C;I:I:I:K CHURCH 



from St Mm-., a- they allege, the Syrian anchorite 



nf the ."itll cen I II r\. alter whom the fillmilis COI1- 



near CyniH i named, but more credibly from 



.luliii More, their first patriarch in 701. Their 



the patriarch of Kunoliin. In the l-'th 



irv, however, I iy tin- influence of tin- Crusaders, 



M.ironitcs -iihmiited (1182) to the Roman 



Church, of which they now form an integral part. 



It is essential t<i observe tliat in each of the sects 

 aii'l churches -o described there arc, almost witli- 

 ..ii> exception, three divisions, resulting from the 

 influence respectively of old traditions, national- 

 Mil' proclh it it's, ami the .It-suit Propaganda. In 

 each of I lif-i' Ka-tern communions one should there- 

 lore distinguish (1) the 'Orthodox' section, with 

 derided leanings towards the church of Constantin- 

 ople ; (2) the 'National' section, whicli maintains 

 the independence of each particular heresy ; and (3) 

 the ' I'nited ' or ' Catholic' section, which acknow- 

 ledges the supremacy of the pope. 



'.//.v or 1'iiiti-il Greeks. This last category 

 forms an important fraction of the Greek Church 

 itself. The fall of the empire facilitated the in- 

 1 1 i-ues of the Roman Propaganda, which, especially 

 ai'it-r the Reformation, endeavoured actively to 

 - 'cure the submission to. Rome of isolated Greek 

 communities in the East; while, in the West, the 

 inlluence of Catholic governments was brought 

 to bear, to the same end, on the scattered Greek 

 colonies, and on the outlying portions of the 

 C.rct-k <'lmrch. Thus, the numerous Greek and 

 Albanian refugees from Epirus, who had settled 

 in Sicily and southern Italy, were soon com- 

 pelled to succumb; as also the indigenous ortho- 

 dox populations in Austria and Poland i.e. 

 the Roumanians in Transylvania and eastern 

 Hungary, and the Ruthemans in Galicia and 

 I. it tic Russia. The Polish Greeks, however, who 

 hail iK'come 'Uniats' in 1,590, reverted, for the 

 most part, to the Russian Church in 1839. It is 

 difficult to state exactly to what degree union 

 has thus l>een. attained. The primary, and in 

 most cases, the only condition, was submission to 

 papal supremacy ; all else clerical matrimony, 

 communion in l>oth kinds, church discipline, rites, 

 and liturgy being allowed to remain Greek. But 

 when circumstances were favourable, more strin- 

 gent conditions were gradually imposed. And 

 therefore the ' Unia,' as the pact is styled, is 

 not uniform in aught else but the unremitting 

 elVorts of the Propaganda to efface the individu- 

 ality of these dismembered churches. 



'/'//; Four Patriarchates. The Mohammedan in- 

 \ a-ion submerged and curtailed the area, especially 

 in Asia and Africa, over which the Eastern Church 

 had spread ; and the other vicissitudes to which 

 reference has been made modified from time to 

 time the extent of that area. Still, the four 

 patriarchates claim jurisdiction within their 

 original boundaries, with the exception of the 

 Independent states which were successively emanci- 

 pited from Turkish rule. 



The patriarchate of Constantinople includes 

 the whole of Kuropean Turkey, Asia Minor and 

 l'ontiis(Trebi/on<l). and all the' islands. The patri- 

 archate of Antioch includes Syria, Phrenicia, 

 Isauria. and cjlicia. This patriarchate, which at 

 one time extended its inlluence to India and as far 

 China, has suffered most from the spread of 

 Mohammedanism. The patriarchate of Jerusalem 

 includes tin- whole of Palestine, and, prior to the 

 Saracenic ront|ii''M . u ; ,> ,. o f the most nourishing, 

 although the one established last (451). The 

 patriarchate of Alexandria, once the most power- 

 ful and important, has shrunk, since the Mussul- 

 man occupation of Egypt, into the narrow limits of 

 the see of that particular city. 



