*SOUTH ITALY, MEZZOGIORNO. The Violent Latinization/Catholicization
of Sicily, Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata and Campania).
“The Pope sent inquisitors to southern Italy to investigate the Greeks, and if they had found any who did not adhere to the Latin doctrine, they would have had to burn him at the stake...” (Anonymous Calabrese of the 12th century, code Vatic.gr.316)
*******
*****HISTORY IS NOT A SINGLE NARRATIVE. BUT MANY. THAT IS SOMEONE MUST READ THEM ALL, BEFORE FORMING AN OPINION
*****LA STORIA NON E UN'UNICA NARRAZIONE, MA MOLTE. PER QUESTO, BISOGNA LEGGERE TUTTE PRIMA DI FORMRE UN OPINIONE.
*********
The
Concordat of 1059. The beginning of the end for Magno Greeks.
At the
end of August 1059, the Bavarian Gerardo
de Chelone (Pope Nicholas II ) celebrated a “council” in Melfi di
Potenza. He was accompanied by the infamous Cardinal Hildebrando di Soana (the future Gregory VII) and an
impressive entourage of cardinals, bishops, and abbots. The reason for all this
pomp? The stipulation of a Concordat
with the Norman barons engaged in the conquest of southern Italy. By
displaying the Constitutum Constantini, a false document according to
which the Emperor Constantine I, had abdicated in favor of the Pope,
making southern Italy (Magna Crecia) Patrimonium sancti Petri, the first
nucleus of the Papal State. Nicholas
II granted Robert Guiscard possession of all of Magna Graecia,
continental Greece and Sicily, naming him Apostolic Legate, his
personal alter ego. For his part, Roberto swore by God and the Gospel that he
will be the Pope's ally against any adversary; he promised not to advance in
war without the Pope's authorization; he promised to hand over the conquered
population of southern Italy, keeping it in obedience to the Holy Roman
Church.
The
bishops from Sicily, Apulia, Basilicata and Calabria had remained in
the Orthodox faith in the period after the Schism and participated in the
Synods called by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Pope with
the help of the Franko-German conquerors who ruled these areas, put unbearable
pressure on the Orthodox inhabitants and forced them to follow the Latin ritual
and Latin language. The oppression and persecutions forced many Orthodox to
flee to Byzantium, such as Saint
Nikephoros, who was a Philocaly teacher of Saint Gregory Palamas and Saint Bartholomew from Symeri, reformer
of the Monastery of Saint Basil in Arsana of Chilandarius on Mount
Athos.
They
politically subjugated Apulia, Basilicata, Campania, Calabria and Sicily and in
1071 installed Franko-German bishops
in Sicily. But in Calabria and Apulia there was a
serius reaction. Here the Latinization was more violent, because the resistance
of the Orthodox was strong. In 1089 they replaced the magnogreek Archbishop of
Regio Vasilios. Two great confessors were Saint Luke (†1114) and
Saint Bartholomew (†1131) were miraculously saved from the flames thrown at
them by the Fracolatins. In Ierakas (Gerace), the apostate Athanasios Chalkeopoulos replaced
the Orthodox standard with the Latin one in 1480, and in Voua (Bova) in 1572,
the Armenian-Cypriot Julius
Stavrianos.
The
methods used to reduce the Orthodox Italo-Greek nation to obedience, during and
after the military conquest, are well known:
* Ethnic cleansing: extermination of the inhabitants of entire
cities, then repopulated by settlers of the same ethnic group as the invaders,
brought in from Provence.
* Evacuation
and mass deportation from one part of the occupied territory to another
(between the 12th and 15th/16th centuries, Greek names and surnames disappear
from the cities).
* Expropriation
of Greek homes and fields (except for the collaborators). All the
landowners of southern Italy from the 12th century were
Anglo-French-Saxon barons. Also known as the gattopardi.
* Seizure
and destruction of Greek books (between the 12th and 17th centuries, all
Greek manuscripts, disappeared from Sicily and the rest of southern Italy,
which used to be one of the major centers of book production in the Eastern
Roman Empire.
