Tracing the political history of the Greek Orthodox Church as it emerged from the Ottoman period in a newly independent Greece, the author of this 1969 edition focuses on the period of revolution from 1821 to 1852. It was during this era that the Orthodox Church as it presently exists was formed. The author begins with a brief history of the Church from 1453 under the rule of the sultans and then traces its history under the various revolutionary governments during the War of Independence. He considers the breakdown of relations between the Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople and describes the regency of King Otho and the establishment of the autocephalous Greek Church. He concludes with an account of the reunification of the Churches in 1852 and the reception of the Synodal Tomos by the government in Athens.