Page:The Greek and Eastern churches.djvu/15



book is divided into two Parts. In the First Part I have traced the history of the main body of the Church throughout the Eastern provinces of Christendom, until by losing one limb after another this is seen to become more and more limited in area, although still claiming to be the one orthodox Church. In the Second Part I have taken up the stories of the separate Churches. In order to do this intelligibly I have found it necessary to go back in each case as far as possible to the particular Church's origin. Since that was usually some controversy of the older Church which was discussed in the first part of the volume, the consequence has been a certain amount of repetition. But I have deemed it better to say the same thing twice over—first in the general history and then in the local—than to leave either of them seriously incomplete. Besides, the story is not just the same when viewed from the standpoint of the local branch that it was when it first appeared in the course of the main history.

If there is any special characteristic of this book to which I would desire to lay claim, it is an honest endeavour to do justice to all parties. Now that the heat of controversy has subsided and the dust of battle settled, it should be possible to take a calm and clear view of the facts, with a full recognition of all that was excellent in various bodies of Christians who in their own day mutually anathematised one another.

I have set at the head of each of the chapters two lists of books. Those marked (a) are principal original