Russia and the Greek-Catholics of Syria

Abstract

In the 1840s the Russian government for the first time made steps toward systematical use of religious and cultural diplomacy in its Middle East policy. The mission of Porfirii Uspenskii to Syria in 1843–44 was aimed at gathering information on the state of the Orthodox Church and education, and was at the same time fruitful for reconverting Uniates to Orthodoxy. The joining of Bishop Makarios of Amida to the Patriarchate of Antioch in 1846 marked similar actions in the future decades. Porfirii elaborated a strategy of relationship with the non-Orthodox Christians of the Orient, which was used as a means of ‘soft power’ by Russia until the First World War. The article argues that in the conditions of competition as part of the Eastern Question, the Russian government was looking for new methods of church policy and paid special attention to converting the Greek Catholics and other non-Orthodox communities into Orthodoxy.