Armenian millets were operating just eight years after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 when Sultan Mehmed II appointed Hovakim, an Armenian bishop, to act as a ruling figurehead for the Armenian community. Hovakim known as Hovakim I was the first Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople within the Ottoman Empire. Hovakim I was based in the Ottoman Capital in Istanbul where he was entrusted with commanding over the Armenian people and ensuring the prevention of anti-Ottoman movements within his community. While a variation of the millet system may have been in place since the 1460’s, it is widely argued that the appearance of the term ‘millet’ gained prominence after the Ottoman Empire began to face serious multifaceted challenges to its empire vis-a-vis its military defeats to the Holy League in 1697 and the emergence of a new foe in the Russian Empire. Each millet system enjoyed increasing influence and power at this time, particularly the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople and the Greek Phanariots. The Phanariots were elite Greek merchants that had a critical influence over internal political issues within the Ottoman Empire. Their influence within the Ottoman Empire was drastically reduced however after the Greek Revolution, with the other religious millets particularly the Armenian millets greatly benefiting from this shift of influence.