The coexistence of the Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches.

The Mahonesi had the prudence to respect the customs of the Greek Orthodox residents of the island. They promised the Greeks total freedom of religious practice and the Orthodox Church of Chios preserved its traditions and its rituals. The members of the Orthodox Church were allowed by the signed treaty of 1346 to retain their churches, monasteries and maintain their clergy and metropolitan election customs and to live according to their Faith. The Genoese kept their promises about religious freedom as exhibited by the subsequently undertaken course of action in various occasions including the return of the icon of Theotokos to Nea Moni (founded by the Emperor Constantine Monomachos) and the repopulation of that famous monastery after its abandonment by the monks that took place because of the fear of the Latins. However, Nea Moni was confiscated from the Greeks in 1509 and was assigned with all its revenues to the Latin Bishop. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church of Chios later on came into direct conflict with the Mahonesi regarding its ecclesiastical property on the island.

The scrupulous attitude of the Genoese that continued to show religious tolerance even after the events of treason that occurred on the Easter Day of 1347 (1 April). The Greeks of the island having lost hope of rescue from the emperor, tried to organize a plot against the Genoese, headed by the metropolitan. It was their last futile attempt to restore the island to the empire by assassinating the Genoese leaders congregated to celebrate Easter. The conspirators were gathered in the Church of St. George of Varvassi in Kampos (subsequently named St. George Catadotes, which in Greek means traitor), but they failed to take any further action, because they were denounced to the Genoese by an unknown traitor. They were immediately arrested and exemplary punished by hanging at the main gate of the castle with the exception of the metropolitan, who was forced to exile. The metropolitan was replaced by a dichaios appointed by the Mahonesi and not by the Patriarchate of Constantinople as before. Thus the administration of the Orthodox Church of the island passed indirectly under the influence of the Mahonesi.

Among the main participants in the plot as they appear in the notary deeds were: Michael Coressis and his brothers and Vassilios Argentis some of the most eminent members of the Greek aristocracy. The properties of the conspirators were confiscated and a portion of them was distributed among those who were involved in their arrest. The lands of the condemned were called xelimata (deriving from the Greek words εξαλειφω, εξαλειψη that mean to obliterate, chilismatico in Greek means confiscated possession) and were divided amongst the Genoese. The church of St. George Catadoti is situated till present day in Varvassi, now known as Partheni torrent, to the South of the property of Konstantinos Kokkinakis. It was destroyed by the 1881 earthquake but re-erected at the same place (see photo 8).

During the Genoese occupation, there were nine Catholic parish churches and fourteen members of the Catholic clergy served as Bishops of Chios from 1346 until 1566. The earliest reference to a Latin monastery in Chios was that of the Friars Preachers ruled by the Dominican Order in 1375. The Catholic monasteries cited in some scripts provide us with information regarding the location and their names, but little is known about them beyond the name of the order they belonged to. The monastery of St. Giorgio Sykousis (Aghios Georgios Sykousis) in the region of Masticochora might have been that of the Fratres Minores; the monastery of Augustine Friars was located in Aplotaria’; the monastery of the Franciscans of Saint Fabian and Sebastian and that of Santa Maria de Torloti and San Giorgio Tisalitinis near Tripotamati are some of the several monasteries that are mentioned. There were also some Greek Orthodox monasteries as illustrated by a late 14th century deed where the monasteries of San Giorgio Serapio, Santa Margharita, the Saviour Vestrachati and Agrilipi at Kalamoti are referenced.