Greek Orthodox Community Research Articles

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople in the Midst of Politics: The Cold War, the Cyprus Question, and the Patriarchate, 1949-1959

The political developments that eventually resulted in the founding of the Turkish nation-state marked drastic changes in the status and strength of the Greek Orthodox patriarchate of Constantinople as an institution and of the patriarch(s) as its head. Following heated debates at the peace negotiations between the Turkish and the Allied delegations at Lausanne, at which the partriarchate's removal from its historical seat at Phanar in Istanbul was insistently advocated by the Turkish representatives, the patriarchate was finally given the right to retain its position on the condition of renouncing “all political and non-ecclesiastic attributes.”1 The rationale of the Turkish delegation's demand for the partiarchate's removal from Istanbul emanated from their perception of the patriarchate as a “fifth-column” that had acted to the detriment of the Turkish national interests in the past. According to this perception, which resurged from time to time in the following decades, the patriarchate and the Ottoman Empire's Greek Orthodox community had been engaged in disloyal activities against the state and had become an instrument of foreign intervention in the Ottoman-Turkish domestic affairs. Specifically, it was considered the “agent of Greek imperialism in Turkey.”2 Consequently, it was not surprising that the leadership of the new Turkish nation-state made absolutely sure that the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), the founding treaty of the Turkish nation-state, eliminated all the privileges that the patriarchate had enjoyed, especially those related to civil jurisdiction and secular functions. Thereafter, the patriarchate became a purely religious organization authorized only for religious and moral affairs of its adherents—the Turkish citizens of the Greek Orthodox religion—whose numbers decreased dramatically following the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey,3 and the status of the patriarch(s) was restricted to spiritual affairs.4 Still, the patriarchate continued to be suspicious in the eyes of the Turkish statesmen, and accordingly, all its activities were put under surveillance.

Crkva Sv. Nikole u Puli (nekada posvećena Sv. Mariji)

The church of St Mary at Pula was rededicated to St Nicholas in 1583 when it was handed over for the use of the Greek Orthodox community of refugees from Crete and the Peloponnese. During the seventeenth and eighteenth century, various structures (the bell-tower, the narthex, the sacristy) were added along the eastern and northern sides of the church, several door and window openings were walled in, and the lintel and jambs of the main portal were replaced; however, the main architectural core has remained well-preserved. It has a single-cell structure of square ground plan with an eastern apse, which is semicircular in shape in the inside but polygonal on the outside. The dimensions of the church are based on a module of ten Byzantine feet (c. 31.25 cm); the church is 20 feet wide and 30 feet long, while a 10 foot square can fit into the apse. In the interior is a well-preserved triumphal arch. It is composed of a pair of marble columns with capitals which carry a large, central arch. The composite capitals possess an interesting detail: the centres of the capitals on opposing sides were left undecorated and so it can be concluded that these capitals were intended for insertion in a multi-apertured structure which was screened off with a transenna. Such capitals can be seen on large early Byzantine structures, and two similar capitals are placed in the atrium of the Basilica of Euphrasius at Poreč (mid-sixth century). This detail provides evidence about a technique used in the church’s construction, which made extensive use of prefabricated, often even imported elements of architectural decoration. The same type of marble used for the columns of the triumphal arch was used for the parts of the small trifore window set on the façade. In the scholarly literature to date, this trifore has been considered late medieval, but the carving details are identical to those on the parts of the triumphal arch and altar posts at the church of St Nicholas. The masonry of the wall also points to the fact that it had not been inserted in the sixth-century façade at a later date. In the centre of the apse is a marble block which belonged to an altar base, having four holes which still bear the lower parts of the small posts which originally carried the altar table. The remains of the altar can be seen on the photographs which document the restoration works in 1962. The altar remains were subsequently covered with a new altar structure which was removed during the works in 2000. In 1962, when the filling of the window in the south wall was removed, B. Marušić discovered a part of a marble post with a simple capital which he recognized as belonging to the aforementioned altar. Based on this data, a reconstruction of the altar has been proposed in a drawing. B. Marušić also discovered two stone transennae in the walled in-windows of the south wall, which were smaller than the original structure of the window opening and for this reason he suggested that they belonged to a later intervention. The transennae were removed and transported to the Archaeological Museum of Istria for safekeeping. During the 2000 works, fragments of identical transennae were also found in two apse windows, while a complete transenna was discovered in the walled-in window on the north face which was obscured by the addition of the bell-tower. Similar and identical transennae are found on the nearby chapel of Santa Maria Formosa, the remainder of a large basilica which was built in the mid-sixth century by the archbishop of Ravenna Maximian. In the vicinity of Pula, at least three more examples of similar transennae were found, all of which can be compared to the shape of a wooden window frame from the church of Sant’Apollinare in Classe at Ravenna. A number of arguments suggest that the aforementioned transennae belong to the first phase of the church of St Nicholas.

