thereupon, seem to have restored peace; for the Emperor Basil held a council at Constantinople, in the year 869, in which entire satisfaction was given to Pope Adrian: but the schism was only smothered and suppressed for a while. The Greek church had several complaints against the Latin; particularly it was thought a great hardship for the Greeks to subscribe to the definition of a council according to the Roman form, prescribed by the pope, since it made the church of Constantinople dependent on that of Rome, and set the pope above an cecumenical council: but, above all, the pride and haughtiness of the Roman court gave the Greeks a great distaste; and, as their deportment seemed to insult his Imperial Majesty, it entirely alienated the affections of the Emperor Basil. Towards the middle of the eleventh century, Michael Cerularius, patriarch of Constantinople, opposed the Latins with respect to their making use of unleavened bread in the eucharist, their observation of the sabbath, and fasting on Saturdays, charging them with living in communion with the Jews. To this Pope Leo IX. replied; and, in his apology for the Latins, declaimed very warmly against the false doctrine of the Greeks, and interposed, at the same time, the authority of his see. He likewise, by his legates, excommunicated the patriarch in the church. of Santa Sophia, which gave the last shock to the reconciliation attempted a long time after, but to no purpose; for from that time the hatred of the Greeks to the Latins, and of the Latins to the Greeks, became insuperable, insomuch that they have continued ever since separated from each other's communion*. As the numerous sects which are now subsisting in the Levant are of Greek origin, and as their principles and ceremonies, except in some few particular points, are nearly the same, it will be necessary State of the to treat on the religion of the Greeks (properly so called), Greek church. issued from it. before we descend to the different branches that have The Greek church, which is now dependent on the patriarch of Constantinople, was not formerly so extensive as it has been since the emperors of the East thought proper to lessen or reduce the other patriarchates, in order to aggrandize that of Constantinople; a task which they accomplished with the greater ease, as they were much more powerful than the emperors of the West, and had little or no regard to the consent of the patriarchs, in order to create new bishoprics, or to confer new titles and privileges. Whereas, in the western church, the popes, by slow degrees, made themselves the sole arbiters in all ecclesiastical concerns; insomuch that princes themselves at length became obliged to have recourse to them, and were subservient to their directions, on every momentous occasion. There are several catalogues or lists now extant of the churches which are dependent on that of Constantinople; but as most of them are very ancient, and do not sufficiently illustrate the vast extent of which that church at present boasts, we shall not quote any of them in this place; but merely state, that the number of metropolitans amounts to upwards of one hundred bishoprics. Buck's Theolog. Dic.; art. Greek Church. 66 which The Greek churches, at present, deserve not even the name of the shadow of what they were in their former flourishing state, when they were so remarkably distinguished for the learned and worthy pastors who presided over them; but now nothing but wretchedness, ignorance, and poverty, are visible amongst them. "I have seen churches," says Ricaut, were more like caverns or sepulchres than places set apart for divine worship; the tops thereof being almost level with the ground. They are erected after this humble manner for fear they should be suspected, if they raised them any considerable height, of an evil intention to rival the Turkish mosques." It is, indeed, very surprising that, in the abject state to which the Greeks at present are reduced, the Christian religion should maintain the least footing amongst them. Their notions of Christianity are principally confined to the traditions of their forefathers, and their own received customs; and, among other things, they are much addicted to external acts of piety and devotion, such as the observance of fasts, festivals, and penances: they revere and dread the censures of their clergy; and are bigoted slaves to their religious customs, which have been irrefutably proved to be absurd and ridiculous; and yet it must be acknowledged, that, although these errors reflect a considerable degree of scandal and reproach upon the holy religion they profess, they nevertheless prevent it from being entirely lost and abolished amongst them. A fire which lies for a time concealed under a heap of embers, may revive and burn again as bright as ever; and the same hope may be conceived of truth, when obscured by the dark clouds of ignorance and error.” Tenets of the I. They rebaptize all those Latins who are admitted into Greek church. their communion. II. They do not baptize their children till they are three, four, five, six, ten, and even sometimes eighteen years of age. III. They exclude Confirmation and Extreme Unction out of the Seven Sacraments. IV. They deny there is any such place as Purgatory, notwithstanding they pray for the dead. V. They do not absolutely acknowledge the Pope's supremacy, nor that of the Church of Rome, which they look upon as fallen from her supremacy, because, as a Greek schismatic