tives go yet farther, and by the special permission of the emperor, he administers justice, and takes cognizance of civil causes among the members of his communion. His influence is maintained, on the one hand, by the authority of the Turkish monarch, and, on the other, by his right of excommunicating the disobedient members of the Greek church. This right gives the patriarch a singular degree of influence and authority, as nothing has a more terrifying aspect to that people than a sentence of excommunication, which they reckon among the greatest and most tremendous evils. The revenue of this prelate is drawn particularly from the churches that are subject to his jurisdiction; and its produce varies aecording to the state and circumstances of the Greek Christians, whose condition is exposed to many vicissitudes." of the Greek Church. VI. The holy Scriptures and the decrees of the first seven general councils are acknowledged by the Greeks The doctrine Gas the rule of their faith. It is received however as a maxim, established by long custom, that no private person has a right to explain, for himself or others, either the declarations of Scripture, or the decisions of these councils; and that the patriarch, with his brethren, are alone authorized to consult these oracles, and to declare their meaning. And accordingly the declarations of this prelate are looked upon as sacred and infallible directions, whose authority is supreme, and which can neither be transgressed nor disregarded without the utmost impiety. The substance of the doctrine of the Greek church is contained in a treatise entitled The orthodox Confession of the catholic and apostolic Eastern Church, which was drawn up by Peter Mogislaus, bishop of Kiow, in a provincial council assembled in that city. This confession was translated into Greek," and publicly approved and adopted, in the year 1643, by Parthenius of Constantinople and all the other Grecian patriarchs. It was afterward published in Greek and Latin at the expense of Panagiota, the Turkish emperor's inter t Ceper, a Jesuit, has given a History of the patriarchs of Constantinople, in the Acta Sanctorum Mensis Augusti, tom i. p. 18, 257. There is also a very ample account both of the see of Constantinople and its patriarchs, in the first volume of the Oriens. Christianus, of Mich. Le Quien, who treats moreover of the Latin patriarchs of that city, in the third volume of the same work, p. 786. See also a brief account of the power and revenues of the present patriarch, and of the names of the several sees under his spiritual jurisdiction, in Smith, De Eccles. Græcæ Hodierno Statu, p. 48-- u It was originally composed in the Russian language, preter, a man of great opulence and liberality, who ordered it to be distributed gratis among the Greek Christians; and it was also enriched with a recommendatory letter composed by Nectarius, patriarch of Jerusalem." It appears evidently from this confession, that the Greeks differ widely from the votaries of the Roman pontiff, whose doctrines they reject and treat with indignation in several places; but it appears, at the same time, that their religious tenets are equally remote from those of other Christian societies. So that whoever peruses this treatise with attention, will be fully convinced, how much certain writers are mistaken who imagine that the obstacles which prevent the union of the Greeks with this or the other Christian community, are but small and inconsiderable.* uniting the Greeks with miscarries. VII. The votaries of Rome have found this to be true on many occasions. And the Lutherans made an ex- The design of periment of the same kind, when they presented a fruitless invitation to the Greek churches the protestants to embrace their doctrine and discipline, and live with them in religious communion. The first steps in this laudable attempt were taken by Melancthon, who sent to the patriarch of Constantinople, a copy of the confession of Augsburg, translated into Greek by Paul Dolscius. This present was accompanied with a letter in which the learned and humane professor of Wittemberg represented the protestant doctrine with the utmost simplicity and faithfulness, hoping that the artless charms of truth might touch the heart of the Grecian prelate. But his hopes were disappointed; for the patriarch did w This confession was published in 8vo. at Leipsic, with a Latin translation, by Laur. Normanus, in the year 1695. In the preface we are informed, that it had been composed by Nectarius; but this assertion is refuted by Nectarius himself, in a letter which follows immediately the preface. It is also affirmed, both in the preface and title page, that this is the first public edition that has been given of the Greek confession. But this assertion is also false; since it is well known that it was published in Holland, in the year 1562, at the expense of Panagiota. The German translation of this confession was published at Frankfort and Leipsic, in 4to. in 1727. The learned Jo. Christ. Kocherus has given, with his usual accuracy and erudition, an ample account both of this and the other confessions received among the Greeks, in his Bibliotheca Theologia Symbol. p. 45, and 53, and the laborious Dr. Hoffman, prinicipal professor of divinity at Wittemberg, published at Breslaw, in 1751, a new edition of the Orthodox Confession, with an historical account of it. Those who are desirous of a circumstantial account of the famous Panagiota, to whom this confession is indebted for a considerable part of its credit, and who has rendered to the Greek church in general the most eminent sevices, will find it in Cantemir's Histoire de l'Empire Ottoman, tom. iii. p. 149. x The learned Fabricius has given, in the tenth volume of his Bibliotheca Græca, p. 441, an exact and ample list of the writers, whom it is proper to consult, in order to the forming a just notion of the state, circumstances, and doctrines of the Greek church. VOL. III. 24 Ꮓ not even design to send him an answer. After this, the divines of Tubingen renewed, with his successor Jeremiah, the correspondence which had been begun by Melancthon. They wrote frequently during the course of several years, to the new patriarch, sent him another copy of the confession of Augsburg, together with a Compend of Theology, composed by Heerbrand, and translated into Greek by Martin Crusius; nor did they leave unemployed any means, which a pious and well-conducted zeal could suggest as proper to gain over this prelate to their communion. The fruits however of this correspondence were very inconsiderable, and wholly consisted in a few letters from the Greek patriarch, written indeed with an amiable spirit of benevolence and