326 



GREEK CHUKCH. 



While praying your Excellency to bring this ad- 

 hesion to the cognizance of the Conference, I enter- 

 tain the hope that the six great powers, appreciating 

 the difficulties of the situation t will do justice to the 

 desire of Greece to defer to their wishes, and to con- 

 tribute what in her lies to the maintenance of general 

 tranquillity. 



I take this opportunity to express my high esteem 

 for your * 



The new ministry also issued at once instruc- 

 tions to the military and naval officers, coun- 

 termanding the orders for warlike prepara- 

 tions. A Greek charge d'affaires arrived, March 

 20th, at Constantinople, to renew the diplomatic 

 relations with Turkey. 



The new Chambers, in June, were opened by 

 the King. He announced that new laws would 

 be required for the organization of the edu- 

 cational system of the country. He said that 

 it was the'intention of the nation to fulfil her 

 monetary obligations ; therefore, a further de- 

 velopment of her resources was desirable, 

 and, in that connection, proposed the cut- 

 ting of a ship-canal through the Isthmus of 

 Corinth. 



The army is composed of 561 officers, 2,125 

 sub-officers, and 8,774 privates total, 11,464; 

 but has been raised to an effective force of 

 31,300, comprising 14,300 regular and 17,000 

 irregular troops. The exact strength of the 

 navy is not certain. At the beginning of 1866 

 it was composed of one frigate, two corvettes, 

 seven steamers, and twenty-six transports, car- 

 rying 114 guns. 



The budget for 1868 was : Receipts, 46,666,- 

 404 drachmas, or $8,066,619.88 ; expenses, 46,- 

 745,000 drachmas, or $8,080,205.76, being 

 $5.99 per capita. This is not a fair exhibit, 

 however, since the deficiency for 1864 amount- 

 ed to 6,000,000 drachmas, and that of 1865 to 

 between four and five millions that for 1867 

 not yet having been published. It is thus prop- 

 er to infer a deficiency in last year's estimates. 

 The amount of the public debt it is difficult to 

 ascertain. The official account of 1865 made 

 it $51,823,342.76, or $38.42 per capita; the 

 report of the Minister of Finance, in 1866, 

 made it $42,546,533.04, or '$30.80 per capita; 

 while the Eloia, an Athenian journal, produces 

 official evidence to show that it is actually 

 $88,917,711.52, or 65.93 per capita. 



GREEK CHURCH.* One of the most im- 

 portant events in the whole recent history of 

 the Greek Church is undoubtedly a letter ad- 

 dressed by the Patriarch of Constantinople to 

 the Archbishop of Canterbury, in reply to one 

 written by the Archbishop to the Patriarch, 

 forwarding a copy of the English Prayer Book. 

 The Patriarch's letter is dated September 26 

 (i. e., October 8, K S.), 1869, and was pub- 

 lished in the Constantinople newspaper, Neolo- 

 gos, on October 11 (23d). The letter (as trans- 

 lated by the Rev. George "Williams) reads as 

 follows : 



* For the latest statistics of the Greek Church, see 

 ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA for 1868. 



f Gregory, by the mercy of God Archbishop of Con- 

 stantinople, the new Koine, and (Ecumenical Patri- 

 arch, to the most holy Archbishop, the Metropoli- 

 tan of Canterbury, and Exarch of the Christians 

 of the Anglican Confession in Great Britain, the 

 Lord Archibald Campbell : peace from God and 

 brotherly salutation in Christ. 



Having received, with the greatest joy, the highly- 

 esteemed letter sent by your venerable Sanctity to our 

 humility, we were moved to the inmost heart, as was 

 meet, both at the thanks you so kindly expressed to 

 us, for the fulfilment of what was at once a Christian 

 and canonical duty, in sending our Protocyncellus 

 to the consecration performed by the most beloved 

 of God, the Bishop of Gibraltar, the Lord Charles 

 Amyand, and also at the communication in a spirit 

 of brotherly love of your desire and prayers, that 

 there may be upon earth one elect flock and one 

 Chief Shepherdour Lord, uniting those that are 

 divided, and guiding all, so that they may think and 

 speak the same thing, and work together for the in- 

 crease of His Kingdom. 



We also night and day, praying our God and Sav- 

 iour for these very things, do not cease, on every 

 occasion, both to rejoice and, so far as we can, to 

 cooperate readily in every good work and every good 

 design, tending to the edification and perfection of 

 our neighbor, and to the enlightenment and common 

 agreement 01 all, and to the unity that is in Christ 

 Jesus. Nor do we only pray for this ; but we also 

 expect and anticipate it from the common Father, and 

 God the Saviour, and His Spirit ; when many shall 

 be taught, and tne knowledge of the most ancient 

 and unadulterated Orthodoxy shall be extended which 

 the primitive and Catholic Church of Christ deliv- 

 ered to us, free from error, through the Apostolic her- 

 alds of God, and the God-bearing Father, and the sev- 

 en venerable and God-moved (Ecumenical Councils. 



But, as to the burial of your countrymen, be it 

 known to your much-desired Holiness, that even if 

 we had not been expressly exhorted and requested 

 by any of the venerable British bishops, we would of 

 ousrelves have granted every permission to bury Eng- 

 lish strangers deceased within our cemeteries, at the 

 request of their relatives ; well-knowing that " the 

 earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." This, 

 then, we will much rather permit for the future, from 

 consideration to your Holiness, beloved of Christ, 

 and in recompense, as is meet, of the tribute of broth- 

 erly kindness, on the sole condition that no private 

 right of property is in any case acquired in the ground 

 in which they are buried. 



Having very gratefully received the sacred Prayer 

 Book of your Anglican Confession, presented to us by 

 you, we have deferred an answer chiefly on this ac- 

 count, that having more leisurely perused this Eccle- 

 siastical Book, we might more accurately ascertain 

 how far it inclines to or diverges from genuine Evan- 

 gelical and Catholic teaching ; and how far it confirms 

 that statement of the Preface (p. 7), that " it con- 

 tains nothing contrary to the Word of God, and to 

 sound doctrine." 



In the mean time, having gladly received the En- 

 cyclical Epistle published oy the Anglican bishops 

 assembled two years since in England, to which is 

 prefixed the commendatory letter of your ever-to-be- 

 remembered Eminence, and perceiving from it that 

 they distinctly confess and affirm, simply and in gen- 

 eral, that they hold firmly and immovably the Holy 

 Scriptures as the Word of God, and that tKey main- 

 tain the Creeds of one Holy and Apostolic Church, 

 and keep pure and undefiled its ancient order and 

 worship * * * and reject all novelty, and are en- 

 deavoring to publish abroad in all the earth the 

 saving preaching of the Gospel perceiving, we say, 

 all this so distinctly and generally affirmed in words, 

 we reioiced greatly in our soul, suspecting the ap- 

 proach and dawn of the gathering together in one 

 and the same fold of the Lord, and the union of all 

 the spiritual sheep elsewhere. 



