Greek Byzantine Catholic Church, Catholic Church, Greek Orthodox Church
Related ethnic groups
Greek diaspora, Griko people, Maniots, Maltese people
Greeks in Malta (Greek: Έλληνες της Μάλτας, Ellines; Maltese: Griegi) have a long presence in Malta, which may lead back to ancient times. The archipelago was intensely Hellenized beginning in the 3rd century BC, a process which intertwined with the Christianization of Malta after the 1st century AD. The Byzantine presence was overturned by the Arab conquest of 870, and the surviving Greek community was Islamified. Maltese Christianity of the Byzantine Rite was only preserved in some parts of the country, being especially important in Gozo. These groups formed the basis for a local branch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, revived following Norman conquest in the 1120s. Although marginalized by Catholicism, which became the dominant faith, a Greek-speaking Eastern Orthodox community survived into the 15th century.
Greek immigration was resumed in the 1520s, shortly before the establishment of Hospitaller Malta. It comprised mainly refugees from the Ottoman Empire, hundreds or thousands of whom escaped from Rhodes. They reestablished the Greek Orthodox colony, presumed to have been placed under the Archbishopric of Ohrid, but also included in their ranks Greek-speaking members of both the Latin Church and Greek Byzantine Catholic Church. Within fifty years, with the onset of Counter-Reformation, the former community was pressured into merging with the latter two. By 1600, the Eastern Orthodox Greeks had formally abjured, but in various documented cases continued to practice their older rites. In tandem, the consolidated community of Catholic Greeks discarded its traditional center in Birgu and moved its base to Valletta, after which it became prone to assimilation into the ethnic mainstream.
In the 17th century, the Eastern Orthodox presence was also reinforced by Ottoman Greeks taken as slaves by the Maltese privateers, some of whom were themselves ethnic Greeks; there were also new waves of Maniots and Aetolians. Though small in numbers, the resulting community participated in the propagation of Greek nationalism and of the "Greek Plan". Many local Greeks also supported the French occupation of Malta, which closely preceded a Franco–Ottoman war. During the period of British colonization, the Maltese Greek community leader Ioannis Papafis was a sponsor of the Greek War of Independence. Greeks affiliated with either Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy remained present over the following centuries, though the latter community continued to be informally marginalized throughout the 19th century, and are now a small minority.
GreeksinMalta (Greek: Έλληνες της Μάλτας, Ellines; Maltese: Griegi) have a long presence inMalta, which may lead back to ancient times. The archipelago...
The Greek diaspora, also known as Omogenia (Greek: Ομογένεια, romanized: Omogéneia), are the communities of Greeks living outside of Greece and Cyprus...
Malta (/ˈmɒltə/ MOL-tə, /ˈmɔːltə/ MAWL-tə, Maltese: [ˈmɐːltɐ]), officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe, located in...
The Greeks Gate (Maltese: Bieb il-Griegi or Il-Mina tal-Griegi; Italian: Porta dei Greci; Latin: Porta Grecorum) is a gate into the fortified city of Mdina...
The Malta men's national football team (Maltese: Tim nazzjonali tal-futbol ta' Malta) represents Maltain international football and is controlled by...
Maltese dog refers both to an ancient variety of dwarf, white-coated dog breed from Italy and generally associated also with the island of Malta, and to...
Port"), it was probably the namesake of the Greeks' and Romans' names for the entire island. The Maltese Islands fell under the hegemony of Carthage around...
Greeksin the United Kingdom are British residents and citizens of full or partial Greek heritage, or Greeks who emigrated to and reside in the United...
of the population of Malta include population density, ethnicity, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Malta is the most densely...
Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta (Italian: Sovrano...
religion inMalta. The Constitution of Malta establishes Catholicism as the state religion, and it is also reflected in various elements of Maltese culture...
The Maltese (Maltese: Maltin) people are an ethnic group native to Malta who speak Maltese, a Semitic language and share a common culture and Maltese history...
centuries. A Greek community has long existed in Venice as well, the current centre of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy and Malta, which in addition...
The Egyptian Greeks, also known as Egyptiotes (Greek: Αιγυπτιώτες, romanized: Eyiptiótes) or simply Greeksin Egypt (Greek: Έλληνες της Αιγύπτου, romanized: Éllines...
exist. Mandracchios were also found elsewhere in the Mediterranean, including in Slovenia, Greece and Malta. The cities of Naples, Livorno and San Benedetto...
place inGreece, the British fleet was based inMalta. In 1839, the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company and East India Companies used Malta as...
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia...
list of ancient Greek philosophers contains philosophers who studied in ancient Greece or spoke Greek. Ancient Greek philosophy began in Miletus with the...
soils in southern Europe (both Greece and Malta are especially famous for wild thyme honey) and North Africa, as well as in similar landscapes in the Berkshire...
The University of Malta (Maltese: L-Università ta' Malta, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution inMalta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's...
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