the patriarchate when we come to the state of the Orthodox Church to-day (p. 338). Meanwhile it is only fair to remember that much of the degradation of the patriarchal throne during the long dark ages of Turkish oppression was not the fault, but the very great misfortune of the Christians. And many of those patriarchs who had to serve the tyrant so basely stood out valiantly against him when it came to a point that no Christian possibly could concede. Gennadios's immediate successor, Isidore II (1456–1463), was murdered for refusing to allow a Christian woman to become the second wife of a Moslem. Maximos III (1476–1482) was mutilated for the same cause, and so there have been many confessors of the faith on the patriarchal throne down to the martyr-patriarch, Gregory V (p. 341).
Summary.
The great turning-point of history for the Orthodox Christians after the schism was the Turkish conquest of their lands that ended with the taking of Constantinople on May 29, 1453. The old Roman Empire then ended with the glorious death of the last Emperor, Constantine XII. The Christian subjects of the Porte, called Rayahs, were allowed to keep their religion and customs, and were tolerated as an inferior and subject race. But they continually tried to revolt, and were each time cruelly put down; even when they did not revolt the Turks often broke their own law and persecuted them. The Porte organized all the Rayahs in different nations, meaning thereby religions, and each nation was put under its ecclesiastical head in civil matters too. So the Œcumenical Patriarch became the civil head of his people, thus gaining even more authority. But he was degraded by having to be invested by the Sultan, and each patriarch was forced to pay a heavy bribe for his appointment; from this beginning Simony became a characteristic of every rank in the Church. The patriarchs were very rich, but the Sultan changed them continually for the sake of the bribes. During the centuries of Turkish tyranny the Rayahs kept their faith, and thousands of them suffered valiantly for Christ.
