supposed than real presumed gratis and not granted that Universal Jurisdiction becomes as empty and airy as those Titles which Popes give to those Patriarchs and Bishops whom they constitute over the several Diocesses of the Eastern Churches though they neither have a Revenue from thence nor Command over any of the Greek perswasion To evince which with more Evidence it will be pertinent to understand what Confession herein the Oriental Church makes and layes down for Orthodox viz. That as there is one Faith one Baptism one God and one Father of all so the Church of God is one Holy Catholick and Apostolick which denomination of Catholick they are the very words of the Confession the Church doth not take from one particular place or See predominant over all others as from Ephesus Philadelphia Laodicea Antioch Rome Jerusalem or the like but from an aggregation of all the Christian Churches in the World collected into one Body and united under one head Christ Jesus It is true saith this Confession that Jerusalem may properly be called the Mother Church of the World it having been the Stage whereon the Mystery of man's Redemption was represented and the place where the Gospel was first preached and the Fountain from whence were derived through the World the Streams of that Holy Doctrine which published the Passion and Resurrection of our Saviour and made known unto the World the glad Tidings of Repentance and remission of Sins but can betermed the Universal Mother with no more right than any other though if any particular Church can pretend thereunto that of Jerusalem might challenge an Authority and Priviledge above others having in the Infancy of Religion Acts II. v. 22. sent forth her Teachers and Pastors into all places and was famed for the glorious Blood of the Primitive Martyrs Whereby it is evident that the Greek Faith acknowledges no other Universal Head or Foundation than Jesus Christ himself under whom the Patriarchs Arch-bishops and Bishops of particular Churches subjected to different Powers of secular Government exercise their sway and jurisdiction over Human Souls Acts 20. v. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take heed unto your selves and to all the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Bishops By which it appears That the Greek Church doth not only not esteem the Church of Rome for the sole Catholick but also how absurd it is in reason to exclude the Greek the Armenian and many other Christan Churches from the pale of the Universal and consequently from the Benefits and Promises purchased by Christ for his Church And strange it is that none besides the Roman which is not of that extent as the vast Circumference of the other Christian Churches should yet have the sole Power of the Keys of the Divine Ordination and dispensing the Mysteries of the Holy Sacraments and that such who are excluded or are without her pale should be strangers to the Church of God and Aliens from his People Whilst in this manner the Oriental Churches believe no particular Church to have any other Universal Head than Jesus Christ they bear all obedience and respect to that Church of which they are members submitting to all its Orders and Censures Ecclesiastical for they believe that those words of our Saviour Matth. 18. 27. carry with them some force and authority and if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the Church and if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as a Heathen man or a Publican On this ground the Interpretation of Scripture made by the holy Synods and Councils and the judgments given by Patriarchs Bishops and other Priests according to Canonical Rites are established and esteemed of Divine Authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Priests with them are the mouth of their Spiritual Law and the Guides of their Souls on their Doctrine they entrust and adventure their safe Pilotage to the everlasting Haven of happiness And believing that no Scripture is of private Interpretation they judge it rational to resign themselves intirely to the belief of those to whose conduct they are committed having that high esteem of obedience as that which contains an admirable Vertue and Efficacy to atone for the sins not only of a misled understanding but for Actions of irregular practices And that the people may better understand the Precepts and Rules of the Church the Oriental Confession hath reduced all the commands thereof unto these nine following The first is Prayer to God attending at the times of the Liturgy Morning and Evening on the Lords Day and holy Festivals of the Church The second is the observation of the Fasts and Feasts of the Church The third is Obedience and Honour towards their Spiritual Pastors and Teachers The fourth is Confession of sins four times a year to a Priest lawfully constituted and ordained The fifth forbids the Laity to read the Books of Hereticks or any other which may divert them from the Profession of the Christian Faith The sixth enjoyns them to pray for all Kings and Princes for their Patriarchs Metropolites Bishops and all the Clergy and for all Souls departed in the Catholick Faith and for all Hereticks and Schismaticks that they may return to the true Faith before their passage from this present life The seventh enjoins an Obedience to all extraordinary occasional Fasts besides the Common or General namely such as are appointed and ordained by the Bishops in their respective Diocesses on occasional Calamities such as Famine War Pestilence or the like The eighth forbids the Laity to invade the Rights or Spiritual Livings or Benefices of the Clergy or convert the Ornaments of the Priest or Altar to private and profane uses or sacrilegiously to rob the Poor's Box and abuse the charitable Contributions of well-disposed Christians by employing them contrary to the intention of the Donor The ninth forbids the celebration of Marriages in Lent or during the time of their other