272 



EASTERN CHURCHES. 



so that they may some day nullify their acts, and re- 

 turn to the only holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, 

 in order, with all the orthodox, to praise God, who 

 came upon the earth to bring peace and good-will to 

 all men. He it is whom we shall honor and worship ? 

 with the Father and the Holy Ghost, to the end or 

 time. Amen. 



The decree is signed by his Grace the (Ecu- 

 menical Patriarch and the three former Patri- 

 archs of Constantinople, the Patriarch of 

 Alexandria, the Patriarch of Antioch, the 

 Archbishop of Cyprus, and by twenty-five 

 metropolitans and bishops. The refusal of 

 the Patriarch of Jerusalem to sign the decree 

 was not approved by his clergy, for the pro- 

 vincial Synod of Jerusalem not only indorsed 

 the excommunication of the Bulgarians, but 

 demanded the deposition of their Patriarch, 

 who was looked upon as a schismatic. In 

 November, the Patriarch of Constantinople 

 prevailed upon the Turkish Government to 

 ask the Bulgarian Exarchate to make proposi- 

 tions with regard to a change in the clerical 

 dress of the Bulgarian clergy, so as to distin- 

 guish them from those in ecclesiastical com- 

 munion with the Patriarch of Constantinople. 

 The Exarch was afraid that the abandonment 

 of a dress which the mass of the people looked 

 upon as an integral part of the clerical dignity 

 might be injurious to the interests of the Bul- 

 garian Church, and he therefore refused to 

 make the demanded proposition. 



The Russians have of late gained consider- 

 able influence among the monks of Mount 

 Athos. These monks number about 6,000, in 

 21 convents, who devote themselves to reli- 

 gious exercises and horticulture and agricul- 

 ture. Russia has long been in the habit of 

 sending popes to Athos, with rich presents, 

 but the Russians have thus far willingly sub- 

 mitted to all the regulations of the Greek 

 monks. Of late, attention has been called to 

 the fact that gradually the number of Russian 

 monks has become so large that they have 

 now a majority in two monasteries. 



The foreign missions of the Russian State 

 Church in China, Japan, and other countries, 

 are thus briefly stated : The Peikwan, or pres- 

 ent ecclesiastical mission of the Church in Pe- 

 king, occupies the site of a Buddhist temple, 

 granted to Russian captives who were brought 

 to Peking in 1685. A few years later, the 

 church on this site a part of the original tem- 

 ple was consacrated. It was repaired in 

 173i, when a cupola, surmounted by a cross, 

 was erected in the middle of the church. In 

 1827 the structure, which had fallen to ruins, 

 was rebuilt on the old site, which, according 

 to the Russian custom, could not be surren- 

 dered. The houses of the ecclesiastics, togeth- 

 er with the legation, were rebuilt in 1865, and 

 during the last year the schools were erected. 

 The Archimandrite Palladius, now absent in 

 Mantchooria, in the service of the Geographical 

 Society of Sfc. Petersburg, who have placed 

 ample means of exploration at his command, 

 is said to be a most active and amiable man. 



He has published a number of phrase-books, 

 which have been of great service to Russian 

 merchants in their intercourse with the Chi- 

 nese. His report of the Tien-Tsin massacre 

 was forwarded to the Synod of his Church, 

 and published. The works produced by mem- 

 bers of the mission show their extensive ac- 

 quaintance with the Chinese language and lit- 

 erature. There are two schools connected I 

 with the Mission, one of boys, with about forty 

 pupils, another of girls, which numbers thirty. 

 The latter was begun eight years ago, and is 

 presided over by a Chinese matron. The ob- 

 ject of the mission, according to the direction 

 of the Synod, is mainly the maintenance of 

 Christianity among those already known as 

 Christians. Chinese converts are received 

 with great caution. The number annually 

 added to the Greek Church in Peking varies 

 from ten to forty. The entire number of 

 Russo-Chinese Christians in and around Pe- 

 king is estimated at 500. The only station 

 outside of Peking is at Tung- ting- an, 100 li 

 distant. This community was founded by 

 Father Isaiah, in 1865. A large portion of the 

 village expressed the wish to adopt Christian- 

 ity, and the little church there has seventy-five 

 members. The church was built from funds 

 furnished by the merchants in Kiakhta. Close 

 by it is a palace and the great Lamasery, with 

 its 3,000 lamas, and the celebrated figure of 

 Buddha, seventy-five feet high. At Peking, 

 the Russians have ever occupied one of the 

 more honorable among the eight banners under 

 which the city is divided. In the prosperous 

 days of the empire, imperial bounty was lav- 

 ishly bestowed upon them. Wasteful state 

 expenditui?e, however, has reduced the means 

 from which they were once supplied. In Ja- 

 pan, the Greek Church has also, during the 

 past year, established a mission much after 

 the same style as that at Peking. It is pro- 

 vided with one archimandrite and three 

 priests. Nor in Persia have the interests of 

 the Greek Church been overlooked. It is, 

 however, only of late years that it has had 

 much success. Quite recently a missionary 

 society has been established in Moscow, with 

 auxiliaries in most of the provinces. Its ob- 

 ject is to educate missionaries, and collect 

 funds for their support. Its president is Ino- 

 centius, former Bishop of Kamtchatka, who is 

 said to have been the means of converting 

 40,000 heathen. There are many mission- 

 stations planted in different parts of the em- 

 pire, including the Caucasus and Siberia. The 

 number of converts, in 1869, was estimated at 

 more than 18,000. 



The idea of a closer connection with the 

 episcopal Churches of Western Europe and 

 America is evidently making remarkable prog- 

 ress. The following letters, called forth by a 

 resolution of the General Convention of tho 

 Protestant Episcopal Church of the United 

 States, show that the present Patriarch of 

 Constantinople and the President of the Holy 



