By the time of the conquest of Constantinople
by the ottomans in 1453
and Trabzon eight years later, in 1461,
many Greeks of the rich coastal towns and villages,
in order to be saved from the Turkish attrocities they decided
to escape to regions such as Russia and the Danube river area,
building new Greek cities, new cultural centers,
which later gave refuge affectionately to every persecuted Greek.
Many of those who stayed behind, in their fatherland,
were forced under conditions of violence and percecution
by the Turks to change their faith, in order to save
- their lives,
- their honour,
- their families,
- their property
- and above all to get rid of the inhuman behavior of the Turks.
(Photiadis E. Konstantinos, Hellenism of the Black Sea, pp. 14, 16.)
Violence against the Greeks
and the very cruel behavior of the conquerors,
are depicted in the words of the historian Pericles Triantafyllidis from Trabzon,
who states that "the Greek were considered worse than dogs,
because they (muslim turks) showed sympathy to dogs,
but very rarely, the turks showed any pity to a Christian ...
the verb "tourkopedeuo" (=i torture like a turk) came to mean,
i torture with inhumanity, or i punish severely. "
The life of the Greek Christian under muslim rule, was truly unbearable.
His clothing had to be specific,
he could only wear black clothes,
made only from coarse cotton.
His home had to be a single storey,
without an external tint, because it was considered luxury.
Severe penalty was expecting those who disobeyed this command
and enjoyed any kind of luxury.
The Christian was in such a humiliating position,
that at all times, he had to demonstrate his subordination to the conqueror.
When a Turk was walking on the street,
the Christian had to stand in the middle of the road,
and bow a thousand times, or make other degrading moves,
to show his humility.
(Triantaphyllidou Pericleous, The Fugitive, 105)
Source: The Crypto-Christians of Pontus,
postgraduate work of Kyriaki Chrysoulidou,
in the Theological School,
of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 2008, pp. 11-12