TURCOGRAECIA - Dimitris Michalopoulos - Bog

During the Ottoman rule of the Greek Lands, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople, as well as the janissaries, proved to be the mainstays of the Padishah's throne. The "devshirme", however, was abolished in the mid-eighteenth century and accordingly, the Janissary corps became a breeding ground of trouble and anarchy. The Christians' forcibly recruited children eventually substituted the Padishah for their father and their soldier mates for their relatives. Yet, that was not the case with the Moslems by whom they were replaced. The latter did maintain family bonds and liked better to promote their own interests instead of defending the "Devlet" (State)... The subsequent crisis reached the climax during the reign of Mahmud II (1808-1839), who had the -brilliant- idea to substitute the ¿ Greeks for the Janissaries!The relevant story of Osman Pasha the Strangler , who was a no other than the senior archimandrite of the Constantinopolitan Patriarchate, disguised as a Pasha by order of Padishah, is still well-known on the island of Crete!