274 



EASTERN CHURCHES. 



which it will contend : 1. The clergy mast be 

 educated and salaried. 2. The Gospel must 

 be preached regularly in the church. 3. "Wor- 

 ship must be refined, and church music re- 

 formed. 



The Theological Department of the Uni- 

 versity of Athens had, during the year 1871, 

 thirty students, and sent out four graduates. 

 It had six professors and one adjunct profess- 

 or. The course of study embraces an intro- 

 duction to the Holy Scriptures, Hebrew ar- 

 chaeology, interpretation of the Scriptures, 

 Hebrew language, ecclesiastical history, his- 

 tory of doctrines, symbolics, patrology, dog- 

 matics, ethics, pastoral theology, liturgies, and 

 homiletics. The number of law-students in 

 the same university is six hundred. The prin- 

 cipal theological school in the kingdom of 

 Greece is the Rizareion School. It sent out 

 five graduates in the full course. In this semi- 

 nary the course consists of sacred history, 

 catechesis, introduction to the Scriptures, in- 

 terpretation of the Scriptures, ecclesiastical 

 history, dogmatics, ethics, homiletics, and li- 

 turgies. Most of the professors teach also in 

 the University School. The Orthodox Review 

 recommends that the revenues of monasteries 

 be devoted to the improvement of the theolo- 

 gical schools. This would give from Attica 

 alone a fund of about $33,000. 



The Old Catholic Congress at Munich was 

 attended by several Russian clergymen. One 

 of them, Dr. Overbeck, afterward declared, in 

 the Goloss of St. Petersburg, that he had 

 come to the conclusion that the best settle- 

 ment the Old Catholics could make of the 

 question of their church organization would 

 be to join the Church of Russia; but he ac- 

 knowledged that Dr. Dollinger had received 

 his proposition, when it was made to him, very 

 unfavorably. 



According to the Orthodox Review of Athens, 

 the first steps toward friendly intercourse of 

 the Greek and Anglican Churches were taken 

 by the late Patriarch Gregory, when he sanc- 

 tioned the burial of English dead in the con- 

 secrated cemeteries with the customary rites 

 of the Greek Church. The courtesies offered 

 to the Bishop of Syros, during his late visit to 

 England, confirmed the good feeling which 

 grew out of the Patriarch's concession. After- 

 ward the English Bishop Harris, of Gibraltar, 

 visiting Athens, accepted an invitation of the 

 archbishop, who is the Primate of Greece, to 

 assist, in full canonical robes, at one of the 

 national religious festivals in the cathedral 

 church. More recently, Bishop Harris has 

 received similar episcopal recognition from 

 the Bishop of Varna, in Bulgaria. The Review 

 hopes for a continued advance in friendship, 

 but cautions the members of both Churches 

 against supposing that any union yet exists, 

 and calls attention to many points in the 

 Thirty-nine Articles of the English Church 

 which are at variance with the fundamental 

 doctrines of the Greek Church. Among them 



are the affirmation of Luther's doctrine of ori- 

 ginal sin, the doctrine of justification by faith 

 alone, the acceptance of Calvin's doctrine of 

 unconditional foreordination, the rejection of 

 five of the sacraments, while only two (bap- 

 tism and the Lord's Supper) are accepted, and 

 the condemnation of the worship and invoca- 

 tion of the saints. 



The Archbishop of Syros, returning from a 

 visit to England, addressed to the Greek Synod 

 an extremely flattering account of the recep- 

 tion he met and the honors he received from 

 the bishops and clergy of the Established 

 Church, but concluded by expressing his be- 

 lief that "the union of the two Churches (the 

 English and the Greek) cannot be the work 

 of the present day." 



The Committee of Bishops of the Protestant 

 Episcopal Church of the United States, in ac- 

 cordance with a resolution passed by the 

 Triennal Convention, addressed, in 1869, a let- 

 ter to the Russian Church, expressing a desire 

 for a closer intercommunion. The following 

 reply to this letter was received early in the 

 year: 



To the Well-Moved in Christ, and the LifjJit Heverend 

 Committee of the Court of JJishops of the Prot- 

 estant Episcopal Church in the United States of 

 America : 



Your letter, addressed to His Exellency, the Pro- 

 curator-General, Count Tolstoy, having been offered 

 by him to the consideration of the Most Holy Gov- 

 erning Synod of Eussia, together with the report and 

 the decision of the Court of Bishops, approved by 

 the Chamber of the Ecclesiastical and Laical Depu- 

 ties, in reference to the establishment upon a true 

 catholic basis of a spiritual fraternity between the 

 American and Orthodox Churches, especially in the 

 Territory of Alaska, was received by the Most Holy 

 Synod of all the Eussias "with the utmost gladness, 

 as a new proof of respect shown by the representa- 

 tives of the Episcopal Church, and of their estimable 

 purpose concerning the union of the Churches. The 

 Most Holy Synod, on their part, will make it an ob- 

 ject of their constant care that a spirit of Christian 

 tolerance and fraternal love and esteem, in accord- 

 ance with the precepts and usages of our Church, 

 should continue to pervade all the relations between 

 the members of the Orthodox and those of the Prot- 

 estant Episcopal Church in America, and particular- 

 ly in the Territory of Alaska. 



As to the hypothesis of a reciprocal participation 

 in the solemn performance of the Sacrament, the 

 Eastern Church, firmly adhering to the principles 

 and convictions so clearlv stated in the messages 

 sent in 3723 by the Orthodox patriarchs of the East 

 in reply to the Anglican bishops, considers a pre- 

 vious agreement in faith as peremptorily indispen- 

 sable before the practical mutual participation in the 

 sacraments, inasmuch as the first is the only possible 

 groundwork or basis for the last. 



In order to attain this moat desired end, a thorough 

 study and investigation of the differences in the doc- 

 trine of both Churches would be absolutely requisite, 

 and, to promote this, a great principle of cooperation 

 will undoubtedly be found in the spirit of peace and 

 charity which animates both Churches the Ortho- 

 dox as well as the American and in those prayers 

 for the peace of the whole world, and for the union 

 of the holy Churches of the Lord, which arise to the 

 God of truth and mercy from the Orthodox churches, 

 and which are most certainly shared by the Ameri- 

 can churches. 



Having been authorized by the Most Holy Govern- 