historian expresses himself, she had abandoned the doctrines of her fathers. VI. They deny, by consequence, that the Church of Rome is the true Catholic Mother Church. They even prefer their own to that of Rome; and on Holy Thursday excommunicate the pope and all the Latin prelates, as heretics and schismatics, praying that all those who offer up unleavened bread in the celebration of the Sacrament may be covered with confusion. VII. They deny that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son. VIII. They refuse to worship the Host consecrated by Latin priests with unleavened bread, according to the ancient custom of the Church of Rome, confirmed by the Council of Florence. They likewise wash the altars on which the Latins have celebrated mass; and will not suffer a Latin priest to officiate at their altars, pretending that the sacrifice ought to be performed with leavened bread. IX. They assert that the usual form of words, wherein the Consecr tion, according to the Latins, wholly consists, is not sufficient to change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, without the use of some additional prayers and benedictions of the fathers. X. They insist that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper ought to be administered in both kinds to infants, even before they are capable of distinguishing this spiritual food from any other, because it is a divine institution. For which reason they give the Sacrament to infants immediately after baptism, and look upon the Latins as heretics for not observing the same custom. XI. They hold that the laity are under an indispensable obligation, by the law of God, to receive the Communion in both kinds, and look on the Latins as heretics who maintain the contrary. XII. They assert that no members of the Church, when they have attained to years of discretion, ought to be compelled to receive the Communion every Easter, but should have free liberty to act according to the dictates of their own conscience. XIII. They show no respect, no religious homage, nor veneration for the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, even at the celebration of their own priests; and use no lighted tapers when they administer it to the sick. Moreover, they keep it in a little bag or box, without any farther ceremony than fixing it to the wall, where they light up lamps before their images. XIV. They are of opinion that such Hosts as are consecrated on Holy Thursday are much more efficacious than those consecrated at other times. XV. They maintain that the Sacrament of Matrimony is a union which may be dissolved. For which reason, they charge the Church of Rome with being guilty of an error, in asserting that the bonds of marriage can never be broken, even in case of adultery, and that no person upon any provocation whatsoever can lawfully marry again. But the Greeks preach up a wholly different doctrine, and practise it daily. XVI. They condemn all fourth marriages. XVII. They refuse to celebrate the solemnities instituted by the church and the primitive Fathers, in honour of the Virgin Mary and the Apostles; and, independently of their different manner of celebrating them, they wholly neglect and despise the observance of several Saints' days which are of ancient institution. They reject likewise the religious use of graven images and statues, although they admit of pictures in their churches. XVIII. They insist that the canon of the mass of the Latins ought to be abolished, as being full of errors. XIX. They deny that usury is a mortal sin. XX. They deny that the subdeaconry is at present a holy order. XXI. Of all the general councils that have been held in the Catholic Church by the popes at different times, they pay no regard to any after the sixth, and reject not only the seventh, which was the second held at Nice, for the express purpose of condemning those who rejected the use of images in their divine worship, but all those which have succeeded it, by which they refuse to submit to any of their institutions. XXII. They deny auricular confession to be a divine precept, and pretend it is only a positive injunction of the Church. XXIII. They insist that the confession of the laity ought to be free and voluntary; for which reason they are not compelled to confess themselves annually, nor are they excommunicated for the neglect of it. XXIV. They insist that in confession there is no divine law which enjoins the acknowledgment of every individual sin, or a discovery of all the circumstances that attend it, which alter its nature and property. XXV. They administer the sacrament to their laity both in sickness and in health, though they have never applied themselves to their confessors; and the reason of which is, that they are persuaded all confessions should be free and voluntary, and that a lively faith is all the preparation that is requisite for the worthy receiving of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. XXVI. They look down with an eye of disdain on the Latins for their observance of the vigils before the nativity of our Blessed Saviour, and the festivals of the Virgin Mary and the Apostles, as well as for their fasting in Ember-week. They even affect to eat meat more plentifully at those times than at any other, to testify their contempt of the Latin customs. They prohibit likewise all fasting on Saturdays, that preceding Easter only excepted. XXVII. They condemn the Latins as heretics, for eating such things as have been strangled, and such