376 



GREEK CHURCH. 



the Eastern and Western Churches had been at dis- 

 agreement, hitherto. Among others, it was declared 

 that the liturgy ought to be celebrated in a language 

 understood by the people ; that the reading of the 

 Scriptures in the vulgar tongue ought not to be for- 

 bidden, and that no translation of the Scriptures 

 could have greater authority than the original. 

 (Those who made this latter decision had in view 

 the Vulgate translation.) 



At the Union Conference held at Bonn, in 

 August, 1875, the Greek Church was more 

 numerously and more prominently represented 

 than at the Conference of 1874. The Patri- 

 arch of Constantinople, in compliance with 

 an invitation from Dr. Dollinger, not only ap- 

 pointed several theologians to represent the 

 Patriarchal Church, but his official paper, the 

 Neologos, of Constantinople, expressed the 

 hope that the project of uniting the Episcopal 

 churches of Christendom would be successfully 

 accomplished. In an elaborate article on the 

 history of the Old Catholics this paper says : 



The period for the unity of the church is, at last, ar- 

 rived. The fanaticism of worldly power caused the 

 separation ; its abuses have caused the different peo- 

 ples to draw near to each other through knowledge 

 and science, and the common canons of logic and 

 ethics. 



Very remarkable are the patience, the care, and 

 the promptitude, displayed by the Old Catholics in 

 organizing their new, independent and autocephalic 

 church, while, at the same time, they do not cease 

 laboring, through the power of true learning and 

 of kindly tact, for the unity of -their Church with the 

 rest of Christendom ; but still more remarkable is 

 the readiness with which the other churches accept 

 the invitation of the Old Catholics, with which they 

 greet the beginning of unity. We say advisedly, the 

 " other churches,'"' for no political or ecclesiastical 

 authority has in any way opposed this manifest ten- 

 dency toward unity in which the most distinguished 

 theologians and professors share. This unity will 

 be brought about by the spirit of peace and Chris- 

 tian brotherhood ; and not at all by that of damna- 

 tion and of worldly interests. 



Among the prominent representatives of the 

 Oriental churches were Archbishop Lycurgos, 

 of Syra and Tenos, for many years the most 

 prominent leader of the union movement in 

 the Eastern churches; two archbishops of Rou- 

 mania, Archpriest Yanishev and Prof. Ossinin, 

 of Russia, who have taken an active part in 

 all the previous assemblies of the German Old 

 Catholics; Prof. Damalas and Prof. Rhossis, 

 of Athens, both distinguished as theological 

 scholars. After long and animated discussions 

 it was found possible to frame in regard to the 

 dogmatical questions, which have so long di- 

 vided the Eastern and Western Christian 

 Churches, several resolutions so worded that 

 the representatives of the Greek could accept 

 them as well as the Anglicans and Old Catho- 

 lics. (See OLD CATHOLICS.) It was understood 

 that the resolutions agreed to would be sub- 

 mitted to the Patriarch of Constantinople and 

 his Council and to the Holy Synods of Russia 

 and Greece. At the meeting of the Synod of 

 the Roumanian Church which met at Bucha- 

 rest on November 27th, the two Roumanian 

 bishops who had attended the Conference 



gave a full account of the proceedings. At the 

 close of their report they moved that the 

 Synod cause a Roumanian translation to be 

 prepared of the German pamphlet, containing 

 a verbatim account of all the transactions of 

 the Conference, in order to give to all members 

 of the Church an opportunity to become famil- 

 iar with the important union movement. The 

 bishops say : 



The participation of the Roumanian Church, in a 

 work of so high a moral importance as a union of 

 churches which for centuries had been separated 

 would be, is the greatest consolation and the great- 

 est joy for every true Christian. This work will 

 also elevate our national dignity, for by taking part 

 conjointly with the other autocephalous orthodox 

 churches in a question of so great an importance for 

 Christian civilization, the Roumanian Church rises 

 to the rank which belongs to it in the Christian 

 world and in the spiritual life of the Church. It is. 

 therefore, our opinion that the Holy Synod should 

 authorize his Holiness the Metropolitan Primas and 

 President of the Holy Synod to come to an under- 

 standing with the authorities of the other orthodox 

 churches on the steps which the Roumanian Church 

 should take in behalf of a reunion of the Christian 

 Church. 



The Greek Church of Turkey continues to 

 be greatly distracted by the disputes between 

 the Slavic and the Hellenic races. The last 

 annual report of Count Tolstoy, the chief-pro- 

 curator of the Holy Synod of St. Petersburg, 

 expresses the views which the Government of 

 Russia entertains in regard to recent difficulties 

 in the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Count Tol- 

 stoy says : 



The Greco-Bulgarian difficulty was, even in 1872, 

 upon the close of the Council of Constantinople, 

 sadly reflected in the condition of the Patriarchate 

 of Jerusalem. The courageous prelate who presided 

 over the Church in Palestine, the most blessed Cyril, 

 after having occupied that Patriarchal ^See^ with 

 honor for twenty-seven years, through his dissent 

 from the decision of that Council in the Bulgarian 

 affair, incurred the enmity of the Greek clergy, both 

 at Constantinople and in his own patriarchate. Con- 

 sidered for this as a traitor to Greek nationality, he 

 was condemned and driven from his patriarchal 

 throne, to the great grief of that part of his flock 

 (forming the majority of it) which belonged to the 

 Arab race, and which had a great esteem for the 

 character of a true archpastor, free from national 

 prejudice, and watchful over the moral and the ma- 

 terial interest of his flock, without stopping to con- 

 sider to what race they belonged. In the place of 

 the most blessed Cyril, there was raised to the pa- 

 triarchal throne of the Church at Jerusalem the 

 Archbishop of Gaza, the Most Reverend Procopius. 

 The new partriarch, in January of the past year, 

 sent to the Holy Synod a letter telling of the depo- 

 sition of the most blessed Cyril, and of his own 

 accession to the Patriarchal throne. As the depo- 

 sition of the late Patriarch, and the accession to the 

 See of the Most Reverend Procopius, was the work 

 of the Greek party only, and as this was in imme- 

 diate connection with the Council at Constantinople, 

 in regard to which the Holy Synod has delayed to 

 express its judgment, the above-mentioned letter of 

 Procopius lias been left, by the Synod, unanswered, 

 and the rather so for this "reason, that, in his letter, 

 the facts relative to the change in the Patriarchate 

 of Jerusalem were stated, by the new Patriarch, 

 partially and supei-ficially. Guided by the dictates 

 of justice, our Holy Synod in its response would 

 have been compelled to express itself to the Jerusa- 



