Place for Our Dead: Sacred Space and the Greek Community in Early Modern Venice

Summary

On the 4th of October 1511, a small group of Greek soldiers living in Venice, known as the capi dei stratioti, made an appeal to the Council of Ten seeking permission, on behalf of the Greek community, to create a permanent Orthodox church, now known as the Church of San Giorgio dei Greci. This group of soldiers had become increasingly concerned over what they perceived as a lack of proper respect for the Greek community from Venetian authorities, who had ignored their previous petitions for an exclusive place where they could worship in the Greek Rite. While the soldiers offer a persuasive argument for the need of a permanent Greek Orthodox Church, most compelling is their concern that the community cannot honor and properly care for the remains of their dead claiming that, “there is no place to bury the dead, as in all [other] churches. They mingle our bones with those of galleymen, porters, and other low creatures; even this would be more tolerable if the graves were not upon the public way, and those poor bodies and bones were not dug up and thrown into the water within a few days of burial.”

Continuing their appeal, the soldiers also claim that the parish priest of San Biagio, caused further dishonor by throwing the disinterred bones into the water to make room for more burials; presumably because burial of the dead served as a source of income for the church, but also, due perhaps to a general lack of space. In addition to commemorating and performing the obligatory rituals associated with the body after death, care of the soul of the dead posed a more urgent issue, as the soldiers state in their petition to the Ten, “At the Last Judgment the fishes of the sea will be hard put to it to yield up our bones and organs that our bodies may be completely restored.” The Greek soldier's plea demonstrates the significance of fixed sacred space for communities of foreigners residing in early modern Venice, not only for the performance of religious worship and ritual, but also its importance to the community and the obligations of the living in the perpetual care of the dead.