Ближний Восток и его соседи

g 215 h The Stance of the Greek Orthodox Church Towards the Crusades... Regardless of the prohibition of violent Islamization, actions in defiance of the law had been coming from local rulers, organized groups, and indi- viduals. Evliya Çelebi writes that in Easter Sunday in two cities of Macedo- nia, Veria and Vodena, armed Muslims go on a search for Christians, and whomever they find gets circumcised and converted to Islam. Generally, the cases of violent Islamization were isolated, but in certain cases they referred to massive Islamization. For instance, in Thessaloniki, eleven New Martyrs were reported between 1527 and 1815, while Nicodemus the Hagiorite re- ports ninety-four New Martyrs from 1492 to 1794. On certain occasions the grounds were given by the New Martyrs themselves, while in other cases they were accused of insulting Islam and in order to avoid death punishment they had to be Islamised. 17 The situation of the Christians in the Balkans worsened after the large conquests of the 16 th century and up to 1700. The worsening circumstances turned an important number of Christians to Islam, mainly in Epirus, Crete, and Asia Minor, reduced the Christian population in the Ottoman Empire, and caused migration. 18 However, more generally, regarding the spread of Islam in the Balkans it has to be clarified that, apart from the Orthodox Christians, the Ottomans found there communities that felt insecure due to their religious beliefs facing related discrimination by Serbs, Bulgarians, and Byzantines. This observation refers to Paulicians and the Bogomils, as well as Albanians who have been subjugated to Islam in order to protect themselves from the Serbs. 19 The Church and the War of Greek Independence Following the Ottoman conquest, the property of Monasteries did not come under the ownership of the Ottoman state. Pursuant to Islamic religious law, which was sacred to the Ottomans, during Ottoman rule Monasteries held possession of their immovable property uninterruptedly, despite the occa- sional arbitrary acts on the part of Ottoman authorities. The status of the clergy during Ottoman rule was founded, originally, on the command of Sul- tan Mehmed II the Conqueror to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople that the latter should represent the Orthodox population. This authorization gave the Church possibilities of mediation between those enslaved in power 17 I. Anastasiou. Οι νεομάρτυρες της Θεσσαλονίκης. Municipality of Thessaloniki, Historical Centre of Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki: 1985. P. 485–488. 18 N. Svoronos. Επισκόπηση της Νεοελληνικής Ιστορίας. Thessaloniki: Themelio, 1994. P. 40–43. 19 K. Moschopolitis. Η εξάπλωση του Ισλαμ στα Βαλκάνια και η εξέλιξη του αλβανικού εθνικι- σμού. Athens: Elikranon, 2012. P. 11.