Οἰκονομικὸς καὶ κοινωνικὸς ρόλος τῶν ἑλληνορθόδοξων κοινοτήτων τῆς Πόλης: μιά πρόταση γιὰ τὴν ἐρευνητικὴ ἀξιοποίηση τῶν ἀρχειακῶν τεκμηρίων τῆς ζωῆς τῶν Ρωμιῶν τῆς Πόλης

The Program of the Detection, Recording, Microfilm Depiction and Digitalizationof the Istanbul Greek-orthodox Community Archives was initiated in1995. Whereas in its initial phase several institutions were involved in it, from1998 on the Faculty of Philosophy and History of Science of the Athens Universityremained solely responsible for the Program. The Program researchersvisited 38 out of 42 Rum Istanbul communities, recorded all parochial andcommunal archives and photographed more than 1.000.000 pages of them.They also formed a digital library out of the 1/3 of this material. This libraryis a part of the Historical Archives Electronic Processing Laboratory of theFaculty of Philosophy and History of Science.This material depicts the whole spectrum of activities and everyday life inthe Istanbul Rum communities and parishes from the last 18th century decadesto the 1990s. It permits us to understand the place of the community and parishin Istanbul Rum’s lives throughout the years. In this purpose we proposea research program entitled Economic and Social Role of the Istanbul GreekorthodoxCommunities and including the following aspects:• Mechanisms of institutionalization and representation in parishes andcommunities• Parishes’ and communities’ funds• Poverty: discourses and practices around it• Community salaried staff• School education in communities and parishes• Religiosity among the Istanbul Greek- Orthodox populations from thelate Ottoman period to our days.• Family strategies in Istanbul Orthodox communities

The value of adopting multiple approaches and methodologies in the investigation of Ethnolinguistic Vitality

The concept of ‘Ethnolinguistic Vitality’ (EV) has received variable acceptance and support since its introduction by Giles, Bourhis, and Taylor. It has especially proven to be a valuable heuristic in studies of language maintenance and shift. However, the reliability and validity of the instruments used to investigate EV, especially questionnaires used to test subjective vitality, have proven to be more problematic. This position paper introduces some of the issues that have been considered as difficult in the conceptualisation, investigation and application of EV and will suggest possible areas for further development. Drawing on a study of language attitudes, shift and the EV of the Greek-Orthodox community in Istanbul, this paper argues that there is much to recommend the tripartite conceptualisation of the EV framework in assessing both subjective and objective vitality via quantitative and qualitative methods. It further argues that studies of EV can be enriched by the use of ethnographic/observational approaches and discourse analytic frameworks, particularly when investigating hybridity. The adoption of both etic and emic approaches facilitates a more detailed engagement with key constructs. The latter will benefit the study of EV and potentially facilitate a rapprochement between researchers from different disciplines.

Under the Flag of Blue and White: Mary as an A-NationalSymbol in the Greek-Orthodox Community in Israel

Marian devotion and rituals have been the apex of Christian believers’ journey for centuries. In spite of its importance in many disciplines, Marian devotion and rituals in Israel have been neglected. In this article I will outline several social and religious aspects of Marian devotion in the Greek-Orthodox community in Israel. Using several case-studies of Marian devotion around the world I will address the question is Mary a national symbol in Israel? Since one of the most important Marian devotion sites is located in Israel and centered in Mary’s place of ascension in Gethsemane, addressing this site directly is crucial. I will express a new concept more fitting to the Israeli case—Mary as an a-national symbol. This research is based upon a combination of two main methodologies: participant observations and in-depth interviews with believers (local Greek and Palestinian residents as well as pilgrims) and clergymen. The research focuses on a procession taking place in the Old City of Jerusalem in the end of August, celebrating Mary’s legacy and resurrection.

