UNITARIAN ClIUIjriIKS. 



747 



i if the Servians wished to sever themselves 

 from the Greek Orthodox Church. M-I up their own 

 exarc-hate. and be excommunicated as schismatics. 

 This formed no part of their plans, but they finally 

 trained their point with the Porte, which was not as 



rvient to the patriarchate as formerly, being 

 offended at the political actions of the Greeks, and 

 promised therefore that Serbs should be known in 

 Turkey ta - eks. The Serbs resented the 



iiitment of a Greek prelate as Metropolitan of 

 L'sknb. having demanded one of their own nation- 

 ality. The \Vallachs obtained the nomination of 

 a Metropolitan of their nationality, and set up 

 churches in which their language was used in oppo- 

 sition to the decrees of the ecclesiastical authorities. 

 The Greeks in connection with the Cretan rebel- 

 lion started a movement in Macedonia that pave 

 as much anxiety to the Turkish rulers as, the Bul- 

 garian movement in former years. A revolution- 

 ary committee was set up in Larissa in communi- 

 cation with the Macedonian committee at Athens, 

 and an armed rebellion was set on foot, which was 

 factitious and contemptible as a military move- 

 ment, but as a political demonstration was pregnant 

 with danger. The ample pecuniary means that the 

 committees disposed of and the ambitious hopes 

 avowed by the Greeks and the military preparations 

 of their governments pointed to future trouble on 

 the Thcssalian frontier. Gangs of harvesters who 

 went to Thessaly in the summer returned with 

 weapons in their hands and encamped in the moun- 

 tains, proclaiming a rebellion against Turkey. They 

 were followed by armed bands of Greek freebooters. 

 This was the first irruption of the frontier that had 

 occurred in many years. All were armed with good 

 rifles. The Turkish military authorities at 

 once began to concentrate troops on the frontier, to 

 call out the reserves, and to send re-enforcements 



loiiica. The invaders surprised and cut to 

 9 the Turkish garri-on at Mou~-a and replied 

 a stronger force that wa- --nt from >ainica to aid 

 the threat The rebels retired bcfor 



Turkish forces into the JVrim mountain.-. !', 

 the end of July T.IHMt Turkish troops were it 

 field, but they could not catch the elusive guerrilla 

 bands, which preyed upon the country and in- 

 flicted heavier losses on the Turkish n-iriilars than 

 they themselves sustained. Meanwhil.- ot her bands 

 d over from Thessaly into the Salonica and 

 Monastir vilayets. At Niausta one of these bands 

 annihilated a force of 82 Turkish troops. Ma 

 nian and Albanian outlaws took an active part in 

 the movement. The Turkish forces succeeded 

 in August in shutting in several of the larger bands. 

 The support given to the rebels by the Christians 

 of Macedonia alarmed the Turkish authorities, who 

 arrested many prominent citizens. Takris, one of 

 the chief insurgent leaders, was arrested when he 

 sought to escape with the broken remnant of his 

 band into Greece. In the middle of August other 

 bands returned defeated to Thessaly. The band of 

 Papademos was entirely destroyed by the Turks; 

 that of Brufas was routed and the chief killed. In 

 September some fresh bands crossed the frontier 

 and joined the insurgents who still held out. The 

 armed rebellion was crushed a few weeks later, but 

 the military precautions on the Greek frontier, and 

 on the Bulgarian frontier as well, were not remitted, 

 because the revolutionary society known as the Na- 

 tional Het.Tria was raising a large fund and mak- 

 ing energetic preparations tor the coming struggle, 

 and the Macedonian committees in Bulgaria were 

 renewing their activity. The Greek agitators de- 

 clared that their movement was not caused by any 

 acts of the Turks, but was against the pretensions 

 of the Bulgarians. 



U 



UNITARIAN CHURCHES. The statistical re- 

 turns of the Unitarian churches in the United States 

 for 1896 give them 525 ministers. 458 churches, and 

 70.000 members. It is the habit of the ministers of 

 the churches to hold a ministers' institute in the year 

 intervening between the sessions of the National 

 Conference. Such an institute was held for 1896 

 at Concord. Mass.. for three days, when subjects 

 were discussed : for the first day. relating to reli- 

 gious philosophy: for the second, to theology; and 

 for the third, to the practical work of the Church. 

 The Unitarians forming a considerable element in 

 the religious life of Hungary, the American churches 

 were represented at Buda-Pesth at the celebration 

 of the thousandth anniversary of the establishment 

 of that kingdom. 



The official returns of the Unitarian churches in 

 England for 1896 give the names of 365 pastors and 

 preachers, of whom '277 are engaged in pastoral work, 

 and of the remainder 26 are open to accept minis- 

 terial work. In the United Kingdom there are :!.")4 

 churches and mission stations: of these 276 are in 

 England. 33 in Ireland. 8 in Scotland, and 32 in 

 Wales. Among the year's additions to the list of 

 recognized ministers are the names of 3 former 

 Episcopal clergymen. 2 Congregational mini- 

 and 1 Roman Catholic priest. 



In a discussion concerning the progress of Uni- 

 tarianism in England it was observed by one speaker 

 that in the beginning of the century the d'enominat ion 

 had 170 churches: the number had increased later 

 to 378, but now there were only 354 churches. The 



speaker believed, however, that if Unitarians be- 

 stirred themselves they could raise the number to 

 410. He was answered that many of the churches 

 formerly reckoned as Unitarian were not real 

 and the actual losses had for the most part been in 

 rural districts, from which the more enterprising 

 people had migrated. In fifty years the denomina- 

 tion had spent 10.000 on the Home Missionary 

 College. 27,000 on E-ex Hall. 46.000 on the sti- 

 pend Augmentation fund, 20.000 on the Susten- 

 tation fund, and 40.000 on Manchester College, 

 Oxford. In the Lancashire and Cheshire Province 

 412.000 had been spent on buildings since 1844, 

 and the average minister's stipend had risen from 

 180 to 212. 



The annual meetings of the British and Foreign 

 Unitarian Association were begun May 26. The 

 Rev. II. Enfield Dawser presided. The Rev. J. T. 

 Sunderland. who had returned from a journey to 

 India as the envoy of the association, said that he 

 had been able to 'dispel some of the misapprehen- 

 sions which kept the Unitarians apart from the 

 Brahmo Somaj. and to show that the two bodies 

 were essentially one in thought, spirit, and aims. 

 He suggested that the association should bear the 

 expense of 3 students for the Brahmo Somaj minis- 

 try in Manchester College. Oxford. It was not only 

 in the Brahmo Somaj. however, that he had been wel- 

 comed, but there were thousands of educated natives 

 who could not be reached by orthodox Christianity, 

 and found Unitarian views more conformable to their 

 modes of thought. He urged continued prosecution 



