When the powerful tide of Turkish invasion, coming after so many other barbarian inroads, completely submerged Greek culture there, the Hellenic idea which this element represented was so strong that it survived everything. It was in vain that the fierce conquerors, as the tradition states, cut out the tongues of the inhabitants in order to cause this people to unlearn its language; it was in vain that they carried away their children to make of them fierce and cruel janissaries, who became exterminators of their own people. The Hellenic idea, the attachment to national traditions, was never submerged.

As soon as the fury of the conqueror was somewhat appeased, and at a time when that part of the Balkan Peninsula where Hellenism first arose and from which later it radiated over the then known world all the brilliance of its beauty was no longer showing any sign of life, the Greeks of Asia Minor founded the first Greek school of modern times, that of Cydonia (Aïvali). This school produced the first real ecclesiastics, the first genuinely educated men. Smyrna, called by the Turk himself “the infidel city,” because of its preponderant Greek element, followed her example. The graduates of these schools formed the nucleus from which the idea of the Greek renaissance sprang forth. From this source have come the men that have sacrificed their lives and their fortunes in order that Hellenic culture, which seemed forever to have disappeared, might again be revived.

It is this country of which we are going to study the ethnological composition.

Its boundaries are, on the north, the Black Sea; on the east, the Russian frontier traversing the snow-covered mountain range of the Taurus and Antitaurus and continuing to the Gulf of Alexandretta; on the south, west and northwest, the Mediterranean, the Ægean Sea and the Sea of Marmora.

Its area is 534,550 square kilometers; it is traversed by numerous watercourses and is one of the richest countries in the world. If well administered, it could support tens of millions of inhabitants.

It is divided for purposes of administration into eight provinces, Sebastia, Trebizond, Kastamuni, Konia, Angora, Aïdin, Broussa, Adana and four independent provinces, Chryssioupolis, Nicomedia, Balukiser, Vizi or Dardanelles.

To determine the importance of the Greek element in the population let us examine each archbishopric from the ecclesiastic as well as secular point of view.

The following table presents statistics as to the numbers of churches, priests, schools, etc., supported by the Greeks of Asia Minor:

MetropolisChurchesPriestsBoys’
Schools		TeachersPupilsGirls’
Schools		Women
Teachers		Pupils
1.Smyrna401143524111,055272027,651
2.Crine467534653,96514322,055
3.Heliopolis5377411004,36019492,120
4.Pisidia465418532,68510311,235
5.Philadelphia202215261,060816723
6.{Ephesus}
Magnesia12617710028615,9406515010,150
7.Cydonia
8.Broussa242713402,9757201,045
9.Nicæa294123633,1558251,210
10.Chalcedon4310028996,97025704,230
11.Nicomedia767577833,4796201,120
12.Cyzicus81128721958,11525672,630
13.Proconnesos263313482,280819790
14.Amassia33044128658617,00069873,910
15.Ancyra8135208402 7260
16.Iconium50102421596,91523502,070
17.Cæsarea4498581335,07516491,778
18.Rhodopolis6586571203,300
19.Chaldia2112591893809,70525160
20.Trapezus250161952038,53511351,679
21.Colonia120140931823,840
22.Neocæsarea30040015030011,30015362,100
——————————————————
1,9882,5231,4443,382132,54936097046,916

The administration of the Greek Orthodox Church is in the hands of twenty-two Metropolitans, or Archbishops, having under them a proportionate number of bishops and priests. The Metropoles, or Archbishoprics, are the following: Smyrna, Crine, Heliopolis, Pisidia, Philadelphia, Ephesus and Magnesia, Cydonia, Broussa, Nicæa, Chalcedon, Nicomedia, Cyzicus, Proconnesos, Amassia, Ancyra, Iconium, Cæsarea, Rhodopolis, Chaldia, Trapezus, Colonia and Neocæsarea, under the authority of the Œcumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.[1]