BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF 189X A ^7.A7.Aj ±.t/ur;^..?. S93I . Cornell University Library BX290 .H81 Eighteen centuries of the Orthodox Greek oiin 3 1924 029 361 890 M Cornell University B Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029361890 EIGHTEEN CENTURIES OF THE ORTHODOX GREEK CHURCH. EIGHTEEN CENTURIES OF THE ORTHODOX GREEK CHURCH. BY THE REV. A. H. HORE, M.A., TRINITY COLLEGK, OXFORD J AUTHOR OF "eighteen CENTURIES OF THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND," " HISTORY OF THE CHURCH CATHOLIC," ETC. JAMES PARKER AND CO. 6 SOUTHAMPTONf-STREET, STRAND, LONDON; AND 27 BROAD-STREET, OXFORD. 1899, \ ^nj-l *] PRINTED BY JAMES PARKER AND CO., CROWN YARD, OXFORD. :p3 PREFACE. THE present Work is an attempt to supply an acknow- ledged want, and to give, in a popular form, a history of the oldest Church in Christendom ; the Church of the land hallowed by the sacred memories of our Saviour. To write a hislory of the Greek Church, says John Mason Neale, whose own valuable work was cut short, through his early death at the age of forty-six, is a difficult and a dangerous task. It seems, therefore, a presumptuous undertaking ; my plea for indulgence must go for its worth ; but that I am the owner of the house where Hymns Ancient and Modern, to which Dr. Neale was so valuable a contributor, saw their birth ; where the first Committee meetings were held, and the chief contributors, he probably in the number, frequently met ; is the excuse I plead, to be, in my humbler endeavour, his successor. Dr. Neale might have added, that to write a history of the down-trodden Greek Church is also, in one sense, an unwelcome task ; for it necessitates controversy ; to me religious controversy is distasteful ; and, as the lengthen- ing shadows of the evening of life warn me that this may be the last which I shall write, I should have preferred a work of a different character. The conflicts for supremacy between Constantinople and Rome, and the arrogance and injustice of the latter were, in only a less degree than the Saracens and Ottomans, the cause of the fall of the Greek Church. The two Sees were placed by the great CEcumenical Councils on an equality ; it is, therefore, necessary to point out the process and the causes, through which the downfall of the one and the victory of the other vi Preface. were effected. If it is shown that I have overstated my case J or if, in order to prove it, I have gone out of my way to introduce unnecessary or irrelevant matter, I shall be willing to acknowledge my error. I can only say that I have endeavoured not to do so. My thanks for valuable assistance are due, amongst others, to the Very Reverend Eustathius Metallinos, Archi- mandrite, of the Greek Church at Manchester, and to my old schoolfellow, Mr. Morfill, Reader in Russian and the other Slavonic Languages at Oxford ; but I must add the proviso that, for whatever of good may be found in the Book, I am indebted to my friends, whilst all errors (and I cannot but fear that there may be some) are my own. HORKESLEY HoUSE, MONKLAND, January i, 1899. CONTENTS. Introduction. Chapter I. )j ". )» III. j> IV. )i V. >9 VI. J» VII. J7 VIII. >» IX. »> X. J? XI. JJ XII. )) XIII. )» XIV. )> XV. J> XVI. It XVII. XVIII. Index General View of the Orthodox Greek Church . . . i The Conflict between the Fourth AND Fifth Empires . . 43 The Victory of Christ's Kingdom . 93 The First CEcumenical Council . iii The Struggle for the Homoousion . 132 The Second (Ecumenical Council . 167 The Third and Fourth CEcumenical Councils . . . 204 The Separatist Churches of the East .... 242 The Fifth and Sixth CEcumenical Councils . . . 279 The Saracenic Conquests . . 320 The Seventh CEcumenical Council . 335 The Culminating Schism of the Greek and Roman Churches . 364 The Schism widened by the Crusades 408 Intrigues of the PALiEOLOGi with Rome, and Fall of Constantinople 442 The Making of Russia . . 486 The Three Romes . -532 The Holy Governing Synod . 580 Partial Recovery of the Greek Church . . .621 The Greek Church in its present relation to Western Christendom 659 * . .695 INTRODUCTION. General View of the Orthodox Greek Church. 'pHE Orthodox Greek or Eastern Church is the most 1 ancient of the Christian Churches. Jerusalem was the mother-Church of Christianity; in Antioch the believers were first calkd Christians. There is no certain proof that St. Peter was ever in Rome ; there is certain proof that his mission was m. Syria ; and, if the words of his First Epistle (i Pet. V. 13) are to be taken in their ordinary sense, that he proceeded as far as Babylon. St. Paul was a native of Tarsus in Cilicia. From the East the Gospel was brought into the West ; the Church of Rome is a Greek Church ; "a colony," says Dean Stanley, "of Greek Christians and Grecizgd Jews." The original language of the Church, not only in the East but also in the West, was Greek. Of the Churches of the West, says Dean Milman, " the language was Greek, their organization Greek, their writers Greek, their Scrip- tures Greek, and many traditions show that their Liturgy was Greek." The old Hebrew language became extinct during the Babylonian and Persian conquests, or was supplanted by the Chaldaic and Aramaic dialects. After the conquests of Alexander the Great, Greek became the prevalent lan- guage of Egypt and Syria ; and for the sake of the Jews in his new colony of Alexandria, who had lost their own language and spoke Greek, the Scriptures