Witnesses for Christ (Paperback)

This study is the culmination of 20 decades of research on Orthodox Christian neomartyrs under the Ottoman Turks. Father Vaporis has compiled the life stories of almost 200 faithful men and women who were by and large of humble station, possessing little or no formal educaiton yet gave their lives, or witnessesd for Christ. It is a pan-Orthodox study which cuts across ethnic boundaries to include many non-Greek neomartyrs, from countires such as Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Cyprus, Egypt, Ukraine and Georgia. It also includes a number of accounts of Muslims who converted to Orthodox Christianity and suffered a martyr's death because they refused to return to Islam. This, however, is not simply a collection of hagiographic stories. Here, the lives are retold and set in an historical context to make them more accessible to the reader. Also, there are translations provided of the dialogue between the neomartyrs and the Ottoman judges (kadi) during the three interrogations that were mandated by Islamic law. These records provide information on mutual perceptions and the clash between Orthodox and Islamic cultures, illustrating how the Ottomans became decreasingly tolerant of Orthodox Christians as their empire declined.