398 



GREEK CHURCH 



merits in the patriarchal chair, and are supposed 

 finally to have instigated his murder by the Turks. 

 The innovations contemplated by Lucaris called 

 forth a doctrinal declaration signed by the patri- 

 archs of Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch, 

 and defining the differences between the Greeks and 

 the Reformers. This exposition Avas later ( 1 672 ) 

 adopted at a synod held at Jerusalem. But within 

 our time the conciliatory spirit which animates 

 these two branches of Christianity has found ex- 

 pression in practical measures of closer intercourse. 

 In February 1872 the Greek bishop of Patras was 

 present and delivered his benediction at the laying 

 of the foundation-stone of an Anglican church in 

 that town. And when later Lycurgus, the learned 

 Archbishop of Syraand Tinos, and the .Archbishops 

 of Corfu and of Cyprus, visited England, they each 

 attended Anglican services, and delivered their 

 benediction in Anglican churches. But the most 

 notable advance towards ' intercommunion ' was 

 made in 1859, and again in 1874, when the House of 

 Convocation appointed a committee 'to establish 

 such relations between the two communions as 

 shall enable the laity and clergy of either to join 

 in the sacraments and offices of the other without 

 forfeiting the communion of their own church.' 

 As a first step towards this end the patriarch of 

 Constantinople issued an encyclical enjoining his 

 clergy to bury deceased members of the Anglican 

 Church in orthodox burial-grounds, and to cele- 

 brate their funeral rites with prayers taken from 

 the funeral office of the orthodox church. 



Sects. The early theological controversies within 

 the Greek Church itself, resulting in sectarianism, 

 differ in this respect from the secessions from the 

 Roman Church that in the West the protest was 

 directed mainly against abuse and ultramontanism, 

 whereas in the East objections have always been 

 raised against what was deemed innovation. 



All the branches of the Eastern Church receive 

 the first two councils, those of Nicea and. Con- 

 stantinople. But these two only are admitted by 

 the Chaldeans, the earliest of Eastern separatists, 

 whose dispute related to the meaning of evavOpd-n-rjais 

 ( ' incarnation ' ). This doctrine gave rise to two 

 distinct and opposed theories. The one accepted 

 complete union of the human and the divine 

 nature of Christ, and formed the belief of the Mono- 

 physites. The other maintained a separation of 

 the two natures, so as to deny their co-existence 

 in one person, and rejected the term Theotokos as 

 applied to the Virgin Mary. Such were the tenets 

 of Nestorius, whom the third Council of Ephesus 

 (431) condemned, and after whom the Chaldeans 

 are also called Nestorians, This sect spread 

 rapidly throughout the interior of Asia, and 

 became active in missions, not only to the neigh- 

 bouring Persians and Indians, but to the Bactrians 

 and Huns, as far north as the Caspian, to Samar- 

 kand and the very confines of China, and to Soco- 

 tra, Ceylon, and the Malabar coast in the south. 

 In this last locality a remnant of the former 

 growth and power of this church still exists. They 

 are the Christians of St Thomas, so called either 

 from the apostle, or more probably from a Nes- 

 torian missionary of that name. Mussulman per- 

 secution, however, and the inroads of eastern bar- 

 barians have weakened, and at one time had al- 

 most annihilated, the Nestorians, who are now found 

 principally in Kurdistan, and who believe them- 

 selves to be the lost tribes of Israel. Their sacred 

 city is Edessa, the reputed birthplace of Abraham, 

 .uid their ' catholikos ' or primate assumes the title 

 of 'Patriarch of Babylon,' his seat having been 

 successively removed thence to Bagdad, Mosul, 

 and Julamerk (or Giuliamerk), where he now 

 resides. The Nestorian patriarch is the only 

 Eastern prelate who may marry. 



The tenets of the Monophysites were condemned 

 by the fourth cecurnenical council of Chalcedon 

 (451), which established that Christ is to be 

 acknowledged in two natures, ' invisibly and un- 

 changeably.' On this the larger portion of Syrian 

 and Egyptian Christians, who had accepted the 

 three former councils, seceded from the church, 

 and soon broke up into three minor communities, 

 largely through the influence of nationality. 



In Syria the Monophysites were called Jacobites, 

 from James the Apostle as they pretend, but more 

 probably from Jacobus Baradeus, the Syrian heresi- 

 arch, since the name is equally applied to the other 

 churches of the sect. The patriarch of the Syrian 

 Jacobites bears in succession always the hallowed 

 name of Ignatius, and resides at Diarbekir (the 

 ancient Amida), on the right bank of the Tigris. 

 The country beyond was originally under the 

 charge of the 'Maphrian ("fruit-bearer") of the 

 East,' so called from the fact that his was princi- 

 pally a missionary see it is now established at 

 Mosul. This church, like the Nestorian, was 

 formerly widespread and flourishing, extending to 

 more than a hundred bishoprics, of which but five 

 now survive. 



The Jacobites of Egypt are better known under 

 their national designation of Copts (q.v.), and form 

 the great majority of the Christian population of 

 northern Africa, as well as the most civilised of its 

 native races. They have intercommunion with the 

 Jacobites of Syria. Their patriarch, who takes his 

 title from Alexandria, but resides at Cairo, claims 

 jurisdiction over Jerusalem, Egypt, Nubia, Abys- 

 sinia, and the Pentapolis. He is elected by the body 

 of bishops from candidates nominated by the four 

 convents which possess this right. He alone has 

 power of ordination, which is conferred, not by 

 imposition of hands, but by the act of breathing. 



A third branch of the great Jacobite communion 

 is the Ethiopian Church in Abyssinia, where 

 Christianity was first introduced in the 4th century 

 by missionaries from Alexandria. The 'abouna' 

 or metropolitan is, under the nominal supremacy 

 of the Coptic patriarch at Cairo, primate of the 

 Abyssinian Church, which presents an extraordi- 

 nary combination of Christian and Jewish observ- 

 ances. Both baptism and circumcision are deemed 

 necessary ; both the Sabbath and Sunday are 

 observed ; polygamy is permitted, though not com- 

 mon ; and the flesh of swine is forbidden. The old 

 controversies as to the nature of Christ still con- 

 tinue in Abyssinia ; and Pilate, because he washed 

 his hands of the blood of Christ, is canonised by 

 the Ethiopian Church. 



The Armenian Church, which is often considered 

 Jacobite, because it also receives only the first three 

 councils, is, in all essential points, much more akin 

 to the Church of Constantinople ; and, indeed, the 

 non- united section of the communion call them- 

 selves 'Orthodox.' The absence of the Armenian 

 delegates from the Council of Chalcedon was due 

 to the internal disorders of their country, but 

 they were definitely separated from the Greek 

 Church in 552. The Armenians were converted 

 to Christianity by Gregory the Illuminator, 

 and are therefore often called Gregorians (see 

 ARMENIA). They, of all Christian churches, in- 

 clude as canonical Old Testament books the ' His- 

 tory of Joseph and Asenath,' and the 'Testament 

 of the Twelve Patriarchs ; ' and in the New Testa- 

 ment the 'Epistle of the Corinthians to St Paul,' 

 and ' Third Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians.' 



The decisions of the sixth oscumenical council 

 held at Constantinople (680) resulted in the seces- 

 sion of the Monothelites, whose tenets as to the one 

 will of Christ that council condemned. They 

 included the Christian population of the Lebanon, 

 who have since been better known as Maronites, 



