Archive of Alexandros Lykourgos (1827 – 1875), Archbishop of Syros and Tenos

Project manager: Elisabeth Kontogiorgi, Director of Research

Project Launch: July 2003

This is a research project based on the Archive of Alexander Lykourgos, an important resource for historians and theologians and all interested in the history of the Greek Orthodox Church and its clergy during the 1860s and 1870s. The archive consists of 48 files containing some 4.500 documents, most of them letters which Lykourgos wrote as Archbishop of Syros (1866-1875), covering a multitude of topics: the rapprochement between the Greek and Anglican Churches, the involvement of the Orthodox Church in the dialogue with the Anglicans and Old Catholics in the aim of attaining intercommunion, the question of the Pope's Infallibility, Orthodoxy and materialism, growing anti-Panslavism and Russophobia among Greeks, the Ecumenical Patriarchate and its relationship with other Orthodox Churches, Bulgarian nationalism and Orthodoxy, the Bulgarian Question and the Schism, Russian interest and Panslav influence in Mount Athos, the shift of Greece towards Great Britain for support, the Holy Foundation of Tenos, and the role of the Greek hierarchy in foreign and domestic policy making. This valuable documentary record has been digitally reproduced by the late academician Michael B. Sakellariou who generously donated it to KEINE. The project will publish extensive summaries of the documents with comments, and will use the material to re-address more systematically a number of research questions.

For the period from June 2003 to April 2006 Dr. Foteini Asimakopoulou, who was elected in KEINE as Researcher D in 2003, collaborated in the project. In 2006 she was elected Assistant Professor to Faculty of Early Childhood Education at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and left but she maintained an informal connection to the project in the capacity of Guest Researcher.

Participation in Conferences

2005 – Scientific Symposium “In Memory of Archbishop of Syros, Alexandros Lykourgos (1866-1875)”, organised by the Holy Metropolis of Syros on the 130th anniversary of his death, (Hermoupolis, 1 October 2005). “The visit of Archbishop of Syros and Tenos Alexandros Lykourgos to England (December 1869-March 1870). New data from the Archbishop’s archive relating to the rapprochement between the Anglican and the Greek Eastern Churches” contribution by Elisabeth Kontogiorgi, and “The Mission of Archbishop of Syros Alexandros Lykourgos to Mount Athos” contribution by Photeini Assimakopoulou.  

2007 - Voisinages fragiles. Les relations interconfessionnelles dans le Sud-est européen et la Méditerranée orientale 1854-1923: contraintes locales et enjeux internationaux/ Precarious neighborhood. Interconfessional Relations inSoutheastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean 1854-1923: Local Constraints and International Power Games.(Colloque international de l'École française d'Athènes avec le soutien de l'Institut français d'Athènes, de l'Université Lumière Lyon II (UMR LARHRA), du Musée Albert Kahn, de l'Université de Rouen (GRHIS) et de la chaire d'études sur la Grèce moderne de l'EHESS", Athènes, 26 - 28 Septembre 2007). “The Movement for Reunion between the Anglican and the GreekEastern Orthodox Churches in the 1860s and 1870s and the Archbishop of Syra Alexandros Lykourgos”, contribution by Elisabeth Kontogiorgi.

2009 - Orthodoxy and Innovation in the Greek-speaking world from Byzantium to the 21st century, International Congress, University of Copenhagen, 5-6 June 2009. “Alexandros Lykourgos (1827-1875), Archbishop of Syros: continuity and renewal in his ideas”, contribution by Elisabeth Kontogiorgi.

2010 - 1821, Σάμος και επανάσταση: ιστορικές προσεγγίσεις (1821: Samos and Revolution: historical approaches). Symposium held at Pythagoreio, Samos, 28-29 May 2010. «Η επανάσταση στη Σάμο και η «πατσαβούρα» του Σπυρίδωνα Τρικούπη: τα προσωπικά, ιστοριογραφικά και πολιτικά ελατήρια της κριτικής του Αλέξανδρου Λυκούργου στην Ιστορία τηςΕλληνικής Επαναστάσεως (1858)» (The Revolution in Samos and the “rag” of Spyridon Trikoupis: review of the History of the Greek Revolution (1858) by Alexandros Lykoyrgos, his ideas on historiography and the personal and political motivations for his critic” a contribution by Elisabeth Kontogiorgi in collaboration with Ch. Minaoglou.

Publications

- Elisabeth Kontogiorgi, “The Rapprochement between the Anglican and the Greek Eastern Churches during the Period of the Bulgarian Question. The Role of the Archbishop of Syros and Tenos, Alexander Lykourgos”, Neohellenika Historika, vol. 1, Academy of Athens 2008, pp. 35-109 (in Greek)

 - Elisabeth Kontogiorgi, “Religious Innovation or Political Strategy? The Rapprochements of the Archbishop of Syros, Alexandros Lykourgos (1827-1875), towards the Anglican Church” στο Trine Stauning Willert and Lina Molokotos-Liederman (editors), Innovation in the Orthodox Christian Tradition? The Question of Change in Greek Orthodox Thought and Practice, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2012, pp. 73-97.

 - Elisabeth Kontogiorgi - Foteini Asimakopoulou, The Archive of Alexander Lykourgos (1827-1875), Archbishop of Syrosand Tenos. Introduction, extensive summaries of his correspondence and comments, vol. A΄, Preface by Michael B. Sakellariou, Academy of Athens, Modern Greek History Research Centre, Athens 2014, 734 pp. (in Greek)

Ongoing Project

The Correspondence between Alexander Lykourgos, Archbishop of Syros and Tinos, and William Ewart Gladstone (1870 – 1875)

Project manager: Elisabeth Kontogiorgi, Director of Research

This project focuses on the study of the correspondence between the Greek Archbishop and the Prime-minister of Great Britain and relevant documents in the archive of Alexander Lykourgos and other sources, aiming at a deeper understanding of the political, religious and cultural aspects of their common interest for a rapprochement between the Anglican and theGreek Eastern Churches. The publication and commenting of the correspondence will be supported by supplementary data from the Historical Archive of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Archive of the Holy Synod of the Hierarchy of the Greek Church and from the microfilm collection of KEINE, the British Royal Archives on the Eastern Question, and the daily and periodical press of Athens and Constantinople.