Abstract
The Enlightenment reached the Orthodox world subjugated by the Turks in the middle of the 18th century, principally through the teaching of Eugenios Voulgaris. Supported by a new and dynamic class of merchants and sailors whose teachers had trained in European universities, towards the end of the century the new ideas and sciences had conquered practically the entire educational system, breathing fresh air into education, until then in the Church's hands. The neo-Aristotelian “Corydalian system” of higher education, established for over a century, was certainly shaken, but the new knowledge did not seem to threaten the dogmas of Orthodox faith. Yet certain ecclesiastical and phanarict milieux proved hostile to the large-scale introduction of these “innovations”. The reaction was much stronger after 1792, for obvious reasons.