EASTERN CHURCHES. 



279 



on the 20th of October, and received the grand 

 cordon of the Medjidie order. On the same 

 day, accompanied by the clerical dignitaries, he 

 paid a visit to the Porte, and was afterward 

 formally installed into his office. A monthly 

 pension of 70 was accorded to the ex-Patri- 

 arch Joachim. 



The election of the Archbishop of Derkos 

 was regarded as favorable to the establishment 

 of more harmonious relations between the 

 Greek and Roman Catholic churches. The 

 new Patriarch had visited Rome during 1883, 

 and had had a conference with the Pope on the 

 points of difference between the two churches. 

 On this aspect of the question, a correspondent 

 of the Roman Catholic journal "Germania" 

 has written : 



The new Patriarch is the most celebrated and dis- 

 tinguished representative of the so-called " lay party " 

 in the East, which is penetrated with the conviction 

 that union with Eorne is the only means of waking the 

 Oriental Church from her torpor to new life. His 

 nomination has, therefore, a special significance. It 

 proves that the official leaders of the community are 

 not hostile to an eventual reunion. Not only in Rome, 

 but also in the Greek Church, it has made a deep im- 



Eression. It is well known that for a considerable 

 me a bitter warfare has been going on between the 

 Kussian Schismatic Church and the Greeks t in order 

 to gain the upper hand in the religious affairs of the 

 East. The Hellenistic party is very active, and has 

 representatives in Athens, Constantinople, Palestine 

 (especially Jerusalem)^ Syria, and some districts of 

 South Russia. The efforts of its followers are directed 

 chiefly to shake off the Turkish yoke, and at the same 

 time to bar and combat the ever-growing influence of 

 Slavism. The most gifted minds of this party have 

 already begun to see that, in their isolation, they can 

 with great difficulty make stand against the encroach- 

 ment of Russian policy. Many of them have begun 

 to give expression to the idea, in newspapers and re- 

 views, that reunion with Rome will have as its conse- 

 quence the refreshing and revival of the stagnating 

 Church. Parallel with these two currents is the re- 

 ligious movement in the Balkan Peninsula a move- 

 ment which took its rise in consequence of the Ency- 

 clical of the Pope on SS. Cyril and Methodius, and 

 which is powerfully supported by Bishop Strossraayer, 

 who, with particular reference to the specifically Ori- 

 ental character, is busy with positive preparation for 

 a union of the Slav and Roman Churches. 



The election of a patriarch disposed for an 

 understanding with Rome was regarded by this 

 writer as a favorable prognostic of ultimate 

 success in effecting a reunion. These hopes 

 received a partial color of encouragement from 

 the exchange of courtesies and official visits 

 which took place in the latter part of Novem- 

 ber between the Apostolic Legate and the 

 (Ecumenical Patriarch. 



HI. The Coptic Church. Recent visitors to 

 Egypt, particularly Mackenzie Wallace and Vil- 

 liers Stuart, have published some facts concern- 

 ing the present condition of the Coptic Church 

 and the Coptic people. Except for a sharper 

 definition of its position on the Monophysite 

 doctrine, the faith of the Church has not 

 changed since the separation achieved at the 

 Council of Chalcedon, A. D. 451. It has its own 

 peculiar ritual, and exacts a rigorous observ- 

 ance of the fasts. Of the two branches claim- 



ing to be the Coptic Church, the Jacobites have 

 a patriarch, who asserts supremacy over the 

 Abyssinian Church, and in whose election the 

 Patriarch of Abyssinia has a voice, with twelve 

 episcopal sees. The Roman Catholic Copts, 

 who have built up several communities in Up- 

 per Egypt since the end of the seventeenth cent- 

 ury, use a liturgy not differing much from that 

 of the Jacobites, except that in the "commemo- 

 ration of the faithful departed" they make 

 mention of u the six hundred and thirty who 

 were gathered together at Chalcedon." A cu- 

 rious custom prevails among the Copts of dis- 

 tributing to the poor, on Whitsunday, doles of 

 meat and fruit on behalf of their deceased 

 friends. According to Villiers Stuart, the Cop- 

 tic people are all educated, and constitute the 

 most industrious and intelligent class of the 

 community. They number about 250,000 in 

 Upper Egypt, where they form one fourth of 

 the population in some towns; and about 50,000 

 in the Delta. Their churches, in style and 

 decoration, somewhat resemble those of the 

 Russians, and they are, in fact, in communion 

 with the Greek Church at Osiout. Mackenzie 

 Wallace represents them as constituting the 

 wealthier part of the population, and as being 

 preferred, on account of their readiness at writ- 

 ing and calculation, for clerkships and secre- 

 taryships under the Government. They have 

 a costly and florid cathedral in Cairo. Provis- 

 ion is made for schools at which a considerable 

 number of boys are taught reading, writing, 

 and arithmetic ; but for girls there is only a 

 single school in Cairo, where are taught read- 

 ing, writing, arithmetic, Arabic hymns, and 

 Holy Scripture. A " Young Coptic " party of 

 considerable force has lately arisen, which is 

 seeking to improve the standard of education, 

 and to promote the cultivation of a better ac- 

 quaintance with the ancestral faith and the 

 grounds on which it rests. Under its instiga- 

 tion the priests of the old churches have begun 

 to collect the books that were gradually perish- 

 ing in their closets, in order to place them in 

 a public library to be established at the Patri- 

 arch's residence. An extension has been given 

 to the powers of the council. The subject of 

 school reform has been under consideration. 



The question of ways in which it may be 

 possible to approach the Coptic Church has 

 been under consideration among members of 

 the Church of England. At a meeting held in 

 February, 1883, a committee was appointed to 

 consider what steps should be taken " to revive 

 and extend true religion in Egypt." The sub- 

 ject was also discussed in the Convocation of 

 Canterbury, and was found to be involved in 

 difficulties. In whatever way the effort might 

 be made, the proceeding appeared to be em- 

 barrassing. If it were proposed to plant a 

 branch of the Church of England among the 

 Coptic people, that would add one more to the 

 many divisions of the East ; if to help the Cop- 

 tic Church and manifest friendly relations with 

 it, that might make trouble with the Orthodox 



