374 



GREEK CHURCH. 



the insurrection of the Christians in European 

 Turkey. 



The appointment of a Roman Catholic arch- 

 bishop for Athens by the Pope created great 

 dissatisfaction, and the Government refused to 

 sanction the appointment, on the ground that 

 the Minister of Public Worship should have 

 been consulted in such a matter. 



A convention was concluded on April 25, 

 18T4, between the Governments of Greece and 

 Germany, by which the latter was authorized 

 to undertake excavations at Olympia. Accord- 

 ing to the articles of the convention, all the 

 objects that may be found will be the property 

 of Greece, but Germany, which defrays all the 

 expenses of the excavations, has for five years 

 the exclusive right of taking copies and imita- 

 tions of all the works of art that may be found. 

 The results of the excavations will be published 

 in Germany in the German language, and at 

 Athens in Greek. After the sanction of the con- 

 vention by the Greek Chamber, in 1875, the ex- 

 cavations began on October 4, 1875, and early 

 in January, 1876, Prof. Curtius and the archi- 

 tect Adler published the first account, embrac- 

 ing the important discoveries which had been 

 made from October 4 to December 31, 1875. 



GREEK CHURCH. The population con- 

 nected with the Oriental Greek Church of 

 Russia was in 1871, according to the "Statis- 

 tical Year-book of the Russian Empire " (vol. 

 ii., 1871), about 58,000,000, divided as follows: 

 European Russia, 53,139,000; Poland, 30,000; 

 Caucasia, 1,930,000 ; Siberia, 2,875,000 ; Cen- 

 tral Asia, 131,000; Finland, 34,000. Turkey 

 numbers about 12,000,000 inhabitants belong- 

 ing to the Greek Church, of whom 4,275,000 

 belong to Roumania, and 1,295,000 to Servia; 

 Austria, according to the census of 1869, 3,050,- 

 000; the kingdom of Greece, 1,440,000; Mon- 

 tenegro, 125,000 ; Germany, about 3,000. 



All sections of the Greek Church take a pro- 

 found interest in the union movements which 

 for some time have been going on between the 

 Eastern, Old Catholic, and Anglican Churches. 

 A Russian theologian, who, as a prominent 

 representative of the Greek Church, took part 

 in the Union Conferences held at Bonn, stated 

 in a letter, addressed to a Greek theologian, 

 very clearly the negotiations which have thus 

 far taken place between the Greek and Old 

 Catholic theologians, and the present condition 

 of the question so far as the Greek Church is 

 concerned. As the movement is still progress- 

 ing, and one of the prominent ecclesiastical 

 questions of the day, the letter of the Russian 

 theologian, which has been received by the 

 organs of the Greek Church with general ap- 

 proval, will be useful for reference. It is as 

 follows : 



DEAR SIB : In compliance with the request which, 

 you have done me the honor to make, I hasten to 

 give you some information touching our relations 

 with the Old Catholics. 



Immediately after the Old Catholic Congress (the 

 second) held at Cologne, in 1872, a committee of the 

 most learned of the Old Catholics, under the chair- 



manship of Dr. Von Schulte, laid down the bases on 

 which might be arranged, in the future, unity be- 

 tween the Old Catholics and the Orthodox. These 

 bases were accepted by us (who took part in the dis- 

 cussion), and by the Anglicans. They are as follows : 



1. We believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and 

 Saviour, the only-begotten Son of God, and the God- 

 Man. 



2. We believe in one Church founded by Him. 



3. The criterion of Christian truth is quod semper, 

 quod ubique, quod ab omnibus creditum esf. The 

 sources of information as to the teaching, the wor- 

 ship, and the discipline of the divinely-founded 

 Church are the following : (a) The Holy Scriptures ; 



(b) The writings of the Fathers of the Church; 



(c) The decrees of the (Ecumenical Councils. 



4. In the discussions and investigations the his- 

 torical method should be followed as the only one 

 which is safe and entirely impartial. 



The orthodoxy of these bases is, I suppose, un- 

 doubted, and in all that we have done we have had 

 that in view. 



The dogmatic differences are as to the following 

 questions : 



1. Concerning the Church and its Head. 



2. Concerning the Holy Ghost. 



3. Concerning the Holy Virgin Mary. 



4. Concerning God's Works. 



5. Concerning Sin. 



6. Concerning the condition of the Soul after death. 

 The Canonical and disciplinary differences are as 



to the following questions : 



1. Concerning the Creed. 



2. Concerning the Sacrament of Baptism. 



3. Concerning the Sacrament of Confirmation. 



4. Concerning the Sacrament of the Eucharist. 



5. Concerning the Sacrament of Penance. 



6. Concerning the Sacrament of Marriage. 



7. Concerning the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. 

 Dr. Langen, as chairman of the Committee for 



Union with the Eastern Orthodox Church, sent to 

 us, in the name of the committee, a very careful re- 

 ply concerning each of the points in debate. This 

 reply, although expressing a sincere desire for the 

 attainment of unity, was, nevertheless, very cautious- 

 ly expressed, especially upon two of the more im- 

 portant questions, of the Filioque, and concerning 

 the authority of the Pope of Kome. It was very evi- 

 dent that the ideas of the Old Catholics were much 

 in advance of what they were at the time of the Con- 

 gress at Munich, when it was proposed to take a 

 stand upon the Decree of the Council of Trent. 



At the Conference at Bonn, in 1874, another step 

 was taken a step most important for the truth, and 

 toward mutual understanding. ^The Old Catholics 

 made concessions, more or less important, as to all 

 the points of difference, with an independence of 

 spirit doing credit alike to their understanding and 

 their character. 



DOGMATIC QUESTIONS. 1. Concerning the Church 

 and its Head. 



This question is divisible into two parts the first, 

 concerning the discipline of the Church, and the 

 position of the Bishop of Eome, to whom had been 

 assigned an honorable precedence (primus inter 

 pares). Concerning this first point, the Old Catholics 

 said that they were unable to make a dogmatic 

 definition, and for this reason, especially, that this 

 question still excites very lively discussion among" 

 the Old Catholics themselves. 



This answer states that some explanations are 

 needful; let. us compare it with the answer which 

 was given in 1874, by the Committee on Unity, of 

 which Dr. Langen is chairman. This said in its 

 answer that, although they denied the infallibility 

 of the Pope, the committee thought that, as primus 

 inter pares, a certain precedence belonged to the Pope, 

 similar to that enjoyed by any one who presided over 

 a gathering of equals. This point, in" accordance 

 with a suggestion of Dr. Dollinger, was not discussed, 



