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Bütün Ümidimiz Cömert Bir Uyan : On Dokuzuncu Yüzylda Bat Anadoluda Os- manl Hristiyanlarnn Evanjelizasyonu Öz Bu makalenin konusu 1870 ve 1880li yllarda American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions adl misyonerlik örgütünün Bat Türkiye Misyonu adl biriminin kapsamndaki Manisa ve zmir istasyonlarnda yürüttü ü faaliyetler ve bu bölgedeki Rum ve Ermenilere ncilin mesajn ö retme çabalardr. Esas kaynaklar olarak Amerikal Protestan misyoner Marcellus Bowenn 1874-1880 yllar arasn- da Manisadan Bostondaki ana merkeze ve Yunanistan kökenli Protestan misyoner George Constantinein 1880-1889 yllar arasnda zmirden Bostona gönderdikleri mektuplar kullanlm tr. Bu birinci ahs anlatmlar olgular ve olaylar annda ve do rudan yorumladklar için çok zengin bir malzeme sunarlar. Bu çal ma, Ameri- kal misyonerlerin faaliyetlerini zmirin çokkültürlü ve çokuluslu toplumuna uyar- lama çabalarn, bölgede ya ayan Rumlara ve Ermenilere vaaz verirken ya da onlara ibadet için seslenirken hangi dilin kullanlmas gerekti i konusundaki kanaatlerini ve gerekçelerini, Protestan misyonerlere muhalefet eden zmirdeki Rum Ortodoks yüksek rütbeli ruhbanlarnn ba vurdu u yollar ve dini kitap satma, okul ve kilise açma/ yapma eylemlerinin Osmanl yetkililerince hangi artlara ba land n ve yet- kililerin engelleriyle kar la tklarnda misyonerlerin hangi araclara ba vurduklarn incelemektedir. Anahtar kelimeler: zmir, Anadoluda misyonerlik faaliyetleri, Ermeni ve Rum Pro- testanlar, mezhep/din de i tirme, on dokuzuncu yüzyl. * Özye n Unversty. , LV ( ), - ALL WE HOPE IS A GENEROUS REVIVAL Introducton Smyrna/ zmr was the frst msson staton of the Amercan Board of Com- mssoners for Foregn Mssons n Ottoman Turkey.1 Yet the Brtsh Protestants arrval n the cty was earler. In 1815, two mssonares of the Anglcan Church Mssonary Socety came to zmr wth the ntenton of formng a Bble Socety. Wllam Jowett and James Connor founded a Bble Socety n zmr wth the full approval of the Greek Bshop. Ther goal was to further Chrstan educaton and mssonary endeavor. The two Amercan mssonares sent by the ABCFM Lev Parsons and Plny Fsk settled n zmr n 1820, and began learnng modern Greek from Neophytos Vamvas, the presdent of the College of Chos, a Greek clerc and ntellectual.2 In the ensung years, the Greek War of Independence encouraged the Amercan mssonares to undertake mssonary work among Greeks hopng that ndependence from Muslm yoke would be accompaned by a moral and sprtual rejuvenaton.3 In the 1830s, n collaboraton wth the Brtsh and Foregn Bble Socety, the Greek clerc and educator Vamvas, who had become Professor of Phlosophy at the Ionan Academy on the Brtsh- domnated sland of Corfu, translated the Holy Scrptures nto modern Greek.4 Furthermore, n ndependent Greece, the leadng statesmen showed nterest n the mssonares educatonal work because such nsttutons and nfrastructure were lackng n the aftermath of the ndependence. Hence, the frst generaton I would lke to extend my sncere thanks to Ms. Ev Tramantza, Ms. Lza Vachtsevanou, and Ms. Stella Asder for helpng me to use ther archval records and collectons at Anatola College. The research trp for ths artcle was supported by Özye n Unversty. Chrs Royer, Anglcansm n Smyrna ( - ), www.globalmssology.org. January , p. ; (Accessed on December , ). Plny Fsk and Alvan Bond, Memor of the Rev. Plny Fsk, A.M. Late Mssonary to Palestne (Boston: Crocker and Brewster, ), p. ; Pavlna Nasoutzk, 9 : - (Amercan vsons n Smyrna n the 9th century: The encounter of the Anglosaxon and the Greek thought), Athens: Esta, , p. Joseph L. Grabll wrote that the young Greeks sent to Amherst and Yale Colleges by the mssonares, nfluenced some Amercans to vew the Greek War of Independence as a war between the cross and the crescent. Joseph L. Grabll, Protestant Dplomacy and the Near East. Mssonary Influence on Amercan Polcy, 80-9, (Unversty of Mnnesota Press, ), p. Georgos D. Metallnos, (Tradton and Estrangement) (Athens: Domos, [ ]), p. See Rchard Clogg, The Foundaton of the Smyrna Bble Socety ( ), Mkrasatka Chronka, ( ), pp. - . MER H EROL of mssonares dealt manly wth the translaton and publshng of the Bble and relgous books, and establshng schools. By the end of the 1830s, as observed by Gerasmos Augustnos, the Protestant mssonares n zmr, besdes fnancng the charty schools that they had opened n zmr and neghborng towns, also were contnuously producng publcatons n Greek, ncludng the perodcal Apothk (Storehouse) or Magazne of Useful Knowledge whch became very popular.5 The Greeks of zmr were the most nfluental group n the cty thanks both to ther demographc and economc weght. here was a rapd process of Graec- zaton n the nneteenth century n zmr and along the Aegean shore, trggered by mgraton from the Kngdom of Greece, the Aegean archpelago, and the n- ner Anatolan provnces, as well as the hgh brth rate of the Greek Orthodox n the regon.6 Mssonares were not smple tools of Amercan foregn polcy, yet one should not fal to see that they largely shared the Amercan statesmens and dplomats ambtons of acqurng power and nfluence n the Ottoman