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 RITES

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RITES

his charge in BrookljTi. All these Catholic Armenians are too poor to build any church or chapel of their own, and use the bas^ement portion of the Latin churches. Towards the end of 1906 another Ar- menian priest, Rev. Manuel Basieganian, commenced mission work in Paterson, Xew Jersey, and now at- tends mission stations throughout New England, New Jersey, and Eastern Pennsylvania. In 1908 Rev. Hovsep (Joseph) Keossajian settled in Law- rence, Massachusetts, and estabUshcd a chapel in St. Mar}-'s Church. He also ministers to the spiritual wants of the Armenian Cathohcs at Boston, Cam- bridge. East Watertown, Newton, Lynn, Chelsea, and Lowell. In 1909 Rev. Moses Mazarian took charge of the Armenian mission at Cleveland, Ohio, and in the cities throughout the west. None of these have been able to build independent Armenian churches, but usuallj' hold their services in the Roman Catholic churches. Besides the places already men- tioned there are slender Armenian Catholic congrega- tions at Haverhill, Worcester, Fitchburg, Milford, Fall River, Holyoke, and Whiting, in Massachusetts; Nashua and Manchester, in New Hampshire; Provi- dence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls in Rhode Island; New Britain and Bridgeport, in Connecticut; Jersey Citj-, West Hoboken, and Newark, in New Jersey; and Philadelphia and Chicago. The number of Catholic Armenians in the United States is very small, being <'stimate(l at about 2000 to 2500 all told. So many of them reside among the other Armenians and frequent their churches, that there may be more who do not profess themselves Catholics, and purely Armenian chapels would doubtless bring to light many whom the mission priestc on their rounds do not reach. Gregorian An?ienians. — Inasmuch as Armenia was converted to the faith of St. Gregory the Illuminator, the Armenians who are not in union with the Holy See pride themselves upon the fact that they more truly hold the faith preached by St. Gregory and they are accordingly called Gregorians, since the word "Orthodox" would be likely to confuse them with the Greek.s. By reason of the many schools founded in Armenia and in Constantinople by American Protestant missionaries, their attention was turned to America, and, when the massacres of 189.5-96 took place, large numbers came to the United States. Many of them belonged to the Protestant Armenian Church, and identified them.selves with the Con- gregationalists or Presbyterians; but the greater number of them belonged to the national Gregorian Church. In 1889 Rev. Hovsep Sarajian, a priest from Constantinople, was sent to the Armenians in Massachusetts, and a church which was built in Worcester in 1891, is still the headquarters of the Armenian Church in the United States. The emigra^ tion increaiiing greatly after the massacres. Father Sarajian was reinforced by several other Armenian priests; in 1898 he was made bishop, and in 1903 was mvf«ted with archiepiscopal authority, having Canada and the Unitfd Statf-s umlcr his jurisdiction. Seven grf-at pastorates wen; organizr^d to serve as the nuclei of future diofcsf-s: at Worcester, Boston, and Law- n-nee fMa.ssachu.settH), New York, Providence (Rhode Island;, Fresno (California), and Chicago (Illinois). To these was a/lded West Hoboken in 1906. There are numerous congregations and mi.ssion stations in various citic-s. Churches have been built in Worces- ter, Fresno, and Went Holxjken; in Boston and Prov- idenc<; halls are renU-d, and in other places arrange- mentH are often ma/le with Episcopal churches where their Bt;r\iceH are held, l^he Gregorian Armenian clergy c^>mpnw;s the archbishop, seven resiflent and thrf!e missionary prifsls, while th(number of Gregor- ian Armenians is given at 20,(XX) in the United States. There are Beveral Armenian societies and two Ar- menian newspapers, and also Armenian reading- rooms in Beveral places.

IssAVERDENZ, The Armenian Liturgy (Venice, 1873); Idem, The Armenian Ritual (Venice, 1873); Idem, The Sacred Rites and Ceremonies of the Armenian Church (Venice, 1888) ; Prince Maximilian, Missa Armenica (Ratisbon and New York, 1908); Fortescue, The Armenian Church (London, 1873); Asdvad- ZADOTJRiANTS, Armenian Liturgy, Armenian and English (Lon- don, 1887) ; Brightman, Liturgies Eastern and Western (Oxford, 1896); NiLLES, Kalendarium Manuale, II (Innsbruck, 1897); U. S. Census Bureau, Religious Bodies, pt. II (Washington, 1910).

II. Byzantine or Greek Rite. — This rite, reckoning both the Catholic and Schismatic Churches, comes next in expansion through the Christian world to the Roman Rite. It also ranks next to the Roman Rite in America, there being now (1911) about 156 Greek Catholic churches, and about 149 Greek Orthodox churches in the United States. The Eastern Orthodox Churches of Russia, Turkey, Rumania, Servia, and Bulgaria, and other places where they are found, make up a total of about 120,000,000, while the Uniat Churches of the same rite, the Greek Catholics in Austria, Hungary, Italy, Bulgaria, Asia, and elsewhere, amount to upwards of 7,500,000. The Byzantine Rite has already been fully described [see Const.\ntinople, The Rite of; Greek Rites; Orthodox Church; Altar (in the Greek Church); Archimandrite; Epiklesis; Euchologion; Iconostasis], as well as the or- ganization and development of the various churches using the Greek or Byzantine Rite (see Eastern Churches; Greek Church; Russia). Unlike the Armenian Rite, it has not been confined to any par- ticular people or language, but has spread over the entire Christian Orient among the Slavic, Rumanian, and Greek populations. As regards jurisdiction and authority, it has not been united and homogeneous like the Roman Rite, nor has it, like the Latin Church, been uniform in language, calendar, or par- ticular customs, although the same general teaching, ritual, and observances have been followed. The principal languages in which the liturgy of the Greek Rite is celebrated are (1) Greek; (2) Slavonic; (3) Arabic, and (4) Rumanian. It is also celebrated in Georgian by a small and diminishing number of wor- shippers, and sometimes experimentally in a number of modern tongues for missionary purposes; but, as this latter use has never been approved, the four languages named above may be considered the official ones of the Byzantine Rite. A portion of the popula- tion of all the nations which use this rite, follow it in union with the Holy See, and the.se have by their union placed the Byzantine Rite in the position which it occupied before the schism of 1054. Thus, the Russians, Bulgarians, and Servians, who are schis- matic, use the Old Slavonic in their church books and services; so hkewi.se do the Catholic Ruthenians, Bulgarians, and Servians. Likewise the Rumanians of Rumania and Transylvania, who are schismatic, use the Rumanian language; in the Greek Rite; but the Rumanians of Transylvania, who are Catholic, do the same. The Orthodox Greeks of Greece and Turkey use the original Greek of their rite; but the Italo-Greeks of Italy and Sicily and the Greeks of Constantinople, who are CathoHc, use it also. The Syro-Arabians of Svria and Egypt, who are schis- matic, use the Arabic in the Greek Rite; but the Catholic Melchites likewi.se use it.

The numerous emigrants from these countries to America have brought with them their Byzantine Rite with all its local peculiarities and its language. In some respects the environment of a people pro- fessing the Greek Rite in union with the Holy See but in close touch with their countrymen of the Roman Rite has tended to change; in unimportant particulars several of the ceremonies and sometimes particular phra.ses of the rite (see Italo-Gkeeks; Melchite.s; Ruthe.via.v Rite), but not to a greater extent tluvn the various Schismatic Churches have changed the language and ceremonies in their several national Churches. Where this has occurred in the Greek