| Publication of the Rimada gia te throniase tes Metropoles tou Hagiou Mena (Verses on the Establishment of the Metropolitan See of Aghios Minas), based on the autograph manuscript of its author, Nikolis Markakis from Choudetsi. The work was completed on 5 May 1895, twenty days after the event it commemorated. It brings out the patriotism and religious feeling of the simple rhymester. It was written in fifteen-syllable rhyming couplets in the language of the villages of East Crete, with elements borrowed from contemporary newspapers and administrative phraseology. The introduction to the text provides an extensive historical overview of the final period of Turkish rule in Crete. The foundation of the metropolitan see is linked to the recognition of human rights and freedom of religion by the Hatti-Hümayun (Imperial Rescript), issued after the Crimean War. |