In order to prevent Protestant proselytism in Greece, the Orthodox Church hatched a plot against the American missionary Jonas King, an indefatigable member of the ABCFM (“American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions”). With the support of the conservative and clerical party Constantin Simonides issued a false report on the rites celebrated in the house of King (Τὰ ὄργια) describing orgiastic practices and profanation of the mysteries, that shocked the Greeks and caused a severe diplomatic crisis between the two countries. King was sent to trial and then exiled for a year. Only the intervention of US diplomacy and the sending of a warship off the coast of Athens could end the conflict (1847-1852). This instructive case helps to reflect on some of the critical issues in Greek politics and society in the aftermath of Independence: the arduous process that led the Greek Church to the Autocephaly, the hostility of the clerical party against the (German) King of Greece Otto I, the educational backwardness and the importance of religion in Greek identity consciousness.
Konstantin Simonides, die Vereinigten Staaten und der „griechische Luther“
BOSSINA, LUCIANO
2017
Abstract
In order to prevent Protestant proselytism in Greece, the Orthodox Church hatched a plot against the American missionary Jonas King, an indefatigable member of the ABCFM (“American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions”). With the support of the conservative and clerical party Constantin Simonides issued a false report on the rites celebrated in the house of King (Τὰ ὄργια) describing orgiastic practices and profanation of the mysteries, that shocked the Greeks and caused a severe diplomatic crisis between the two countries. King was sent to trial and then exiled for a year. Only the intervention of US diplomacy and the sending of a warship off the coast of Athens could end the conflict (1847-1852). This instructive case helps to reflect on some of the critical issues in Greek politics and society in the aftermath of Independence: the arduous process that led the Greek Church to the Autocephaly, the hostility of the clerical party against the (German) King of Greece Otto I, the educational backwardness and the importance of religion in Greek identity consciousness.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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