Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/841

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75.5

GREEK

divided. The memberslup is about 250,000.— Tlie Servian Patriarchate of Carlovitz in Ilungarv. — Tliis Church was fovuided in 1691 l)y Servian emigrants from Turkey. It became a patriarcliate in 1S4S. Besides the patriarchal diocese, there are six others: Braes, Buda, Carlstadt, Pakray, Temescaz, and Versecz. Its membersliip numbers about 1,080,000 souls. It is governed by a Holy Synod and a national Parhanient, or Assembly, of which one-third of the members are clerics and the remainder laymen. It meets every three years.^The Servian Church of Bosnia-Herze- govina. — Theoretically this Church still belongs to the Greek Patriarchate of Constantinople, but since the annexation of these provinces by Austria-Hungary (6 October, 1908) it may be looked on as autonomous. It has four metropolitan sees, Seraiero,Mostar, Dolnja- Touzla, and Banialoiika, and numbers 700,000 souls. — Two other Servian groups have not yet acquired autonomy. That in Dalniatia belongs to the Ruma- nian Metropolitan of Tchernovitz ; it has two dioceses, Zara and Cattaro. and numbers 110,000 souls. The other group, in Turke}', in the vilayet of Uskub, acknowledges the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople. It has two dioceses, Prizrend and Uskub, and numbers 250,000 souls.

(c) The Bulgarian Exarchate. — After having con- currently two patriarchates, one at Tirnovo, su]> pressed in 1393, and another at Ochrida, suppressed in 1767, the Bulgarians liave organized an independent Church, recognized by the Sublime Porte, 11 March, 1870. The exarch, head of all Bulgarians in Turkey and Bulgaria who may be disposed to admit his author- ity, resides in Constantinople. He has subject to him in Turkey 21 dioceses, of which about two-thirds are still waiting for the nomination of their bishops, and in Bulgaria 11 metropolitan dioceses. The faithful of the exarchate nmnber about 4,000,000, of whom 2,- 900,000 are in the Kingdom of Bulgaria, and 1 ,000,000 in Turkey in Europe. The proclamation of Bulgaria as an independent kingdom will bring about modifica- tions in the ecclesiastical domain, for it is hardly likely that Turkey will accept an outsider as spiritual head of its Ottoman subjects.

(5) Orthodox Rumanians. — (a) The Church of Ru- mania. — This church has existed since 186-J, though it was not recognized by the Phanar as independent until 13 May, 1885. It obeys a Holy Synod composed of two metropolitans and six bishops — its whole epis- copate. Its membership numbers 4,800,000 souls. — (b) The Rumanian Church of Sibiu. — This Church, formerly imder the Servian Patriarchate of Carlovitz, secured its independence in 1864. It is governed by a national Assembly composed of 90 members (30 ecclesiastics and 60 laymen) who meet every three years. The Metropolitan of Sibiu has two suffragans, the Bishops of Arad and of Karambes. Its computed membership is 1,750,000. (c) Servo-Rumanian Church of Tchernovitz. — This Church secured inde- pendence in 1873. It comprises three dioceses; Tchernovitz, the metropolitan see, situated in Buko- vina, Zara and Cattaro in Dalmatia (its two suffragan sees). The population of this Church, which in Buko- vina is mainly .Servo-Rmnanian and in Dalmatia Servian, is about 520,000 souls.

To sum up, there are seventeen Orthodox Churches of various tongues and nationalities, knit together more or less by a common Byzantine Rite and a vague basis of doctrine that becomes more and more imbued with Protestant ideas. Their total membership does not exceed 100,000,000 souls; the exact figure is 94,- 050.000, of whom about three quarters (70,000,00) are in the Russian dominions.

