Secret Christians in Turkey

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 28, 1910

Secret Christians in Turkey

WHEN Islam swept Asia Minor, whole Christian neighborhoods were forced to accept the religion of Mohammed that they might escape the sword. Most of these converts accepted only the outward shell of Islam, so that there are to-day whole tribes outwardly Mohammedan, but in reality more Christian or heathen. A number of tribes among the Kurds, for instance, are the descendants of Armenians thus nominally converted to Islam centuries ago.

Since the new constitution of Turkey professes to grant religious liberty, many of these people are attempting to shake off the hated yoke of Islam, and the Young Turk government finds itself face to face with the question of what attitude it should show toward these attempts. At present, the Stavriotes, as they are called, are making great efforts to obtain their rights.

The Stavriotes, who live in the neighborhood of the cloisters of Wasilu and Peristera and within the diocese of Trapezunt, Erzerum, Neocaesarea (Niksar), and Chaldia, number about fifty thousand. The Turkish government considered them Mohammedan, but they adhered secretly to the ceremonies of their former religion. They elected their own Mohammedan teachers, but they had also their own priests, who performed marriages, baptisms, and other religious ceremonies in a hidden church secretly and by night. Each one of these Stavriotes had two names, a Christian and a Mohammedan. In the mosques they prayed with the Turks, but used Christian prayers.

After the revolution of last year, they telegraphed the Young Turks and demanded public recognition as Christians. This recognition has not yet been granted, in spite of the fact that the new Turkish government has promised complete religious liberty.—Missionary Review.