The Greek struggle in the countryside and in the cities, and the role of the clergy

In the countryside, the living conditions of the armed forces were especially difficult. Equipped with all kinds of clothing, so as to be protected against the cold and rain, they moved constantly during the night. Everyday food was a luxury, while illness, hardship and lack of medicine were a harsh reality. This situation was also faced by Pavlos Melas, artillery officer in the Greek Army, who gave his life and became a symbol of Greek determination for the liberation of Macedonia.

In the cities, under the watchful eye of the Ottomans, the Greek-Bulgarian conflict was nothing less than conspiratorial. The Greek counterattack to the Bulgarian pressure extended from education to the operation of Christian communities, to trade unions, to professional activities and to Greek welfare. Networks of informants and supporters operated in all social classes, such as the organisation “” in Monastiri and the “Organisation of Thessaloniki”. The activities of these networks spread to all levels and types of confrontation.

In the cities and the villages, the clergy played a significant role. From the moment of the Bulgarians’ national emancipation upon the establishment and secession from the Patriarchate of an autonomous church, the Exarchate, the involvement of the clergy in the Greek-Bulgarian conflict was inevitable. This change of church signified a change of national preferences. The devotion of the lower clergy to the Patriarch was the first line of defence of Hellenism. The second line of defence was a new generation of educated and dynamic metropolitan bishops, whom the Patriarchate began to place in Macedonia when it was forced by circumstances to adopt a dynamic tactic at the beginning of the 20th century.