were translated into the Greek language, and the translation, known as the Septuagint, had its place in the famous library of the Ptolemies. To quote Dean Stanley once more — " The humblest peasant who reads his Septuagint and New B 2 Introduction. Testament on the hills of Boeotia may proudly feel that he has an access to the original oracles of divine truth which Pope or Cardinal reaches by a barbarous and imperfect translation." Rome, B.C. 148, subdued Macedon, and Greece became a Roman province under the name of Achaia. But Greece moulded the minds of its conquerors, and though the lands became politically Roman, they remained intellectually and socially Greek, and Greek was the language of the civilized world at the time of our Saviour's coming, those who spoke another language being called barbarians". Greek, says Kurtz, was like a temporary suspension of the confusion of tongues (Gen. xi.) which had accompanied the rise of heathendom. And as Greek accompanied the rise, so was it the language of the growth, of Christianity. The earliest Fathers came from the East, and, with the exception of TertuUian (he too a native of Carthage), wrote in Greek. The earliest principal writers of Ecclesiastical history were Greeks ; Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, Evagrius. All the GEcumenical Councils were held in the East, and their decrees and canons and the Nicene Creed were written in Greek. A Synod of the Greek Church, that of Laodicea, A.D. 367, determined the Canon of Scripture, and so "made the Bible." Thus Greek Christianity is the parent of Latin Chris- tianity, and the Churches of Rome and England are really, in the present divided state of Christendom, separated limbs of the Greek Church. To the Greek Church the Armenians, Transylvanians, Slavonians including the Bulgarians and Russians, and many other, once heathen, nations, owe their conversion. Uninterrupted successions of Metropolitans and Bishops of the Greek Church stretch themselves back to Apostolic times ; venerable Liturgies exhibit doctrines un- changed and discipline uncorrupted. The same Eucharist is offered now, the same hymns are chanted by the Eastern •Hence the Greek words: Church, Bishop, Priest, Deacon, Ecclesiastic, Paraclete, Epiphany, Liturgy, Litany, Hermit, Monk, &c. General View of the Orthodox Greek Church. 3 Christians of to-day, as those of the Churches of SS. Athana- sius, Basil, and Chrysostom. Fixing her Patriarchal thrones in the city of Antioch, where the disciples were first called Christians ; in Jerusalem, where James the brother of our Lord was the first Bishop ; in Alexandria, where St. Mark founded the Episcopate ; in Constantinople, where the victory of Christianity was consummated ; in the splendour of Byzantine glory ; through the tempests of the Oriental Middle Ages ; in the desolation and tyranny of the Turkish Empire ; she is now, as she was at the beginning, immut- able in faith, or,, as she delights to call herself, One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic *•- Until the Fourth Century, and the foundation of Con- stantinople, Christianity continued to be, both in the East and West, a Greek religion. But after Constantine settled his capital in the old Greek City of Byzantium, whilst Greek Christianity continued to be the religion of the East, Latin by degrees supplanted it at Rome ; and part of the Church services began to be said or sung there, and gradu- ally in other parts of the West, in Latin. But it was not till the Pontificate of Pope Damasus (366 — 384) and the Translation, at his bidding, of the Vulgate edition of the Bible by St. Jerome, that the Roman Church became com- pletely Latinized and turned from a Greek into a Latin Church. Not long afterwards we find a Pope, Ccelestine \. (422 — 432), excusing to Nestorius, Patriarch of Constan- tinople, his delay in answering a Letter, on the ground that he could not find any one able to translate it from Greek into Latin. And it is well known that Pope Gregory the Great (590 — 604), the first Pope to whom the title of Theologian can be applied, was completely ignorant of the Greek Language. If one Church therefore more than another has a right to impose its language on Christendom, it is the Greek Church, for Greek is the language of the Septuagint, of the New Testament, and of the early Church. •■ Neale's Introduction to the Holy Eastern Church. B 2 A Introduction. In the earliest days of the Christian Church, the eccle- siastical divisions corresponded with the civil arrangement of the Roman Empire, of which Rome was at that time the capital. Consequently Alexandria and Antioch were the Metropolitan Sees of the Eastern, as Rome was of the Western, Church. Egypt had for its Metropolitan the Bishop of Alexandria, whose See extended over the whole of Africa, except that part which belonged to the European Praefecture, and acknowledged the supremacy of the Roman See ; but that also was afterwards transferred to the Eastern part of the Empire, and consequently to the See of Alexandria. Jerusalem was dependent on the See of Csesarea, Byzantium on that of Heraclea. Subsequently to the foundation of Constantinople, but at what exact date is uncertain, Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria and Antioch were raised to the dignity of Patriarchal Sees, the four Patriarchates corresponding with the four Praetorian Prefectures created by Constantine. An ecclesiastical ascendency over the Churches of the