Two Storytellers from the Greek-Orthodox Communities of Ottoman Asia Minor. Analyzing Some Micro-data in Comparative Folklore

La comparaison des contes grecs et turcs doit considerer les conditions historiques qui entrent dans la formation des elements communs et des differences dans les cultures des ces deux peuples. Georgios A. Megas a etudie les contes grecs par rapport aux contes des peuples voisinants et a compare les contes-types du catalogue grec avec le catalogue des contes-types turcs elabore par Wolfram Eberhard et Pertev Naili Boratav. L'art de raconter est une partie integrale du folklore grec et turc et ces contes existent dans les communautes locales en tant que traditions vivantes. Les groupes et les individus s'approprient, diffusent et exploitent cette tradition de diverses manieres. Dans ce cadre, une approche comparative peut etudier le role des communautes locales et des individus dans la transmission et la transformation du conte par rapport au contexte social de la transmission. Le present article analyse les rapports des contes des populations grecques-orthodoxes de l'Asie Mineure, refugiees en Grece apres 1922-24, avec la tradition narrative turque. L'investigation est basee sur un corpus des contes recueillies au cours d'un travail de terrain.

Protecting the city's interest: the Greek Orthodox and the conflict between municipal and vilayet authorities in İzmir (Smyrna) in the Second Constitutional Period

After providing an overview of the main sociopolitical developments among both the Turkish Muslim and the Greek Orthodox communities in the city, the article focuses on the reform project related to the reorganization of the municipal districts and city planning in the aftermath of the Young Turk revolution. Accordingly, accounts carried in the local press are used to analyse the ensuing tension, not only in terms of conflicts arising between the municipality and the state administration, but also regarding particular forms of loyalty, both civic and ethnic. In this way it is demonstrated how an urban institution ended up promoting a national awareness of city affairs, whereby the major concern became not so much the interests of the city as the interests of the Muslim population of the city.

Language Attitudes, Shift and the Ethnolinguistic Vitality of the Greek Orthodox Community in Istanbul

The Greek Orthodox community of Istanbul has long existed as a bilingual Greek and Turkish grouping and remains largely unstudied. The sharp decrease in the size of this community to approximately 1000 members raises questions as to the maintenance of Greek in this setting. This study attempts to establish the current status of Greek in the community and explores key sociolinguistic and sociopsychological parameters relevant to its potential survival or loss. In particular, it investigates whether the symbolic status of Greek, its link with the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul and the strength of the community's ethnocultural identity are crucial factors that might underpin its survival. Data gathered via a questionnaire (investigating language use, attitudes and the ethnolinguistic status of the community) and interviews revealed that Greek has high symbolic status and plays a key role in defining ethnocultural identity. However Greek competence in the younger generation appears to be significantly declining. Greek is now widely spoken only in the home and at Church; and without significant changes language shift may in practice accelerate, despite a strong desire by the community to preserve their language.

The church and landed property: The greek orthodox patriarchate of Jerusalem

This article investigates the factors that transformed the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem into the owner of a large-scale stock of real estate in the past and, as a result, it is one of the largest non-governmental landowners in the State of Israel today. Its ownership of this substantial amount of land has been one of the sources of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate’s economic and political strength. It brought about the phenomenon of Jewish and Arab politicians as well as Jewish, Palestinian, and Russian businessmen courting its clergymen. The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate’s large reserve of land has also been one source of the bitter conflict between the clergy and local Arab Greek Orthodox community followers. 1 The ownership of these properties significantly affected the distribution of urban patterns of Jerusalem outside the Old City walls. Many modern Jewish neighbourhoods, such as the garden neighbourhood of Rehavia, were developed on lands purchased from the Patriarchate, as were some Arab neighbourhoods like the Greek Colony and part of Talbiah. 2 Since the 1970s the research literature has discussed and analysed the importance and contributions of the increased activities of different Christian groups to the numerous transformations that Palestine underwent during the late Ottoman period (1800–1917). Most of the books and articles focused upon the Christian groups’ religious and ideological backgrounds, missionary activities, the political and administrative conditions under the Ottoman regime, and their relations with the Great European Powers. Some researchers highlighted European Christian settlement activities and architecture in the Holy Land but few related to the significant issue of land and its acquisition and ownership by different churches and Christian sects in the Middle East and Palestine, particularly during the modern era. 3 Long-term studies of the various processes associated with landownership and their implications are the cornerstones for the understanding and discussion of all settlement processes. When conducting research dealing with landownership and real estate in Palestine, it is necessary to take into account the complexities and numerous implications of the changes in regimes – Ottoman (1517–1917), British Mandate (1918–48), Jordanian (1948–67 in the West Bank) and Israeli (1948–present and 1967–present in the West Bank). The implications include legal and statutory changes for real estate, beginning prior to the Ottoman Land Laws of 1858 and then following their ratification, and also from the perspective of the legal and civil status

