Proselytes Of A New Nation

"The purpose of this book is to explore the conversion of Muslims to Eastern Orthodox Christianity during the Greek War of Independence and the life of the converts during the Greek War of Independence and the first three decades of the post-independence years (1821-1862). The book looks at the neophytes' relations with the Greek and the Ottoman states, as well as the ways in which the neophytes merged into Greek society. Since Greek national identity is inextricably linked to Greek Orthodoxy, the book discusses the extent to which conversion assisted the neophytes' integration into Greek society. The book aims to delve into the little-researched field of religious conversions in the Balkans in modern times, with emphasis on the conversion of Muslims to Christianity. The Greek case is not the only case in the modern Balkans where Muslims convert to Eastern Christian Orthodoxy. Pomaks, Bulgarian-speaking Muslims, were subjected to forcible conversion during the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) and in the 1940s, whereas in the Cold War era, the Bulgarian communist authorities initiated programs aimed at religious and ethnic assimilation of Pomaks and Turkish-speaking Muslims. Conversions of Muslims to Christian Orthodoxy also occurred in Serbia, Romania and elsewhere in the Balkans. Yet, while Balkan historiography has focused on the Islamization of Christians in the region during the Ottoman period, it has paid little attention to the inverse process of Christianization of Muslims in the age of nationalism"--