East, which was afterwards confirmed by the Councils, was ac- corded to Constantinople, the New Rome as it was called, on the same ground that it had been accorded to the Old Rome; viz., that it was the seat of the Imperial govern- ment. By the Council of Chalcedon, Jerusalem was raised into a Fifth Patriarchate. Contests for superiority soon arose between the Patriarchs of Old and New Rome. But the circumstances between East and West were widely different, and the contest was an unequal one. New Rome, being the See of the Imperial residence, was from the first hampered by the despotic interference of the Emperors, whilst at the same time it enjoyed only a barren pre- cedence over the three other Eastern Patriarchates. The See of Old Rome on the contrary was the only Patriarchate in the West ; and, being situated at a convenient distance from the civil government, enjoyed freedom of action ; whilst to a certain extent it succeeded to the dignity vacated at Rome by the transference of the Imperial throne to General View of the OrtJiodox Greek Church. 5 Constantinople. And, although after the suppreSsion of the Western Empire it was -subject to a Gothic King at Ra- venna, acting under an Emperor resident at Constantinople, yet both Emperor and King resided at too great a distance to exact obedience, and the Popes of Rome became gener- ally mere nominal subjects. Thus the Popes gradually ac- quired notions of temporal as well as of spiritual dominion ; they put forth claims which it was impossible they could have done, had there been an Emperor or King resi- dent in Rome ; ^nd those claims went on increasing, till in time the Popes magnified the Primacy, which they had originally enjoyed as Bishops of the Imperial city, into a divine authority handed down by St. Peter, who, there is some reason for believing, may have been bishop of Antioch, but who was certainly never bishop of, if indeed he ever went to, Rome. It was impossible for the Patriarchs of Constantinople, though recognized as the oecumenical Patriarchs by the Emperors, to assume the same power in the East as the Patriarchs of Rome did in the West, or to play the same conspicuous part in the world's history. Rome, freed from restraint, was able to become, in the Middle Ages, the barrier against the wickedness and injustice of Emperors and Kings, and the Christian world owes to the Church of Rome a deep debt of gratitude. But, instead of the gentle spirit of the Gospel, the Heads of the Latin Church resorted to carnal weapons, and to the abuse of the fearful engine of excommunication, the foulest contrivance since the creation of the world, whereby a minister of Christ claimed the power and right to deprive of the means of Grace, not only the guilty but innocent souls for whom Christ died. From such a temptation the Heads of the Greek Church were, through local circumstances, free, and any defect, if defect there was, had its corresponding advantage ; for the same circumstances which prevented them from rising to such a height of grandeur as that to which the Popes of Rome attained, secured them against falling into the abyss of 5 Introduction. moral degradation which often, especially in the Tenth Century, overwhelmed their Western brothers. ******** For long ages past the existence of the Greek Church has been one continued martyrdom, and under the grinding oppression of its successive conquerors, Arabs, Mongols, Turks, it has indeed fallen low. Yet at the time when Constantinople was overwhelmed by the Crusaders and the Latin kingdom established, the Patriarchs of Con- stantinople and Rome were well-nigh on an equality. From that time the fate of Constantinople was certain. It was the Fourth Crusade and the action of Pope Inno- cent III. that led to its sacking by the Turks in 1453, the destruction of the Eastern Empire, and the down- fall of the Greek Church. And since the days of Ma- homet II., not the Turks alone, but, shame to say, Western Christendom also, have been its persistent enemies. The existence of the Greek Church to the present day is alone a proof of its divine origin. The wonder is, not that it should have fallen so low, but that, afflicted on every side, oppressed by schism from within and cruel persecution from without, it should so nobly have struggled on ; many of its members no doubt succumbed in the unequal contest ; but the way in which the Orthodox Church has weathered the storm and adhered to its faith and Litnrgy is little short of a miracle, "The Greek rite," says the Rev. W. Palmer", who afterwards joined the Church of Rome, " is like a plant which though covered with dust, and somewhat shrunk, has preserved its original shape and proportions, whereas the Latin is so changed that it is like a new building con- structed in part out of the ruins of the old." " The Holy and Orthodox Eastern Church glories in the Lord over the long and terrible persecutions and conflicts of martyrdom ; the Heavenly Bridegroom having pitied and loved, did not deprive it of the bright mystic candlestick and of all the - Dissertations on the Orthodox Communion. General View of the Orthodox Greek Church. y perfect and unsullied treasure of the Apostolic and God- delivered faith *." The conversion of Russia by the Greek Church is the mightiest conquest the Christian Church has ever made since the time of the Apostles, and the future of that Church is a problem which it would be difficult to solve. Now that the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, or