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> On 29 May,1453 Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks. The horrors of that day have continued to the present. The Genocide of the Asia Minor Greeks and the pogroms of 1955 have destroyed Hellenism in the lands of Asia Minor and Constantinople. Today, Cyprus suffers under Turkish occupation, and the Hellenism of Macedonia is challenged by Skopje.

The Grey Wolves continue to attack the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The encroachments upon Greek sovereignty by NATO and the European Union are increasing. Hellenism must survive, and history must not be forgotten. Enclosed below are

1) A tribute to the martyrdom of Emperor Constantinos Palaiologos who fell bravely in battle against the Ottomans.

2) Historical recollections of the horrors that ensued when the City fell.

3) An essay recalling the Fall of Constantinople.

1) Tribute to Constantinos XI Palaiologos

"There is one more warrior prince whose official status as an Orthodox saint may be somewhat in dispute, but whose examplary piety and courage in a hopeless battle against Muslim adversaries has special resonance in the post "nine-eleven" world. Blessed Constantine XI Palaiologos, last Emperor of Byzantium, perished in defense of Constantinople on May 29, 1453.

The Virtue of War

by

Alexander F.C. Webster and Darrell Cole

"They remembered that dreadful Tuesday, a day that all true Greeks still know to be of ill omen; but their spirits tingled and their courage rose as they told of the last Christian Emperor standing in the breach, abandoned by his western allies, holding the infidel at bay till their numbers overpowered him and he died, with the Empire as his winding sheet."

The Fall of Constantinople 1453 by

Sir Steven Runciman

"The Emperor Constantine, simple, kind, brave, and straightforward, had gained the sympathy and admiration of all who had witnessed his wonderful patience, forbearance, and untiring devotion to the public interests. All present at that last Council were all animated by the deepest personal regard for the unhappy sovereign. Some of the statesmen again brought before the Council the proposal that the interests of the Empire required the Emperor and his Court to leave the City immediately, in as much as so long the Emperor lived there was hope that the Capital if lost now, might one day be regained."

The Prelate, who was at the head of the Clergy, the Patriarch Gregory having apparently in the meantime resigned his office, supported with great decision that proposition. He said, "The servants of the altar saw unmistakable signs that it was God's will the City should now fall; but God's providence was unsearchable, and it might please Him to remember his people in mercy. If the Imperial City could not be saved, let the Emperor be saved! The Emperor should live, because in his person are centered the hopes of his people. We must all bow to the decree of the Almighty, whose mercy might return to our people as it had returned to Israel in olden times."

"Then the Prelates pressed him to leave the City without delay, and the whole Council implored him to comply with this advice. After all who wished to speak had spoken, the Emperor addressed them in a quiet but resolute tone:

My friends, if it is God's will that our City shall fall, can we escape his wrath? How many Emperors great and glorious, before me have had to suffer and die for their country! Shall I be the one to flee from it? No, I will stay and die here with you."

Constantine Last Emperor of the Greeks

by

Chedomil Mijatovich

"His companions fell, and sword in hand, amid the oncoming crowd of Janissaries and Sipahis, Constantine met the end that befitted a Roman Emperor and a faithful soldier of Christ."

The Byzantine Empire

by

Edward A. Foord

"God forbid that I should live an Emperor without an Empire. As my city falls, I will fall with it."

"Whoever wished to escape, let him save himself if he can; and whoever is ready to face death, let him follow me!"

The Crescent and the Cross

by

David Dereksen





"The spot ought to be hallowed to everyone who respects faithfulness to duty and patriotism, and who has sympathy with the single hearted hero of a great historic tragedy. The slab covers the remains of the last Greek Emperor, the patriotic and brave Constantine Dragesses."