Fasts or to frequent Theaters or imitate the Customs of the Barbarians or Infidels that so those who profess the Gospel may be charged with nothing that is over-sensual undecent or of ill report CHAP. V. Of the Fasts of the Greek Church THE Principal Fasts or Lents are four The first begins the 15th day of November being forty days before Christmas The second is the great Lent before Easter beginning with ours according to the Old stile the which stile they observe through the whole year The third begins the Week after Pentecost or Whitsontide called The Fast of the Holy Apostles being the time in which they judge that the Apostles prayed and fasted when they prepared themselves to preach the Gospel Acts 13. v. 3. which ends the 29th of June being the Festival of St. Peter and the other Apostles so that of this Fast there is no fixed number of days but is some years more some less according as the Pentecost falls
who are most signal for their Piety and Learning The Patriarch of Constantinople besides the extent of his Jurisdiction is of greater power by reason of his Vicinity to the Court but the Alexandrian is of greater Authority in his Ecclesiastical Censures and Civil Regimen stiling himself with the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Judge of the world And the Patriarchs of Antiochia and Jerusalem by reason of their poverty not having sufficient to subsist are little reverenced by the Turks or their own People The Patriarch of Constantinople who was so great and opulent under the Christian Emperours is now reduced to a narrow Fortune being deprived of his certain and setled Revenue by the violence and sacriledge of the common Enemy to the Church of Christ so that the chief income is accidental arising from the death of Bishops Arch-Bishops and ordinary Priests and from such as are consecrated and admitted into their Diocesses and Parishes What a deceased Priest leaves not having Children accrues to the Patriarch as to the common Father and Heir of them all from which arises a considerable Revenue every year The other Patriarchal Sees by reason of the paucity and poverty of the Christians are worse provided but yet being far from the Court have not so many nccessities to satisfie The chief subsistence of the secular Priests is from the charity of the People but they being cold in that Vertue as well as in their Devotion contribute faintly on the days of Offering so that the Clergy who are the Guardians of the Holy Mysteries are forced to sell the Ordinances of the Church for their own subsistence none being able to receive Absolution or be admitted to Confession or procure Baptism for their Children or enter into a state of Matrimony or divorce his Wife or obtain Excommunication against another or Communion for the sick without an agreement first for the price which the Priests hold up as they discover the Zeal and Abilities of the party who cheapens them When the Holy Church triumphed in the days of Constantine the Great the Bishops of Rome and Constantinople were independent each of other and afterwards they were also made of equal honour and power but in regard that for better order and distinction it was necessary they two being to meet and concur in the same Council that the precedency of place should first be determined The priority of Order not of Authority was adjudged to the Pope lest old Rome which was the ancient Mistress of the World should lose her honour in yielding to the new which was Constantinople and had no greater Dignity or Fame than that which she challenged and borrowed from the presence and brightness of the others Emperours and so much Socrates Scholasticus affirms in these words In the Council of Constantinople Anno 385. in the Reign of Theodosius the Emperour when Nectanius was chosen Bishop it was decreed That the Bishop of Constantinople should possess the next place and prerogative after the Bishop of Rome And likewise it was determined in the Council of Chalcedon Can. 28. That the Bishops Seat of new Rome that is Constantinople should enjoy equal priviledges with old Rome and in all Ecclesiastical matters to be extolled and magnified as that of Rome being the second in order after her the words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor did the Bishop of Rome ever preside in the first six General Councils which only are received by the whole Church either by himself or his Legates This and such-like honour of precedency the Church of Greece may yield unto the Church of Rome and perhaps now rather in these times of Oppression wherein being humbled by the hand of God they seek not worldly Honours nor swelling Titles nor Dominions but are desirous only to govern in the Hearts and Affections of their people Ambitio cupido gloriae faelicium hominum sunt affectus saith Tacitus However the Oriental Confession doth not seem to condescend so far in that it declares That notwithstanding the priority of Honour and Antiquity which was formerly given to Jerusalem and other Churches before that of Constantinople yet afterwards the Council of Constantinople and Chalcedon did give the primacy of honour unto new Rome and to the Clergy thereof by reason of the Imperial Power whose Seat was there But let us not only hear what the Greeks themselves do utter in this point but observe the words of that famous Venetian Father Paul Sarpus who in the 25th Chapter of his History of the Inquisition hath these pertinent and impartial words The Eastern and Western Churches continued both in Communion and Christian Charity for the space of nine hundred years and more in which time the Pope of Rome was reverenced and esteemed no less by the Greeks than by the Latines He was acknowledged for the Successor of St. Peter and chief of all the Eastern Catholick Bishops In the Persecutions raised by Hereticks they implored his Aid and of other Bishops of Italy and this Peace was easily kept because the Supreme Power was in the Canons to