at any rate the end of its tyranny over the Christians, is only a matter of time, will the Third Rome inherit the succession of the Second Rome on the Bosphorus ? And what are to be the relations of the Church of England to that of Russia, and to the Greek Church generally ? There are many points of contact ; a national Church, an open Bible, the recognition of the principle of the vernacular language in the Church services ", an unmutilated Eucharist, a married clergy, the acknowledgment of Christ as the alone Head of the Church ; these points create a chord of sympathy between the Greek and English Churches. British Orders were probably derived from France, and French Orders from Smyrna, where Polycarp, the disciple of St. John, was Bishop ; so that the Church of Britain was founded when the Church of Rome was still a Greek Church ; and whatever debt of gratitude England owes to SS. Gregory and Augustine, it owes a more ancient and important one to the Greek Church. The Orthodox Greek Church was, as before stated, in early time under the Four Patriarchs, of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. In the Sixteenth Century a new Patriarchate, that of Moscow, was consti- tuted for Russia, to complete the number of five Patri- archates, in the place of " Old Rome which had fallen ^ Letter of the Patriarch of Constantinople to the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1870. " Mr. Birkbeck, in a Lecture at Brighton on February 10, 1898, instances a tribe in Siberia possessing a language of only two hundred words, who in order that the services might be performed in their own language had to be educated before the Lord's Prayer could be fully translated. 8 Introduction. away," but it was supplanted in the reign of Peter the Great by the " Holy Governing Synod of All the Russias." In 1833 the Sacred Synod of the Church of Greece, in imitation of the Holy Synod of Russia, was established for the Kingdom of Greece, as soon as it gained its independence ; within his own Patriarchate, each Patriarch, and in Russia and Greece their Synods, which have Patriarchal rank, have full jurisdiction. There are also other independent Orthodox Greek Churches, three in Austro-Hungary, and those of Cyprus, Georgia, Servia, Montenegro, and Roumania. But all branches of the Orthodox Church own, theoretically, the supremacy of the Patriarch of Constantinople, as the Anglican Church throughout the world owns that of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Roman Church that of the Pope of Rome. Besides the Orthodox Church there are several separate Greek Communities, under their own Patriarchs, of which mention will be made in a future chapter. They are m reality national churches which co-exist with, and some- times have supplanted, the Orthodox Church ; but they are, some of them heretical, and, so far as they are out of communion with the Orthodox Church, all of them schismatical. As the higher clergy are forbidden, and the lower clergy are almost always, and at one time were even obliged, to be married men, the Bishops are taken from the monas- teries, the superiors of which are styled Archimandrites (ft,dvBpa, a fold), and Hegumens (■^yov/jievoi), the monas- teries following the Rule of St. Basil. The lower clergy are of two classes, the Regular, who live in monasteries, and the Secular, or Parish Priests ; or, as the two classes are called in Russia, the Black and White Clergy. The monastic clergy are styled Kaloirs (KaXoyipoi), a title origin- ally given, as the name implies, to old men, but now to all alike. The Clergy are not allowed to marry after they have taken Priest's Orders, and on the death of their wives may return into a monastery and are then eligible for Bi- General View of the Orthodox Greek Church. g shoprics. In Russia the Parish Priests are styled Popes, chief amongst whom are the Protopopes. The time of the Parish Priests is so taken up in the daily routine of the services, and in mastering the inter- minable length of the Office-books, that they have little or no time to devote to study. The Office-books are con- tained in twenty folio volumes, in a language, vernacular indeedj but generally out of date, scarcely understood at all by the people, and little more by the clergy; besides an extra folio directing how they are to be used, and the manner in which the services are to be performed. There are different services for every day and for different parts of the day. The services being said in Russia in the Old Slavic language, and in other countries in an idiom equally un- inteUigible, the people are not expected to take part in them. Their great length, sometimes extending to five hours, obliges the Priest to hurry over them in a manner which to our Western feelings seems scarcely reverent ; and their length explains the great predominance in Russian congregations of the stronger over the weaker sex, women not being ordinarily able to endure the fatigue which they entail. Reverence for their office and an implicit confi- dence in their Priests is almost an article of faith, and the people are contented with the belief that they are praying for them. Nearly every day in the week has its appropriate Saint, sometimes more than one, and on the observance of those days the people lay great stress. Sunday they call the Lord's Day (^ KvpiuKi]) ; the five following days they name numerically ; Saturday, besides the Seventh Day, they style the Sabbath (ad^^aTov), and on that day, except in Holy Week, they consider it unlawful to fast. The Fasts are very numerous (226 days out of the 365 in the year), and very rigorously observed, not only meat but nearly every kind of fish, as well as eggs, cheese, butter, and milk, being prohibited. Besides the Western Lent, 10 Introduction. there are three other Lents ; one lasting from Whitsuntide to St. Peter's Day, a second, for the dormition of the Virgin {KoCjJLritns -nj? iravayias), (August i to August 15), a third, corresponding with our Advent, during the 40 days before Christmas. In monasteries another Fast is observed during the first fourteen days of September, to commemorate the Exaltation (ui^wo-w) of the Holy Cross. To compensate for the rigorous observance of these Fasts, an opposite license, which the Priests too often connive at, is prac- tised on their Festivals. The Greek Church bases its belief (i) on Holy Scripture ; (2) On the Nicene, or Constantinopolitan, Creed ; (3) On Seven CEcumenical Councils ; (4) On Seven Mysteries or Sacraments. Beyond the Creed, no authoritative exposition of faith was promulgated till the XVIth Century, the Trea- tise on the Orthodox Faith^ of St. John Damascene being considered a sufficient guide. The Greek Church holds that the writings of the Fathers are of great use, and to be con- sulted, but all doctrine must be brought to the test of the Bible. " Neither the writings of the Holy Fathers nor the traditions of the Church are to be confounded or equalled with the Word of God and His commandments, for the Word of God is one thing, but the writings of the Holy Fathers and Traditions ecclesiastical are another k." " As regards the questions of doctrinal authority gener- ally," writes Mr. Blackmore '', " the members of the Eastern Church are neither bound in conscience, on the one hand, to every word of any modern documents, nor left free, on the other hand, to indulge in an unlimited license of criticism. Beyond the Creed itself, the Eastern Church has no general doctrinal tests .... no XXXIX Articles, like that subscribed in England." The principal authoritative standards are the following : — (i) The Answers of the Patriarch feremias, in 1576, to the Letters of the Wittenberg Divines, who wished to ' 'EicSoffts KKpifirls Tijs 'OpBoSS^ov nlareais. e Duty of Parish Priests. ■* Doctrine of the Russian Church. General View of the Orthodox Greek Church. 1 1 strengthen the Lutheran cause by an alliance with the Eastern Church ; this document was afterwards approved by the Council of J assy, A.D. 1642, under Parthenius, Pa- triarch of Constantinople, and that of Bethlehem, A.D. 1672, under Dositheus, Patriarch of Jerusalem ; and is entirely free from Latinism. Between this and the two next expositions, says Mr. Smith, a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, who was Chaplain at Constantinople in the latter part of the XVIIth Century ', there is so great a difference " as shows the sub- tle designs of Rome, which took advantage of its poverty and distress to bring the Greek Church to a compliance with its doctrines in order to bring it into subjection." The two expositions to which' he alludes are the Confession of Peter Mogila, and the XVIII Articles of the Synod of Bethlehem. " The success of Roman intrigues in the East may," says Mr. Masson \ " be estimated from the fact that of the Greek Ecclesiastics who from the fall of the Eastern Empire to the beginning of the XVIIth Century (a space of 150 years) successively filled the Patriarchal throne of Constantinople, thirteen were the tools of Rome. The fate of the Patriarch Cyril Lucar is well known ; from his firm resistance to papal domination he was for many years unremittingly persecuted by the agents of Rome, who at last accomplished his murder in 1638." (2) The Orthodox Confession of Faith was the work of Peter Mogila, Metropolitan of Kiev in the Ukraine (1632 — 1647). It was written at a time when the Church of Western Russia was infected not only with Roman but Calvinistic doctrines, with both of which Mogila himself became uncon- sciously tainted. It was submitted to the Council of Jassy of 1642, which found in it many strange and unorthodox doctrines. After alterations made in the Council, and having been translated from Russian into Greek by Meletius Syriga, Exarch of the Patriarch of Constantinople, it was approved and confirmed by the four Eastern Patriarchs, and put forth ■ Account of the Greek Church. ■• Apology for Greek Church, p. 87. 1 2 Introduction. in 1662 (fifteen years after the death of Mogila), prefaced by a Letter from Nectarius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, as " The Orthodox Confession of the Faith of the Catholic and Apos- tolic Church of the East." It is in the form of Question and Answer, and consists of three parts ; Faith, Hope, and Charity. It was approved in 1696 by Adrian, the last Patriarch of Moscow, and was acknowledged in the Spiritual Regulation of the Russian Church of 1720, and " all Russian theologians have rested very much on this book '-" (3) The next exposition is The XVIII Articles of the Synod of Bethlehem of 1672, which is a counter Confession to the " Confession " attributed to Cyril Lucar, the latter of which was of a decidedly Calvinistic character. They seem to have been for the first time communicated to the Russian Church in 172 1 by the Eastern Patriarchs, to be sent on to England as their ultimatum to the Non-juring