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Constantinople: Middle East
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"Constantinople is a city of all manner of races and of tribes, which dwell beside but not among one another. Turk, Albanian, Kurd, Serb, Greek, and Armenian come from the provinces and other cities to form the Turkish capital, but they preserve there the customs, native garbs, characteristics, and language of their kind, never assimilating to the city's type, for the city has no type. Constantinople is a babel of all of the peoples and fragments of peoples that enter into the swarming life of the Near East "
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The Patriarch of Constantinople is the Ecumenical Patriarch, the "first among equals" in the Eastern Orthodox Communion. In this capacity he serves as spiritual leader and primary spokesperson for the Communion (hence "first"), but has no official authority over the Patriarchs or over the other fifteen of the sixteen autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches (hence "among equals").
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Already from 382 onwards, in the synodical letter of the synod which met at Constantinople, the council of Constantinople was given the title of "ecumenical". The word denotes a general and plenary council. But the council of Constantinople was criticised and censured by Gregory of Nazianzus. In subsequent years it was hardly ever mentioned. In the end it achieved its special status when the council of Chalcedon, at its second session and in its definition of the faith, linked the form of the creed read out at Constantinople with the Nicene form, as being a completely reliable witness of the authentic faith. The fathers of Chalcedon acknowledged the authority of the canons — at least as far as the eastern church was concerned — at their sixteenth session.
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On April 24, 1915, several hundred Armenian community leaders and intellectuals in Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) were arrested, sent east, and put to death. In May, after mass deportations had already begun, Minister of the Interior Talaat Pasha ordered their deportation into the Syrian Desert.
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The greatest city of the medieval world, domed Constantinople is a lodestone for the vampires of the Dark Ages. Immerse yourself in intrigues ancient and contemporary as you traverse the labyrinthine streets and torchlit bazaars of Byzantium's wonderous capital. But beware: yours is not the only hunger in the East that demands to be sated.
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Constantine's foundation gave prestige to the Bishop of Constantinople, who eventually came to be known as the Ecumenical Patriarch, vying for honour with the Pope. They were often regarded as "first among equals", a situation which contributed to the Great Schism that divided Christianity into Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy from 1054 onwards (although the anathemas that each religious leader pronounced against the other have been withdrawn in recent times). The Patriarch of Constantinople is still today considered outstanding in the Orthodox Church, along with the Patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Moscow and the later Slavic Patriarchs. This position is largely ceremonial but still today carries great weight, particularly since by tradition Constantinople carries the administrative burden of the orthodox churches in 'barbarian lands'.
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