Page:The Greek and Eastern churches.djvu/431

Rh tion of the Church in Russia to the patriarch of Constantinople an anachronism and an inconvenience.

It was under these circumstances that Joachim the patriarch of Antioch paid a visit to the metropolitan Dionysius at Moscow in the year 1580, in order to seek aid for his poverty-stricken people. Dionysius stood on his dignity in giving the benediction to his visitor in the first instance, instead of humbly submitting to the blessing of an ecclesiastical superior and returning it. The tsar then proposed to his boyars the suitability of establishing a patriarchate at Moscow, and sent one of them to discuss the question with Joachim, who replied that it was a matter that could only be settled by an œcumenical council, but promised to consult the other patriarchs about it.

Two years later, Jermiah, the patriarch of Constantinople, followed the example of his brother at Antioch, and came to Moscow on a similar errand. It is painful to see how in both cases the need of pecuniary aid introduces a sordid element into the consideration of the tsar's proposal. The Greeks hoped to gain something by the friendship of Russia, and the Russians were not slow to take advantage of their poverty and weakness. Jeremiah had been imprisoned at Rhodes by the sultan, and, though now at liberty, he found himself in desperate straits when he threw himself on the compassion of his fellow-Christians in Russia. He can hardly be regarded as a free agent. Nevertheless at first he resisted the tsar's proposal. He was an old man and learned, and the chief custodian of the now ossified customs of the Greek Church. So great an innovation must have startled him when he heard of it from his brother prelate, the patriarch of Antioch. But he had had time to think it over since then; and inasmuch as he came to Moscow of his own accord, well knowing what was desired there, he must have been prepared to face the question. He really had no alternative but to yield, and he may have taken a common-sense view of the whole case. After all, the new step was inevitable.