Family,clergy, conviviality and morality among the Greek-Orthodox in Izmir at the end of the Empire

This paper discusses the intricate relation between aspects of social life and the antagonism of the administrative institutions in a particular locality. By using cases of divorce decisions as well as contested weddings among people from different confessions which, despite the fact that they took place in Izmir were reported to and investigated by the Greek-Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople, it aspires to shed light on those liminal aspects where locality and conviviality are transgressed in the name of tradition. Furthermore, the paper investigates the role of the clergy both in dealing with charity and the destitute, and as an institution, whose encounters with modernity triggers tensions and new perceptions of the relation between the church and its congregation, always bearing upon issues of morality and efficiency.