Hagia Sophia, 1850-1950: Holy Wisdom Modern Monument (review)

Hagia Sophia, 1850-1950: Holy Wisdom Modern Monument. By Robert S. Nelson. (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. 2004. Pp. xx, 278, 11 color plates. $65.00.) This fascinating investigation of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul amasses a wealth of documentation-some of it well known and some of it new-to document and assess how it became a modern icon. It focuses on the people, writings, and illustrations that illuminate this history. Intelligently and beautifully written, and well produced, with 119 figures and ten color plates, the important monograph of the Byzantine art historian Robert S. Nelson should appeal to the scholar and the general reader alike. Nelson begins his inquiry with the completion of the last major restoration of the building from 1847 to 1849 by the Swiss architects, the Fossati brothers, and concludes around 1950, a rather arbitrary date, as he admits. But the century of his overview was crucial for the transformation of Hagia Sophia as artifact of the past-first as the cathedral and patriarchal church of Constantinople and then as the sultan's and the caliph's principal mosque Aya Sofya, into a monument of the present-since 1934 a museum seen by virtually all visitors to the city. We learn about the critics, poets, archeologists, architects, illustrators, photographers, philanthropists, government officials, and religious congregations who are tied to the fabric of Hagia Sophia's modern reception. The monograph is selective, focusing upon the European and American reception of the building, and excluding interpretations by Turks of the late Sultanate and early Republic, modern Greeks (except for some Greek Orthodox communities who migrated to the United States and built churches), and Orthodox Christians in late Czarist and early Soviet Russia. Nelson's narrative unfolds in eight chapters. In Chapter One he sketches the lines of the Early Byzantine church of the sixth century, its post-Iconoclastic mosaic decoration, and the liturgical processions associated with the building. Then he outlines the scornful attitudes about or neglect of the building by late eighteenth and early nineteenth century writers. A few writers of the first half of the nineteenth century, however, offered positive appraisals of Hagia Sophia. For example, in her popular illustrated travel book The Beauties of the Bosphorus (London, 1838), Miss Julia Pardoe,who gained admittance to Hagia Sophia, termed it an architectural wonder (p. 63). Chapter Two analyzes how certain scholars and architects in Germany, France, and England appropriated Byzantine architecture in the service of their respective countries. The next chapter discusses the sympathetic attitude toward Byzantine architecture in the writings of John Ruskin and how Ruskin made it relevant to Victorian building. No matter that Ruskin never visited Constantinople and based his grasp of Byzantine architecture on Venice, especially on architectural sculpture and mosaics in San Marco inVenice.Yet his The Stones of Venice (1851-1853J) launched a general reappraisal of Byzantine architecture in general and Hagia Sophia in particular. Chapter Four is to my mind the most important in the book. In the second half of the nineteenth century both photographic images of the building and its first scholarly studies appeared.The latter are well known in academic circles, but the photographs, engravings, and other reproductions gathered by Nelson are less familiar. The superhero of this period was the British artist James Robertson, who moved to Constantinople in 1841 to modernize the Ottoman mint and who within a decade had taken up photography. …

Mosaici della cattedrale di Hama in Siria

The Cathedral Church of Hamah/Epifania was found in 1983 and partially excavated in the following years by the late Mr. Abd Razzaq Zaqzuq, at the time Inspector of the Antiquities of Hamah and untimely dead in a car accident. The general plan and the study are based on the photographic documentation given by the late archaeologist to the writer for publication. The excavation of the eastern sector of the three nave basilica is not yet completed. The ecclesiastical complex, discovered on the south of the new Cathedral of the Greek Orthodox Community, is composed by the church with the narthex, the southern stoa/porch, dated to the year 415 A.D., with an adjoining room, and the baptisterion on the west side (dated to 412 A.D.), all paved with mosaics. The mosaic floor decorated with crosses and interlaced compositions is an important historical link between the Syrian mosaics of the end of the IVth century and the mosaic floor of the church of the Holy Martyrs at Tayibat al-Imam dated to the year 442 A.D. e...

