GREEK EDUCATION IN MONASTIR - PELAGONIA

GREEK EDUCATION IN MONASTIR - PELAGONIA 13
and aggravations. Their fight against propaganda in the educational, ecclesiastical
and ideological spheres was incredibly vigorous and tenacious, and
found expression both in armed conflict and in countless protests to the
Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople and the leaders of the European
Great Powers of the day. The Ecumenical Patriarchate, for its part, provided
substantial help to the Greek population of Monastir and its environs, both
as part of its general assistance to the Greeks in the enslaved territories and,
especially after the emergence of organised Romanian propaganda, with the
aim of strengthening Greek ideology and binding the Christian population
together as a single body in the face of the danger from the Bulgarian Exarchate
and Western Catholic propaganda.
5. One important facet of the educational, intellectual and spiritual
situation in Monastir was the cultural phenomenon of a single-minded, public-spirited
popular base that competed in the performance of good works,
offering whole-hearted national and financial service through the creation of
dozens of national, educational and philanthropic societies, associations and
fraternal organisations. These entities substituted for the non-existent official
state welfare and protection, which was absent to such a point that it
was impossible to determine the agency or authority which would have
guaranteed their activity. In this sense, then, the admirably organised and
smoothly operating Greek education system, on the one hand, with its famous
schools, excellent teachers and thousands of students, and the various
popular clubs and associations on the other, represented the authority that,
notwithstanding the dependence and constraints of an alien environment,
functioned within the whole ideological space of Hellenism and did so to
such a degree that the people of Monastir constituted the national standard
rather than following the model of the central authority in Athens.
6. Beyond these practical manifestations and their ideological projections,
the social cohesion and cultural cosmogony of the Greek community
in Monastir functioned as a particular cultural factor differentiating it from
the other communities in the city. It should be noted in this connection that
the Muslims as a rule had no rival social status of their own to display and
were thus wholly assimilated into the Greek climate – another illustration of
the impotence of the Porte to impose itself in human and cultural terms on
those who were subject to its authority. The educational and social life of
the people of Monastir encouraged emulation among the members of the
community, progressed everyday life and communication and gave it horizons
and vision. The Greek community thus dominated the whole social