St. Chryse the Great-Martyr

Joyous feast! St. Chryse the Virgin-Martyr (more commonly known as Zlata) was born in the region between what today are Bulgaria and Serbia during the Turkish Yoke. The Saint possessed a strong character and deep faith, but drew the attention of a Turk because of her great beauty. Having kidnapped her, the Turk attempted to seduce the virgin and convert her to Islam, turning from seduction to threats when St. Chryse remained firm in her faith.

St. Chryse endured six months of threats in the Turk's household. Seeing that his threats had no effect on the Saint, the Turk turned on her family and threatened to murder her and torture them if they did not persuade her to accept Islam. Despite their appeals to convert for appearance's sake, however, St. Chryse remained steadfast in the Orthodox Faith and endured three months of tortures, being beaten and having her skin peeled off her body by her tormenters.

At the last St. Chryse was tied to a tree by the Turks and cut into pieces, her precious relics later being recovered by the area's Christians and buried with reverence. She witnessed to the Orthodox Faith in 1795. May her blessing and prayers be with us all! More on St. Chryse's life can be found here.

Holy New Martyrs of Ajaria

Joyous feast! In Georgia the Sunday of Pentecost is also the commemoration of the Holy New Martyrs of Ajaria who suffered under the Turkish Yoke in the 18th century.

When Ajaria, a region in what today is southwestern Georgia, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire its Turkish rulers strongly encouraged its Georgian inhabitants to convert to Islam in the hope of detaching the area from its long association with the rest of Orthodox Georgia. As part of this push to convert Ajaria to Islam in 1790 the area's rulers organized a massacre of those who were steadfast in their Orthodox Faith and were encouraging others to likewise resist Islam, with the faithful being tortured and guillotined and their bodies dumped in Ajaria's rivers.

More (in Russian) on the sufferings of the Ajarian New Martyrs can be found here. May their blessings and prayers be with us all!

Bulgaria's Turks Call for Second Mosque in Sofia

Representatives of Bulgaria's Turkish minority are calling for the construction of a second mosque in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, to relieve the crowding at the city's downtown mosque and to help discourage future street attacks on Turks forced to pray on the street outside the mosque due to the lack of space. More here.

Patriarch Bartholomew Says Greek Policies Should Not Effect Halki Reopening

Patriarch Bartholomew (Arhondonis) of Constantinople has reacted to Turkish demands that Greece improve its treatment of its Turkish minority in southwestern Thrace before it will consider reopening the Halki Seminary by saying that both he is Turkish and that the Greek government and its policies should not factor into the reopening of the patriarchal seminary. More here.

Bulgarian Ultra-Nationalists Attack Sofia Muslims

This past Friday Bulgarian ultra-nationalists attacked Turkish Muslims praying at a mosque in downtown Sofia, beating many of them and burning their prayer rugs. A member of the Bulgarian Parliament involved in the attack was injured during the ensuing fight. More on the attack here. Following the incident several hundred Bulgarians organized a demonstration in Sofia, laying flowers at the mosque in protest of the attack. More here.

Northern Cyprus Replaces Historic Church with Hotel

Northern Cyprus has demolished a church in the Turkish-occupied territory dedicated to St. Thecla to allow for the construction of a hotel. More (in Greek) here.

Constantinople's Armenians on the Decline?

Constantinople's large Armenian minority is facing criticism from the rest of the Armenian Diaspora for its quietness in the face of Turkish discrimination as well as a decline in numbers as its youth begin to lose the Armenian language and intermarry with Turks. More here.

"Muslims Who Venerate St. George"

An interesting article on the annual Turkish Muslim pilgrimage to the Church of St. George on Principo Island in the Marmara can be found here.

Turkish Writer Apologizes for Ottoman Turkish Genocides

A Turkish writer, Kemal Yalcin, has apologized to Armenians, Assyrians, and ethnic Syrians around the world for the Armenian Genocide and the Seyfo (the Assyrian/Syrian Genocide) undertaken by the Ottoman Turks and Kurds. Yalcin noted that had the Genocide not taken place Turkey today would have some 15 million additional Armenian, Assyrian, and Syrian residents (instead of a paltry 108,000). More here.

