Gospel Riots

In November 1901, violent riots broke out in Athens over the translation of the Gospels into modern Greek. At the time, Greece was deeply divided by the Greek language question, a long-running dispute between supporters of Katharevousa, a formal, purified language close to ancient Greek, and supporters of Demotic, the everyday spoken language of the people. The Church and many conservatives regarded the ancient Greek text of the New Testament as sacred and untouchable. When the newspaper Akropolis began publishing a translation of the Gospels into Demotic Greek, many saw it as an insult to the faith and the nation. Queen Olga had also supported an earlier translation into a simpler form of Greek. Students at the University of Athens, encouraged by conservative professors, led protests that turned into riots. On 8 November, troops fired on protesters, and eight people were killed. The Prime Minister, Georgios Theotokis, and the Metropolitan of Athens both resigned. The Holy Synod banned translations of the Gospels, and the dispute over language continued to shape Greek politics for most of the 20th century.