"There are many Turkish, American and European schools in Constantinople, which are really outstanding. None of those, though, can compete with the glory of The Great School of the Nation. Whoever graduates this school has his soul marked to the end of his days".

Needs sacrifices to stay alive

The voice of the Greek man who was talking to us about the Great School of the Nation was trembling with emotion: "I myself have attended this school and I can't forget the magical nights when I and my classmates used to look at the stars with the telescope which is in the School's dome. I used to spend hours in the attic observing the eternal clock's mechanism going round or in the magic physics lab with the wooden benches".

It's a fact that there is no other school in the world being equipped with so many appliances and luxurious materials, not even Cambridge or Oxford University.

Wherever you look, you can see masterpieces, even sanitary rooms deserve to get an art award.

It is an imposing pock of the Greek knowledge and the ancestral wisdom, which is however kept in life with a great difficulty and many financial sacrifices.

In the decades that followed the Greeks' persecutions and the Turkish invasion in Cyprus in 1974, the big decay of The Great School of the Nation began.

The Greek schools were losing their students by hundreds for many years, because many Greek families were leaving Constantinople and migrated to Greece.

In 1960 there were 7.000 students in the Greek schools of Constantinople and today there are only 212, among which 55 belong to The Great School of the Nation.

Among the few Greek students there are some of Arabic origin coming from Antioch, who were allowed to register to the Greek schools, because they're Greek Orthodox.

On one hand the students from Antioch warded off the danger of the annihilation of the Greek schools, but on the other hand they lowered the level of the studies, because they didn't speak the Greek language.

But without them, the Great School of the Nation would have vanished, because there is a Turkish law hanging above it like a guillotine, anticipating confiscation of every school building that ceases to work as a school owing to the lack of students.

It exists since 1454

The Great School of the Nation was created by Patriarch Gennadius Scholarius in 1454, a year after the Fall of Constantinople.

Before the Fall, on Palaeologos dynasty, there was a relevant school, which used to promote the Greek culture.

It is possible that its roots are in the first years of the Byzantine Empire, when Constantine the Great founded the "Ecumenical Patriarchate School".

Heraclius the emperor gave it a great push a few centuries later and emperor Sergius provided a new educational program.

During Leo Isaurian's empire the function of the school was inhibited, but it began to work again upon Leo Armenian and thrived during Komnenos dynasty.

According to the previous historical elements, it is possible that the Great School of the Nation is the oldest educational institution in Europe.

Many leaders of the Greek Diaspora have studied in it, as well as dragomen of the Ottoman Porte, sovereigns of Moldovlachia, Patriarchs of the Ecumenical Throne and politicians of the new Greek state.

The school reached its peak in the endings of 16th century, while Jeremy II was Patriarch and George Aetolos the great teacher and later Leonardo Mindonio the Aristotelian philosopher were principals.

Back then the legendary brothers Ioannis and Theodore Zygomalas taught there. In the following centuries many other excellent teachers taught there, like Simeon Kavassilas, Theophilos Korydalleas, Ioannis Karyophyllos, Alexander

Mavrokordatos, Diamantes Rysios and Evgenios Voulgaris.

During the 17th and 18th century the school was working with two sections, the one of the Grammarians and the one of the Philosophers.

During the years 1904-1919 the pedagogical department began to function, the graduates of which were provided with a certificate that gave them the right to be hired as teachers in the provinces of the Ottoman Empire.

In the years 1907-1924, an independent Music School of four years studying was created at the School, the graduates of which were hired as chanters in several temples of the Ecumenical Throne.

The red building

The place where the Great School of the Nation was located had changed several times, but most of the time it was set near the Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople.

In 1803 it was transferred in Alexander Mavrokordatos's mansion, in Xyrokrini (Kurucesme), a province of Bosporus.

In 1850 it got back near to the Orthodox Patriarchate and was temporarily set in Chatzis Pananos's house and later, from 1877 until 1882, in the house of the Metropolitan of Nicomedia, Dionysios, which was totally abandoned, according to the written testimonies of that time.

The final solution to the Great School of the Nation's housing problem was given in 1881, while Joachim III was the Patriarch, when the amazing "red building" was built above the Patriarchate, thanks to the generous offers coming from some expatriates.

This building is there until our days and his mass and beauty are breathtaking.

This magnificent building was designed in the shape of an eagle by the architect Constantine Dimadis and was built at the top of the fifth hill of Constantinople, in Muhliu district, near the Temple of Assumption.

Earlier at the same place there were the ruins of a residence that belonged to prince Demetrius Cantemir, a historian and graduate of the school.

The opening of the "red school", which is something that fills with pride the Greeks of Constantinople, took place on the 12th of September 1882.

Since then, this architectural and educational masterpiece of 3,020 square meters is supported by benefactors.

In our days, a great benefactor is considered to be Panagiotis Angelopoulos and his family, not only because of his offer to the Great School of the Nation, but also to the Hellenism of Constantinople as a whole and especially to the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate.

In Greek and in Turkish

Today the Great School of the Nation works as an independent school of secondary education that organically comes under Diaspora, although it is being controlled by the Turkish Ministry of Education.

It is at the same time under the spiritual oversight of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which is why it is also called "Patriarchal school".

The state of Turkey calls it Fener Mekteb-i Kebir Vakfi, which means Patriarchal Great School of the Nation.

The school is mixed since 1987, when the Joachimian Girl's School, which was set in a nearby building, stopped working.

The third grade of high school has four departments, the Linguistic, the Mathematical, the Philological and the Scientific department.

All lessons are taught both in Greek and Turkish language.

The lessons that are being taught in Greek are: Modern Greek language, Ancient Greek language, Mathematics, Naturalistics, Physics, Chemistry, Physical Education, Religion, Arts, Music, Philosophy, Logic, History of Art, Biology, Hygiene and Psychology.

The lessons that are being taught in Turkish are: Turkish language, History, Geography, Ethics, Sociology and Military Education.

Fourteen Greek and seven Turkish teachers teach in the school, while the graduates have the right to be accepted in higher educational institutions of both Turkey and Greece.

The best students are provided with the ability to take post-graduate studies abroad.

The school is under the command of the school office and its principal.

Until 1922 the archpriests of the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate used to be also the presidents of the school office, and some notable and prominent members of the Clergy under the Patriarch used to be its members.

The school office cares for the School's unproblematic operation and especially the management of its financial issues, while it gives report to the General Direction of the Greek Bequests of Constantinople.

The school office is today elected by the Greeks of Constantinople with a closed voting process, while it consists of the president, the vice-president, the cashier, the secretary and the counsellors.

According to the law controlling the private schools' operation, there is also the statute of the School's Founder.

It is his duty to nominate the principal of the School and to sign along with him the contracts of the Greek teachers and the rest of the staff, and to approve the budget as well.

The founder and the principal are legal persons referring to the Turkish state, while the founder's assignation is confirmed by the Turkish Ministry of Education.
TEXT: George Zafeiropoulos
PHOTOS: George Zafeiropoulos and Stefanos Zafeiropoulos
SOURCE: www.greecewithin.com