Serb Ambassador to Britain Chedomil Mijatovich on alleged burial site of Constantinos in his book "Constantine Last Emperor of the Greeks

"Constantine told his hearers that the great assault was about to begin. To his Greek subjects he said that a man should always be ready to die for his faith or for his country or for his family or for his sovereign. Now his people must be prepared to die for all four causes. He spoke of the glories and the high traditions of the great imperial city. He spoke of the perfidy of the infidel Sultan who had provoked the war in order to destroy the true faith and to put his false prophet in the seat of Christ. He urged them to remember that they were the descendants of the heroes of ancient Greece and Rome and to be worthy of their ancestors. For his part, he said, he was ready to die for his faith, his city, and his people. He then turned to the Italians, thanking them for the great services that they had rendered and telling of his trust in them for the fighting that was to come. He begged them all, Greeks and Italians alike, not to fear the vast numbers of the enemy and the barbarous devices of fires and of noise designed to alarm them. Let their spirits be high; let them be brave and steadfast. With the help of God they would be victorious."

From Steven Runciman's the Fall of Constantinople 1453

"His father Manuel II, when the Turks were at the gates of Constantinople in 1397, had uttered this prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ let it not come to pass that the great multitude of Christian people should hear it said that it was in the days of the Emperor Manuel that the city, with all its sacred and venerable monuments of the faith, was delivered to the infidel. This was the ultimate misfortune of his son Constantine Palaiologos, the Last Emperor of the Romans. He had prayed that he might be killed rather than live to see the consequences. He was fortunate only in that his last prayer was answered."

The Immortal Emperor

by

Donald Nicol

"An immediate search was ordered to locate the Emperor's body among the heaps of the slain. They washed the heads of many corpses, but the Emperor could not be identified. His body was finally spotted by means of the golden imperial eagles traditionally imprinted on the greaves and shoes of our Emperors. The Sultan rejoiced, became cheerful, and directed some Christians to bury the Emperor's body with imperial honors. Woe to Me! Divine providence should have decreed my death long before this day. My adored, most serene, and memorable emperor was fortynine years, three months, and twenty days when he perished."

From the Chronicle of George Sphrantzes

"I sent two birds to the red apple tree, of which the legends speak. One was killed, the other was hurt, and they never came back to me. Of the marble emperor there is no word, no talk. But grandmothers sing about him to the children like a fairy tale.I sent two birds, two house martins, to the red apple tree. But there they stayed and became a dream..

From the Greek Song, O Marmaromenos Vasilias

"The Sudden noise was horrifying. All along the line of the walls the Turks rushed in to the attack, screaming their battle-cries while drums and trumpets and fifes urged them on. The Christian troops had been waiting silently; but when the watchmen on the towers gave the alarm the Churches near the walls began to ring their bells, and church after church throughout the city took up the warning sound till every belfry was clanging. Three miles away, in the Church of the Holy Wisdom the worshippers knew that the battle had begun. Every man of fighting age returned to his post, and women, nuns amongst them hurried to the walls to help bring up stones and beams to strengthen the defences and pails of water to refresh the defenders. Old folk and children came out of their houses and crowded into the churches, trusting that the saints and angels would protect them."

The Fall of Constantinople 1453

by

Steven Runciman





"As soon as the Turks were inside the City, they began to seize and enslave every person who came their way; all those who tried to offer resistance were put to the sword. In many places the ground could not be seen, as it was covered by heaps of corpses. There were unprecedented events: all sorts of lamentations, countless rows of slaves, consisting of noble ladies, virgins, and nuns, who were being dragged by the Turks by their headgear, hair, and braids out of the shelter of Churches, to the accompaniment of mourning. There was the crying of children, the looting of our sacred and holy buildings. What horror can such sounds cause! The Turks did not hesitate to trample over the body and blood of Christ poured all over the ground and were passing his precious vessels from hand to hand; some were broken to pieces while others, intact, were snatched away".

Eyewitness account from George Sphantzes friend and servant of the last three Palaiologi

"Breaking down the doors with axes (to Aghia Sophia), the Turks entered the church and dragged the fugitives off to slavery. Two by two, the men were tied together with cords, the women with belts, without consideration for age or station. Scenes of indescribable horror ensued. The statues of saints were shorn of their jewels and smashed. The gold and silver church vessels were seized, the altar cloths used for caparisons. Topped with a Janissary's cap, the crucifix was paraded in mockery. The conquerors used the altars as tables; when they themselves had finished eating on them, they turned them over to the horses for feed troughs or used them as beds on which to assault boys and girls."