MISKOLC - SATORALJAUJHELY - ΒΟΥΔΑΠΕΣΤΗ: ΑΝΑΖΗΤΩΝΤΑΣ ΤΑ ΙΧΝΗ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗΣ ΕΜΠΟΡΙΚΗΣ ΔΙΑΣΠΟΡΑΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΟΥΓΓΑΡΙΑ

<p>The dual character of the trade diaspora of the Greeks is substantiated onthe one hand by the way they organized themselves and functioned within theHungarian bourgeois environment and, on the other, by the social andeconomic structures of the regions where they settled. The different historicalmanifestations of the activity of the Greeks are reflected in the archivallocations themselves: in the archive of the Greek Orthodox community ofMiskolc and the municipal archive of Sâtoraljaujhely, which came under theMunicipal Archive of Miskolc (Borsod - Abauj - Zemplén Megyei Levéltâr).The first comprises ledgers, account books, church and school registers, aswell as a mass of loose documents of diverse content, dating back to the early18th up to the mid-19th century, written mostly in the Greek language.Conversely, at the Sâtoraljaujhely archive, the lack of a separate archivalclassification for the Greeks can only be interpreted as proof of the swiftassimilation of the trade immigrants into the social and economic fabric of thehost city. Documents in Latin and Hungarian scattered within the archivalunities take on a special meaning in terms of the depth of the historicalresearch and the examination of individual events, which are interwoven withthe presence of Greek merchants in the province of Zemplén, in northeasternHungary.</p><p>The tracing of the Greek presence in Hungary is completed by a visit tothe Budapest Public Archive. Testaments and inheritance inventoriesbelonging to members of the Greek and Macedonian-Vlach communities ofPest were selected and photocopied. Aspects of private lives, the hierarchy ofrelationships, intertribal roles, the composition and structure of thehouseholds, as well as strategies for the transfer of property are cast in highrelief through the microhistorical examination of the material, illustrating themindset and perceptions that governed people's behaviour in the real world.</p>

ΑΡΧΕΙΑΚΕΣ ΠΗΓΕΣ ΓΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΚΟΙΝΟΤΗΤΑΣ ΤΗΣ ΑΓΙΑΣ ΤΡΙΑΔΑΣ ΤΗΣ ΒΙΕΝΝΗΣ. ΝΕΕΣ ΠΡΟΟΠΤΙΚΕΣ

<p>The aim of this paper is to present recent efforts to classify the archivalmaterials of the Greek-Orthodox community of the "Holy Trinity" founded inthe 18th century in Vienna. Archival material concerning the community hasbeen rarely published and extremely few historians in the past century weregiven the chance to use the files kept in the building still housing today thechurch, the offices of the community, the school and the Greek-OrthodoxMetropolis of Austria.</p><p>The chair of Modern Greek Studies at the Department of Byzantine andModern Greek Studies of the University of Vienna was invited by theMetropolis of Austria and the "Holy Trinity" community council in 2005 toclassify the archival materials. The project has been carried out under mysupervision with the financial support of the Greek Ministry of Culture and incollaboration with the Institute for Research of Church Archival Sources(Austria).</p><p>The protocol books of the community were digitalized in 2006, while thefiles were cleaned, put in secure acid free boxes and classified during 2007. Aprovisional catalog in database format (Augias) and a print-out now exist andcan be consulted at the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies.Further steps will hopefully include a presentation of the new archive,publication of the catalog and regular accessibility for research purposes, aworkshop and a series, which will include publications based on research in thearchive.</p>

