Eftim I.

Eftim I.

Eftim I (civil name Zeki Erenerol , birth name Pavlos Karahisaridis , * 1884 in Maden near Yozgat , Ottoman Empire , † March 14, 1968 in Istanbul ) was the first patriarch ( papa ) of the autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Church , one of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople unrecognized Christian denomination, which he founded himself. Eftim I was an ethnic Karamane itself strongly and the Turkish - nationalist influenced ideology. He served as patriarch from 1923 to 1962 when he resigned due to illness. He held the title of honorary patriarch and ordained his youngest son Turgut Erenerol as patriarch, who took the name Eftim II .

Early years

Pavlos Karahisaridis was born in 1884 in the kaza Maden (today Akdağmadeni ) of the Sanjak Yozgat as the son of a Turkish-speaking family of caramans. He graduated from middle school and unsuccessfully ran a factory in Ankara. In 1914 he left Ankara to avoid being drafted and was ordained a priest in 1915 , taking the name Eftim . On April 23, 1920 he took part in the opening of the Grand National Assembly as a representative of the Turkish Orthodox Congregations of All Anatolia ( Umum Anadolu Türk Ortodoksları Cemaatleri ).

In 1922 the Orthodox Patriarchate of Anatolia in Kayseri was founded by Father Pavlos Karahisaridis, a supporter of the General Congregation of Anatolian Turkish Orthodox - in opposition to Patriarch Meletios IV. During the meeting in a convent in Kayseri it was decided to establish a Turkish Christian Church to act independently of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople .

Karahisaridis moved to Istanbul in 1923. On June 1, 1923, his Turkish supporters attacked Patriarch Meletios IV with his tacit support. On October 2, 1923 Papa Eftim occupied the Holy Synod and appointed his own synod. When Eftim invaded the Greek Orthodox patriarchate , he proclaimed himself the "general representative of all Orthodox communities" ( Bütün Ortodoks Ceemaatleri Vekil Umumisi ).

When, after Meletios IV's abdication, the new Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory VII was elected on December 6, 1923, there was another occupation by Eftim I and his followers. This time they were evicted by the Turkish police.

Establishment of the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate

In 1924 Karahisarithis began conducting the liturgy in Turkish and quickly gained support from the new Turkish Republic. He claimed that the Ecumenical Patriarchate was ethnically centered and favored the Greek people . He was excommunicated because he continued to have a wife as a bishop (married bishops are not allowed in Orthodoxy). Karahisarithis then appointed a Turkish church congress, which elected him patriarch in 1924.

Despite the establishment of the patriarchate, the Turkish-speaking caramans were expelled to Greece like the other Greek Orthodox Christians . On June 6, 1924, a conference within the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary ( Meryem Ana ) in Galata decided to transfer the headquarters of the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate from Kayseri to Constantinople. At the same meeting it was also decided that the Church of the Virgin Mary would become the center of the new patriarchate of the Turkish Orthodox Church.

Most of the ethnic Turkish population of Orthodox faith remained associated with the Greek Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. In 1953 he organized a demonstration march against the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I and thus continued his agitation against the Greek patriarchate.

Resignation and death

He resigned in 1962 due to illness and his eldest son Turgut Erenerol (formerly Yiorghos Karahisarithis ) became Papa Eftim II - and held this office until his death in 1991. The office then passed to his youngest son Selçuk Erenerol, who until 2002 the title Papa Eftim III. held. The current holder of the title is Paşa Ümit Erenerol, his grandson (son of Selçuk Erenerol), who has held the title Papa Eftim IV since 2002.

Eftim I died on March 14, 1968 and was buried in the Greek Orthodox cemetery of Şişli despite the refusal of the Orthodox Church after intervention by the state .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Hurriyet : Türkçe dua eden bir papa (Turkish)
2. ↑ ^{a b} by Dr. Racho Donef - Sydney, Australia. January, 2003 .: The Political Role of the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate (so-called). Atour.com, January 23, 2004, accessed December 24, 2013 . 
3. ^ The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and the Turkish-Greek Relations, 1923-1940. Retrieved December 24, 2013 . 
4. ↑ Leader of Turkish Nationalist Church Dies ( Memento of January 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive )

predecessor	Office	successor
---	Patriarch of the Turkish Orthodox Church 1923–1962	Eftim II.