Newsletters
As talks about the possible reopening of the Halki Seminary on Heybeliada gain momentum, another historic Greek Orthodox school in Istanbul faces a very different reality. The Phanar Greek Orthodox College, a landmark institution in the city’s Fatih district, has announced that it will not enroll any new students for the 2025–26 academic year.
The school, widely regarded as a cultural symbol of the Greek Orthodox community in Türkiye, currently counts only a few dozen students.
Located in the historic Fatih district near the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the college—known in Greek as Megali tou Genous Scholi or “Great School of the Nation”—has long embodied the survival of a community tracing its roots back to the Byzantine Empire. Yet the steadily shrinking Greek Orthodox population of Istanbul has left its mark, with schools such as Phanar among the most affected.
School principal Dimitri Zotos told Agos daily that across Türkiye, only about 300 pupils are enrolled in Greek minority schools, and just 30 of them attend Phanar. He explained that although one family applied this year, they were persuaded to choose another Greek school since “it is not possible to open a class for a single student,” adding that such a situation would not be healthy “psychologically, pedagogically, or educationally.”
Zotos noted that the institution’s student body has dropped from 730 to 30 over the last 140 years, a decline he described as both painful and concerning. “It is obvious we are facing serious demographic challenges,” he said. “We want these institutions to survive, not only for our community but for society as a whole. That is why I am calling on everyone to lend a helping hand.”
1 min read
During a meeting in late 2023 between representatives of minority schools and officials, Zotos emphasized that the abolition of the “guest student” policy had worsened the situation.
This policy had previously allowed non-Greek children to enroll, providing much-needed numbers to sustain classes. Its removal has accelerated the decline in admissions.
The official name of the school is the Private Phanar Greek Middle and High School. Established in 1454 through an agreement between Patriarch Gennadios and Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, it quickly became a center of learning that produced senior officials, translators, patriarchs, and clergy during the Ottoman period.
Today, classes are taught in both Turkish and Greek. The imposing red-brick building, designed by architect Konstantinos Dimadis, stands on land once owned by Dimitri Kantemir, a Moldavian prince and alumnus of the school.
Its architectural grandeur and location near the Ecumenical Patriarchate have long made it a landmark in Istanbul, sometimes even referred to as “the fifth largest fortress in Europe.”
5 min read