* Replacement
of the local Italo-Greek and Orthodox bishops with trusted
hierarchs (Normans by blood and English, such as Walter of the Mills
in Palermo).
* Suppression
of Orthodox monasteries and establishment, in the same buildings, of new
religious organizations. For example, Benedictines in the Monastery of San
Filippo di Agira, near Enna. Or submission of Orthodox monasteries to the
feudal authority of Catholic bishops/princes or abbots/barons. For example, the
Salvatore of Messina submitted to the Catholic bishop of the city; the
Monastery of Theristìs submitted to the abbot of the Chartreuse.
* Latinization
or, better said, Catholicization of the local Magno-Greek population. It
is no coincidence that, with the conquest still in progress, Catholic churches
and monasteries dedicated to the Trinitarian doctrine sprung up like mushrooms
throughout Southern Italy.
After the
region was cut off from the East, due to the conquest by the Turks of
Constantinople in 1453, and especially of mainland Greece, which was
adjacent to Calabria and Sicily, the Orthodox submitted by force
to the brutal power of the Pope and ”Holy
Roman Inquizition”.
After the
ecclesiastical Synod in Messina (1520) and Otranto, (1580) the
last Sicilians, Calabrians,
Apulians… were forced to leave Orthodox Christianity and thir
maternal Greek language. More than 1600 churches hermetaries and monasteries,
were forced to close, or to change language in their ceremonies. We can
still see the ruins of these churches today, everywhere. The Greeks had
two choices. To convert to Roman Catholicism and become Latins or lose their
lives as heretics. So, the Sicilians-Calabrians… lost their
language, their conscience and their heritage. They became the latinized Greeks
of today.
In 1579
the Pope established a Unitarian Diocese for the Orthodox Albereshi
speakers of Sicily in Palermo. They had arrived in small numbers in the
15th century, from the Peloponnese, in order to save their lives from the
Ottoman Turks. They considered themselves Greeks. They did not build new villages but accepted in the older Greek villages, by the older MagnoGreek
population, and mixed with them. Their
village of “Piena degli Greci”, was renamed by Mussolini in 1934, to
“Piena degli Albanesi” for political reasons. Finaly, the Arberesh became
Uniates. Orthodox ritual, but Papal Jurisdiction! So the magnogreek churches,
under Arberesh, became Romancatholic
property!
There are thousands of sources and
documents in the Vatican and elsewhere showing that Greeks were systematically
targeted by the Inquisition in Sicily and the rest of Southern Italy until
1600. By 1500 the persecutions had intensified and lasted for about a century,
until all the Sicilians, Calabrians, Apulians… had become Latin and Roman
Catholic.
Controversial
was and the Bourbonic
policy against the Magno-Greeks and the remaining Orthodox. Around 1830, the
king of the Two Sicilies (in Caserta), Francisco I, issued a decree against the
Greeks who insisted on remaining Greek and Orthodox: "Whoever among the
inhabitants of the state did not recognize the Pope as head of the Christian
Church, must leave the country". This decree, if nothing
else, shows that even in the 19th century the Greek population in Magna Graecia
was quite considerable. A few years earlier, in 1821, they had forced the
closure of the last 16 Greek monasteries in Calabria and Apulia.
Mussolini's fascist regime,
whose every act of violence received the blessings of the Vatican, completed
the persecution with the attempt to de-Hellenize the last Greek-speaking towns
of Calabria and Apulia. Τo completely erase every memory
of 3,000 years of Greek history in the area. The government of Rome did not
develop economically the regions of Calabria, Basilicata,
Apulia, Campania and Sicily, and millions of inhabitants of the
region and its last Orthodox presence migrated in the twentieth century to
Argentina, Brazil, the USA and Australia.
