Orthodox Bishops, Priests, Parishioners in Ottoman Records from the Fund “Piskopos Kalemi

The present paper is based on selected documents (sultan’s orders, patriarchal and metropolitan requests – arzuhal, requests by parishioners, collective petitions – mahzar – of metropolitans and bishops of various dioceses, different types of income and expense excerpts, etc.) from the partly published fund Piskopos kalemi of the Istanbul Ottoman Archives. The author focuses her research interest on the specificity of the relations between the representatives of the higher clergy as well as on the relations between the parish clergy and their dependent congregations, on the one hand, and the Orthodox bishops, on the other. The result of the intrigues and conflicts between the three sides of the Orthodox community (prelates, priests, and parishioners), eloquently attested in the commented documents, is the direct interference of the Ottoman authority in spheres, which were legally protected against such interference