гръцката

The last decade of the century of the Enlightenment constitutes an important moment in the development of Greek culture. During these few years, manifestations of every nature (directly related to spiritual life or marking reflections on it) represent such a density that it could be said that they include within themselves the entire history of future Hellenism. From year to year we follow the withering away of religious humanism, the stagnation of reactionary doctrine, the formation of the liberal spirit and the progressive liberation of secular thought. These intellectual movements were influenced to a great extent by the development of international politics and the cultural life of the West. The strong impetus that Catherine the Great (Russia) gave to her policy regarding "philosophy" conditioned important changes in the activities of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople. Indeed, until 1791, the Patriarch of Constantinople was under the sway of two opposing forces: on the one hand, the need to maintain legal ties with the Ottoman Empire, on the other, the desire not to weaken the ties of the Greek Church with the Russian Empire, which belonged to the same faith and was officially considered the protector of paradise. The Patriarchate had to adopt a soft attitude, as little opposition as possible, in order not to arouse the discontent of Russia, but also to take into account the demands of the Sublime Porte.