Chapter 83 Education II

Under the influence of the Orthodox Church in Constantinople, there are many Greek schools in the Balkans.

The origin of Greek and Christianity has a long history.

The original Christianity originated in the Palestinian region. When Christianity spread to the Balkans and Asia Minor under Roman rule at that time, the most popular language in the eastern part of the Roman Empire at that time was Greek. Therefore, the earliest Christian Bible (New Testament) was written in Greek.

Therefore, Greek left a deep imprint in Christianity during its development.

After the Roman Empire split into the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire, the Christian Church also split into the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. The Orthodox Church advocated the use of Greek to preach, while the Catholic Church advocated the use of Latin (the official language of the Roman Empire) for religious activities.

It can be said that it is precisely because of this deep historical origin between the Orthodox Church and the Greek language that even after the Eastern Roman Empire was destroyed by the Ottoman Empire, the Orthodox Church subconsciously believed that it was responsible for the Greek language and even the Roman culture (in fact, it is more appropriate to say the Eastern Roman Empire), so it has been secretly opening Greek schools to teach people Greek.

Moreover, the clergy of the Orthodox Church generally despise those clergy who do not know Greek, and clergy who do not know Greek will be considered vulgar.

It can be said that 400 years after the Eastern Roman Empire almost perished, there were still a large number of Greeks in the Ottoman Empire, and the Orthodox Church played an indispensable role.

It is for this reason that Greek is favored by the middle and upper classes in the Balkan Peninsula.

Therefore, when Delianis heard that the Royal Greek Education Foundation was responsible for promoting compulsory Greek education, she proposed to Ichios to conduct Greek teaching activities to the outside world.

"So, Delianis wants our foundation to invest, hire employees, and teach in Albania?" Constantine asked in surprise.

"That's true"

"And not only in Albania, but also in Macedonia," Ichios said.

Hearing this, Constantine's disgust for Delianis dissipated a little.

To be honest, before this, Constantine had a hard time getting a good impression of Delianes, a hawk who disregarded the reality and fanatically advocated war against Turkey.

"Do you think this is feasible?" Constantine asked.

"There is no problem with money. If it is just in Greece, there are only tens of thousands of children, and they are all low-grade children in the early stage. After all, the time for compulsory education is limited, and the foundation has a lot of idle funds," said Koledis.

This person who used to work in the financial industry has been in charge of the foundation's financial work since he joined the foundation.

After Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria successively gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, the Macedonian region, which is located right in the middle of the three countries, naturally became the focus of the three countries' competition.

Therefore, the situation in the Macedonian region has become very delicate.

Everyone knows the intentions of the three countries towards Macedonia.

And the Macedonian region is not only home to Christians and Muslims, but also a large number of Jews.

For example, Thessaloniki (an important commercial port city on the north coast of the Aegean Sea) has about 100,000 Jews living there, which is the largest Jewish city in the world at that time.

However, the situation of Christians, who make up the majority, is also very complicated.

There are Armenians, Greeks, Serbs, and Bulgarians, etc.

In the eyes of the Ottoman Turks, Greeks is a very broad term. They almost call all Orthodox Christians other than MSL Greeks, and this term can definitely include Slavs (maybe Serbs, or Bulgarians, or Armenians).

Because there are many Slavs in the Macedonian region, Serbia and Bulgaria are also eyeing this place.

(Bulgarians and Serbs are both Slavs)

Since the independence of various countries, Macedonia, located between Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, has become the coveted legacy of the Ottoman Empire by the three countries. Although it is still the territory of the empire, the open and secret struggles among the three countries have begun.

Due to long-term mixed residence, the ethnic distribution here is very complicated, and some people living here cannot distinguish their ethnic identity.

After Serbia and Bulgaria ended the war in 1885, the focus of the two countries was on Macedonia.

"According to the information I received, many Slavic schools have been opened in Macedonia during this period, and there may be support from Bulgaria and Serbia behind them," said Sophie.

Since Crown Princess Sophie became the president of the foundation, she has been presiding over the work of the foundation with the assistance of Ikios and Kolodis

"If we fall behind, Greece may be passive in the fight for Macedonia in the future"

Constantine was very surprised to hear this. During this period, he has been busy with the industrial development of Greece and really didn't pay attention to the situation in Macedonia.

"In this case, we can't fall behind. You can discuss and fund some people to go to Macedonia to carry out Greek teaching activities. We can't let the Slavs monopolize it," Constantine ordered.

Macedonia is strategically important and is the only way for Greece to expand northward. Whether it is Serbia or Bulgaria, once they completely occupy Macedonia, Greece's expansion in the Balkan Peninsula will be completely blocked.

Therefore, this place must not be taken lightly.

"It is better to cooperate with the Constantinople Church, which is more covert."

Anyway, the church has been committed to Greek teaching for hundreds of years, and the Orthodox Church in Macedonia is no exception. It can be used in the name of the church to secretly carry out Greek education.

Crown Princess Sophie heard Constantine's request and took the notebook in front of her to record it.

"Just take this opportunity, there are some work that needs to be informed to you"

Constantine and the other two said.

"First of all, Mr. Koledis, you used to work in a bank, right?" Constantine asked.

"Yes"

"In this way, the amount of funds in the foundation will become larger and larger"

The main source of funds for the Royal Education Foundation is 10% of the fiscal revenue of the Congolese government. As the work of the Congolese Commission gradually unfolds and gets on track, the specific amount of this money will rise.

There is no doubt that this money will be more and more abundant for the current expenditure on compulsory education in Greece.

In this way, the foundation will have a huge amount of cash in hand for a long time, and the monthly cash flow will become larger and larger.

"In order to manage the funds of the foundation more effectively, I decided to set up a bank under your leadership, Mr. Kolodis"