Bishops'" who were seeking Communion with the Greek Church. Of these XVIII Articles, XVII., which treats of Transubstantiation, and XVIII., on Prayers for the Dead, have a strong tinge of Latinism, and in many points are modified in the Russian translation authorized in 1838. (4) Another exposition is The Orthodox Docti'ine of Plato, Metropolitan of Moscow, which appeared in 1772 with the same threefold division as the Orthodox Confession of Mogila ; but it never received Synodical authority. It is however an authorized text-book in the Greek Church, and, says Mr. Pinkerton, " has been introduced into almost every place of religious instruction in Russia." "The Orthodox Doctrine " is " scriptural and evangelical to a degree that must astonish those who are accustomed to regard the Eastern Church as in her standards and tendency merely on a level with the Western "." (5) The Longer and Shorter Catechisms of the Russian Church are the work of Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow. The former received the sanction, although not synodically, ' Blackmore's Russian Church, XXV. ° See Chap. XVI. " Masson's Apology, General View of the Orthodox Greek Church. 1 3 of the Patriarchs, and, says Dr. Neale, makes good its title, " A Full Catechism of the Orthodox Catholic Church of the East." Both Catechisms were in 1838 promulgated by the Holy Governing Synod, as "the Catechism of the Church herself," and have since then been in use in all the Churches and Schools of Russia. (6) The last authoritative work is " The Treatise on the Duty of Parish Priests^' the work in 1776 of George Konissky, Bishop of Mogilev, with the assistance of Par- thenius Sopkovsky, Bishop of Smolensk, which " has been adopted by the whole Russian Church (and even beyond its limit wherever the Slavic language is understood °) ;" and all candidates for Holy Orders are expected to be acquainted with its contents. As to the structure and ornaments of the Churches. In the miserable state of oppression to which the Greek Chris- tians have so long been subjected, it cannot be expected that in their sacred buildings splendour or anything that deserves the name of architecture can ordinarily be found ; in fact till recently, their churches were for the most part mean and ill-furnished, often almost subterraneous, as a necessary pre- caution against the avarice and rapacity of the Turks. " I have seen churches," says Sir Paul Ricaut, for some time at the end of XVI Ith century Consul at Smyrna, " which are more like caverns or sepulchres than places set apart for divine worship, the top thereof being scarcely level with the ground for fear that they should be suspected, if they raised them to any considerable height, of an evil intention to rival the Turkish mosques." But in this respect a better state of things has set in since the last century ; decent Churches have been erected, and there is no reason to doubt that, when the Greek Church has been emanci- pated from its fast-vanishing thraldom, its Churches will be, if not as sumptuous, yet as well adapted to God's service, as our own in England. Where there is any architecture at all, it is of the By- ° Blackmore. 14 Introduction. zantine style, the Cathedral of St. Sophia at Constantinople being the general model, although in Armenia there is another style, which is termed Armenian. A Byzantine Church may, says Dr. NealeP, be fitly de- scribed as a gabled Greek Cross, with domes, five and sometimes even seven in number, which in Cathedrals and even in some Parish Churches are gilded, and have an imposing outward appearance. An inexperienced eye might pronounce a Greek Church to be a mosque, except that "whatever is beautiful in the mosque of the Mahometans is derived from the Christians, whatever is unsightly is their own." On some Russian Churches the Crescent still remains under the Cross ; when the Grand Duke Ivan III. delivered his country from the Tartar yoke, he left the Crescent re- maining and put the Cross on it as a mark of the victory of the Orthodox Church \ In a Greek Church no seats (except in Cathedrals and some larger Churches the stalls (o-rao-t'Sm) for the Bishops) are provided for the Clergy or people, it being considered as an act of irreverence for any one of a lower dignity than a Bishop to sit in the House of God. The congregation, following the ancient practice, stand ; they do not kneel in church, and only incline their bodies in receiving the Holy Communion ; but they express their reverence by pros- trating themselves, even touching the ground with their foreheads ; especially is this the case with the lower classes. Orientation of the Churches is more scrupulously observed in the East than in the West, and the practice of praying towards the East is almost universal amongst them. In their Churches there is a fourfold division ; — (i) The Narthex (vapdri^, 7rp6vao<:),the derivation of which is uncertain, some thinking it is so called as being vepde {below the nave), forms the western end, immediately inside which is the Font {K6Kvp,^riepa). The Narthex was origin- ' Holy Eastern Church, I. 169. 1 King's Rites and Ceremonies of the Greek Church in Russia. General View of the Orthodox Greek Church. 