which both parts acknowledged themselves subject Ecclesiastical Discipline was severely maintained in each Country by the Prelates of it not arbitrarily but absolutely according to Order and Canonical Rigour none putting his hand into the Government of another but advised one the other to the observance of the Canons In those days never any Pope of Rome did pretend to confer Benefices in the Diocesses of other Bishops neither was the custome yet introduced of getting mony out of others by way of Dispensations or Bulls But as soon as the Court of Rome began to pretend that it was not subject to Canons and that she might according to her own discretion alter any Order of the Fathers Councils and of the Apostles themselves and that she attempted instead of the ancient Primacy of the Apostolical See to bring in an absolute Dominion not ruled by any Law or Canon then the division grew And as this division grew between the Eastern and Western Churches for the causes aforesaid so the same Reasons were the causes of division and separation in the Western Church it self for as to considering men nothing seemed more absurd than the Usurpation of Rome over other Churches independent thereon in secular Government so to the people who lived under its Dominion nothing could be more Tyrannical and oppressive CHAP. IV. The Opinion of the Greek Church concerning that Article in the Nicene Creed I believe one Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church and what Authority and Power is given by them thereunto THE See of Rome taking it for granted that she is the head of the Catholick Church would seem to deduce from that Principle undeniable consequences of Infallibility of Priviledges Power and Jurisdiction as ample and as extensive as the absolute and supreme Authority of our Lord and Master Jesus But this being a Foundation rather
torments afflict the soul or make the least satisfaction for sin according to the sentence of the second Council of Constantinople which condemned the Opinion of Origen herein for the soul then becomes uncapable either by its sufferings or repentance to obtain pardon in its own behalf But whatsoever is to be done in this matter is to be performed by the Soul united with the Body in this life afterwards the Bridegroom being entered the Gate is shut and no Path or way is left to repentance only the Prayers of the Saints on Earth their Almes-deeds and Offertories of frequent Sacrifices without Blood with the intercession of the Blessed Martyrs and Church triumphant open the doors of Paradise to languishing and wishing Souls but this is not done until the Judgment of the last day in which interim the Greek Church holds That neither the Sentence of the four Patriarchs nor the Decrees of the Universal Synod nor all the Bishops of the whole World assembled are able by their Autority Bolles or Indulgences to prescribe a time for release of one Soul from the confines of Hell only the Mercies of God who vouchsafes to be moved by the Prayers of the Church can sign this release and delivery at what time he shall think fit And that as the Blessed receive not their repletions of Glory in Heaven until after the day of Judgment so neither shall the Damned their fullness of Torment in everlasting flames By which it appears that the Tenents of the Greek Church are in this point First that the Repository of longing Souls is not locally different from Hell it self Secondly that they endure no other punishment than only the sence of deprivation from God and Heaven and are not purged by Fire and Flames And thirdly that no Indulgences nor Pardons of all the Patriarchs or of the Universal Bishop can by their Autority remit one moment of detention to the imprisoned Souls farther than as they are Members of the Church Militant by whose Prayers and good works only those Souls find ease and benefit and this is the true and certain meaning of the Greek Church in this point against which and their Tenent about the Pontificial Authority the Romanists make their greatest exception CHAP. XV. Of the Fifth Mystery called Marriage MArriage in the Greek Church is called a Mystery being the Union of two Bodies into one Flesh which having a Spiritual Benefit as well as a Politick the Church under all Christian Governments hath taken upon it self the power of tying the Matrimonial Knot of blessing the Parties and of giving or granting rules and limits thereunto The Greek Church retaining unto these days many of the Precepts and Laws of ancient severity and mortification used in the Primitive times of Christianity forbids and declares unlawful the fourth Marriage for though they are subject to the Turks with whom Polygamie is allowable yet they do not only disapprove it as dissentaneous to the Christian Religion but likewise as a matter undecent and savouring too much of the Flesh and sensuality of Concupiscence For a man after he hath buried his first Wife and taken a second and being deprived of that also hath proceeded to the embraces of a third the Church is so far satisfied but gives a stop here judging that where death hath three times made a separation from the Matrimonial Bed there ought a limitation to be set unto farther proceedings that so the Widower may lament and condole the unhappiness of so many deprivements and having proved the troubles and importunities of the Flesh may find time and leisure for Prayer and Repentance The reason that the Greeks give why the fourth Marriage is unlawful is because it would come under the notion of Polygamie which hath been forbidden by the Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws of Christians for they understand Polygamie to be a Conjunction of divers Copulatives in number which is not understood until a person proceeds unto a fourth Wife which makes more than one Copulative in the rule of Marriage but this allegation is so frivolous and unsatisfactory that I cannot understand the nicety and therefore rather believe