In 1932,
the German linguist, Gerhard
Rholfs, published his research in four Books with the titles:
a) Hellenism in Sicily, b) Hellenism in Calabria, c) Greek toponyms d)
Etymology of toponyms, names and surnames. Mussolini’s regime reacted. The
books were banned, and the remaining Greek speaking population in Sicily,
Caldaria, Apulia and a small region near Napoli, the Cilento, were oppressed and the men pushed in
the frontlines of WWII.
In 1994,
a new era began when the saintly monks Fr. Cosmas and Fr. Gennadios from the monastery of Megisti Lavra of Athos, (Macedonia,
Greece) settled in the monastery of Agios Ioannis the Theristis in Bivonzi, Calabria.
The katholikon (the main church) was without a roof and floor and in it lived
hens and goats. With the death of Fr. Cosmas, Romanian Orthodox
monks seized forcibly the greek monastery with the assistance of an
anti-Greek local mayor. The holy monasteries of Agios Ilias in the cave of
Melikoukas, Agios Ilias and Filaretos in Seminara Calabria and of the
Annunciation in Madranici in Catania Sicily, the saint Nicolas in Messina, in
Syracusa church with temporarelly service…(in Palermo the martorana church is
forcibly romancatholic today), have also reopened. In Reggio, a new church of Saint Paul the Apostle was built with
the assistance of the “Paracletos”, a Greek monastery in Oropos.
In the
last twenty-five years there has been a strong interest by the local population
in Calabria, Apulia, Sicily etc. to find their cultural and ethnic roots. The
initial interest was for the Greek language, history and culture. Searching for
the roots, the interest in Orthodoxy and the ancient Greek religion, also
began. In Palermo, with the help of Cypriots, a new church of Apostle Andreas was erected, and an
effort is made to establish parishes and an Orthodox monastery. Palermo
University has become the biggest center in the world (according to number of
students) for the teaching of the Greek language and history.
The
population of southern Italy is proud of their Greek origin, but above all,
they are proud because they are the descendants of the last Orthodox of Italy
who were Latinized by force and deceit. They are proud of the holy Bishops Leo, Agathon and Pagratius,
the martyrs Agatha and Loukia and the Saints Elias the Younger of
Spileotis, Philaretos the gardener, Nicodemus of Mammola, John the Theristis,
Luke of Demena, Nilos of Rossano, Fantinus the Old and New, Saint Nikephoros
the Myroblyte and monk Saint Luke of Melikoukas, Philippos di Agira and the
countless other martyrs that this region produced who were confessors of
Orthodoxy.
The Ethnic and Religious Cleansing inMagna Graecia
Linguistic map in the 10th century.
By Alessandro Palieri.
The ethnological situation in Magna Grecia/Sicily at the time
What was the true ethnological identity of
1. The Testimony of
Roger Bacon (1280)
Just two years before the
Sicilian Vespers, in 1280, the English humanist Roger Bacon, while traveling
through
«...
in
most places, the clergy and people were purely Greek.» (“Nec multum eset pro
Source:
Roger Bacon, Compendium Studii Philosophiae, Chap. VI.
2. The Legislation of Frederick II (1231)
The German Emperor and King of
the Two Sicilies, Frederick II, issued his famous legislation, the Constitution
of Melfi, in 1232. It was written in three languages: Medieval Greek (the
language spoken and understood by the common people in 8
In Chapters I, II,
and IV
of this legislation, severe measures were enacted against the MagnoGreci (Greeks
of
1 Prohibition
of property acquisition or inheritance.
2 Imprisonment and the banning of the
Greek language in official use.
3 Prohibition of Greek Orthodox
ceremonies.
4 Prohibition of studies at the University of Constantinople (students were forced
to attend the University of Naples, est. 1224). These measures paved the way
for the Holy Inquisition, though many Magno-Greco Orthodox communities survived
until as late as 1580.
