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Bible Encyclopedias
Greece, Kingdom of
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or a country in south-eastern Europe, established in 1832 by a successful rising of the people against the rule of the Turks, to which they had been subject since the fall of the Byzantine empire. The kingdom was enlarged in 1863 by the annexation of the Ionian Islands, which until then had been subject to the sovereignty of Great Britain. The total area in 1881 amounted to 24,970 square miles, the total population in 1861 to 1,348,412, and is 1889 to about 2,187,208.
The great majority of the people of Greece belong to the Greek Church (q.v.), which is in Greece (since 1833) independent of the patriarch of Constantinople, and constitutes a national Church, which the patriarch recognized in 1850 by the so-called Tomos. The supreme management of ecclesiastical affairs is in the hands of a Holy Synod, consisting of five bishops and an officer of the. government. At the beginning of the revolution the higher clergy consisted of 20 metropolitans, 2 archbishops, and 19 bishops; in 1869there were 11 archbishops, 4 metropolitans, and 16 bishops. The number of male monasteries was, on the advent of the regency which was established after the expulsion of the Turks, about 400, and the number of nunneries from 30 to 40, together with about 800 inmates; in 1869 there were 128 monasteries of monks and 4 nunneries, the former with 1500, the latter with 150 inhabitants. There are about 2905 parish churches, with 3200 priests. The secular clergy and the monks aregenerally but little educated, but enjoy, nevertheless, great respect among the people, the majority of whom are firmly attached to their Church. For the orthodox Greek Church there are 4 archbishops in Livadia (Chalcis and Eusbsea, Etolia and Acarnania, Phthiotis, the metropolitan see of Athens, Megara and LEgina), with 4 bishops; in the Morea, 6 archbishops (Argolis, Corinth, Patras and Elis, Mantinea and Cynuria, Messenia, Sparta and Monembasia) and 6 bishops; in the Archipelago, 1 archbishop (Syros and Tynos) and 3 bishops; in the Ionian Islands, 4 metropolitans and 3 bishops. The Roman Catholics, who are mostly the descendants of families which immigrated at the time of the Crusades and during the rule of the Venetian, snumber about 25,000, chiefly in the islands; and have two archbishops — at Naxos and Corfu — and 4 bishops There are a few thousand Mohammedans in Euboea and a few hundred Protestants and Jews in the commercial towns. The labors of Protestant missionaries began in 1828, and have ever since been carried on without intermission. The American Board of Missions, the Episcopal Board, and Baptist Board were all concerned in thee work. The Episcopal Board began its operations in 1829, when it sent out Messrs. Robertsons and Hill. These gentlemen, in the outset, started out upon the conciliatory course, under the impression that the Greek Church would be freed from its evils by liberal education. On this account they devoted themselves entirely to education, allowing a priest in, their schools to teach the Greek Catechism. The American Board of Missions sent out the Reverend Dr. King in 1828, and he, too, opened schools for boys and girls at Athens, and also paid great attention to education, but only used it as a means to the preaching of the Gospel. In 1835,the representative of the American Board assisted in the establishment of the first college in Greece which was started under government assistance. Soon after this three other missionaries arrived in Greece, who opened schools in the mountains. In 1841, suddenly, and without any apparent provocation, the Church party made war against missionary operations, and attempted to extinguish the Gospel light. These persecutions ended in the banishment of Dr. King from the country. This action became the means of introducing the native element into the work. Dr. Kalopothakes, who had become acquainted with Protestantism in one of the schools of Dr. King, and who had subsequently spent four years in the United States to prepare for missionary work is his country, started in Athens a religious newspaper, the Star of the East. In 1864, when Dr. King (who had helped Dr. Kalopothakes in all his troubles) returned to America, the paper passed entirely into the hands of Dr. Kalopothakes and his companion, a Mr. Constantine; and when, in 1868, Dr. King again went to Greece, he found the paper prospering, and two regular Church seravices carried on every Sabbath in Athens. In 1869, Dr. Kalopothakes and Mr. Constantine published a daily paper, a weekly paper, and a children's paper, and also a number of cheap religious books. One of the chief results of the Protestant mission has been the increased circulation of the Bible, which is proaed by, the fact that in 1859, when Dr. Kalopothakes first opened the Bible depoft at Athens, he did not sell 100 copies of the New Testaments whereas in 1868 he disposed of 3000.
Popular education has made considerable progress since the establishment of independence. There were 750 primary schools in 1856; 93 pro- gymnasia or Helalenic schools, with 165 teachers and 4990 pupils; 11 gymnasia (organized after the model of those of Germany), with 67 teachers and 1180 pupils; an eccelesiastical ("Rhisari") seminary, and a national university established ins 1837, with a library of more than 80,001) volumes, an observsatory, and botanical garden. See Wiggers, Kirchl. Statistik, 1:179 sq., 207 sq. (A.J.S.)
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Greece, Kingdom of'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/g/greece-kingdom-of.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
