Editing Eastern Orthodox Church (section)

=== Greek Church under Ottoman rule ===

{{Main|Christianity in the Ottoman Empire|History of the Eastern Orthodox Church under the Ottoman Empire}}

The Byzantine Empire never fully recovered from the sack of Constantinople in 1204. Over the next two centuries, it entered a precipitous decline in both territory and influence. In 1453, a much-diminished Byzantine Empire fell to the [[Ottoman Empire]], ending what was once the most powerful state in the Orthodox Christian world, if not in all [[Christendom]]. By this time [[Egypt]], another major centre of Eastern Christianity, had been under [[Muslim]] control for some seven centuries; most Eastern Orthodox communities [[Ottoman conquest of the Balkans|across southeastern Europe]] gradually came under Ottoman rule by the 16th century.

Under the Ottomans, the [[Orthodox Church of Constantinople|Greek Orthodox Church]] acquired substantial power as an autonomous ''[[Millet (Ottoman Empire)|millet]]''. The ecumenical patriarch was the religious and administrative ruler of the ''[[Rûm]]'', an Ottoman administrative unit meaning "Roman", which encompassed all [[Rum Millet|Orthodox subjects of the Empire]] regardless of ethnicity. While legally subordinate to Muslims and [[Dhimmi|subject to various restrictions]], the Orthodox community was generally tolerated until the rise of nationalist movements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and left to govern its own internal affairs, both religiously and legally. Until the empire's dissolution in the early 20th century, Orthodox Christians would remain the largest non-Muslim minority, and at times among the wealthiest and most politically influential.

[[File:Smyrna-massacre greeks-killed line.jpg|thumb|Greek Orthodox massacred during the [[Greek genocide]] in Smyrna in 1922]]

During the period 1914–1923 in Asia Minor (Anatolia) the [[Greek genocide]] took place by the Ottomans. During the Greek genocide, many Orthodox Christians were persecuted and killed. The culmination of the martyrdom was the [[Asia Minor Catastrophe]] with the killing of a large number of Orthodox. Among them, 347 clergymen of the Smyrna region and [[Chrysostomos of Smyrna|Metropolitan of Smyrna Chrysostomos]] were tortured and killed. The period 1923–1924 was followed by the obligatory [[population exchange between Greece and Turkey]].<ref>Nikolaos Andriotis (2008). Chapter ''The refugees question in Greece (1821–1930)'', in "''Θέματα Νεοελληνικής Ιστορίας''", ΟΕΔΒ (''"Topics from Modern Greek History"''). 8th edition.</ref>