Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/234

 220 GREEK CHURCH The priests of Russia began in 1682 to preach their sermons instead of reading them from books, and gradually it became the general practice to preach at least twice a year. In 1858 many of the churches of St. Petersburg introduced the custom of having a sermon every Sunday. All the sermons, however, had to be submitted to the previous exami- nation of the bishops, which censorship was abolished in the diocese of St. Petersburg at the beginning of 1859. Festivals peculiar to the oriental church are the consecration of water on Jan. 6, in commemoration of Christ's baptism, and the Orthodox Sunday, on which a curse is pronounced against all heretics. It is forbidden to use instrumental music in the churches, but the mass is generally accompa- nied by choirs of singers. Catechising is some- thing rare, and the arrangements for religious instruction are very imperfect. The language used at divine service is among the Greeks of Turkey and Greece the old Greek, among the Russians and other Slavic nations the old Sla- vonic, and among the Georgians the old Geor- gian. The clergy are divided into two classes, the higher and the lower clergy. The former class comprises the patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops, and bishops; all of whom are chosen from among the monks, and must live in celibacy. The lower clergy are subdivided into the black clergy (so called after their dress) or monks, and the white or secular cler- gy, who wear blue, violet, or brown dresses. A convent is governed by an abbot or archi- mandrite (apxifJiavdpiTijg) ; and among the oth- er monks there are priors (fyofyevoi), priests (lepofiovaxoi), and deacons (iepodifaovoi), who can perform the same functions as the priests and deacons of the secular clergy. All the others are merely called monks (jiovaxoi). The lower secular clergy are protopopes (irpurotepoi, arch priests), popes (priests), deacons, subdea- cons, and lectors. The monks of the Greek church, as well as the nuns, who are less numer- ous, generally follow the rule of St. Basil, with the exception of those of Mt. Sinai and Mt. Leb- anon, who follow the rule of St. Anthony. At the head of the female convent stands an oilcono- mos, who must be at least 80 years of age. He chooses a priest as confessor of the nuns, who also elect, under his presidency, an abbess (fjyov- fitvy). The most celebrated convents are those of Mt. Athos, the convent of the holy sepulchre in Jerusalem, and that of Mt. Sinai in Arabia. 4th regard to church constitution, the Greek church is made up of ten independent groups. I. The church of Constantinople is governed by a patriarch, who bears the title of " Most Holy Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome Ecumenical Patriarch." He has under him 9 bishops, of whom there are seven in Rou- mania, four in Servia, and one at Venice. The churches of Roumania and Servia incline to make themselves independent of Constantino- ple ; and the Bulgarians, after many years of agitation, have at last succeeded in obtaining from the Turkish government the establish- ment of a Bulgarian exarchate, which at first contained 12 dioceses, and which, on certain conditions legally provided, may be joined by any other dioceses in which the Bulgarians are predominant. The dioceses of the Ionian islands were, in consequence of the incorpo- ration of the islands with Greece, transferred from the church of Constantinople to that of Greece. Throughout the immediate posses- sions of the Sublime Porte (i. &, all European and Asiatic Turkey except Roumania and Ser- via) the patriarch of Constantinople has not only spiritual, but also a kind of temporal ju- risdiction, as he is considered by the Turkish law the head of all the Greek Christians, who have to pay to him a yearly tax. He presides in the synod, the highest ecclesiastical board, which governs the Greek church of Turkey, and consists of all the patriarchs and a certain number of archbishops (properly 12), who have to take up their permanent residence at Constantinople. In certain cases, as the elec- tion of a patriarch, the holy synod has to act in union with the national assembly, a number of representatives of the most distinguished Greek families of Constantinople. The Jiatti- Jiumayum of Feb. 21, 1856, provided for im- portant changes in the relation of the patri- archs and the holy synod to the Greek church. They were to receive a fixed salary, to lose their temporal and judicial power, and the pa- triarchs and bishops were to be appointed for life. A supreme church council, to consist of priests and laymen, was to be elected by the entire church. II. The church of Alexandria counts five bishops, under the "Blessed and Holy Patriarch of the great city of Alexan- dria, of all Egypt and Pentapolis, of Libya and Ethiopia, Pope and Judge (Ecumenical." The patriarch habitually resides at Cairo. III. The church of Antioch numbers 17 bishops. Its chief bears the title of " Blessed and Holy Patriarch of the City of God, Antioch, Syria, Arabia, Cilicia, Iberia, Mesopotamia, and all the East, Father of Fathers and Pastor of Pas- tors." IV. The church of Jerusalem has 14 bishops. The patriarch is called the "Blessed and Holy Patriarch of the Holy City of Jeru- salem, of Palestine, Syria, Arabia beyond Jor- dan, Cana Galilee, and Holy Sion." V. The Russian church has 60 bishops, governed by the " Most Holy Synod directing all the Rus- sias," which was first established by Peter the Great, and consists of three metropolitans, one archbishop, two other clerical and two lay members. VI. The church of the island of Cyprus counts four bishops, under the " Blessed and Holy Bishop of New Justiniana and of all the Isle of Cyprus." His see is at Nicosia. VII. The Greek church of Austria is divided into three jurisdictions entirely independent of each other. In the lands of the Hungarian crown there is a metropolitan for the Serb nationality at Carlovitz, and another for the Rouman nationality at Hermannstadt ; there