GREEK C H U R C H. 
570 
cheek, and gives her his blefTing { but if he be not 
pleafed with her, lie fays to the candidate, ‘ Return to 
the Holy Ghojh and pray that he would enlighten tkccd —See 
Abbe Mariti’s Travels, 1791. 
As the feeds of enmity and difcord are but too often 
and too fatally fowed between Chriftians of diiferent 
countries and perfuafions, fo it very early and unfortu¬ 
nately happened between the I'piritua! governors ot 
Rome and Condantinople, who appear mutually to have 
fet on foot a vindiftive and intolerant fpirit of animofity 
and perfecution, which eventually gave to the feceffion 
of theeadern church the denomination of the Grrc^ jehifm. 
But fhe feparation of the eallern or Greek church trom 
that of Rome, and the aniinofities which lubfifted be¬ 
tween them for fo many ages, are not to be aferibed to 
their early difference in opinion concerning the obferva- 
tion of certain feflivals, nor even to the more important 
lubjedls of difpute which gave, rife to the Arian herefy. 
They are rather to be referred to that period when Con- 
llantine removed the feat of empire from Rome to By¬ 
zantium, and, by augmenting the dignity of the latter 
fee, rendered it formidable to the authority of the Ro¬ 
man pontiff. In the fecond general council, the bilhop) 
of Conftantinople was allowed to rank next in order to 
the pope of Rome, and by th.e twenty-eighth canon of 
the fynod of Chalcedon, he was permitted to enjoy an 
equal rank. No fmall refiflance was made to thefe en- 
croacl'.ments on the fuperior dignity of the (ucceffor of 
St. Peter ; but the emperors of the eaft were ftrenuous 
to affert the privileges of the new city, and by the pre¬ 
ponderance of their authority confirmed all its preten- 
fions. The flame of refentment, though ftifled for a 
time, broke out with increafed fury in the eighth cen¬ 
tury. A new caufe of offence was given by Leo, the 
Ifaurian, in his zeal againft images, of which the Ro¬ 
man pontiff' did not fail to take advantage. On this 
dccafion, however, pope Gregory carried his perfecu¬ 
tion of the Iconoclafts too far; for the emperor, as well 
to reftrain his power as to punifli his arrogance, feized 
his pod'efTions in Calabria, Sicily, Illyricum, and Greece, 
and transferred them to the jurifdiition of the bifiiop of 
Conftantinople. From that period we may confider 
this unfortunate fchifm as fixed and incurable ; for not- 
u ithftanding the church of Rome was accufed of vari¬ 
ous errors and irregularities, both by Photius and Mi¬ 
chael Cerularius, it is certain that thefe were not the 
principal caule of dilfenfion. Kence the two attempts 
made by Michael Paleologus to allay the fervour of 
contention were vain, and the union propofed by 
the council of Florence was of (hort duration. The 
mutual facrificcs required were unpalatable both to the 
Roman and the Conllantinopolitan prelate; fo that 
each remains to this day the centre of a diff erent I'yffem. 
Confidering the fiate of the Greek clergy, and tlte 
want of curiofity which feems to have prevailed in moll 
parts of tiurope refpedling that church, a genuine ac¬ 
count of its doiitrine and articles of faith is hardly to 
be expedted. In confequence, however, of'a contro- 
verfy between Mefl'rs. de Port Royal and John Claude, 
the celebrated proteffant minifter of Charenton, the re¬ 
ligious tenets of tlie Greeks were fcrupuloully exam¬ 
ined, by which we are enabled to affert that the doc¬ 
trines of the Greek church differ but very little from 
thofe of Rome, at lead: that they are much more recon- 
cileable to the faith of the latter, than that of the Lu¬ 
theran or reformed churches. That difeuffion will au- 
thorife the afi’ertion, rather than the numerous certifi¬ 
cates, which were ealily obtained, by each party, in 
favour of their own caufe, from eccl^fiaffics fcarcely 
lefs corrupt than indigent and unenlightened. 
