Integration of refugees in a religious context

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Georgios Kritikos

Abstract

This paper seeks to investigate the religious context of the integration of
the Asia Minor refugees, who fled to Greece after the Greek-Turkish compulsory
exchange of populations of 1923. The traditional studies of this issue
adopt the attitude that since religion was the exclusive criterion of the transfer
of populations, there is no reason for discussing further the religious aspect of
their settlement. The present research examines a number of issues: whether
and why the refugees remained a religious flock after their establishment in
the secular Greek state and which was the role of their Christian belief in the
process of their settlement; which was the contribution of Church to their
integration in material and spiritual terms; last but not least, refugees will be
approached not only as products, but also as creators of the system created
after 1923. Within this framework, this paper will explore to what extent the  Orthodox Church came up to the expectations of the new congregation, which was in real need of philanthropic work and will evaluate the effect, if any, of the refugee Christian flock upon the Church of the Greek state.

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