Page:Orthodox Eastern Church (Fortescue).djvu/290

252

It was natural that, soon after the Reformation, the Protestants, who had thrown off the Pope's authority, should remember and try to set up relations with the people in the East of Europe who, as far as this point went, had already for centuries stood in the same position. It is to the credit of the conservative spirit of the Orthodox Church that she has always refused communion with any religious body except on terms of the complete acceptance of the Orthodox faith. As we shall see, she believes herself to be the whole and only real Church of Christ, just as Catholics do. So any sort of alliance with other Churches on mutual terms is impossible, and the idea, often cherished, of building up a great united anti-papal Church to rival and balance the Catholic body has always broken down because of her refusal, as well as for other reasons.

The first in this field were the Lutherans. A certain Demetrios Mysos was studying at Wittenberg in the 16th century; when he went back to Constantinople, Philip Melanchthon († 1560) gave him a Greek translation of the Augsburg Confession, and a letter to the Patriarch Joasaph II (1555–1565). Nothing came of this. The Tübingen theologians made a much more important attempt. In 1574 James Andreä and Martin Crusius, both professors at that university, sent to Jeremias II (p. 248) another translation of the Augsburg Confession with a mightily civil letter asking him for his opinion of it. Jeremias answered, giving his opinion, which was, of course, simply the most categorical re-statement of the Orthodox faith (1575). He blames the Filioque (one can never understand why Protestants have kept the Filioque), baptism by infusion (see p. 420), their denial of Transubstantiation, penance, prayers for the dead, prayers to Saints, and religious orders. In one point especially a greater gulf separated the Reformers from the Orthodox than from Catholics. The Protestants made Justification by Faith alone one of their chief, dogmas: and the Orthodox belief was and is