Source: «THE CONSTITUTION OF FREDERICK II HOHENSTAUFEN, KING OF
Original: «ΤΟ
ΣΥΝΤΑΓΜΑ ΤΟΥ ΦΡΕΙΔΕΡΙΚΟΥ Β΄ του ΧΟΧΕΝΣΤΑΟΥΦΕΝ, ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΤΗΣ ΣΙΚΕΛΙΑΣ... ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΑΙ
ΔΙΑΤΑΞΕΙΣ».
ed. Thea Von der Lieck-Buyken, Koln-Wien 1978
3. French Chroniclers, P.Meyer (13th Century)
A 13th-century French
chronicler noted: “The peasants of
4.
Petrarch’s Advice
(14th Century)
In the 14th century, the great
scholar Petrarch advised , with a letter, a young student seeking to learn
Greek to go to
5. Pietro Bembo in
Messina (1492)
Pietro Bembo traveled to
6.
The Collegio
Greco (1521)
In 1521, the Sicilians of
Messina founded the renowned Collegio Greco, which attracted students from all
over
7. The
Prophecy of Agathangelos (1279)
The Greek monk Theokletos
Polyeides wrote his prophetic work, The Visions of Agathangelos, in Medieval
Greek in
8.
The Research of
Gerhard Rohlfs
The eminent German linguist Gerhard
Rohlfs (
1 Lexicon of the Griko Dialects of Southern Italy
(Λατινικά/Γερμανικά: Lexicon Graecanicum Italiae
Inferioris)
2 Greeks and Romans in Southern Italy
(Γερμανικά: Griechen und Romanen in Unteritalien)
3 Etymological Dictionary of the Greek Elements in
Southern Italy
(Γερμανικά: Etymologisches Wörterbuch der
unteritalienischen Gräzität)
4 Linguistic Excavations in Magna Graecia
(Γερμανικά: Scavi linguistici nella Magna Grecia)
Rohlfs’ books were banned
during Mussolini’s fascist regime, as the dictator feared their popularity
among the Greek-descended populations of Southern Italy before his 1940 invasion of
9.The Archives
Rohlfs and Giuseppe Morosi researched municipal and
notarial archives to trace the language:
A) 15th
Century: Greek remained dominant in the Nebrodi Mountains and
cities
like Randazzo and San Fratello.
B) 16th
Century: Greek language dominated notarial documents in Messina.
Γ) Syracuse
& South: In the "Crown of Hellenism," Syracuse, the language faded
earlier (last Greek notarial documents in 1330). The Aragonese rulers imposed a
harsh assimilation policy. Catholic orders (Benedictines, Cistercians) forcibly
seized Greek monasteries. The famous
Δ) Central
Sicily: In Piazza Armerina, Greek notarial archives reach the 15th century, and
scholars believe the spoken language survived in surrounding villages for
another 100 years. The same in
Enna, Eggyon (Ganggi), Agira (Argyrion) and Caltaniseta
Ε) Earthquakes.
It is
important to note that the massive earthquakes of 1789 and 1908 caused
catastrophic damage throughout Southern Italy-Sicily, destroying a vast portion
of the municipal and church archives in many cities.
Στ) Because of
this loss of primary sources, we lack a complete and clear picture of exactly
how many other towns and villages maintained their Greek- speaking populations
and for how long. The records that could have testified to the persistence of
the Greek language in these areas were lost forever under the ruins.
10. The «Holy»
Inquisition .
After
1500, the Inquisition became unbearably harsh. It sought to uproot everything
Greek through torture, social pressure, and administrative bans. The Greek language…..
Here is
Pope Gregory's thought, condensed in the autograph Dictatus Papae: the Pope is bishop of the entire world (§3)
and has the exclusive right to use the insignia of the emperors (§8); everyone
must kiss his feet (§12) and only his name must be pronounced in church (§10)
because his is the only name in the world (§11) and no one can judge him (§19);
the Church of Rome has never erred nor will it ever err (§22) and no one, if he
does not agree with the Pope, can be considered Catholic (§26).
Archimandrita Antonio Scordino. Sicily.
“The
ethnic and religious cleansing in the south is still with us in the public
imagination which says that the Italo-Greeks, who for example founded the
monastic lordships such as Licusati, San Giovani a Piro and Rofrano, came here
as refugees from the iconoclastic policy of Constantionople and
that they were therefore not our ancestors but “Foreigners”.
