual head, and turkish soldiers and police kept the turbulent crowd in its place without violence, with great courtesy in fact, despite the abuse hurled at them. guards of honour from the russian warships lined the aisles of the cathedral church, another from the roumanian warship, the entrance to the phanar. preceded by turkish cavalry his holiness was borne on his throne to the waterside and there placed on a steamer which carried him down the golden horn, round seraglio point, and out to psamatia; there the remains were landed again, and escorted by turkish soldiery and armenian priests, the solemn procession moved through the thronged streets towards yedi koulé, where stand the ruins of the golden gate, through which conquering byzantine emperors were wont to make their triumphant entry. under the shadow of the strong towers whence yedi koulé derives its name, the procession moved out beyond the walls which theodosius ii built to safeguard this most eastern stronghold of western civilization against the{257} asiatic enemies who surged up against these strong defences in successive waves, till at last they fell before the sword of othman.
but a short way beyond the old walls of constantinople stands the monastery of balukli, the last resting-place of a long line of patriarchs. joachim iii had requested that he should be buried on mount athos, whither he went for peace in monastic seclusion from time to time, a place he loved. but the greek ecclesiastical authorities decided to please the populace by disregarding the patriarch’s wish, and so he will not rest at balukli, the lourdes of the orthodox church. pilgrims from afar come to worship here and seek healing in the wonder-working waters of the well at balukli.
and hither his holiness joachim iii has been escorted by the enemies of his creed and of his people; while turkish soldiers showed this last honour to the head of a church whose members have long been subjects of the porte, greek armies have marched victorious over the plains of thessaly and are occupying turkish towns and provinces. yet it was the courteous sons of othman who solemnly, reverently escorted joachim iii to the grave.
but before he died his holiness joachim iii had watched the victorious march of the hellenes towards constantinople; those few thronged weeks of warfare brightened the last days of the great patriarch, though his kind heart must have bled for the many sacrifices bellona demanded of the allies, and of the enemies of his faith. very different from the last campaign of 1898 was this victorious progress of the hellenes. short and sharp it was; war was declared on turkey on october 17th, on the following day the greek fleet had put to sea and the army of the hellenes, led by the crown prince, had invaded turkey and occupied elassona. three days later the greek fleet seized lemnos,{258} an island in the ?gean sea. fighting their way fiercely against formidable resistance, the hellenes on land gained ground towards janina, captured veria and thasos, and after a check at florina, marched towards saloniki. the greek left column captured prevesa as the servians took gostivar on november 3rd, the right column entered saloniki five days later. from here the greeks proceeded with the conquest of other islands in the ?gean, till all but a few are in their possession, and the greek fleet blocks the southern exit of the dardanelles. all this had happened before his holiness joachim iii was called away; pity that peace had not been restored before osmanli troops escorted him from the phanar, down the golden horn, to his last resting-place of balukli.
there is a quaint legend attached to the monastery of balukli. it is said that while the troops of mohammed the conqueror were making their last assault on the walls of constantinople, the monks of balukli were engaged in frying fish. the city fell and the monks fled before the fish were quite fried, so these jumped out of the frying-pan back into the water. the legend goes on to aver that when christian troops retake constantinople those fish will leave their native element and return to the frying-pan.
life must hold endless possibilities for those who can believe such legends as this one.
