Editing Syros (section)

===Ottoman Era===
{{Further|Ottoman Greece}}
[[File:Saint George's Cathedral, Syros (8).JPG|thumb|[[Saint George's Cathedral (Roman Catholic)]]]]
[[File:Ano Syros Catholic Church of Saint John, 1640.jpg|thumb|Catholic Church of Saint John (1640), Ano Syros]]

By the 16th century, the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] fleet became dominant in the Aegean and the Duchy fell apart. In 1522 the [[Privateer|corsair]] [[Hayreddin Barbarossa|Barbarossa]] took possession of the island, which would be known as "Sire" during Ottoman rule.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.turkcebilgi.com/|title="ege adalarÃ"Â±" arama sonuçları ile ilgili bilgiler|website=Türkçe Bilgi}}</ref> However, negotiations of the local authorities with the Ottomans gave the [[Cyclades]] substantial privileges, such as [[freedom of religion|religious freedom]] and the reduction of [[tax]]es.

At the same time, following an agreement of France and the [[Holy See]] with the Ottoman authorities, the Catholics of the island came under the protection of France and Rome{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}} and so Syros sometimes was called "the Pope's island".

The [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Syros and Milos|Roman Catholic diocese of Syros]] was a Latin diocese, [[suffragan bishop|suffragan]] of [[Naxos (island)|Naxos]]. The Venetians had established there a Latin bishopric which was subject to the [[Latin Archbishopric of Athens]] until 1525. From the time of the island's occupation by the Turks in the 16th century, the Greeks established an Orthodox [[Metropolitan bishop|metropolitan]] on Syros: Joseph<ref>Le Quien, op. cit., II, 233</ref> is the earliest known, along with Symeon who died in 1594<ref>Ampelas, ''Histoire de Syros'', 411</ref> and Ignatius in 1596.<ref>Miklosich and Mueller, "Acta patriarchatus constantinopolitani", V, 461</ref> The island became for the most part Catholic.<ref>Ricaut, "Histoire de l'estat présent de l"Eglise grecque", 361; [[Hilaire de Barenton]], "La France Catholique en Orient", 171-173</ref>

The list of [[titular (Catholicism)|titular bishops]] may be found in [[Le Quien]]<ref>''Oriens christianus'', III, 865-868</ref> and in [[Eubel]].<ref>''Hierarchia catholica medii aevi'', I, 492; II, 267; III, 324</ref> The most celebrated among them is [[Ioannis Andreas Kargas]], whom the Turks strangled in 1617 because he refused to convert to [[Islam]] and because he was helping Greek revolutionaries hiding on the island.<ref>Pétridès in "Revue de l'Orient chrétien", V, 407-422</ref>

After the second half of the 17th century, a period of economic recovery of the Aegean began, climaxing during the transition from the 18th to the 19th century. The special regime of the islands allowed the development of local self-government. The decline of [[piracy]] since the beginning of the 19th century led to the gradual liberation of the sea routes of the Eastern Mediterranean.