1 5 ally set aside for catechumens, penitents, and the possessed {ivepyovfiivoi) , but is now the part occupied by women, the former women's gallery having fallen into disuse. (2) The Nave (mo?), so called from the symbolical significance of a ship as a figure of our salvation (Gen. vii. 23) ; or Trapeza ; where, in the case of cathedrals, are the stalls, one higher than the rest for the Patriarch, the others for the Metropolitans and Bishops. (3) The Choir (xopos) under the Trullus or Dome. (4) The Bema (ayiov ^rj/io), or Altar {dvaiaa-T^piov). At the entrance of the Church there is usually a Porch (irpoavXiov), extending along the whole Western width. There are several sets of gates, as to the position of which accounts are so confusing, that it is difficult to determine their position ; but perhaps the following description may be given. (1) The Beautiful Gates (TrwXai mpatai, so named from the Beautiful Gate of the Temple) leading from the Porch into the Narthex ; (2) The Royal gates [irvXai fiaaiXiKai), or Silver gates, in imitation of the Silver gates in St. Sophia's at Constantinople, dividing the Narthex from the Nave ; (3) The Holy Gates (ayiai Bvpai), three in number with veils before them, leading from the Choir through the Iconostasis ; the middle one into the Bema, which corresponds with the Chancel of Latin Churches', that on the North side to the Prothesis, that on the South to the Diakonikon. In the centre of the Bema, which is raised above the other part of the Church by steps s, is the Holy Table ("Ayia Tpdire^a), with four columns supporting a canopy (Ki^mptov). The name of Altar is not commonly applied to the Holy Table, but includes tlie whole space between it and the Iconostasis '. This last is a high screen corresponding with our Altar rails, but higher and solid, so that the congregation is prevented from seeing the Consecration of the Elements ' Hence the Clergy were sometimes called oj to5 B^juaras, Bingham, Bk. viii. Ch. vi. ' Schann's Euchology. ' King's Rites and Ceremonies, p. 27. l6 Introduction. and the Communion of the Clergy. On it are many Icons ; one of the Saviour on the North, another of the Virgin Mary on the South side, others to different Saints, one being the Patron Saint of the Church ». Between the Ico- nostasis and the Choir is the part called the Soleas (amXeas). On the North of the Choir in the Church of St. Sophia at Constantinople, but frequently in other Churches on the North of the Trapeza, is the Ambon {avafialvm), a stone, raised by one, two, or three steps, ■where the Deacon says the Ectanias, reads the Gospel, gives out the Church notices and the diptychs, and from which the sermon, when there is one (which till lately except in Russia was rarely, but now, especially in Con- stantinople and Greece, is frequently, the case), is preached. Before the Iconostasis, lamps, sometimes perpetually burning, are generally hung. The Epistle is read by the Reader. At the back of the Holy Table is a representation of the Crucifixion, before which stands a lamp with seven branches. A Pyx (apro^opiov) containing the Reserved Sacrament stands on the Holy Table, a lighted lamp being suspended before it, and on the Table lies a Book of the Gospels and a Cross. The Antiminsia, or Consecrated Cor- poral, is spread upon the Holy Table over the usual covering, and forms an important feature in the Celebration. The East end of Greek Churches is generally tri-apsidal. The centre apse is the Bema {"Aytov Bfjfia) ; the northern apse the Prothesis (UpoOeais) ; the southern the Sacristy (SiaKoviKov, aKevo^vKaKLOv, fiivcyaTcoptov) ; these two last are generally divided, but sometimes not, from the Bema by walls {•irapa^riiiaTa). The Sacristy is the Vestry for the Clergy. There is usually only one Holy Table and one Chapel ; where there are more than one, it is generally in places which have been under Latin influences, as in Russia where the Russians have been brought into contact with the Latins of Poland and Lithuania. Greek Churches contain no stoups for holy water. The " King's Rites and Ceremonies. General View ofjhe Orthodox Greek Church. 17 piscina {ddXaaaa), now commonly called j^avevTijpiov, is in the Prothesis, near the Table of Preparation ; Church Bells are forbidden by the Turks, and consequently, except in Russia and in countries not subject to Turkey, are not used. Organs and musical instruments are rigidly prohibited by their own laws, and the singing, except in Russia, where it is of a very beautiful description, is generally of an indifferent character; totally different notes are used to those which we use, but their hymns, as may be judged from the hymns which have been translated by Dr. Neale, are very pleasing and melodious. The only Creed which the Greeks recite in their services is the Nicene or Constantinopolitan ; which being an exposition and enlargement of the Apostles' Creed ac- counts for the omission of the latter. The Athanasian, which is probably a Western, Creed was palmed off on them in the Xlllth Century as having been composed by St. Athanasius, the great Champion of their Faith, when he was an exile in Rome ; but if they were for a time deceived, they never accepted it without the omission of the Fihoque clause. A few words may be said as to the vestments worn by the clergy. The full canonical vestments of a Bishop are : — (i) The Sticharion or Stoicharion, signifying purity, and corresponding with the Latin al5. It was originally made of white linen, but now, especially in Russia, it is of the richest silk or velvet, and on the ordinary days of Lent, of a purple colour. (2) Epitrachelion, sto/e, but differing from the Latin stole, in that it has a hole at the upper extremity for the head to pass through. It