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Dear Jean-Marie; Many thanks for posting this beauty. Not long ago, I have visited the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul. It was just breathtaking! It is unbelievable what kind of jewels and precious stones they had - huge (... and I mean HUGE...) emeralds, rubies, diamonds, etc.. This was a fantastic day and of course (how couldn't I) rounded off with a visit to the Grand Bazaar and some nice pruchases... With kind regards. Peter
This must have been enormously expensive ... Do you think it was part of his personal wealth or would it have belonged to the church and used as an ornament on special occasions? Perhaps there were advantages in being appointed Metropolitan. I know that, at the time, to gain the attention and support of powerful people, gifts were frequently offered. Interesting to speculate!
Dear Peter and Thelma, thank you for your meaningful comments.
This pendent is indeed of the same category as the palace jewelry in Topkapı; it is a relic of the same social class, too.
@ Thelma: The Ottoman state system was based on the different 'Millet'. A millet was a separate legal court pertaining to "personal law" under which a confessional community (a group abiding by the laws of Muslim Sharia, Christian Canon law(s), or Jewish Halakha) was allowed to rule itself under its own system. This means that Greek-Orthodox, Armenians, Jews, etc. (and their leaders) were granted a fairly large amount of independence, as long as the Sultan's (and the State's) authority and privileges (such as taxes) were safeguarded. The millets had a great deal of power – they set their own laws and collected and distributed their own taxes. Regarding the Greek-Orthodox, the upper authority was the Patriarchate in Constantinopel, with Metropolites and bishops as local administrators (which had been the Byzantine system too, before Muslims took over). One can safely assume, that in many cases the distinction between a Metropolite's personal belongings and the Church's possessions was a subtle one (as it was in Catholic Europe also, at the time). As far as I know, the ritual objects of Metropolite Partenios were offered to him at his appointment in 1738 (by whom is not clear), and were added to the Caesarea Metropolitan Church treasure when he died. They were kept there for almost two centuries, and finally transferred to Athens in 1922/23, when the Greek-Orthodox population of Anatolia was deported to/exchanged with Greece.
With kind regards, JM.