A question may arise as to whether the Orthodox clergy were referring to Muslims or Turks in their discourse. In the former reading, they would see the invading Ottomans as a manifestation of Islam and in its essence a Muslim enterprise. On the latter reading, they would view the Ottomans as any other racial group like how they saw the Mongols.

QUESTION: Which reading was historically dominant among the clergy? The distinction between interpreting the Ottomans religiously vs. racially would require deeper source analysis.

Ali Qureshi, The Fall of Constantinople, loc. 46