*********
EPILOGOS
The
rebirth of Hellenism continues, whether through antiquities or through
Orthodoxy.
As
i write these lines, an GreekOrthodox Hesychaster of “Sain Giovani Theristis” (in Bivogi Calabria exist also Church and
Monastery in honor to this magnogreek saint) and church has been reopened in
southern Sicily, in the city of NOTOS
(after six centuries of prohibition and restriction), on the ruins of
one of the many historic Greek Orthodox churches of the region, by a
brotherhood of local Sicilians, from
Noto. The "Fraternità dei Siciliani” !
The
rite of the opening of the doors was celebrated by the Orthodox Metropolitan of
Italy, Prokopios.
· The Location is situated in an idyllic
location within the region of Noto, a city famous for its Baroque
architecture, yet one that conceals deep ancient Greek and Orthodox-Byzantine
roots.
· The Orthodox Brotherhood "Fraternità dei Siciliani" (Brotherhood
of the Sicilians) consists primarily of native Sicelogreek who have embraced
Orthodoxy and are working toward the revival and promotion of the "Italo-Greek
Saints" (Santi Italo-Greci).
We hope that soon the
crown jewel of Hellenism in Sicily—Syracuse—will also acquire its own parish.
**********
Metropolitan
Procopiοs is of Sicilian origin, possessing a
deep consciousness of the Greek-Byzantine heritage of Southern Italy.
His
secular name is Procopio Di Miceli. Born
and raised in Sicily, he is one of the central figures in the movement to
revive Orthodoxy among south Italians.
Key Aspects of His Identity:
- Sicilian Identity: As a native-born Sicilian, he
leads the effort to reconnect modern Sicilians with their roots, which
were purely Greek and Orthodox prior to the Great Schism and the Norman
conquest.
- Language and Worship: Although his native language
is Italian/Sicilian, the liturgical life of the brotherhood often includes
the Greek language (the tongue of the Italo-Greek Saints), emphasizing the
continuity of the Magna Graecia tradition.
- Ecclesiastical Status: It is important to note that
Metropolitan Procopius belongs to an ecclesiastical jurisdiction that does
not fall under the Ecumenical Patriarchate (which is represented in Italy
by Metropolitan Polykarpos), but rather to an autonomous Orthodox
structure focusing on the local Italian character.
- Historical Significance: His presence in Noto and the
opening of the Church of Saint John the Harvester are considered a
milestone for the local Orthodox community, signaling the return of
Orthodox worship to a space that historically belonged to it.
Footnote: He follows the Old (Julian)
Calendar, whereas the Metropolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate follows the
Revised Julian (Gregorian) calendar. In essence, these represent two distinct
expressions of the Italo-Greek church tradition.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate, metropolis of Italy have the next parishes.
Today,
the following Sicelogreek parishes are reopening and are active in Sicily under
his jurisdiction (those are Local, ancient Sicelogreek churches. Exists also churches of the emigrants
from eastern Europe, like Ukrainian, Romanian etc, which are not Sicilian orthodox.
The Sicilian orthodox are the medieval SikeloGreeks, before their forcibly latinization)
· Orthodox Church of Saint Leo
–Catania,
· Orthodox Church of Saint Mark of Ephesus –Palermo* · * Orthodox Church of Saint Andreas– Palermo. And is expected to Martorana be open Greek and Orthodox.
· Orthodox Parish of Cefalù
–Cefalù
· Orthodox Church of Saint Nicholas
– Messina
· Saint Catherine of Alexandria
Orthodox Church – στο Milazzo
· Monastery of the Presentation of the Lord at the Temple- Messina region
· San Calogero- Caltaniset
· Sacro Monastery – Madranici, Catania
While
in other towns as well, such as Agyrion (Agira), the Roman Catholic Church
kindly grants the use of its churches so that Sicilian Greek Orthodox faithful
may celebrate their liturgical services.
