28881156 the nomads of the balkans

Page 45

FROM TTRNAVOS TO SAMARINA

23

We next hear of the 1383 and an ecclesiastical document of the Patriarch of Constantinople dated 1395 mentions zdar^ov Tpz^ivov Xzyofyjei/ov. From other sources we learn that on December 6th 1422 Neophytos Bishop of Ghrevena died, and that in 1538 the bishop was called Symeon. In lists giving the dioceses under the Patriarch of Achrida and in the of

Theodore, bishop of Ghrevena.

bishopric

in

synodical acts and other documents of the same Patriarchate of the its

seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the diocese and

bishops are frequently mentioned.

The

earliest

bishop

Gregory who was alive in 1668. He was followed by Theophanes who flourished about 1676. This energetic prelate although the synod had already chosen another Patriarch of Achrida, journeyed to Adrianople and obtained the see through the Sublime Porte. He was formally dethroned by the Patriarch of Constantinople. His accusers alleged that though only a monk he had seized the bishopric of Ghrevena and had acted as such without being consecrated. Further he was said to have induced the Patriarch of Achrida, Ignatios a man of no intelligence and ignorant of ecclesiastical law to consecrate him. He was also accused of perjury, adultery, theft and of trying to take from the Patriarchate of Constantinople and bring under his own authority the diocese of Beroea. Other bishops mentioned are Pankratios, Theophanes (this name occurs from 1683 to 1740, so probably there were two of the same name). Seraphim, Makarios and given

is

Gabriel.

After the Turkish conquest Ghrevena obtained the position

which

it

held throughout Turkish times, as the capital of a

the seat of a mudir till i860, and then of a In the sixteenth century according 191 2. to Aravandinos, it was made the centre for one of the capitandistrict, first as

kaimmakam

till

a kind of christian militia maintained by the Turkish government to guard the roads and keep order. These armatoli were often brigands, who were taken into liks of armatoli,

on the principle of setting a thief to catch a thief. Robbers frequently betrayed one another to the authorities, and if any armatoli and brigands fell in a skirmish, the Turks

service


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