Penalties and Sanctions Imposed upon Orthodox Priests and Parishioners in the Balkans during the 17th-18th Centuries (Based on Ottoman Documentary Material)

Authors:

Pages: 79-93
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/INBK4152

Abstract:

The study is focused on the ecclesiastical penalties and sanctions (one of the most sufficient aspects of the development of Christianity, since the formation of the Christian church, worship and cult), imposed on the Orthodox clergy and parishioners in the Balkans during the 17th and 18th cc., an еspecially dynamic and controversial period in the history of the Orthodox Church under the Ottoman rule. In the study are discussed unpublished documents from the “Piskopos kalemi” fund of Baюbakanlэk Osmanlэ Arюivi – Эstanbul – patriarchal and metropolitan pleas (arzuhals), public petitions (mahzars) and various types of sultan orders (fermans, hьkms, etc.), as well as a large part of the published Patriarchal and Metropolitan berats and others. The comparative analysis of this complete information and the cases of Orthodox canonical law, especially the nomocans of the 17th and 18th cc., gives the opportunity to comment in details the different types of ecclesiastical punishments and sanctions imposed on laymen and clergy (priests and bishops) concerning: problems encountered in collecting church taxes and charges; a different type of “deviations” from moral-ethical Christian norms and canonical requirements; the family-marriage relationships of the parishioners. The commented documents reveal not only the complete register of applied church punishments against the clergy and the laity – penances (fasting, prayer, pilgrimage), temporary and full excommunication, the significant “haircut” of the priests, but also the peculiarities and essential features of applied church law.

Keywords:

Christianity, Islam, Orthodox Church, ecclesiastical penalties and sanctions, patriarchal and metropolitan pleas (arzuhals), public petitions (mahzars)

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