Mehmet the Conqueror and his time

by

Franz Babinger



Remembering Constantinople

by

Theodoros Georgiou Karakostas Founder, Byzantine Cultural Project

On 29 May 1453 Constantinople, the great Capital of Christendom fell to the Ottoman Turks following a fifty-five day siege. For eleven centuries, the intellectual, religious, and political center of the Byzantine Empire was known as the "God protected City" because of the inability of foreign invaders to conquer it. The conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204 was an exception, and ultimately it was this conquest that weakened the foundations of the Byzantine State, and paved the way for the eventual Ottoman conquest.

The history of the Byzantine Empire produced many famous Emperors beginning with Constantine the Great who founded Constantinople, and Justinian who presided over the building of the magnificent Church of Aghia Sophia. This vision of heaven on earth is named in honor of Christ as the name of the Church means literally "Church of the Holy Wisdom." The last Emperor of the City was Constantinos Dragases Palaiologos, the third of five sons born to Emperor Manuel II and his wife the former Serbian Princess Helen Dragases.

The Emperor of Byzantium was considered the Viceroy of God on Earth. Numerous Emperors fought on behalf of the protection and advancement of Christendom. The seventh Century Emperor Heraclius is celebrated for his outstanding military achievements in liberating Jerusalem from the Persians, and for reclaiming the sacred Cross upon which Jesus Christ was crucified. In 678 AD, Emperor Constantine V saved Constantinople and all Europe from the Muslims who attempted to conquer the City by Sea. During the ninth Century, Emperor Nikephoras Phokas waged war against the Arabs and reclaimed Syria.

By the time that Constantinos Palaiologos inherited the throne of Christendom in 1448, most of the Empire had already been lost. The Fourth Crusade and the subsequent Civil Wars in the following century weakened the Empire considerably. Emperor Constantinos Palaiologos who was well admired and respected for his honesty, bravery and kindness, was tragically the weakest of all Emperors politically and militarily.

The ideals of the Byzantine Empire survived the fall of Constantinople. The Russians later declared Moscow to be the "Third Rome" on the basis that the niece of Emperor Constantinos had married Ivan III in 1472, and that Russia was the only land of Orthodox Christendom not conquered by the Sultans. In 1821, the Greeks rose up against the Ottoman yoke and reestablished their freedom. For a century, they began to slowly reverse the Ottoman conquests, but in 1922 as in 1453 they were abandoned and alone. In the city of Smyrna in 1922, there was a remarkable Greek Orthodox cleric named Chrysostom who emulated the example of Emperor Constantinos Palaiologos by refusing to leave his flock when the Turks once more arrived as conquerors, and likewise he suffered and died with his people.

The barbarism of 29 May 1453 was repeated on September 6, 1955 when the Greek community of Constantinople was violently assaulted by murderous mobs. Churches were desecrated in unseakable ways, and the homes and businesses of Greeks were destroyed. The difference of the atrocities of 1453 and 1955 are that the latter atrocities were committed in a nation that was a member of NATO, and the recipient of American aid. Washington continued to support Turkey, and threatened to cut aid to Greece if Athens did not fall into line.

In our own day, the Ecumenical Patriarchate is being assaulted by Turkish criminals acting at the behest of Ankara's criminal leadership. The Patriarch is being burned in effigy, and the Patriarchate is routinely bombed. Unlike the Ottoman period when the Turks were the scourge of Europe, Turkey is today embraced by the European Union, NATO, the United States, and Greece.

From the Serbs of Kosovo to the Greeks of Cyprus, Christianity suffers today from the heirs of the Ottomans. Europe made its accomodation with the Ottoman Empire following the capture of Constantinople. The great powers of our own day have done likewise with Islam in Turkey, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia, Nagorno-Karabakh.

"And our Lady when she heard it, her eyes filled with tears, And Michael, and Gabriel, they comforted her: Weep not, our lady, and be not tearful, With the passing of years and in time, they'll be ours again