cordiality; but at the same time in terms which showed the impossibility of the union so much desired by the protestants. The whole strain of these letters discovered in the Greeks an inviolable attachment to the opinions and institutions of their ancestors, and was sufficient to demonstrate the vanity of attempting to dissolve it in the present situation and circumstances of that people. state of the Greeks. b VIII. Nothing indeed more deplorable can be conceived than the state of the greatest part of the Greeks, The miserable since their subjection to the oppressive yoke of the Turkish emperors. Since that fatal period, almost all learning and science, human and divine, had been extinguished among them. They have neither schools, colleges, nor any of those literary establishments that ennoble human nature, by sowing in the mind the immortal seeds of knowledge and virtue. Those few that surpass the vulgar herd in intellectual acquirements, have derived this advantage from the schools of learning in Sicily or Italy, where the studious Greeks usually repair in quest of know y Leo Allatius, De perpetua Consensione Ecclesiæ Orient. et Occident. lib. iii. cap. viii. Sii. p. 1005. z The name of the former patriarch was Joseph. In the year 1559, he had sent his deacon Demetrius to Wittemberg to inform himself upon the spot of the genius and doctrines of the protestant religion. a This correspondence commenced in the year 1576, and ended in 1581. b All the acts and papers, relating to this correspondence, were published in one volume at Wittemberg, in the year 1584. See Christ. Matth. Pfaffii Liber de Actis et Scriptis publicis Ecclesia Wittembergicæ, p. 50. See also Jo. Alb. Fabricii Biblioth. Græcæ, vol. x. p. 517. Emman. a Schelstrate, Acta Ecclesia Orientalis contra Lutheri haresin, published at Rome in the year 1739. Lami Delicia Eruditoriem, tom. viii. p. 176. ledge, or from a perusal of the writings of the ancient doctors, and more especially of the theology of St. Thomas, which they have translated into their native language. C Such at least is the notion of the learning of the modern Greeks, that is entertained by all the European Christians, as well Roman catholics as protestants, and it is built upon the clearest evidence, and supported by testimonies of every kind. Many of the Greeks deny with obstinacy this inglorious charge, and not only defend their countrymen against the imputation of such gross ignorance, but even go so far as to maintain, that all the liberal arts and sciences are in as flourishing a state in modern Greece, as they were in any period of the history of that nation. Among the writers that exalt the learning of the modern Greeks in such an extraordinary manner, the first place is due to an eminent historian," who has taken much pains to demonstrate the error of those who are of a different opinion. For this purpose he has not only composed a list of the learned men that adorned that country in the last century, but also makes mention of an academy founded at Constantinople by a certain Greek, whose name was Manolax, in which all the branches of philosophy, as well as the liberal arts and sciences, are taught with the utmost success and applause, after the manner of the ancient sages of Greece. But all this, though matter of fact, does by no means amount to a satisfactory proof of the point in question. It only proves what was never doubted by any thinking person, that the populous nation of the Greeks, in which there is such a considerable number of ancient, noble, and opulent families, is not entirely destitute of men of learning and genius. But it does not at all demonstrate, that this nation, considered in general, is at present enriched with science either sacred or profane, or makes any shining figure in the republic of letters. republic of letters. In a nation which, generally speaking, is sunk in the most barbarous ignorance, some men of genius and learning may arise, and shine like meteors in a gloomy firmament. With respect to the academy founded at Constantinople, it may be observed, that a literary establishment, so necessary and yet so recent, confirms the judgment that has been c The translator has inserted the note k of the original into the following paragraph of the English text, which begins thus: Such at least, &c. d See Dem. Cantemir, Histoire de l'Empire Ottoman, tom. ii. p. 39. almost universally formed concerning the erudition of the Greeks. This ignorance, that reigns among the Greeks, has the most pernicious influence upon their morals. Licentiousness and impiety not only abound among the people, but also dishonour their leaders; and the calamities that arise from this corruption of manners, are deplorably augmented by their endless contentions and divisions. Their religion is a motley collection of ceremonies, the greatest part of which are either ridiculously trifling, or shockingly absurd. Yet they are much more zealous in retaining and observing these senseless rites, than in maintaining the doctrine, or obeying the precepts of the religion they profess. Their misery would be extreme were it not for the support they derive from the Greeks, who perform the functions of physicians and interpreters at the emperor's court; and who, by their opulence and credit, frequently interpose to reconcile the differences, or to ward off the dangers that so often portend the destruction of their church. The Greek inde ioreign juris diction. IX. The Russians, Georgians, and Mingrelians adopt the doctrines and ceremonies of the Greek church; Church in though they are entirely free from the jurisdiction pendent on and authority of the patriarch of Constantinople. It is true indeed that this prelate had formerly enjoyed the privilege of a spiritual supremacy over the Russians, to whom he sent a bishop whenever a vacancy happened. But, towards the conclusion of this century, this privilege ceased by the following incident. Jeremiah, patriarch of Constantinople, undertook a journey into Moscovy, to levy pecuniary succours against his rival Metrophanes, and to drive him, by the force of money, from the patriarchal throne. On this occasion, the Moscovite monks, in compliance, no doubt, with the secret orders of the grand duke Theodore, the son of John Basilides, employed all the influence both of threatenings and supplications to engage Jeremiah to place at the head of the Moscovite nation an independent patriarch. The patriarch of Constantinople, unable to resist such powerful solicitations, was forced to yield; and accordingly in a council assembled at Moscow in the year 1589, nominated and proclaimed Job, archbishop of Rostow, the first patriarch of the Moscovites. This extraordinary step was however |
