1860 and onward, the number of Armenian schools, philanthropic and patriotic organizations multiplied in the Ottoman Empire. The initial aim of Protestant missionaries were the conversion of the Muslims and Jews, but soon they became involved with Protestant reformation of the Orthodox Armenians. The Armenian subjects of the Empire influenced by the Armenian Diaspora, the network of congregations and schools of the Protestant missionaries throughout the Ottoman Empire begin to rethink their position in the world. In 1872, the journalist Grigor Ardzruni from Ottoman Empire said “Yesterday we were an ecclesiastical community, today we are patriots, tomorrow we will be a nation of workers and thinkers.” A parallel development occurred in Russian Armenia. Before 1840, Armenian journals were mainly in the hands of the clergy. This was changed. Along with the schools, the press played an important educational role and pointed the way to insurrection. From the first day when Rev. William Goodell settled in Constantinople in 1831 to the end of World War I, the missionaries made considerable contributions to the education of Armenians. The European intellectual currents such as ideas of French revolution were transmitted through the 23,000 Armenian students within 127 Protestant congregations with 13,000 communicants, and 400 schools.