Eastern Medterranean. Uygur Kocaba o lu has ponted to the close collaboraton be- tween commerce and mssonary work observng that the mssonares shaped the lfestyles and habts of the locals and prepared them as good customers.7 Therefore, ocean surmse that the zmran Greeks wealth and ther economcally and socally advantageous poston made them a partcularly mportant target populaton n the vew of the Amercan mssonares. In zmr, Danel Temple, Henry John van Lennep, and Elas Rggs engaged mssonary work among the Greeks untl 1844, the year when the ABCFM took the decson to stop workng among the Greeks. Henceforth, more emphass was gven to the Armenans of the cty. John B. Adger, Elas Rggs, and Rev. Joel Gerasmos Augustnos, Enlightened Christians and the Oriental Churches: Protestant Missions to the Greeks in Asia Minor, , Journal of Modern Greek Studies, vol. , no. , October ( ), p. Hervé Georgeln, Armenan Inter-Communty Relatons n Late Ottoman Smyrna, n Armenan Smyrna/ zmr. The Aegean Communtes, Rchard G. Hovannsan (ed.), UCLA Armenan Hstory and Culture Seres, Hstorc Armenan Ctes and Provnces, , (Cal- forna: Mazda Publshers, ), p. ; Vangelis C. Kechriotis, The Greeks of zmir at the end of the Empire. A Non-Muslim Ottoman Community Between Autonomy and Patriotism, Ph.D. Thess, (Unversty of Leden, ). Uygur Kocaba o lu, Kendi Belgeleriyle Anadoludaki Amerika: 9. Yüzylda Osmanl mpara- torlu undaki Amerikan Misyoner Okullar, (Istanbul: Arba, ), pp. - . ALL WE HOPE IS A GENEROUS REVIVAL S. Everett engaged n mssonary actvtes nto the 1850s.8 By 1853, an Arme- nan evangelcal church was formed n zmr and the frst Sabbath was held. The constructon of a small chapel was completed n 1858. The Amercan Protestant mssonares actvtes were not lmted to the cty of zmr; wth no less enthu- sasm they pursued ther evangelzng endeavors n the nearby towns of Akhsar (Thyatera) and Mansa. In the 1870s, due to ncreasng pressure from the natve churches n zmr, the Amercan Board transferred ts base n western Anatola to Mansa. It should be mentoned that the ABCFM organzed ts mssonary actvtes n Anatola n three major geographcal msson regons: the Western Turkey Msson, the Central Turkey Msson, and the Eastern Turkey Msson. Ths study focuses on the mssonary actvtes of the ABCFM n the 1870s and 1880s at Mansa and zmr statons operatng under the Western Turkey Msson. It s manly based on the letters of the mssonary Rev. Marcellus Bowen (1874- 1880) sent from Mansa to the headquarters of the ABCFM n Boston, and the letters of Rev. George Constantne (1880-1889) sent from zmr to the same destnaton. The Western Turkey Msson had sx other statons: Constantno- ple/ Istanbul, Bursa, Trabzon, Marsovan/ Merzfon, Caesarea/Kayser, and Svas. The Central Turkey Msson ncluded the statons of Antep, Mara , Adana, Urfa, and Hacn, and the Eastern Turkey Msson had statons n Erzurum, Btls, Van, Harput, and Mardn. Untl 1880, Mansa served as the center for the Amercan mssonary work n a vast regon whch contaned ctes and towns of varous szes, such as zmr, Ödem , Bayndr, Akhsar, Aydn, Ala ehr (Phladelpha), Kula, U ak, Afyonkarahsar, Isparta, Burdur, and Konya. In 1880, the central offce of the Western Turkey Msson was transferred back to zmr. Before hghlghtng some elements of the broader poltcal framework n the post-Reform Edct perod, and explorng the actvtes n the msson statons of Mansa and zmr n partcular, I would lke to provde some nformaton on the course of the developments that led to the recognton of the Protestant mllet by See Dil en nce Erdo an, Amerikal Protestan Misyonerlerinin Raporlarnda zmir stasyonunun Kurulu u ve Faaliyetleri ( - ), Karadeniz Ara trmalar, ( ), pp. - ; Mehmet Ali Do an, The Missionary Activities of Elias Riggs in zmir, Inter- national Journal of Turcologia, V, ( ), pp. - ; Melike Tokay-Ünal, Mid-nineteeth century New England Women in Evangelical Foreign Missions: Seraphina Haynes Everett, A Missionary Wife in the Ottoman Mission Field, Turkish Historical Review ( ), and see Frank A. Stone, Academies for Anatolia. A Study of the Ratonale, Program, and Impact of the Educatonal Insttutons Sponsored by the Amercan Board n Turkey, 80-005, (San Francsco, Calforna: Caddo Gap Press, ), p. . MER H EROL the Ottoman sultan n 1850. In June 1846, Sultan Abdülmecd nterfered wth the Armenan patrarchs persecutons aganst the converts to Protestantsm and bestowed government protecton to hs Armenan subjects who had embraced the Protestant fath. On 1 July 1846, the Armenan Evangelcal Church was founded n Istanbul/Pera wth a consttuton prepared wth the counsel and ad of the mssonares n the cty.9 Fnally, n 1850, the Ottoman Protestants were recognzed as a mllet by an mperal decree. After the Crmean War and the Reform Edct of 1856, the Ottoman ml- lets underwent sgnfcant changes related to ther organzaton and leadershp.10 Both n the Greek Orthodox and the Armenan Gregoran mllets, lay members of these communtes ganed power vs-à-vs the clergy and became actvely n- volved n matters, such as the electon of the patrarch, the admnstraton of the parshes, and educaton.

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