GREECE. 



GREEK CHURCH. 



371 



possible steps that such an event should find 

 Greece ready for it, he gained the popular favor 

 to a high degree. The efforts of Kumunduros 

 to form a ministry were unsuccessful. After 

 a number of lists of names had been presented 

 to the Chamber, hardly any of which survived 

 a day, the following combination was finally 

 effected, and sanctioned : President of the 

 Ministry, and Minister of the Navy, Canaris ; 

 the Interior, Kumunduros ; Foreign Affairs, 

 Tricoupis ; Justice, Zaimis ; Finance, Deli- 

 georgis; Public Instruction, Deligiannis; and 

 "War, Zrinbrakalis. 



On July 2d the Minister of Finance sub- 

 mitted a bill in the Chamber of Deputies, au- 

 thorizing him to obtain a foreign loan of 20,- 

 000,000 drachmas, with a home loan of the 

 same amount. He also demanded a credit of 

 35,000,000 drachmas for armaments. The ses- 

 sion was closed by a royal order on July 30th. 



The success which had hitherto attended the 

 Russian arms excited the popular mind, and 

 warlike demonstrations frequently occurred. 

 The regular army, which had been brought up 

 to its full number (27,000), was divided into 

 4 large camps, ready for duty, while numerous 

 bodies of volunteers were formed by natives, 

 as well as Greek subjects of Turkey. The re- 

 lations with the latter country assumed a se- 

 rious aspect in August. On the 12th, large 

 crowds marched through Athens, calling for 

 the declaration of war. As the Greek Govern- 

 ment seemed to be preparing for hostilities, hav- 

 ing bought 6 batteries of Krupp cannons and 

 16,000 breech-loaders, and was continually 

 sending troops to the front, Earl Derby, in 

 August, at the instance of the Turkish Gov- 

 ernment, addressed a note to the former, call- 

 ing for an explanation, and suggesting that it 

 should engage not to make war upon Turkey 

 in the future. In reply, the Greek Govern- 

 ment denied the report that it had entered into 

 an alliance with Russia. At the same time, 

 however, it refused to make the engagement 

 as suggested, declaring that it would be equiva- 

 lent to the termination of the rights of Greece 

 as an independent state, and of her duties to 

 Hellenism. M. Tricoupis, the Minister of 

 Foreign Affairs, fell back upon the Protocol of 

 1832, in which Lord Palmerston, and the pleni- 

 potentiaries of France and Russia, summarily 

 rejected identical propositions which were then 

 put forward by the Porte. In answer to a sec- 

 ond communication from Earl Derby, M. Tri- 

 coupis declared that Greece would not re- 

 nounce the privileges of the independence 

 which was acknowledged in 1832, and that the 

 condition and danger of Hellenism in Turkey 

 rendered it more than ever necessary that 

 Greece should have that liberty of action which 

 is essential to independence. 



The death of Admiral Canaris, in Septem- 

 ber, threatened to bring about another minis- 

 terial crisis. The entire ministry resigned, but 

 afterward withdrew their resignations. The 

 post of president remained vacant at the close 



of the year. The Chambers reassembled on 

 October 22d, but no business of any impor- 

 tance was transacted by them. The popular 

 clamor for war continued, and several warlike 

 demonstrations again occurred in Athens. 



GREEK CHURCH. The population con- 

 nected with the Greek Church, in 1877, was 

 as follows : 



Russia 60,171,000 



Finland 87,000 



Austro-Hungary ,. 8,051,000 



Turkey 6,500,000 



Koumanla 4,529,000 



Servia 1,206,000 



Greece 1,442,000 



Montenegro 120,000 



Total 77,056,000 



Of the population belonging to the Russian 

 Church, 54,854,000 lived in European Rus- 

 sia, 34,000 in Poland, 2,072,000 in Caucasia, 

 2,937,000 in Siberia, and 274,000 in Central 

 Asia. 



The Procurator-General of the Holy Synod of 

 Russia, Count Tolstoi, publishes an annual re- 

 port on the condition of the Greek Church in 

 Russia. The report for 1874, which appeared 

 in 1877, contained the following facts : In the 

 diocese Irkutsk, 1,935 persons were baptized. 

 In this diocese the missionaries labor under 

 the greatest difficulties to convince the native 

 Buriats that, by embracing Christianity, they 

 do not at the same time become Russians and 

 cease to be Buriats. The Christian parents 

 very frequently try to keep their children, and 

 particularly the girls, from baptism. The girls 

 are engaged and married at an early age, and 

 the parents receive for them a certain price. 

 One that has been baptized cannot, however, 

 be bought or sold, while for a baptized boy no 

 bride can be bought in advance. 



Great difficulties are also experienced in 

 converting the Mohammedan Tartars. In the 

 government of Kasan, 470 persons returned 

 to the Mohammedan Church during the year 

 1874, and, in order to put an end to this, the 

 priests were permitted to use the Tartaric lan- 

 guage for the services. During 1874, 2,519 

 pagans, 747 Mohammedans, and 427 Jews, 

 were baptized in the government of Kasan. 

 In the same year, 2,890 schismatics returned 

 to the Orthodox Church. In Kasan, their 

 principal stronghold, public discussions were 

 held with them, which were attended by large 

 audiences. The principal question discussed 

 was that of the Antichrist, which is one 

 of the fundamental doctrines of this priest- 

 less sect. 1,707 converts were received from 

 the Roman Catholics, and 743 from the other 

 Christian churches. In discussing the inner 

 affairs of the Church, the report says that more 

 and more attention was paid to preaching and 

 catechetical instruction. With regard to ele- 

 mentary instruction, the report says that, not 

 very long ago, the people avoided the schools, 

 and tried to keep the children away, regarding 

 learning as superfluous, and interfering with 

 their home affairs. But these views have been 



