Chapter One: Reconstituting Community: Cultural Differentiation and Identity Politics in Christian Orthodox Communities During the Late Ottoman Era

The Greek-Orthodox Schools of the Ecumenical Patriarchate through the Perspectives of Pre-modernity and Modernity

“…6 On the contrary, according to the example of modernity, the millet system was established in the 19 th century by the Ottoman elite, as a consequence of the Tanzimat period, known as "period of the Ottoman reforms", and specifically as a result of the empire's modernizing efforts. According to this approach, and to the work of Kostis (1991), Varlas (1999), Exertzoglou (2008), Akturk (2009), Konortas (1999) and Karpat (2001), the predominance of the millet 7 coincides with the formation of the organized Greek-orthodox community during this period of reforms, 8 and with the prevalence of nationalism. 9 Furthermore, it must be clarified that identities are treated as social constructions, and as an object of negotiation in terms of their components, that is in terms of their values, symbols or stereotypes, according to Brubaker and Cooper in "Beyond Identity" (2005).…”