The dodirine of the trinity, and the articles of the 
Nicene and Athanafian creetls, -are received by the 
Greeks, in common with o-ther Chriliians. In one par¬ 
ticular, indeed, they differ; they believe that the Holy 
Spirit proceeds from the Father only, and not from the 
Father and the Son; and in defence of this opinion they 
appeal to the ccclcfiaftical hiftory, the’adls of councils, 
the__writings of the fathers, ancient manuferipts, and 
cipecially to a copy of the creed of Conftantinople, en- 
graven on two tables of filver, and hung up in the 
churcli of St. Peter at Rome, by order of Leo III. la 
the number of its facranrents, the invocation of faints, 
the belief of the real prelence, the pradbice of auricular 
confefiion, and in admitting mall'es and fervices for the 
dead, the Greek church is perfedlly confonant to that 
of Rome. It is afferted that the do'dfrine of fuperero, 
gation and its confequent indulgences apd difpenfations 
are not adopted by the Greeks. But notwithftanding 
this and other lefs important peculiarities, it is evident 
from the moft authentic documents, that the creeds of 
Rome and Conftantinople are not materially different. 
In vain are we reminded of the congregation de Pro¬ 
paganda, or told that many of the Greeks have ftudied 
in Italian feminaries, and of courfe little credit fliould 
be given to thefe, being fuch as were called Latino- 
phrones, or perfons attached to the church of Rome. 
The fadt is, that of thofe' who were not educated in 
Italy, few are able to give any rational account of their 
faith. If we diftruft fuch men as Beffarion, Mogilas, 
Leo Allatius, &c, we ought not to be lefs fufpicious of 
thofe ignorant kaloyeri and priefts who w’ere never ab- 
fent from their own country. By the preaching and 
apoftolical labours of jeliiit miffionaries, many Greeks, 
fpeaking colledtively of all in the Ottoman empire, have 
been converted to the church of Rome. But thefe pro-, 
felytes were originally made by the Genoefe or Vene¬ 
tians, to whom the Morea and the iflands of the Archi¬ 
pelago were fubjeft, and have continued from heredi¬ 
tary opinion. 
It feems to be the general notion of writers on this 
fubjedt, that no tenet, excepting the dread of excom¬ 
munication, operates more powerfully in reftraining the 
Greeks within the pale of their own church, and pre¬ 
venting their apoftacy to the religion of the Romanifts 
or Turks, than a rigorous obfervation of rites and cere¬ 
monies. By their ecclefiaftical ordinances they are re¬ 
quired to attend the fervice of the church on the Lord’s 
day, and on all faffs and feftiVals, not only fuch as are 
ufual, but fuch as are particularly appointed. The 
feftivals of the Greek church are fcarcely lefs numerous 
than thole of the Latin. They annually obferve four 
principal faffs, viz. for forty days previous to Chrift- 
mas ; for the fame fpace of time before Eafter; from 
the week after Pentecoft to the feaft of St. Peter and 
Paul; and from the firft to the fifteenth of Auguft, this 
laft being the day of Koimefis, or Affumption of the 
blelfed Virgin. 
To give a minute detail of the rites and ceremonies of 
the Greek church would be a talk of no fmall labour 
and extent. The reader whofe curiofity is interefted in 
fuch a refearch, may confult any of the liturgical au¬ 
thors mentioned by Fabricius, or our own countrymen 
Coveil and King. Yet fome remarkable peculiarities 
of their ritual claim more particular attention. They 
adminifter the facrament of the Lord’s fupper to infants 
newly born ; and in the place of confirmation they fub— 
ftitute the chrifm, or facred unction, being a part or 
appendage of the baptifmal ceremony. Marriage is by 
them called the matrimonial coronation, from the crowns- 
or garlands with which the parties are decorated, and 
which they folemnly diffolve on the eighth day fol¬ 
lowing. The facrament of the holy oil, or euchelaton, 
is not confined, as the extreme unftion in the Romilh 
church, to the fick and dying, but is given to devout 
perfons upon the flighteft malady, if required. The 
levipedium obferved on Holy Thurlday, in imitation 
of our Saviour’s humility, differs little from that cere¬ 
mony as performed by the pope. On this occafion Jefus 
Chrift is perfonified by the patriarch, and the twelve 
apoftles by as many kaloyeri, when a ludicrous conteft 
a arifes, 