Litigants and Neighbors: The Communal Topography of Ottoman Damascus

Litigants and Neighbors: The Communal Topography of Ottoman Damascus

Op de Troon van Het Kruis

On the throne of the cross Dimitrios I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (1972-1991) His All Holiness Dimitrios I, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch, died in Istanbul on the 2d of October 1991 after a heart attack. Dimitrios Papadopoulos, born in 1914 near Istanbul, studied at the Theological School at Chalki. After having spent a year in Northern Greece, he was ordained priest and looked after the parish in Feriköy at Istanbul. From 1945 to 1950 he organized the Greek Orthodox community in Teheran. Called back by patriarch Athenagoras I, he soon became auxiliary bishop of Istanbul. In 1972 he was appointed as metropolitan of Imbros and Tenedos, one of the four eparchies near Istanbul. After Athenagoras’ death he was unexpectedly and against his own will elected as ecumenical patriarch, while the Turkish authorities had refused the candidacy of other, more prominent members of the Holy Synod. Dimitrios I continued and developped the work of his predecessor: with the preparation of the panorthodox council; with his „dialogue of truth” (instead of the former „dialogue of love”) with the Roman Catholic Church; with his collaboration with the World Council of Churches. Progress certainly has been made, but no final goal has been achieved. A panorthodox council is still not in view. The "dialogue of truth" is hampered by Roman Catholic proselytism in Eastern Europe. The World Council of Churches has departed too much from its „base”. In the last years of his life Dimitrios could visit the Orthodox churches abroad, including the patriarchate of Moscow, as well as the Vatican, Canterbury and Geneva. In the U .S.A. he spoke to the United Nations. Thus he became an internationally well-known spiritual Orthodox leader. In the meantime he had to cope with extremist Turkish aggressivity at home. Dimitrios I was a humble successor of St. Andrew on, as he called it, „the throne of the cross”.

The Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre Jerusalem: History and Future

In 1972 Fr Charles Coüasnon, O.P., gave the Schweich Lectures to the British Academy on this subject. As consultant architect to the restoration work he seemed well qualified to do so. But work continued until 1980, and it was not until 1982 that Fr Virgilio Corbo, O.F.M., published a definitive account of the work, Il Santo Sepolcro di Gerusalemme, in three handsome volumes. I did not succeed in obtaining a copy until 1984. Thus it was not surprising that Canon Ronald Brownrigg's Come, See the Place: the ideal companion for all travellers to the Holy Land, 1985, still treats Fr Couasnon as having had the last word, and prints plans some of which are erroneous. Only since then has an article in Le Monde de la Bible, Mars-Avril, Paris, 1984, no.33, in a number devoted entirely to the Holy Sepulchre, by Fr Florentino Dfez Fernandez, O.S.A.,3 reached me, describing in a summary form his excavations for the Greek Orthodox Community on the site of Golgotha, and for the Armenian Community behind the Crusader Chapel of St Helena. A definitive account of his work is eagerly awaited, for his work adds to our knowledge and corrects some previous misconceptions of the chronology of the site.

Religion in a Northern Vermont Town: A Cross-Century Comparative Study

* Lewis S. Feuer found the 1867 religlous survey of Burlington which made possible this study. He also is responsible for the sociological and historical analysis in this essay, and its writing. Mervyn W. Perrine supervised the replicatory survey done in 1964 with the help of his students at the University of Vermont, especially Roger Lyman and Catherine Dumas. We are indebted to the kind help and suggestions of Professors T. D. Seymour Bassett and Raymond Hall of the University of Vermont, and the officers of the Vermont Church Council and Vermont Congregational Conference, the Chancellery of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, Reverend Evangelos Georgiadis of the Greek Orthodox Community, and Judge Myron Samuelson. that basic longterm changes in formal religious affiliation and practice have not occurred, and the current high level of religious belief and practice and observance existed in the past as well. slenderness of the factual foundation for this conclusion troubles one. Much is made, for example, of the relative constancy in the proportion of clergymen to the population from 1850 to 1950; this indicates, it is argued, a corresponding constancy in overall religious commitment. Actually, however, what is far more significant are such facts as: the decline in the last 120 years in the relative abilities of the men who have chosen the ministry as a profession; the fact that whereas other fields such as literature, journalism, and education have grown so tremendously, religion has only held its ground; and that this ground has been relatively independent of determination by the laws of supply and demand, for despite the lower status and financial situation of the ministry, a structure of endowments of churches and divinity schools preserves an artificially higher supply of ministers than the actual effective de1 Cf., Herberg, Will. Protestant-Catholic-Jew, New York, 1955, pp. 13-14; May, Henry F., The Recovery of American Religious History, American Historical Review, LXX, 1964, p. 87. 2 Lipset, Seymour M. First New Nation, New York, 1963, p. 150.

Kinship, Emigration, and Trade Partnership among the Lebanese of West Africa

Opening ParagraphThis article describes the kinship structure of some Lebanese communities in West Africa, and the resemblances they bear to the communities from which they originated in Lebanon. It also shows the extent to which kinship ties promote emigration, and the kind of trade partnership normally practised by kinsmen. Two communities are considered: the Greek Orthodox community in Ouagadougou (Upper Volta), and the Shi'ite Muslim community in Magburaka (Sierra Leone).