466 



GREEK CHURCH. 



podars appointed by the Porte. These con- 

 vents have extensive property, which has not 

 only supported their inmates, but contributed 

 large annual sums to the Greek convents on 

 Mount Athos and in the Holy Land. 



" It was utterly impossible to suppose that 

 this system, imposed on a barbarous and tyran- 

 nical age, could endure. The Christian races, 

 once governed most cruelly and rapaciously by 

 Fanariot governors, sent by the Porte, are now 

 ruled by native princes, have their own repre- 

 sentative assemblies, and enjoy European codes 

 . of laws. The tenets of the Greek Church or 

 its traditions do not tie its votaries down to re- 

 spect or obedience toward one foreign head. 

 Each country and each race has its Patriarch, 

 or feels itself entitled to have one. The Rus- 

 sians have theirs. Why should not Roumains 

 and Serbs? Even the Bulgarians, who have 

 remained serfs and rayahs of the Sultan, refuse 

 to obey the Patriarch of Constantinople, partly 

 on account of his rapacity, partly because the 

 clergy he appoints are of a race and language 

 foreign to theirs. And in order to escape from 

 bondage to him, many of them have declared 

 themselves Catholics. The first use that the 

 Danubian Principalities made of their quasi-in- 

 dependence was to shake off the yoke of the 

 Greek monks. They have declared and passed 

 a law, that the clergy, high as well as low, and 

 their ritual, shall be Roumain. However will- 

 ing to support the monasteries of the country, 

 they are determined that their ecclesiastical 

 revenues shall not be diverted to Mount Athos 

 or Jerusalem." 



The laws passed with regard to the convents 

 led to remonstrances on the part of most of the 

 European Powers. Prince Couza, in order to 

 explain and justify his course, addressed a letter 

 giving a detailed history of the whole case, to 

 the Turkish Government and to all the great 

 Powers which had signed the Paris Convention. 

 The " orthodox communities of the East " (the 

 convents of Athos) replied to this statement 

 by a counter one, which the Archimandrite 

 Nylos by their order presented to the courts of 

 Paris, London, and St. Petersburg. All these 

 Powers took sides with the religious houses 

 and instructed their ambassadors in Constan- 

 tinople, to concert means for supporting the 

 claims of the religious communities. The 

 Prince, however, formally adhered to his 

 policy, and was supported in it by the vast 

 majority of the people. On Jan. 1st, 1864, ad- 

 dresses were presented to the Prince by a dep- 

 utation from the Chamber, by the Court of 

 Cassation, the municipality of Bucharest, the 

 chiefs of corporations, all of which congrat- 

 ulated him upon the secularization of the 

 convent property. The Prince, in reply to 

 these addresses, proposed the adoption of the 

 Gregorian calendar, and the suppression of the 

 religious communities, except those devoting 

 themselves to the hospitals and to education. 

 Notwithstanding the protest of the Porte, made 

 in conjunction with the Cabinets of Paris, 



Petersburg, Vienna, and Berlin, against the 

 secularization of the monastic property, the 

 Chamber unanimously maintained its former 

 vote on the subject. 



The efforts made in England and America for 

 bringing about an intercommunion between 

 the Anglican and the Greek Churches, as well 

 as those Episcopal bodies in general which hold 

 the Apostolic succession, met with some re- 

 sponses among the members of the latter. (See 

 ANGLICAN CHUBCH.) In Paris, a paper has 

 been established, entitled Union Chretienne, 

 which is edited by a French priest of Gallican 

 sentiments, Abbe Guettee, and a priest of the 

 Russian Church, Joseph Vasscheff, and which 

 is devoted to the advocacy of the Eastern 

 Churches and the Episcopal bodies of Western 

 Europe, including, in particular, such members 

 of the Catholic Church as repudiate the belief 

 in the supremacy of the Pope. The following 

 letter from the Patriarch of Constantinople and 

 the " Synod of the (Ecumenical Throne " ex- 

 plains the sentiments animating the bishops : 



Joachim, by the grace of God, Archbishop of Constan- 

 tinople, New Rome, and (Ecumenical Patriarch: 



Most reverend Arch-Priest Joseph Vasscheff, most 

 pious and honorable Abbe Guettee, whose learning 's 

 so widely useful, and who represent the editors' staff 

 of L' Union Chretienne, our well-beloved and valued 

 sons in the Lord. 



The grace, the peace, and the mercy of our Lord 

 Jesus Christ be with you ! 



We are not ignorant, well-beloved sons, of the cou- 

 rageous and useful works of the editors of II Union, for 

 the integrity of the faith of Christ : on the contra_ry, 

 we have long praised it, and bestowed our blessing 

 upon it, when we received with joy the delightful let- 

 ter of your piety, together with the precious collection 

 of your journal. Thus, having more perfectly con- 

 ceived your aim, we rendered thanks to God, " who 

 willeth that all should be in union, and giveth mighty 

 words to them that preach it." We regard, indeed, as 

 the work of God, not only a salutary thought which 

 has inspired a labor so useful to the body of the Church, 

 but also the perfect concord which exists between you, 

 and which enables you to labor as brothers in Jesus 

 Christ. The meritorious end which you pursue with 

 sincerity, the legitimate means which you employ, the 

 sure guides which you follow, the solid bases on which 

 you lean, the marvellous sweetness of your words, 

 which enters the ears not as the clap of thunder, but 

 as the light breeze which gently penetrates souls. It is 

 thus that your words are worthy of the God whose cause 

 they assert, and whose service finds its perfection not 

 by_ vehement speech, but by sweetness. You will re- 

 ceive, without doubt, well beloved sons, the recom- 

 pense from God of th'e pious works which you have un- 

 dertaken for so holy a cause. 



As to our Orthodox Church of the East, she has al- 

 ways grieved for the alienation of her western sisters, 

 once so venerable ; and more especially ancient Rome. 

 Yet she consoles herself by consciousness of her inno- 

 cence, for she did not provoke at first, any more than 

 since she has perpetuated or strengthened the division. 

 Nay, she has never ceased to oner with tears fervent 

 prayers to her God and Saviour who maketh of two 

 one, breaking down, the middle wall of separation be 

 tween them, that He may bring all Churches into one- 

 unity, giving them sameness of faith and the com 

 munion of the Holy Ghost. And that she may causo 

 Him to hear her, she shows Him the marks of her 

 martyrdom, and the wounds which she has through 

 so many ages received on account of her Catholic Or- 

 thodoxy from those who envy her, who trouble he;: 

 tranquillity and her peaceful life in Jasus Christ. 