Naturally,
in Calabria—rightly called
today the heart of Magna Graecia—the return to Greek
roots is even stronger. The same is true in Apulia and in southern Basilicata.
For this reason, we cannot refer in detail the monasteries and churches in Calabria and
Apulia, as they are now numerous.
However, they can be viewed—along with photographs—in the book, available for
free reading on the blog sicilia-calabria.blogspot.com, as well as on the Facebook pages
cited in the bibliography and sources.
SikeloGreek monastery after 500 years of prosecution by Romancatholic Inquizition-prosecution
SOURSES:
Sicilia-calabria.blogspot.com (page)
Santi italogreci (page in Facebook)
Eredita cultural monachesimo Italo-greco (page
in facebook)
Sinassatrio of Italo-greek (or MagnoGreek)
Saints. Edit.Orthodox archdiocese of
Italy
Vasile Mutu:” Luci e riflessioni bizantini
in Sicilia”. Bonano Editore Catania sicily, 2024.
(Vasilemutu.com. And in facebook).
Susanna
Valpreda “La cultura bizantina della Sicilia orientale", Lithos Edizioni, Castelvetrano
Sicily 2023, Volumes I and II, (academia.edu).
·
See
the paper “THE SICILIAN VESPERS: A Turning Point in History
*I VESPRI SICILIANI: Una svolta nella storia”, in the blog: sicilia-calabria.blogspot.com or in Academia.edu,
Stefanos,Sotiriou.
Greek Genetics from 1,000 BC until today 2025.
Genetic Reality of the Mezzogiorno today!
Challenging the myth and propaganda of Romanic, Normanic, Germanic &
Arab DNA ancestry.
“Contrary to popular belief the many invasions in
southern Italy and Sicilia, that followed the fall of the Western
Roman Empire, did not significantly alter the local genetic landscape of
the Apennine Peninsula. In fact, DNA studies show that only the Greek
presence in southern Italy had any lasting effect on the genetic
makeup of the peninsula”.
Source: Cavalli-Sforza
(University of Stanford, USA), Luigi Luca, Menozzi Paolo, Piazza Alberto (Turin
Italy), "The History and Geography of Human Genes.
p. 295”. Also
reserche of : Michaela Sarno and the university of Peruggia and Max
Plank institute, Germany.
*******
Pages in Academia.edu, related to
and prehistory. Adh her in thiw Blogg: sicilia-calabia.blogspot.com
https://www.academia.edu/161291377/THE_MYCENAEAN_COLONIZ
ATION_in_SICILY_and_SOUTH
https://www.academia.edu/150276120/VATICAN_CATHOLIC_CHIRC
H_The_Greek_Popes_from_Calabria_Sicilia_Athens_Efesos_Damascos_
and_Jerusalem_1_
https://www.academia.edu/146186278/THE_SICILIAN_VESPERS_A_T
urning_Point_in_History_I_VESPRI_SICILIANI_Una_svolta_nella_stor
ia
https://www.academia.edu/145875108/SOUTH_ITALY_MEZZOGIORN
O_The_Violent_Latinization_Catholicization_of_Sicily_Calabria_Apulia
_Basilicata_and_Campania
https://www.academia.edu/145784826/Sikani_Sikuli_and_Elymi_Who_
were_they
https://www.academia.edu/145784412/FRIEDRICH_NIETZSCHE_Helle
nism_and_Magna_Graecia_Southern_Italy_Sicily
https://www.academia.edu/145782473/MARTORANA_PALERMO_SIC
ILY_Giorgio_dAntiochia_%CE%93%CE%95%CE%A9%CE%A1%CE
%93%CE%99%CE%9F%CE%A3_%CE%91%CE%9D%CE%A4%CE%
99%CE%9F%CE%A7%CE%95%CE%A5%CE%A3_and_the_MARTO
RANA_Santa_Maria_D_Ammiraglio_Palermo_Sicily
And the full
mythology, prehistory and history, until 13 century, in the Blogg: sicilia-
calabria.blogspot.com
