On Thursday, June 1, the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chicago, and the Hellenic Society of Constantinople hosted the 42nd Annual Commemoration of the Fall of Constantinople at Saints Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church in Glenview, Illinois.
This year’s featured speaker was Archon Dr. Alexandros K. Kyrou, Professor of History and Director of the Program in East European and Russian Studies at Salem State University in Salem, Massachusetts. His presentation, titled “Destruction, Enslavement and Survival: The First Days After the Fall of Constantinople, 1453,” offered insights into the Turkish and Greek perspective of what happened the days and weeks after the Fall.
The lecture was preceded by a video presentation on the Greek Lamentation for the Fall of Constantinople by Nektaria Karantzi and culminated with a Trisagion Service in memory of those who were murdered during the siege.
Archon Dr. Kyrou is the Director of the Program in East European and Russian Studies at Salem State University in Salem, Massachusetts. He teaches on the Balkans, Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire. Dr. Kyrou completed his Ph.D. in East European History at Indiana University and is an alumnus of Indiana University’s Russian and East European Institute. Alexandros K. Kyrou, Ph.D., was invested as an Archon in 2022 and conferred with the offikion Hypomnematografos.
Esteemed guests included His Eminence Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago, His Grace Neophytos Kongai, Bishop of Nyeri and Mount Kenya, Chicago area priests and Archons.
The annual Commemoration of the Fall of Constantinople remembers and raises awareness on the conquest of Constantinople, which occurred on May 29, 1453. This event marked the end of the Byzantine Empire, which had lasted for 1500 years, and was also the day that Hagia Sophia in Constantinople was converted from an Orthodox Christian Church into a mosque.
