The Latin and Greek Churches in former Byzantine Lands 159
subject to the Latin archbishop of Athens, as stated above. The Latin bishops’
flocks were generally small since the majority of the population continued to
follow the Greek rite, although over time the Latin element increased in some
islands, notably Tenos and Syros. In general they were ordained from among
Latin clergy native to the island. It is noteworthy that the genesis of an indig-
enous Latin clergy in the Cyclades marks these islands out from other parts of
the Greek speaking world, notably Crete, Cyprus and the Peloponnese, where
the Latin clergy were recruited chiefly from western Europe. Latin bishops
were usually papal nominees as opposed to persons elected by the cathedral
chapters, a phenomenon also encountered elsewhere in Greek lands under
Latin rule. On occasion the papacy nominated absentee bishops from western
Europe who never set foot in these islands, a situation that suited the local
Latin clergy inasmuch as the episcopal revenues remained with them. On
Naxos and Tenos, however, the Latin bishops were resident.36
The local Venetian lords, while agreeing with the papacy in not wanting
Greek bishops subject to the Byzantine patriarch of Constantinople, otherwise
did not harm the Greek Church. Indeed they had new churches constructed
during the Latin period, something true for other Greek lands under Latin
rule. The Greek clergy of the islands were under the leadership of a protopa-
pas as in Crete. Such protopapades are recorded in Tenos, Kythnos and Melos
and they acted as mediators between the Greeks and the Latin secular rulers
and bishops. Certain Greek churches, notably former Greek cathedrals, were
turned into Latin cathedrals or churches but the Greek Church retained consid-
erable property, and a 14th-century Byzantine source records the Greek church
of Naxos as enjoying considerable incomes. Indeed, in the smaller Aegean
islands the only Latin churches would have been garrison chapels, with Latins
using Greek priests and churches for their pastoral needs. The lack of a Latin
bishop for five years on the island of Melos caused even Latin families to have
recourse to the Greek Church for baptism and other sacraments. In 1253 Pope
Innocent iv rectified this situation by having the cantor of Crete appointed
bishop there. On the smaller islands, other than garrison chapels, the Latins
must have availed themselves of Greek priests and churches, and some Greek
churches had separate altars so that both the Greek and the Latin rites could be
celebrated. Such churches existed in Naxos, as well as in Cyprus. Nonetheless,
the Latin rite did penetrate some of these smaller islands. Buondelmonti wrote
36 Benjamin J. Slot, Archipelagus Turbatus: Les Cyclades entre colonisation latine et occupa-
tion ottomane c. 1500–1718, 2 vols. (Leiden, 1982), 1:59–61.