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XVI.

Duruzians,

XIX. The Duruzians, or Dursians, a fierce and SECT. II. warlike people that inhabit the craggy rocks and' PART inhospitable wilds of mount Libanus, give themselves out for descendants of the Franks, who, or Dursians. from the eleventh century, carried on the Holy war with the Mahometans in Palestine; though this pretended origin is a matter of the greatest uncertainty. What the doctrine and discipline of this nation are at present, is extremely difficult to know, as they are at the greatest pains imaginable to conceal their religious sentiments and principles. We find, however, both in their opinions and practice, the plainest proofs of their acquaintance with Christianity. Several learned men have imagined, that both they and the Curdi of Persia had formerly embraced the sentiments of the Manicheans, and perhaps still persevere in their pernicious errors [ƒ].

The Chamsi, or Solares, who reside in a certain district of Mesopotamia, are supposed, by curious inquirers into these matters, to be a branch of the Samsæans mentioned by Epiphanius [g].

There are many other Semi-christian sects of these kinds in the east [b], whose principles, tenets,

borrowed from the word Jazid or Jezdan, which, in the Persian language, signifies the Good God, and is opposed to Ahrimne, or Arimanius, the Evil Principle (see Herbelot, Biblioth. Orientale, p. 484.-Charefeddin Aly, Hist. de Timurbec, tom. iii. p. 81), so that the term Jazidans points out that sect as the worshippers of the good or true God. Notwithstanding the plausibility of this account of the matter, it is not impossible that the city Jezd, of which Otter speaks in his Voyage en Turquie et en Perse, tom. i. p. 283. may have given rise to the title of Jasidians, or Jezdecans.

[f] See Lucas, Voyages en Grece et Asie Mineure, tom. ii. p. 36.-Hyde, Histor. Relig. Veter. Persar. p. 491, 554Sir Paul Ricaut's History of the Ottoman Empire, vol. i. p. 313. [g] Hyde, Histor. Relig. Veter. Persar, p. 555. [b] See the work of the Jesuit Diusse, entitled, Edifiantes et Curieuses des Missions Etrangeres," tom. i. p.

"Lettres

XVI.

tenets, and institutions, are far from being un- CENT. worthy of the curiosity of the learned. And those s ECT. III. who would be at the pains to turn their researches PARTI this way, and more especially to have the religious books of these sects conveyed into Europe, would undoubtedly render eminent service to the cause of sacred literature, and obtain applause from all who have a taste for the study of Christian antiquities; for the accounts which have hitherto been given of these nations and sects are full of uncertainty and contradiction,

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XX. The missionaries of Rome have never of the ceased to display in these parts of the world their Greeks who dexterity in making proselytes, and accordingly the Roman have founded, though with great difficulty and commuexpence, among the greatest part of the sects now mentioned, congregations that adopt the doctrine, and acknowledge the jurisdiction, of the Roman pontif. It is abundantly known, that, among the Greeks, who live under the empire of the Turk, and also among those who are subject to the dominion of the Venetians, the emperor of the Romans, and other Christian princes, there are several who have adopted the faith and discipline of the Latin church, and are governed by their own clergy and bishops, who receive their confirmation and authority from Rome. In this latter city there is a college, expressly founded with a view to multiply these apostatizing societies, and to increase and strengthen the credit and authority of the Roman pontif among the Greeks. In these colleges a certain number of Grecian students, who have given early marks of genius and capacity, are instructed in the arts and sciences, and are more especially prepossessed with the deepest

sentiments

63. This author tells us, that in the mountains which separate Persia from India, there lives a sect of Christians who imprint the sign of the cross on their bodies with a red hot iron.

XVI.

CENT sentiments of veneration and zeal for the authority SECT. III. of the pope. Such an institution, accompanied PARTI with the efforts and labours of the missionaries,

could not fail, one would think, to gain an immense number of proselytes to Rome, considering the unhappy state of the Grecian churches. But the case is quite otherwise; for the most respectable writers, even of the Roman Catholic persuasion, acknowledge fairly, that the proselytes they have drawn from the Greek churches make a wretched and despicable figure, in point of number, opulence, and dignity, when compared with those, to whom the religion, government, nay, the very name of Rome, are disgusting and odious. They observe farther, that the sincerity of a great part of these proselytes is of the Grecian stamp; so that, when a favourable occasion is offered them of renouncing, with advantage, their pretended conversion, they seldom fail, not only to return to the bosom of their own church, but even to recompence the good offices they received from the Romans with the most injurious treatment. The same writers mention another circumstance, much less surprising, indeed, than those now mentioned, but much more dishonourable to the church of Rome; and that circumstance is, that even those of the Greek students who are educated at Rome with such care, as might naturally attach them to its religion and government, are, nevertheless, so disgusted and shocked at the corruptions of its church, clergy, and people, that they forget, more notoriously than others, the obligations with which they have been loaded, and exert themselves with peculiar obstinacy and bitterness in opposing the credit and authority of the Latin church [i].

