GREEK CHURCH. 



party, \vhilo all the others wore stanch par- 

 , of the national party. Tlio rumlidatu 

 of tho Hungarian Government for tho head- 

 ship of iii.- church was Bishop Gruitoh, tho 

 Administrator of the patriarchate; tliu court 

 of Vi.-nna favored tlie coadjutor bishop Aug- 

 i, tli.- IK-IK! of the clerical party ; tho na- 

 iaii party, in tine, waa known to 

 sup|M>rt Arsi-niiH Stojkovitcli, tho former ad- 

 ministrator of the patriarchate and at present 

 liUh.;i of Ofon. Bishop Gruitch had, in 1848, 

 the greatest enemy of the Magyars, and 

 by iii:l:iimiiutory speeches had stirred up tliu in- 

 surrection of the Servians against the Magyars. 

 During the ministry of Bach he had to suffer 

 much from persecution, and had to live for 

 many years retired in a convent of Syrmia. 

 When In- finally succeeded in obtaining a dio- 

 cese in Slavonia, he endeavored to atone for his 

 national tendencies in 1848 by an excessive 

 loyalty. His pastoral letters were chiefly re- 

 markable for the emphatic recommendation of 

 submissiveness to the Emperor and the lawful 

 authorities, lie found it all the easier to re- 

 enter into friendly relations with the Hungarian 

 Government, as he has an excellent command 

 of the Magyar language, having been educated 

 in a Magyar county. He has broken off all 

 connection with the national Servian party. 

 The coadjutor bishop Augyelitch is regarded 

 as the best authority in all questions of the 

 Oriental Church law. He is a determined op- 

 ponent of all the innovations which the creation 

 of an autonomous Church Congress has intro- 

 duced into the administration of the parishes, 

 of the consistories, and the eparchial assem- 

 blies. He desires to maintain the full authority 

 of the bishops, not only in all questions strictly 

 ecclesiastical, but also in the administration of 

 Church property. Being thoroughly conserva- 

 tive in all his views, he knew how to obtain 

 the unbounded confidence of the Vienna court. 

 Bishop Stqjkovitch is a firm and enthusiastic 

 advocate of all the peculiar tenets of the 

 Oriental Church, but he regards the participa- 

 tion of laymen in the administration of tempo- 

 ralities as entirely compatible with the charac- 

 ter of the Oriental Church. He kept entirely 

 aloof from the intrigues of the bishops and the 

 clerical party against the authority of the Ser- 

 vian Church Congress, and thus gained the af- 

 fection of the national party. Having been 

 appointed administrator of the patriarchate at 

 the death of Patriarch Mashirevitch, he gained 

 as president of the preceding Church Congress, 

 by the judicious exercise of his powers, univer- 

 sal satisfaction. In consequence of the intrigues 

 of the clerical party against him, he was re- 

 lieved from the administration of the patri- 

 archate, although the Emperor of Austria ex- 

 pressed to him on this occasion his satisfaction 

 and conferred upon him the grand-cross of the 

 Order of Leopold. The Hungarian Government, 

 being afraid of the popularity of Bishop Stojko- 

 vitch, endeavored to prevail upon him to decline 

 an election even before the opening of the Con- 



gress, but Stojkovitch refused to comply with 

 this demand, unless the Emperor personally 

 should request him to do BO. The opening of 

 this Congress was to take place at Carlowitz on 

 July llth, but was postponed to July 12th. Tho 

 Hungarian Government had appointed as its 

 commissioner Councillor liueber, a German- 

 Ilun^ariun, and native of a Servian district of 

 .iry. The intere*t which the entire Ser- 

 vian nation takes in this Church Congress had 

 brought to Carlowitz a large number of visitors 

 from all parts of Turkish as well as Austrian 

 S.-rvia. On the day of opening, the administra- 

 tor of tho patriarchate, Bishop Gruitch, having 

 been led by a deputation into the hall of the 

 Congress, moved that the respects of the Con- 

 gress be expressed to the royal commissioner, 

 and that he be invited to open the Congress. 

 When the commissioner had made his appear- 

 ance, he addressed the Congress at first in the 

 Hungarian, after that in the Servian language, 

 and then read the royal rescript, also in both 

 languages. The rescript designated, as the first 

 business of the Congress, the election of a 

 patriarch, after which the Synod would meet 

 to dispose of several subjects referred to it, 

 and to elect bishops for the vacant sees ; sub- 

 sequently the Congress would continue its 

 transactions on church, school, and property 

 questions. Full accounts of the proceedings 

 of the Congress were published in a litho- 

 graphed paper, specially established at Car- 

 lowitz for the purpose, and published in the 

 German language, under the title of Carlovitzer 

 Correspondem. Immediately after the verifi- 

 cation of the elections, the Congress proceeded 

 to the nomination of the patriarch. In ac- 

 cordance with the general expectation, Bishop 

 Stojkovitch was the first choice, sixty-three 

 votes being cast for him and seven members 

 abstaining from voting. The Government re- 

 fused to sanction the election, the royal rescript, 

 which is dated Ebensee, July 22d, merely stat- 

 ing that upon motion of the Prime-Minister of 

 Hungary, and in agreement with the Hungarian 

 Minister of Public Worship, and with the Gov- 

 ernment of Croatia, the royal sanction could 

 not be given to the election of Bishop Stojko- 

 vitch. After the reading of the royal rescript, 

 the Church Congress adopted a resolution ex- 

 pressing regret that, for the first time in 

 the history of the.Austro-Servians, the royal 

 sanction had been denied to a patriarch who 

 had been elected by a unanimous vote. The 

 members of the Congress were at first in- 

 clined to resign in a body, as they were not 

 willing to elect any of the other bishops of the 

 Servian Church. At length, however, they 

 agreed to proceed to a second election, and to 

 cast their votes for the Metropolitan of the 

 Greek Church of the Roumanian nation, Arch- 

 bishop Ivaoskovitch, who, although the head 

 of the church of another nationality, was yet 

 a native Servian and a personal friend of 

 Stojkovitch. He was accordingly elected on 

 July Ulst, by fifty-six votes; the candidate of 