Turkey's Syriac Orthodox Want Right to Educate Children

Turkey's ethnic Syrians, members of the Syriac Orthodox Church, are struggling to regain the right to educate their children in their own schools. When the last Syriac Orthodox school was closed in 1938 Syriac Orthodox children in Turkey were sent to Armenian and Greek-speaking schools until the Turkish government ended the practice in the 1980s. More here.

Upcoming Armenian Genocide/Seyfo Commemoration in NYC

This coming 6 April the World War II-era Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek Genocides by the Ottoman Turks and Kurds will be commemorated in New York (not to mention worldwide). More here.

Turks Arrest Cypriot Orthodox Metropolitan and MEPS in Famagusta

Turkish troops in northern Cyprus have arrested Metropolitan Porphyrios of Neapolis of the Cypriot Orthodox Church and members of the European Parliament during their visit to a church in Famagusta. More here.

Assyrians and Armenians Protest Removal of Genocide Reference on Swedish Government Website

Assyrians and Armenians in Sweden are expressing their outrage over the removal from an official Swedish website of a reference in a recent speech of Minister for Integration Erik Ullenhag to the Seyfo, the Armenian and Assyrian Genocide by the Turks and Kurds that resulted in the death of 1.5 million Armenians, 750,000 Assyrians and Syrians, and 500,000 Greeks. The reference is said to have been removed due to pressure from the Turkish government. More here.

Erdogan Speaks On Thracian Turks, Ecumenical Patriarchate

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has lambasted Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou for failing to keep his promise to Turkish Muslims in Greek Thrace that they be allowed to elect their own grand mufti. In his comments he stated that Turkey itself had not recognized the legitimacy of the election of current Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (Arhondonis) because of the involvement of non-Turkish citizens who were members of the Holy Synod of the Church of Constantinople, but had moved to 'legitimize' the situation by granting citizenship to hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate outside Turkey. More here.

Patriarch Constantine VI Returns to Constantinople

The remains of Ecumenical Patriarch Constantine VI of Constantinople have been transferred from Athens to Constantinople for burial with the remains of other patriarchs and hierarchs of the Constantinopolitan Orthodox Church in the city. Patriarch Constantine only served for 43 days before being deposed by the Turkish government in early 1925 during the population exchange between Turkey and Greece and subsequently expelled from Turkey.

Although the Church of Constantinople and the Greek government demanded his exemption from the population exchange and return to the Phanar the Turkish government did not consent to this and Patriarch Constantine retired in May 1925 to allow the election of a new patriarch.

May Patriarch Constantine's memory be eternal! More here.

Cypriot Turks Protest Ankara

Residents of Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus have launched protests against austerity measures to be introduced by the Turkish government that they believe will cause mass unemployment on the island. More here.

Albanians, Turks Boycott Macedonian Census?

Albanian and Turkish citizens of Macedonia appear to be boycotting the government's recruitment efforts for its upcoming national census. More here.

Armenian Appointed to Turkish Government Post

In a move unprecedented in recent history the Turkish government has offered a post in its European Union Affairs Secretariat to an ethnic Armenian, Leo Süren Halepli. All of the government ministers in the country, which includes substantial Kurdish, Zaza, Slavic, Arab, Circassian, and Albanian minorities in addition to its Orthodox Christian Georgian, Armenian, Suryoyo, and Greek minorities, remain ethnically Turkish. More here.

Cypriot Orthodox Archbishop Calls for Turkish Withdrawal

In an interview with the Turkish-language newspaper Milliyet, Archbishop Chrysostomos II (Demetriou) of the Cypriot Orthodox Church has stated that he believes the division of Cyprus could be ended immediately were the Turkish government to withdraw its soldiers from the island and give Cyprus' Greeks and Turks the freedom necessary to restore the unity of Cyprus. More here.

Monument to Russian Liberators of Bulgaria Inaugurated

A monument to the imperial Russian soldiers who died during the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Turks in 1877 and 1878 has been inaugurated in Shtruklevo, Bulgaria. With the blessing of Metropolitan Neofit of Ruse, clergy of the Eparchy of Ruse blessed the monument during the inauguration ceremonies, which were attended by the Consul General of Russia in Ruse and an assortment of Bulgarian and Russian officials. More here.