The Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate (Turkish: Bağımsız Türk Ortodoks Patrikhanesi), also referred to as the Turkish Orthodox Church (Turkish: Türk Ortodoks Kilisesi), is an unrecognizedautocephalousEastern Orthodox organisation based in Turkey, descending from Turkish-speaking Eastern Orthodox Christians. It was founded in Kayseri by Pavlos Karahisarithis, who became the patriarch and took the name of Papa Eftim I, in 1922.[1]
General Congregation of the Anatolian Turkish Orthodox
On 15 September 1922 the Autocephalous Orthodox Patriarchate of Anatolia was founded in Kayseri by Pavlos Karahisarithis, a supporter of the General Congregation of the Anatolian Turkish Orthodox.[1]
With a new Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory VII elected on 6 December 1923 after the abdication of Meletius IV, there was another occupation by Papa Eftim I and his followers, when he besieged the Patriarchate for the second time. This time around, they were evicted by the Turkish police.[6]
On 6 June 1924, in a conference in the Church of the Virgin Mary (Meryem Ana in Turkish) in Galata, it was decided to transfer the headquarters of the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate from Kayseri to Istanbul. In the same session it was also decided that the Church of Virgin Mary would become the headquarter of the new Patriarchate of the Turkish Orthodox Church.[1]
Karahisarithis and his family members were exempted from the population exchange as per a decision of the Turkish government.[9]
Attempts of integrating the Gagauz to the church
There have been a number of attempts from the 1930s into the 21st century to tie the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate with the ethnically Turkic, Greek Orthodox Gagauz minority in Bessarabia.[10]
On 22 January 2008, Sevgi Erenerol [tr], granddaughter of the Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate's founder Papa Eftim I, daughter of Papa Eftim III, and sister of the current primate Papa Eftim IV, was arrested for alleged links with a Turkish nationalist underground organization named Ergenekon. At the time of her arrest, she was the spokeswoman for the Patriarchate. It was also alleged that the Patriarchate served as headquarters for the Ergenekon network. Sevgi Erenerol was well known for her militancy in Turkish nationalist activities, as well as for her antagonism to the Ecumenical Greek Patriarchate and the Armenian Apostolic Church. During the time of Alparslan Türkeş, she had run as a parliamentary candidate for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), political arm of the Turkish far-right and ultra-nationalistGrey Wolves paramilitary organization.[12] On August 5, 2013, Sevgi Erenerol was found guilty of involvement in the so-called "Ergenekon conspiracy" and sentenced to life imprisonment.[13][14] After the retrial she was found not guilty and released on 12 March 2014.[15]
List of Patriarchs of the Turkish Orthodox Church
Deputy Patriarch
Prokobiyos (1922–1923) - also known as Prokopios Lazaridis and Prokopios of Iconium, was the metropolitan bishop of Konya. He was elected as the deputy patriarch of General Congregation of the Anatolian Turkish Orthodox in 1922.[16] He died in prison on 31 March 1923.[16]
Patriarchs
Papa Eftim I (1923–1962) - Born name Pavlos Karahisarithis, later changed to Zeki Erenerol. As the founder of the Turkish Orthodox Church, he was awarded the "Medal of Independence", the highest decoration of the Republic of Turkey.[17] Following the death of Prokobiyos, he served as the spiritual leader of the Turkish Orthodox Church until 1926. He was elected as the patriarch in 1926 just after his consecration. He resigned for health reasons in 1962 and died on 14 March 1968.
Papa Eftim II (1962–1991) - Born name Yorgo, later changed to Turgut Erenerol, elder son of Papa Eftim I. Died on 9 May 1991.
Papa Eftim III (1991–2002) - Selçuk Erenerol, younger son of Papa Eftim I. He died on 20 December 2002 just weeks after his resignation.
Papa Eftim IV (2002- ) - Paşa Ümit Erenerol, grandson of Papa Eftim I and son of Papa Eftim III. Current primate of the church.
Churches
Meryem Ana Church
Today, three churches are owned by Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate and all of them are located in Istanbul.
Meryem Ana Church in Karaköy, is the headquarters of the Patriarchate. The church is located at Ali Paşa Değirmen St. 2, Karaköy. It was built in 1583 by Tryfon Karabeinikov, and was known as the Panaiya Church (in Greek Pan-Hagia Kaphatiani)[11] because it was founded by the Crimean Orthodox community of Kaffa. The church underwent a number of fires and several reconstructions with the major one in 1840, the date to which the present construction belongs. The church community left the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople on March 5, 1924, and adhered to newly found Turkish Orthodox Church.[18] The church's name was changed to Meryem Ana Church (Mother Mary Church) by the Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate in 2006 in honor of Virgin Mary.[11]
Aziz Nikola Church (in Greek Hagios Nicholaus)[11]
Aziz Yahya Church (in Greek Hagios Ioannis Prodromos).[11]
In 1924, Eftim I acquired the Hristos Church illegally from the owner, the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Hristos Church was returned to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1947, after a legal case, only to be confiscated and bulldozed later on for road enlargement. Compensation for the bulldozed church was paid however to the Erenerol family foundation instead of the Eastern Orthodox community.[11]
The Turkish Orthodox Church in the United States was an Old Catholic group of 20 predominantly African American churches in the United States loosely linked to the Patriarchate. It formed in 1966 under Christopher M. Cragg, an African American physician. He was consecrated by Papa Eftim II in 1966 with the name of Civet Kristof. It continued to exist throughout the 1970s, but fell away in the early 1980s when Cragg opened a clinic in Chicago.[19]
^ abTurkish Orthodox Christians & The Establishment of the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate, Türk-İslam Medeniyeti Akademik Araştırmalar Dergisi, 2009. vol.8, p.7
Xavier Luffin, "Le Patriarcat orthodoxe turc", Het Christelijk Oosten, 52, Nimègue, 2000, p. 73-96.
Xavier Luffin, "Baba Eftim et l'Église orthodoxe turque - De l'usage politique d'une institution religieuse", Journal of Eastern Christian Studies, Volume 52, issue 1-2, 2000 (abstract in Journal of Eastern Christian Studies).
^The ROC severed full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2018, and later severed full communion with the primates of the Church of Greece, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, and the Church of Cyprus in 2020.
^ abcdefghAutocephaly or autonomy is not universally recognized.
^UOC-MP was moved to formally cut ties with the ROC as of May 27th 2022.
^ abSemi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church whose autonomy is not universally recognized.
