The declaration of revolution by Alexander Ypsilantis in Moldavia and Walachia was extended to Constantinople at the beginning of March 1821. This upset the Christians of Constantinople and especially the Phanariotes and the Patriarchate, who were afraid that the sultan would turn against them. According to the Ottoman system, the patriarch, as leader of the subjected Christians who lived in Ottoman territory, held both authority and responsibility. The Phanariotes, some of whom were with Alexander Ypsilantis, held many important positions in the administration of the Ottoman Empire in both Constantinople and the Danubian principalities. Fear was therefore justified although a few cooperated with the Philiki Etaireia or at least knew of its plans. Moreover, some of them abandoned Constantinople thus confirming the suspicions of the Ottomans. Consequently, in the first ten days of March all Phanariote families were ordered to assemble at Phanari, regardless of where they lived. Some were arrested and others executed, by way of example. Although the patriarch excommunicated Ypsilantis, the news of the maltreatment and death of Muslims in the principalities provoked acts of reprisal at Constantinople.

Nevertheless, until about the end of March or beginning of April 1821, acts of violence against Christians were few and far between. However, news of the declaration of the Greek Revolution in the Peloponnese and central Greece provoked a new wave of persecutions, violence and deaths, this time on a larger scale which lasted several months. On 10 April - Easter Sunday according to the Orthodox calendar - the Patriarch Grigorios V was hanged. He had been previously relieved of his duties and supplanted by another bishop. Before the end of May many more bishops and eminent Phanariotes were executed. In the following two months the persecutions and acts of violence were no longer confined to eminent Christians and extended to Smyrna and the other towns of Asia Minor as well as Cyprus. These incidents and especially the hanging and pillorying of the patriarch provoked the intervention of the Great Powers. Russia used these incidents to put diplomatic pressure on the Sublime Porte, invoking earlier treaties which acknowledged Russia's role as a protector of the Orthodox Christians and of their religion in the Ottoman Empire. In this way Russia had the chance to promote its aspirations on the Ottoman-ruled Balkans as well as on the Eastern Mediterranean, regions of particular interest for this country.