234 



EASTERN CHURCHES. 



west to the southeast. The first two were 

 quite strong, and the third feeble. At Alexan- 

 dropol, between February 18th and 20th, sev- 

 eral shocks were perceived. On the first the 

 trembling of the earth under the feet was dis- 

 tinctly felt. The shocks continued feeble for 

 two hours. At 3 P. M., on the 19th, a very 

 smart shock was felt, followed by a second and 

 a third, and so on, until seven were noted dur- 

 ing the evening. 



On the 16th of April a shock was felt at 

 Aleppo, in Syria, at 8.40 A. M., which continued 

 from twenty to thirty seconds. It was feeble 

 at first, but increased in force, and ended very 

 strong. The undulatory motion was from east 

 to west. 



EASTERN CHURCHES, or ORIENTAL 

 CHURCHES. The collective name given to a 

 number of churches in Eastern Europe, in 

 Asia, and Northern Africa (Greek, Armenian, 

 Nestorian, Jacobite, Coptic, and Abyssinian), 

 which hold to the doctrine of the apostolic 

 succession of bishops. The statistics of the 

 Eastern Churches,* as reported in 1868, were 

 as follows : 



United States (chiefly in Alaska) 10,000 



North-German Confederation 2,000 



Turkey (in Europe) 12,500,000 



Greece 1,270,000 



Eussia (in Europe) 52,810,000 



Persia '. 800,000 



China 1,000 



Russian Possessions in Asia 4,885,000 



Turkish Possessions in Asia 3,000,000 



East Indies 300,000 



Egypt 200,000 



Abyssinia 300,000 



Total 75,578,000 



The bishops of the Eastern Churches gen- 

 erally were invited by Pope Pius IX. to take 

 part in the (Ecumenical Council which is to 

 meet in Rome, on December 8, 1869. The 

 Pope addressed to them the following letter : 



Placed by the impenetrable designs of Divine 

 Providence, without any merit of our own, on this 

 sublime see, as heir of the Blessed Prince of the 

 Apostles, who, " in virtue of the prerogative which. 

 God has vouchsafed to him, is the solid and immov- 

 able rock on which the Saviour has built His Church,' ' 

 and impelled by the anxiety which we feel from the 

 burden placed upon us, we ardently desire and en- 

 deavor to extend our cares to all who, in every part 

 of the worldj bear the name of Christians, and to 

 draw them within the embraces of our paternal love. 

 We could not, without great peril to our soul, neg- 

 lect any part of this Christian people, who, pur- 

 chased by the precious blood of the Saviour, and 

 admitted to the sheepfold of the Lord by the waters 

 of baptism, have a demand upon us for all our vigi- 

 lance. Obliged, then, to devote, without intermission, 

 our thoughts and our cares to the salvation of all 

 those who acknowledge and adore Jesus Christ, our 

 eyes and heart are turned toward those churches 

 which, formerly attached to the Apostolic Church by 

 the bonds of unity, were so flourishing by the merit 

 ol sanctity and divine knowledge, producing such 

 abundant fruits for the glory of God and the salva- 

 tion of souls, and which to-day, by the infernal arts 



* Full statistics of each of the Eastern Churches are 

 given in Schem's American Ecclesiastical and Educational 

 Almanac for 1869 (New York, 1869). 



and machinations of him who plotted in heaven the 

 first schism, we find, to our great grief, eloined and 

 separated from that holy Eoman Church which is 

 spread throughout the whole world. 



It is for this reason that, from the beginning of our 

 Pontificate, we have addressed you, in the fulness of 

 our heart, words of peace and charity. And, although 

 we have not had, By any means, the success we so 

 ardently desired, nevertheless we have never been 

 without hope that our humble and fervent prayers 

 would some day be favorably received and heard, by 

 the infinite mercy and goodness of the Author of Sal- 

 vation and Peace, "who has brought salvation to 

 the world, and, in coming from heaven to testify 

 how agreeable was peace to Him, and should be to 

 every one, since He had announced it from His birth, 

 by the mouths of angels, to men of good-will, who, 

 in living among these same men : has taught it to 

 them by his words, and preached it to them by His 

 examples." 



Now, as lately, with the advice of our venerable 

 brothers, the Cardinals of the holy Eoman Church, 

 we have indicated and convoked an (Ecumenical 

 Council, to be opened in Eome on December 8th of 

 next year, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception 

 of the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God ; we address 

 our words to you again, and we conjure, warn, and 

 entreat you, with all the earnestness we are capable 

 of, to come to this same General Assembly, as did 

 your ancestors to the Council of Lyons, held under 

 the blessed Gregory X., our predecessor of venerable 

 memory, and to the Council of Florence, celebrated 

 by Eugenius IV., also our predecessor of happy 

 memory, to the end that, renewing the laws of ancient 

 love and restoring to its vigor the peace of our fatherSj 

 that celestial and salutary gift of Jesus Christ, ot 

 which in time we have lost the fruits, we may see at 

 last, after a long period of grief, in which darkness 

 and division prevailed we may see arise the brilliant 

 and pure morning which we so long have pr-ayed for. 



Be this the happy fruit of the blessings with which 

 Jesus Christ, our common Lord and Bedeemer, con- 

 soles, in these unhappy times, His cherished and im- 

 maculate Catholic Church! May He thus sweeten 

 His grief and dry up His tears, so that, all divisions 

 having ended, voices heretofore discordant may unite 

 in perfect unanimity of spirit in praising God, who 

 wishes not schisms among us, but who has prescribed 

 that we speak and think by the voice of the Apostle. 



"What immortal acts of thanksgiving will be end- 

 lessly rendered to the Father of Mercies by all the 

 Saints, but especially by those most glorious Fathers 

 and Doctors of the Eastern Church, when from on 

 high they see reestablished and restored the Union 

 with the Apostolic See, which is the centre of Catho- 

 lic truth and unity union which they themselves, 

 during their life on earth, strove to sustain with all 

 the care and activity of their zeal, and every day to 

 strengthen by their teaching and example, because 

 the Holy Spirit had filled their hearts with the love 

 of Him who overturned the wall of separation, who 

 reconciled and pacified all things by His blood, who 

 wished that the characteristic mark of His disciples 

 should be unity, and whose prayer to His Father 

 was : " I ask that all be one, as we are one." 



Given at Eome, at St. Peter's, September 8, 1868, 

 in the twenty-third year of our pontificate. 



2. THE ARMENIANS. The letter of the Pope, 

 inviting the Oriental bishops to the (Ecumeni- 

 cal Council to be held in Rome, in December, 

 1869, was officially presented to the Armenian 

 Patriarch of Constantinople by the Roman 

 Catholic Archbishop of that city, Mgr. Has- 

 soun. According to the Levant Herald, of 

 Constantinople, the Armenian Patriarch re- 

 plied that he could not answer it without con- 

 sulting his Synod. Roman Catholic papers, 



