| Summary/Abstract |
RUSSIA has done a lot to help Greece become an independent state, providing decisive and freely given aid to the people of Greece to save Greek lives and protect Greek interests over the centuries. This is a fact of history. Russian diplomats who served in the Greek provinces of the Ottoman Empire spared no effort to support and encourage Orthodox Christian Greeks. These diplomats did so not only in their line of duty but out of their own convictions and sympathy toward coreligionists. The work of the Russian consulate that opened in Crete in 1860 is one the best examples of the above. Russian diplomats saved Cretan Christians from extermination, prevented their conversion to Catholicism, and thus preserved the canons of Orthodoxy in Crete...
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