Page:Uniate Eastern Churches.pdf/167

Rh these should make a Catholic profession of faith in the terms of the Council of Florence, and should be approved by the Papal Nunzio or by the Patriarch of Venice. These chaplains were then paid by the State.

But among the Greek community there were some who had no sympathy with the idea of being Uniates, who rather turned longing eyes towards the Patriarch of Constantinople, now again a schismatic. It is not difficult to understand this. The colony was being continually reinforced by new arrivals from the East; these brought with them the ideas of their homes. Then, surrounded by Venetian Latins, the exiled Greeks all the more clung to their own nationality; of this nationality the Patriarch of Constantinople, whether he be a Uniate or not, is always the great representative. Meanwhile, the colony having grown, the Greeks thought they ought to have not merely two priests to minister to them, but a bishop. They petitioned the Government to allow this, and obtained what they wanted. The Holy See allowed it willingly enough. It was time to do away with the anomalous condition of Italo-Greeks without bishops. Naturally, the Byzantine bishop at Venice was to be a Uniate, to satisfy the same conditions as the chaplains. Nor was he to have jurisdiction. This is, in fact, the first case of a titular Byzantine bishop in Italy. The Council of Ten kept to itself the chief influence in the election of this bishop; he was to be the auxiliary of the Patriarch of Venice for the Greek colony. The first so chosen was Pachomios, exiled Metropolitan of Zakynthos and Kephallenia. He made a Catholic profession of faith, was approved by the local Patriarch, and began his work at Venice in 1557. At first there was no difficulty about the ordination of these Greek bishops; there were plenty of exiled Metropolitans from the Levant who were glad to get the post. They were paid generously by the Government. It was the second of this line who did the mischief. This was no less a person than Gabriel Seberos, formerly of Philadelphia. This Seberos