represents the easy yoke of Christ. It and the Sticharion are attached to the body by the Zone (3) Epimanikia (a word compounded of the Greek eViand Latin manus), wristbands, signifying the bands with which our Saviour was bound. They somewhat correspond with c iS Introduction. the Latin maniple, but not altogether ; as they are worn on both hands, and differ from it in shape. (4) Phselonion, chasuble (or Phaenolion, Latin pcenula). This is by way of excellency the vestment, and none of the Clergy of an inferior Order to a Priest can wear it. It signifies the purple robe which the soldiers put on Christ, and is supposed to be the vestment, translated cloak, which St. Paul left at Troas (2 Tim. iv. 13). (5) Omophorion, pall, signifying the wandering sheep whom Christ brings home on His shoulder. (6) Saccos, dalmatic, signifying Christ's coat without seam, woven from top to bottom. (7) Epigonation, kerchief, so called because it reaches to the knee, representing the towel wherewith our Saviour girded Himself and washed the feet of the disciples. The sacramental vestments of the Priest are the same as the above, omitting the Omophorion, the Saccos, and the Zone. The Deacon wears only two robes, the Sticharion, and, over his left shoulder, instead of the Epitrachelion, the Orarion (perhaps from wpa"), called also cttoXt?, and which exactly corresponds to the Latin stole, except that the word a.'^ios is embroidered on it. The ordinary daily dress of an ecclesiastic is a tall flat cap, and a cassock of any sober colour that he chooses, over which is thrown a loose black cloak. A beard also is a matter of obligation. The Greek Church recognizes seven Sacraments or Mys- teries. This limitation or definition of the number of Sacraments was not known to the undivided Church, but was first defined by Peter Lombard, teacher of Theology at Paris (1159 — 1164), and the Latin Schoolmen. Scholas- ticism, it must be remarked, plays absolutely no part * So called because the officiating Clergyman thus wears it in announcing the time for prayer. Mouraviev, Letters on the Ritual of the Divine Offices, de- rives it from orare, to pray. Neale, Littledale, and Bulgaris give other derivations. General View of the Orthodox Greek Church. 19 in the history of the Eastern Church, and the authority of the Schoolmen is disregarded. Yet, contrary to the usual conservatism of the Greeks, the exact number of seven Sacraments was probably imported into the Greek from the Latin Church. The Greek word (ivaTqpiov is more comprehensive than the Latin Sacramentum, and in the Greek Church it is used in a wider sense. But, like the English, the Greek Church insists that two Sacra- ments only are generally necessary to salvation {ra Kvpico- repa t&v fiVCTTT/picav &v hij(a aeodrjvai aZuvarov). A mystery is defined to be " a ceremony or act ap- pointed by God in which God giveth or sanctifieth to us His grace." From The Orthodox Doctrine of the Russian Church we learn ; " The two chief and most eminent Mysteries in the New Testament are Baptism and the Eucharist or Communion. Of the rest the Chrism and Penance belong to every Christian, but Ordination, Mar- riage, and the Sanctified Oil are not binding on all." The Seven Mysteries or Sacraments are : — 1. Baptism {jo BaTTTia-iia), whereby a person is mys- teriously born to a spiritual life. 2. Unction with Chrism {to Mvpov rov xP^a-fiarosi), by which he receives grace, or spiritual growth and strength. 3. The Eucharist (^ Evxapiarla), by which he is spiri- tually fed. 4. Penance (17 Merdvoia), whereby he is healed of spiri- tual disease, i.e. sin. 5. Holy Orders [tj 'lepcoavvq), in which he receives power to spiritually regenerate, feed and nurture others by doc- trine and Sacraments. 6. Marriage (0 Pa/ios), in which he receives Grace, sanc- tifying the married life, and the natural procuration and nurture of children. 7. Unction with Oil (jo EvxeXatov), in which he has medicine even for bodily diseases, in that he is healed of spiritual. We must confine ourselves to a brief description of the c 2 20 Introduction. Sacraments, touching mostly on such points as are peculiar to the Greek Church. (i) Baptism in the ordinary acceptation of the word wash- ing, was during the first two centuries the universal rule of the Church. To the ancient rule the Eastern Church, with its capacious Baptisteries, still adheres, whilst the Western Church allows, as a necessity arising from climate, affusion, but it does not disallow immersion. Trine im- mersion is held by the Greeks to be of equal importance with the water in Baptism, it being the custom prevailing from the earliest ages, in order to signify the distinction of the Three Persons in the Trinity y. The Arian Eu- nomius' was the first to introduce single immersion into the Eastern Church. The custom of rebaptizing converts from the Western Church, Roman Catholics not excepted, has only been abandoned by the Patriarch of Constantinople within the last 25 years. The Russian was the first of the Greek Churches to break through this long standing rule ; in order to receive Western Christians without re-baptizing them, they in 1718 consulted Jeremias III., the Patriarch of Constantinople, who gave his consent. By the Longer Catechism, Baptism cannot be repeated, for "as a child is born but once, there can only be one spiritual birth." If a nurse or any other lay person of either sex, in- the absence of a Priest or in case of necessity {ds Kaipov TWOS avd