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322 Day, they became so excited that the Phanar was frightened, and removed the interdict; but the two Exarchist sees were founded and still exist. In August, 1903, the Patriarchist bishops wailed aloud, and sent round to the Ambassadors of the Great Powers a memorandum in French against the "aggressions of the schismatical Bulgarian Exarchate." The most absurd part of the situation is that the great Russian Church, which from the beginning has been the warm friend and protector of the Exarchists, is in communion with both sides. The Phanar dares not excommunicate all Russia, of course, but in the long list of its grievances against that country, one of the chief is the Russian patronage of the Bulgarian schism. It is true that the Synod of 1872 declared schismatic and excommunicated every one who should aid, abet, or acknowledge the Exarchate, but, except a few very ardent Greeks, no one has dared apply that law to the obvious case of Russia. Meanwhile, the Exarchists get their Holy Chrism from Petersburg, and the Russians hold open communion with the excommunicate. Occasionally a very public case raises a storm of angry protest from the Greek papers, but no one takes any notice of it. To the furious accusations of the Phanar the Bulgars answer in a language that is common to all schismatics: they are not schismatics at all, but a national branch of the Church Catholic, using their sacred right to manage their own