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The Greek Orthodox Church in Interwar Egypt: Between Lay Constitutionalism and Diaspora Politics

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The Greek Orthodox Church in Interwar Egypt: Between Lay Constitutionalism and Diaspora Politics Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 63(1-2), 127-142. doi: 10.2143/JECS.63.1.2149617 © 2011 by Journal of Eastern Christian Studies. All rights reserved. THE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH IN INTERWAR EGYPT: BETWEEN LAY CONSTITUTIONALISM AND DIASPORA POLITICS SOTIRIS ROUSSOS* THE CHURCH AND THE COMMUNITIES The long controversy over the control of the Greek Orthodox patriarchate of Alexandria, between the Greek state and the Greek communities on the one hand, and the Syrian Greek Orthodox communities on the other, shaped in considerable measure the role and the position of this religious institution. The Syrian Christians in Egypt were predominantly Catholic, however a large minority of them belonged to the Greek Orthodox Church. By the end of the 19th century most Syrians in Egypt (Christians and Muslims) had acquired Egyptian nationality, under the Nationality Law of 1892. The Syr- ian Greek Orthodox faithful in Egypt were under the guidance and jurisdic- tion of the Greek Orthodox patriarchate of Alexandria. They constituted, nonetheless, a minority amid the faithful of the patriarchate. The vast major- ity, by a ratio of almost ten to one, belonged to the Greek communities made up of Greeks immigrants from the Greek mainland and the islands, established in Egypt in the second half of the 19th century. Unlike the Syr- ians, the majority of the Greeks retained their Greek citizenship and enjoyed the privileges of the Capitulations. Moreover, the patriarch and the senior clergy of the patriarchate were also Greeks, mostly chosen from among the prelates of the patriarchates of Constantinople and Jerusalem. For as long as long the character of the patriarchate remained predomi- nantly Greek and its sole preoccupation was the Greeks and their welfare, the patriarchate remained a cause of discord between the Greek and the * Sotiris Roussos is Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science and Inter- national Relations of the University of the Peloponnese and Head of the Centre for Med- iterranean, Middle East and Islamic Studies (CEMMIS). He is author and co-author of books and articles on Orthodox Christians in the Near and Middle East, on regional security in the Middle East, political Islam, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. 995069_JECS_2011_1-2_08_Roussos.indd5069_JECS_2011_1-2_08_Roussos.indd 112727 227/02/127/02/12 110:540:54 128 SOTIRIS ROUSSOS Syrian Greek Orthodox communities. The Syrian Greek Orthodox1 notables claimed a considerable share not only in the educational and welfare institu- tions but also, and most importantly, in the election of the patriarch. The Syrian Greek Orthodox faithful challenged Greek domination of this institution, and in the period 1919-1940 the conflict between the two communities intensified, involving the governments of Greece and Egypt as well as Britain. This controversy was further complicated by the internal strife among the members of the Greek clergy and laity which derived from three main factors: the conflict between the two political groups in Greece, Royalists (the supporters of King Constantine I) and Venizelists (the supporters of Prime Minister Eleutherios Venizelos), the struggle for control between the clergy and the laity, and last but not least, the personal interests and ambi- tions of the individuals concerned. The main problem of the patriarch and the Church was how to maintain their autonomy towards the laity, that is, the Greek community, and the Greek state as represented by the Greek Legation in Egypt. This struggle for power between the clergy and the laity was not a phenomenon solely of the inter-war period. It had begun from the late nineteenth century and it affected the whole Eastern Church. It is understandable that the case of the Greek Orthodox patriarchate is similar to the controversy surrounding the ‘democratisation’ of the Orthodox Churches in the nineteenth century. During the Ottoman period, the Church not only acted as a religious institution but also as the representative of the Greek Orthodox religious, but not ethnic, communities in the Ottoman state. It also held judicial authority in matters of personal law through the patriarchal tribunals. It is clear, therefore, that the laity would demand a significant role in the admin- istration and particularly in the election of the patriarch, the supreme author- ity of the patriarchate. According to the Regulations of 1899, the General Assembly, consisting of both lay and ecclesiastical members, elected the patriarch from a list of bishops. There were two main bodies of administra- tion in the Greek Orthodox community, the Holy Synod consisting of 1 We refer here to the Greek Orthodox Syrians and not members of the Syrian Orthodox Church. 