A contribution to the ecclesiastical history of Cos

Abstract

THE ISLAND of Kos was an important commercial centre under Ottoman rule and the seat of an archbishop appointed by the Ecumenical Patriarch. An attempt to study the activities of the archbishops between the years c.1572 and 1648, however, showed that the succession of archbishops was fairly irregular and the post frequently vacant. The evidence is discussed in the article in which the circumstances of the collection of the ecclesiastical taxes paid by the inhabitants of the island are also examined; finally, a hint is made at the question of contacts between the clergy and the people of the sultanic palace.