Page:Orthodox Eastern Church (Fortescue).djvu/316

278 the strength of this very national idea that centuries ago the Patriarch waxed strong and rebelled against his over-lord, the Pope. Now he sees his own children, having learned it from him, also wax strong on it and rebel against him. And so he finds Philetism to be a deadly heresy. Poor Patriarch! in his glory he was only a very feeble imitation of the Pope, and now he is fixed between two theories, and either way he loses. Shall he denounce Philetism, stand out for the old rights of the hierarchy and of the chief sees, preach unity and ancient councils? Alas! his see is not even an Apostolic one; he would have to go down below Alexandria and Antioch. Every one knows which is the first see in Christendom, and every one knows that unity means returning to the obedience of that see. Or shall he, taking up a cry that seems to come more naturally from Constantinople, talk of equality and national Churches, national rights and no aggression, no Head, in short, but Christ? But, then, what shall he say to the Bulgars? Of course what he wants is just enough national idea to disobey the Pope and not enough for the Bulgars to disobey him. And so the irony of development has landed him in that most hopeless of positions, a via media between two consistent and mutually exclusive systems.

But we have not yet exhausted the list of his troubles. Servia and Roumania have national Churches, covering just these two new kingdoms. But throughout the poor remnant of the Patriarchate there are Serbs and Roumans too. And the Phanar, which never repents and never learns, goes on sending Greek metropolitans to rule over these people. So they, too, are violently discontent, clamour for bishops of their own race, and for the liturgy in their own language, and openly ask to join the independent Churches of their free brothers. So even after he has lost so much of his "broad lands" the Patriarch has no peace with what is left.

His most dangerous enemy of all, however, is the Russian Holy Synod. What the Russian Government wants is quite simple—unity within, expansion without. And in this matter, as in all, the Holy Synod that rules the Church of Russia is the willing tool of the Government. So in Church matters Russian policy works out as being uniformity within, and