995069_JECS_2011_1-2_08_Roussos.indd5069_JECS_2011_1-2_08_Roussos.indd 112828 227/02/127/02/12 110:540:54 THE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH IN INTERWAR EGYPT 129 bishops, and the Mixed Council, which was composed of lay and clerical members. The lay members formed the majority in this latter body, which had no jurisdiction over religious matters. The patriarchal courts had juris- diction over Greek Orthodox (Ottoman and later Egyptian) subjects in matters of marriage, divorce, alimony, succession and guardianship.2 The Greek community in Egypt flourished during the second half of the nineteenth century, mainly because of the privileges to which the Greeks were entitled through the Capitulations and also because of the European presence in Egypt and the large profit from the cotton trade. In 1820, the Greeks of Alexandria numbered only one thousand people,3 and the first Greek community was established in the city in 1843. It was a secular com- munity, which took responsibility for both the Greek hospital and school in the same year.4 The Greek population in Egypt increased from 6,000 people in 1846 to 29,963 in 1873 and to 37,301 in 1884.5 By 1927 the Greeks numbered 99,793 of which 76,264 had acquired Greek citizenship.6 In the same year the Greeks formed the largest foreign community in Egypt. By 1937 there were twenty-eight Greek communities scattered in all the cities and towns of Egypt. The Italians came second with 51,175, the British third with 33,668 and the French came fourth with 23,579 people.7 The Greeks were prominent in the cotton sector, tobacco manufacturing, industry, the retail trade and industrial labour.8 The notables of the com- munity exerted their influence on the economy and the politics of Greece, through investments, benefaction and support for politicians. George Averoff, who financially assisted projects such as the Athens stadium for the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and Athens Technical University, the Polytechneion, and the Benaki family who had close connections with Venizelos, were prominent members of the Alexandria community. 2 J.H. Scott, The Law Affecting Foreigners in Egypt (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 261. 3 R. Ilbert, ‘Qui est Grec? La nationalité comme enjeu en Egypte (1830-1930)’, Relations Internationales, 54 (1988), pp. 139-160, see p. 142. 4 A. Politis, L’ Hellénisme et l’ Egypte moderne, vol. I (Paris, 1929), p. 265. 5 Ilbert, ‘Qui est Grec’, p. 147. 6 A. Kitroeff, The Greeks in Egypt. 1919-1937. Ethnicity and Class (London, 1989), p. 13. 7 Ibid., p. 21. 8 Ibid., p. 73. 995069_JECS_2011_1-2_08_Roussos.indd5069_JECS_2011_1-2_08_Roussos.indd 112929 227/02/127/02/12 110:540:54 130 SOTIRIS ROUSSOS During the nineteenth century there was a serious conflict between the Greek consulate in Alexandria and the Greek Orthodox patriarchate over the control of the communities. The Greek state won the struggle and, conse- quently, the communities became Greek institutions, legally registered by royal decree in Athens. The communities maintained schools, hospitals, orphanages and hostels without the financial aid of the Greek state. The schools had a Greek curriculum and were closely supervised by the Greek Ministry of Education. The Greek communities in Egypt functioned as if they were genuine state mechanisms. They provided a wide range of func- tions and services from social welfare to professional bodies such as the Greek Chamber of Commerce. Through their network they managed to sustain a powerful communal consensus.9 Another important reason for the ‘hellenisa- tion’ of the communities was that the Greek diaspora saw the Greek state and its irredentism as a base for their economic expansion into the Eastern Mediterranean.10 Syrian Christian emigration to Egypt started in the mid-eighteenth cen- tury. The growth in the trade of silk and in the trade with Europe in the Eastern Mediterranean was the main reason for Syrian, predominantly Greek Catholic, emigration. The reign of Mohammed Ali benefited the Syrians only to a limited extent but from the middle of the nineteenth century there was a considerable increase in the number of Syrians in Egypt.11 At the end of the nineteenth century the Greco-Russian conflict over the control of the Orthodox Churches in the Middle East affected also the patri- archate of Alexandria. Photios was a member of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and had strongly opposed Russian influence in the Holy Places before becom- ing Patriarch of Alexandria, in 1900.12 Russian influence in the Tsarist era contributed to the intensification of the conflict between the Syrian and the Greek communities by favouring the Syrian element. The collapse of Tsarist Russia, however, diminished the influence of Russian diplomatic agents. 9 K. Tsoukalas, Exartese kai anaparagoge: o koinonikos rolos ton ekpaideutikon mehanismon sten Ellada (1830-1922), (Athens, 1977), p. 346. 10 Ibid., p. 364. 11 A. Hourani, ‘Lebanese and Syrians in Egypt’, in The Lebanese in the World, eds. A. Hourani & N. Shehadi (London, 1992), pp. 498, 501. 12 A. Arberry (ed.), Religion in the Middle East (Cambridge, 1969), vol. 2, p. 477. 995069_JECS_2011_1-2_08_Roussos.indd5069_JECS_2011_1-2_08_Roussos.indd 113030 227/02/127/02/12 110:540:54 THE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH IN INTERWAR EGYPT 131 During the era of patriarch Photios, from 1900 to 1925, the patriarchate of Alexandria showed considerable enterprise in persuading many benefac- tors to assist in the various needs of the Church.
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