III. Greek Uniat Churches. — Nearly every one of the Orthodox Churches of the Byzantine Rite has a corresponding Greek Catholic Church in communion with Rome. As we saw in the majority of the Ortho- dox Churches, so in the case of the Uniat Churches,

they are Greek only in name. Altogether eight divi- sions are recognized: (1) Pure Greeks, (2) Italo- Greeks, (3) Georgians, (4) Gra-co-Arabs (or Melchites), (5) Ruthenians, (6) Servians, (7) Bulgarians, and (8) Rumanians. The total membership of these various Chinches does not exceed 6,000,000 souls; the exact figure is computed at 5,564,809, of whom 4,097,073 belong to the Ruthenians and Servians, 8488 to the Bulgarians, 1,271,333 to the Rumanians, 138,735 to the Melchites, and 49,180 to the Italo-Greeks and Pure Greeks. The number of Catholic Georgians is unknown, but it is small. These are the figures fur- nished by the 1907 edition of "Missiones Catholicae", published at Rome (p. 743).

(1) Pure Greeks. — Their Church has not yet been organized, it is under the Apostolic Delegate at Con- stantinople. Parishes and missions exist at Constan- tinople, Cadi-Keui, Peramos, Gallipoli, Malgara and Ca^sarea in Cappadocia. The faithful number about 1000, imder the care of a dozen priests, of whom seven are Assumptionists. There are also Catholics of this rite in Greece. They are subject to the Delegation at Athens.

(2) The Italo-Greek Church.— These Catholics are of Greek or Albanian origin, and use the Byzantine Rite. They live mainly in Sicily and Calabria, and have some fixed colonies in Malta, at Algiers, Marseilles, and Carghese in Corsica. Their number is not more than 50,000. Ecclesiastics in Calabria and Sicily are ordained by two Italo-Greek bishops. Their litur- gical language is Greek, but for the most part the vernacular of the faithful is Italian.

(3) Georgian Churches. — Russia, unwilling to tol- erate within her dominions an Orthodox Georgian Church distinct from the Russian, is all the more opposed to the creation of a Catholic Georgian Church. Out of from 30,000 to 35,000 Georgian Catholics, about 8000 follow the Armenian Rite, the remainder having adopted the Latin Rite. The only Catholic Georgian organization in existence is at Constantinople.

(4) Grwco-Arabs {or Melchites). — All these are under a patriarch who bears the titles of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem, and who, moreover, has jurisdiction over all the faithful of his rite in the Ottoman Empire. Their number amounts to about 140,000 and they are subject to twelve bishops or metropolitans. The liturgical language is either Arabic or Greek.

(5) Ruthenians. — The Uniat Church of Russia has disappeared. Its last two bishoprics, those of Minsk and Chelm, were suppressed in 1869 and in 1875 re- spectively. Since the disorders of 1905 many have availed themselves of the liberty of returning to the Catholic Church, but as a precautionary measure they have adopted the Latin Rite.

(6) Scrinans. — In Austria-Hungary the ancient Ruthenian Church has survived ■nith a little more than 4,000,000 members. It has six dioceses, of which three are in Galicia (the Archbishopric of Lem- berg, and the Bishoprics of Przemysl and of Stanis- lawow) and three in Hungary (the Bishoprics of Munkacs and of Eperies under the Latin Archbishop of Grau, and the Bishopric of Crisium, or Kreutz, in the archiepiscopal province of Agram, and of which the Catholic population is mainly Servian).

(7) Bulgarians. — The movement for union with Rome, very strong in 1860, was, owing to political reasons, not a success. To-day there are hardly 10,- 000 Catholics between the two Apostolic vicariates of Thrace and Jlacedonia. The seminary of Thrace is under the care of the Assumptionists, that of Mace- donia under the Lazarists.

(8) Rumanians. — The Rumanian Catholic Church uses the Byzantine Rite, but the liturgical language is Rmnanian. It is estabhshed only in Hungary and counts four dioceses, viz., the Archdiocese of Fogaras with the suffragan Dioceses of Armenopolis, Gross- Wardein, and Lugos, having in all 1,. 300,000 members.