After Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the patriarchate came to care more directly for all the Orthodox living in the Ottoman Empire. Hovagim I was at the time the Metropolitan of Bursa. In 1461, Hovagim I was brought to Constantinople by Sultan Mehmed II and established ...
An even bigger career break beckoned after he moved to Constantinople in 1553. Nasi there replicated his business model of give-and-take with aristocratic elites, albeit on a much larger scale. On this occasion, a new succession to the Ottoman throne worked to his advantage. Having funded the...