other meats as are prohibited in the Old Testament. XXVIII. They deny that simple fornication is a mortal sin. XXIX. They insist that it is lawful to deceive an enemy, and that it is no sin to injure and oppress him. XXX. They are of opinion that, in order to be saved, there is no necessity to make restitution of such goods as have been stolen or fraudulently obtained. XXXI. To conclude: they hold that such as have been admitted into holy orders may become laymen at pleasure. From whence it plainly appears that they do not allow the character of the priesthood to be indelible. To which it may be added, that they approve of the marriage of their priests, provided they enter into that state before their admission into holy orders, though they are never indulged in that respect after their ordination. The Patriarch of Constantinople assumes the honourable title of Universal or Ecumenical Patriarch. As he purchases his commission of the Grand Seignior, it may be easily supposed that Patriarch of he makes a tyrannical and simoniacal use of a privilege Constantinople. which he holds himself by simony. The Patriarch and bishops are always single men; but the priests are indulged in marriage before ordination; and this custom, which is generally practised all over the Levant, is very ancient. Should a priest happen to marry after ordination, he can officiate no longer as priest, which is conformable to the injunctions of the council of Neocesarea; the marriage, however, is not looked upon as invalid; whereas, in the Latin church, such marriages are pronounced void and of no effect, because the priesthood is looked upon as a lawful bar or impediment. Their Pappas, or secular priests, not having any settled and competent livings, are obliged to subsist by simoniacal practices. "The clergy," says Ricaut, "are almost compelled to sell those divine mysteries. which are intrusted to their care. No one, therefore, can procure absolution, be admitted to confession, have his chi Pappas or Priests. dren baptized, be married or divorced, or obtain an excommunication against his adversary, or the communion in time of sickness, without first paying down a valuable consideration. The priests make the best market they can, and fix a price on their spiritual commodities in proportion to the devotion or abilities of their respective customers;" added to which, they are so avaricious and rigid with their parishioners, that they will scarcely part with a single drop of holy water without being paid for it beforehand. The Greek church has no established fund for the maintenance of their clergy; they subsist therefore by the levying of some certain duties, and by the charity and benevolence of well-disposed Christians. Each parish is obliged to maintain its own curate. Every house is assessed at a certain annual sum, which must be paid in money or effects. Each diocese is likewise taxed for the more honourable support of its bishop, &c. ; but the avarice and illegal practices of the collectors countenance and encourage the petty shifts and evasions which are daily practised to elude them. Regarding the charity of the people, it is so very cold and languid, that it seems almost a sufficient plea for the simoniacal practices of the clergy. A monastic life is held in great veneration among the Greeks; and Monastic life although there are monks of different orders among them, in great yet all of them owe their origin to St. Basil, who was the sole founder of the monastic state. held veneration. Orders. The two principal are styled the Grand and Angelical Habit, and the Lesser Habit. Those belonging to the former are persons of worth and distinction, and who prefer to lead a more righteous life Principal than the rest. Monks of the Lesser Habit are inferior persons, who do not pretend to lead such sanctified lives. The latter live uncontrolled, and are left to their own discretion; for which reason, before they take up the habit, they deposit a certain sum of money for a cell or small apartment, and other accommodations, belonging to the convent. The procurator or steward, indeed, supplies them with bread and wine, in the same manner as the rest; but in every other respect they provide for themselves; and, being thus free from all the incumbrances of a convent, each one pursues his own particular affairs. There is a third order, who are known and distinguished by the name of Anchorets; and, though they do not choose to work, nor to perform the other duties of the convent, they are still very desirous of Anchorets. passing their lives in solitude and retirement. They purchase, therefore, a cell, or a little commodious apartment exterior to the convent, with a small spot of ground contiguous to it, sufficient to maintain them; and they never attend the convent but on solemn festivals, on which days they assist at the celebration of divine service. As soon as their public devotions are over, they return to their cells, and spend their time in the pursuit of their customary avocations, without being confined to any set time for their prayers, or other acts of private devotion. There are some of these anchorets, however, who retire altogether from the convent, with the licence and approbation of their abbot, in order to live still more retired, and to apply themselves more closely to prayer and contemplation. Having no grounds nor vineyards of their own to improve, the convent sends them, once at least, if not twice, a month, a stated allowance. Those, however, |