GREEK CHURCH. 



377 



lem Church, according to a true judgment of facts, 

 in reference to the motives which had to do with the 

 change in the patriarchate. But this could hardly 

 be of service amid the quarrels and agitations in the 

 Patriarchate arising from the deposition of 'the most 

 blessed Cyril. Such has been the motive for our 

 delay to send an answer to the letter of Procopius, 

 an answer which would inevitably involve an ex- 

 posure of injustice. And so has been given a new 

 proof of our love of peace with regard to the East- 

 ern Churches in communion with us. 



Patriarch Procopius gave in his resignation 

 early in 1875, and the "Holy and Sacred Synod 

 of the Holy Apostolic and Patriarchal Throne 

 of Jerusalem, and the representation of the 

 Orthodox people," chose as his successor Hiero- 

 theus, a Greek priest of Smyrna. The new 

 Patriarch addressed, as usual on such occa- 

 sions, to the heads of the other autocephalous 

 Churches of the Greek communion, an " Eiren- 

 ic Epistle," in which he notified them of his 

 election, and alluded to the needs of his Church 

 and the trials of his position. The Neologos, 

 of Constantinople, the organ of the Patriarch 

 of Constantinople, thus refers to the new Pa- 

 triarch, and the conflicts betwen Slavism and 

 Hellenism : 



The evident struggle of Slavism, and its tools of 

 different races, is, systematically, toward acquiring 

 the ecclesiastical sceptre over the Eastern people. 

 Many evidences of this have been seen at various 

 times at Constantinople, at Jerusalem, Antioch, and 

 wherever else that Hellenism, that prototype and 

 guard of pure Christianity, lives and moves and has 

 its being. The evidence of this is set down in so 

 enduring colors as to bear witness to the latest gen- 

 eration that Caesarism, with all its dread power in 

 things earthly, can never avail to subdue minds in- 

 spired by true devotion and free understanding. 



The present most blessed Patriarch of Jerusalem, 

 Hierotheus, has been neither a candidate, nor a 

 friend, nor a tool, of Slavic policy, as was Cyril, 

 who was deposed by his Synod. It is known that 

 the revenues by which the Church in Palestine has 

 kent up its various institutions come from property, 

 which for three years past has been in possession of 

 the Russian Government. The want and the hunger 

 to which the Church of the Holy Land has thus been 

 condemned, greatly aid the destructive work of those 

 who are enemies to it and to orthodoxy. To the 

 starving soldiers of the faith they show the silver- 

 headed spears, and, as Satan did to Jesus in the 

 same city, tempting through a glittering display, 

 they show to them the gold of Bessarabia, if'they 

 will only fall down and worship the deposed and 

 schismatic Cyril, and with humble and contrite 

 heart ask his forgiveness. And these inimical plots 

 after a leadership have succeeded in persuading a 

 sister Church, if report speaks truly, to advise the 

 standing garrison of the Church in Jerusalem to 

 yield to the demands of its enemies, not on the 

 ground of right, but of expediency, not according to 

 the sacred canons of the orthodox faith, but accord- 

 ing to the rule of financial prudence. 



The reports of the chief-procurator of the 

 Holy Synod of St. Petersburg, Count Tolstoy, 

 are one of the most valuable sources of in- 

 formation for the recent history of the state 

 Church of Russia. The .report published in 

 1875 treats of the condition of the Russian 

 Church during the year 1873. "We learn from 

 this report that the missionary activity of the 

 Church among the pagan tribes of Russia is 



actively pursued, but thus far without notable 

 result. A Russian bishop who, in 1872, visited 

 a congregation of Chinese immigrants in Sibe- 

 ria, found that many of the converts were 

 Christians only by name, and in their customs 

 and religious life continued to adhere to pagan- 

 ism. Count Tolstoy reports that the reform of 

 the " Ecclesiastical Academies " (theological 

 faculties) has now been carried through ; that 

 37 of the ecclesiastical seminaries, and 133 of 

 the lower ecclesiastical schools, had been thor- 

 oughly reformed by the end of 1873. Among 

 the theological works published in the course 

 of 1873, there are specially mentioned the 

 seventh volume of the " History of the Russian 

 Church," by Archbishop Macarius, of Lithu- 

 ania (containing the history of the fifteenth 

 and sixteenth centuries); a "History of the 

 Russian Translation of the Bible," by Prof. 

 Tchistovitch ; and a " History of the Return of 

 the United Greeks in "Western Russia to the Or- 

 thodox Church," by Prof. Kojalovitch. Of the 

 new Russian translation of the Bible which has 

 been begun by order of the Holy Synod, the 

 books of Ezekiel, Daniel, and the Maccabees, 

 appeared in 1873. The ukase of 1869, which 

 orders the improvement of the material condi- 

 tion of the clergy, and therefore a reduction 

 of their number, was gradually carried out. In 

 1873 the number of congregations in eighteen 

 governments was reduced from 9,810 to 7,818, 

 and the number of clerics was reduced by 

 14,701, leaving 11,431 priests, 179 deacons, 

 and 12,511 psalmists (the priests with salaries 

 ranging from 500 to 700 rubles, and the psalm- 

 ists with salaries from 144 to 180 rubles). A 

 E reject for reforming the ecclesiastical courts 

 as been submitted to the bishops and consis- 

 tories, to obtain their opinions, before the Holy 

 Synod will enter into its discussion. 



The Missionary Society in the Russian 

 Church, founded by and under the presidency 

 of Innocent, for many years Bishop of Kam- 

 tchatka, and now Metropolitan of Moscow, 

 appears to make great progress, and to awaken 

 a considerable interest in the missionary cause. 

 The society publishes a weekly paper, called 

 The Missionary. 



The United Greek Church in Poland, which 

 in 1871 numbered a population of 229,000, is 

 now nearly extinct, the immense majority hav- 

 ing in the course of the years 1874 and 1875 

 renounced the communion with Rome, and 

 joined the Orthodox state Church of Russia. 

 In May, 1875, there were only 22 parishes in 

 the government of Siedlce, with 22 priests and 

 25,000 persons, and 1 parish, with 1 priest and 

 2,000 people, in the government of "Warsaw, 

 which still adhered to the United Church. A 

 number of priests, who refused to join the Rus- 

 sian Church, emigrated to Galicia. Roman 

 Catholic accounts represent this change of 

 religion as one which the Russian officials 

 forced, by acts of unparalleled cruelty, upon a 

 reluctant population. 



The Metropolitan and Primate of the Rou- 



