346 



GREEK CHURCH. 



reconstituted as follows: M. Coumonndouros, 

 President of the Council and Minister of the 

 Interior ; M. Augherinos, Minister of Educa- 

 tion ; M. Papamichalopulo, Minister of Finance ; 

 M. Delyannis, Minister of Foreign Affairs ; M. 

 Valamakis, Minister of Justice ; M. Bouboulis, 

 Minister of Marine ; M. Valtinos, Minister of 

 War. On January 26th the Chamber, by 97 

 against 73 votes, refused to grant to the Minis- 

 try 2,500,000 drachmas of a new loan of 60,- 

 000,000 for the defrayal of current expenses. 

 The Ministry consequently resigned, but when 

 M. Trikoupis informed the King that the Op- 

 position agreed that the vote did not raise a 

 Cabinet question, the King requested M. Cou- 

 moundouros to remain in office. The Cham- 

 ber subsequently voted the grant demanded by 

 the Ministry. On March 18th M. Coumoun- 

 douros again resigned, as the Chamber adopt- 

 ed, by 99 votes against 93, a resolution moved 

 by the Opposition that the budget was not 

 adapted to the financial condition of the coun- 

 try, and expressly disapproved of the policy 

 of the Government. A new Ministry was 

 formed under the presidency of M. Trikoupis, 

 who took the portfolio of Foreign Affairs, and 

 for a time that of Finance also. M. Trikoupis 

 resigned in his turn, in August, when the 

 Chamber of Deputies elected, by 92 votes 

 against 55, the Opposition candidate as its Pres- 

 ident, and M. Coumoundouros became once 

 more Prime Minister. 



GREEK CHURCH. The aggregate popu- 

 lation connected with the Greek or Orthodox 

 Eastern Church was estimated in 1830 at about 

 78,000,000.* It is the predominant Church in 

 seven countries in the following order : Greece, 

 where 98'9 per cent, of the total population 

 belong to it ; Servia, 94'5 per cent. ; Roumania, 

 87'4 per cent.; Montenegro, 82'5 per cent.; 

 Russia, 68*6 per cent. ; Bulgaria, 67 - 7 per cent. ; 

 and Eastern Roumelia, 60*6 per cent. In the 

 Austro-Hungarian monarchy it numbers about 

 8 per cent, of the total population. 



The plan of holding a General Conference of 

 Eastern Orthodox Bishops was discussed in 

 several Russian and Greek newspapers. It was 

 originally proposed by the "St. Petersburg 

 Section of the Society of Friends of Religious 

 Enlightenment" to the Holy Synod of Russia. 

 The patriarchs of the East and other Orthodox 

 bishops were to be invited to attend the 

 consecration of the Church of the Saviour at 

 Moscow, August 12 to September 7, 1880, and 

 to consult together with the Russian bishops 

 concerning many important questions relating 

 to the Orthodox Church. As subjects well 

 worthy of engaging the attention of the Eastern 

 bishops were designated, in Russian papers, the 

 Bulgarian question, the Rascolniks of Russia 

 and the liturgical books, the general adminis- 

 tration of the Eastern Church, the establish- 

 ment of a patriarchate in Russia, and church 

 unity. A paper of Athens, the " Threskeutike 



* For detailed statistics, see " Annual Cyclopaedia " of 1879. 



Phone," remarked on this plan: "Doubtless a 

 synod of representatives of all the autocepha- 

 lous Orthodox Churches, with equal rights, sav- 

 ing only the precedency of honor reserved to 

 the oecumenical and other patriarchs of the East, 

 meeting from time to time at Constantinople 

 as the first in honor of the churches, or in any 

 other city that might be determined on, would 

 contribute greatly to the settlement of ques- 

 tions of general interest, and would have in its 

 hands the supreme administration of the whole 

 Eastern Church." 



The "Threskeutike Phone," referred to above, 

 is the first religious newspaper of Greece. It 

 was established at the beginning of 1880, and is 

 edited by A. Diomedes Griacus, Professor of 

 Theology in the University of Athens, and Ig- 

 natius Moshake, a theological instructor in the 

 same institution. The editors are well acquaint- 

 ed with the literature of Western Europe, and 

 by the establishment of the first Church news- 

 paper, will endeavor to give to their Church an 

 institution which has long been in a flourish- 

 ing condition in the Protestant and Catholic 

 Churches of America and Europe. Even in its 

 first numbers it discussed several important re- 

 form questions, as the convocation of an (Ecu- 

 menical Council of the Orthodox Church, and 

 the reestablishment of a patriarchate in Russia. 



An important event in the history of the 

 Russian Church is the resignation of Count 

 Demetrius Andreevitch Tolstoy as chief procu- 

 rator of the Holy Synod. Count Tolstoy, who 

 was made chief procurator June 3, 1865, and 

 Minister of Public Instruction the following 

 year, had but one predecessor who held the 

 two offices at once, Prince Alexander Nicolae- 

 vitch Galitzin, in 1816-'17. He was the twenty- 

 second chief procurator since the Holy Synod 

 was established, in 1721. He is succeeded as 

 chief procurator by the Privy-Councilor Con- 

 stantine Petrovitch Pobedonostchev, who, how- 

 ever, will not be at the same time Minister of 

 Public Instruction. 



The " Tserkovnaia Vaistnik" says of the new 

 procurator that some years ago the Ecclesiasti- 

 cal Academy of St. Petersburg counted him one 

 of its most honored members. The St. Peters- 

 burg "Vaidomosti " says that he " is known, not 

 only as a man of high culture and much learn- 

 ing, but also, in the best and fullest sense, a 

 thorough Russian. Not long since a university 

 professor, he has attained, in a comparatively 

 short time, the position of a member of the 

 Emperor's Council. In the wider sphere of 

 duties opened up before him he has not fallen 

 behind in literary labor. And, withal, he has 

 occupied a position of activity and influence in 

 the new enterprise of the volunteer fleet, which 

 seems likely to play an important part in Rus- 

 sia's future. What he has done in the past is 

 a pledge that in the new post to which he has 

 been called he will discharge its duties, not in 

 a merely formal way, but with an earnestness 

 and zeal so needful at this time for the orthodox 

 world." The Russian Church continues to be 