The archiepiscopal see of 'Cyprus, which formed 



pail of tin- patriarchate of Antio< h, wan raised to 

 an independent position by the Council of KphexuH 

 (431), ami its primate, though inferior in rank to 

 tin- patriarchs, lias precedence over all other arch- 

 bishops. Me eiijovs the exceptional privilege of 

 atlixing his signature in red ink. 



The chinch of Constantinople is known &n 'tin- 

 Great Church ' ( MrydXij 'EKK\i?<rta ), from its ancient 

 pre-eminence as the see of the oecumenical patriarch 

 a title conferred by the emperor on .John the 

 KiLster (5S7) against tlie remonstrances of <M-egn\ 

 I. The Church of Antioch claims to have been 

 founded by St Peter, and that the similar pie 

 ten-ion- of Come are at once more recent and 

 less certain. The name of Christians was lir-t 

 given to the believers in Antioch, and to its chief 

 pastor alone the title of patriarch Itelongs by right. 

 The patriarch of Alexandria is the first Christian 

 primate who was styled 'pope/ His other title of 

 'oecumenical judge v arises from the right which the 

 early Alexandrian Church possessed of fixing the 

 period of Easter. 



National Churches. The authority which the 

 By/antine emperors exercised over the government 

 of the Greek Church passed, with Constantinople, 

 to the sultans. After the massacre which followed 

 the capture of the city, and in which the patriarch 

 had fallen with the emperor, Mohammed II. in- 

 stalled as patriarch George Gennadius, a Greek 

 monk, renowned for his piety no less than for his 

 scholarship, for which he was surnamed Scholarius. 

 The courage and persuasiveness with which he ex- 

 pounded before the sultan the tenets of Christi- 

 anity induced Mohammed to confer certain privi- 

 leges on the patriarchate, enabling it to exercise a 

 measure of authority over the orthodox church 

 within Turkish dominions. This first concession 

 constitutes to this day the charter regulating tin- 

 relations of the church to the Porte. The patriarch 

 is elected by a synod of bishops, but the candidate 

 must be approved of by the Porte, which also 

 issues firmans enabling the bishops to act within 

 their dioceses. This gives to Turkish authority so 

 effectual a control over the church, that its having 

 survived at all is a proof of extraordinary vitality. 

 But the abuse and scandal consequent upon the 

 exercise of that authority was such as to make it 

 the interest, both of the patriarchate and of the 

 independent states which recognised its spiritual 

 guidance, not to continue under a jurisdiction sub- 

 jected to the sultan's will. Fortunately the consti- 

 tution of the Eastern Church favoured the creation 

 of autocephalous churches, which, while enjoying 

 a separate internal administration, could remain 

 bound to the Church of Constantinople and to each 

 other by the unity of faith and dogma. 



The Church of Russia, which alone of eastern 

 churches presents historical continuity, was estab- 

 lished when in 988 Anne, sister of the Emperor Basil, 

 was wedded to Prince Vladimir, who was thus con 

 verted, and who at the same time ordered all his 

 people at Kieff to be baptised in the Dnieper by the 

 Greek clergy. From that time the Christian civili 

 sation of Russia was Greek, from the alphabet 

 which the Greeks adapted to the Slavonic langua-e 

 to the baptismal names of emperors and peasant - 

 alike; and Russia recognised this debt of gratitude 

 by the powerful protection she has extended to the 

 eastern Christians, amongst whom she is conse- 

 quently known as 'Holy Russia." The metro- 

 politan, residing first at Kietf and later (1320) in 

 Moscow, was subject to the patriarch of Constant 

 inople. In 1582, however, with the concurrence of 

 the whole church, the patriarch Jeremiah II. raised 

 the Russian see to a patriarchate, still dependent 

 on. Constantinople. This dej>endency continued 

 till the time of Peter the Great, who in 1700, again 

 with the sanction of the whole body of eastern 