XXI. In

[i] See, among other authors who have treated this point of history, Urb. Cerri, Etat. present. d'Eglise Romaine, p. 82, in

XVI.

Roman

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XXI. In their efforts to extend the papal empire C ENT. over the Greek churches, the designing pontifs did SECT. II. not forget the church of Russia, the chief bulwark PART I. and ornament of the Grecian faith. On the conA junction trary, frequent deliberations were held at Rome, between the about the proper methods of uniting, or rather Russian and subjecting this church to the papal hierarchy. In churches atthis century John Basilides, Grand Duke of the tempted in Russians, seemed to discover a propensity towards this union, by sending, in the year 1580, a solemn embassy to Gregory XIII. to exhort that pontif to resume the negociations relative to this important matter, that so they might be brought to a happy and speedy conclusion. Accordingly, the year following, Antony Possevin, a learned and artful Jesuit, was charged with this commission by the Roman pontif, and sent into Muscovy to bring it into execution. But this dexterous missionary, though he spared no pains to obtain the purposes of his ambitious court, found by experience that all his efforts were unequal to the task he had undertaken; nor did the Russian ambassadors, who arrived at Rome soon after, bring any thing to the ardent wishes of the pontif, but empty promises, conceived in dubious and general terms, on which little dependence could be made [k]. And, indeed, the event abundantly

shewed,

which, speaking of the Greeks, he expresses himself in the following manner: "Ils deviennent les plus violens ennemis des Catholiques lorsqu'ils ont apris nos sciences, et qu'ils ont connoissance de nos imperfections :" i. e. in plain English, They (the Greeks) become the bitterest enemies of us Roman Catholics, when they have been instructed in our sciences, and have acquired the knowledge of our imperfections. Other testimonies of a like nature shall be given hereafter.-Mich. Le Quien has given us an enumeration, although a defective one, of the Greek bishops that follow the rites of the Roman church, in his Oriens Christ. tom. iii. p. 860.

[k] See the conferences between Possevin and the duke of Muscovy, together with the other writings of this Jesuit, rela

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tive

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CENT. shewed, that Basilides had no other view, in all 8 RCT. III. these negociations, than to flatter the pope, and PART obtain his assistance, in order to bring to an advantageous conclusion the unsuccessful war, which he had carried on against Poland.

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The ministry of Possevin and his associates was, however, attended with more fruit among that part of the Russians who reside in the Polish dominions, many of whom embraced the doctrine and rites of the Roman church, in consequence of an association agreed on in the year 1596, in a meeting at Bresty, the capital of the Palatinate of Cujavia. Those that thus submitted to the communion of Rome were called the United, while the adverse party, who adhered to the doctrine and jurisdiction of the patriarch of Constantinople, were distinguished by the title of the Non-united [1]. It is likewise farther worthy of observation here, that there has been established at Kiovia, since the fourteenth century, a congregation of Russians, subject to the jurisdiction of the Roman pontif, and ruled by its own Metropolitans, who are entirely distinct from the Russian bishops that reside in that city [m].

XII. The Roman missionaries made scarcely still lesson any spiritual conquests worthy of mention among merous a- either the Asiatic or African Monophysites. About the middle of the preceding century, a little insites, Nesto- significant church, that acknowledged the jurisrians, and diction of the Roman pontif, was erected among the Nestorians, whose patriarchs, successively

Monophy

Armenians.

named

tive to the negociation in question, that are subjoined to his work, called Moscovia.-See also La Vie du P. Possevin, par Jean Dorigny, livr. v. p. 351.

[] Adr. Regenvolschii Histor. Ecclesiar. Slavonicar. lib. iv. cap. ii. p. 465.

[m] See Mich. Le Quien, Oriens Christianus, tom. i. p: 1274. and tom. iii, p. 1126.—Acta Sanctorum, tom. ii. Februar. p. 693.

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