that this prohibition was grounded on the ancient Customs of the Church when mortifications were more in use and all luxurious indulgence to carnality generally condemned and out of fashion as appears by the Writings of S. Augustine lib. 3. cap. 18. de doct Christ. lib. 16. contra Faustâ—â—â— against which also S. Jerom in his Epistles so much inveighs that he stiles the second Marriage little better than Fornication what censure then is it likely that he would pass on the fourth or fifth Marriages and herein hath been great variety of Opinions in former Ages as Socrates Schol. saith lib. 5. c. 21. The Novatians in Phrygia allow not of a second Marriage such as inhabit Constantinople do neither receive nor reject it again such as are in the Western parts of the World admit it wholly the Original Authors of so great diversity were Bishops who governed the Churches at divers and at several times How strict soever this Church is esteemed in admitting many degrees of Marriage that is of proceeding farther than to the fourth Marriage yet through corruption and poverty of the Clergy the dissolution of that Knot is with much more facility obtained so that it is ordinary for a man to take out a Divorce from the Patriarch and to marry another Woman and the Patriarch afterwards to alter his Sentence and enjoyn the Party to reassume his first Wife leaving the ignorant soul as well confused in his love as in his Conscience The reason hereof is rather Ignorance in Government than the Authority of any Canon whereby such a liberty is dispensed for the Metropolites as well as the Priests being miserably poor their Divorces as well as Excommunications are made vendible from whence yearly accrues a considerable benefit to the Church and perhaps also this freedom may the more easily be indulged in imitation and complyance with the Government under which they live The Ceremonies used at their Marriages are some of them serious and significant and others too light and frivolous for so considerable and important a part of Religion for though their Prayers and Collects at this Service are holy and full of apt and Divine Expressions and the use of the Ring is very decent and becoming but the changing of Garlands from the Bridegroom to the Bride the giving them Wine and sugared Confects in a Spoon and tying them with a Garter and rocking them together are Ceremonies and Toys which seem too mean and low and not aptly fitted to an Institution so serious and and important as this The Greeks being a people of a merry and sanguine complexion are wanton and unconstant in their Amours so that it is usual as amongst other Nations for them to make Addresses to one Mistress and pass to the Marriage of another for which they commonly give their Sponsalia
which is not either appointed for Fast or noted for a Festival CHAP. VII Of their Monasteries and Rules observed therein BEsides the Monastery of Etchmeasin of which we have already treated they have several others in divers places of Armenia Persia and Dominions of the Turks But those of greatest note are these That of S. John Baptist called by them Surp Carabet on the Borders of Persia Varatch or the Holy Cross scituated near Van where they report that Rupsameh fixed the real Cross of Christ Asfasasin or the Blessed Virgin is another Monastery near Darbiquier Surp Bogas or S. Paul at Angora Their Orders or Rules observed are three viz. Surp Savorich or that of S. Gregory Surp Parsiach or that of S. Basil and Surp Dominicos or that of S. Dominick The first wear Vests of black with Hoods of the same but when they officiate in their Mass they are cloathed in white with Crowns on their heads The second are habited like Greek Kaloires of that Order And the third are cloathed in black with no other difference from the first than in the cut and shape of their Hoods This latter of S. Dominicos they seem to have taken from the Roman Priests who have gained footing and admission amongst them for otherwise that Western Name and Modern Order could never have found place so far East-ward nor society with those other two more ancient Religions unless by imitation or in conformity to Rome They observe almost the same Rules and Orders in their manner of Worship and Service They eat no flesh nor drink Wine yet on Saturdays and Sondays out of Lent they have liberty to eat Eggs Milk Butter and Fish They have used themselves so much to fasting from their Infancy that it is very curious to observe what Custom is able to effect in our Bodies and with how small a proportion Nature can be contented in which strict manner of living some have so far endeavoured to exceed that they have daily diminished of their slender Diet and supposing still that Nature might be content with a meaner proportion have so extenuated and macerated their Bodies that at length they have miserably perished with Famine They arise from their Beds at Midnight and continue in Prayer and Fasting until three a Clock in the Afternoon during which time they are obliged to read over the whole Psalter of David There are Women likewise in this Country who put themselves into Nunneries and live with the same severity and strictness as do the men They have also some Hermites whom they call Gickniahore who live upon the tops of Rocks confined thereunto almost as severely as Simeon Stylites was to his Pillar Nor is this Country so remote and obscure nor the Language so much unknown but that the Roman Clergy hath gained a considerable footing amongst them whereby they have established no less than ten Monasteries in that Country all of the Order of S. Dominick of which I have seen and discoursed with some of the Friers and particularly I had once opportunity to discourse with the Arch-Bishop who was of the same Order and constituted by the Pope over this Church as he was going to Rome to receive his Consecration and to obtain a Stipend of 200 Crowns a year for his maintenance he told me that he had ten Monasteries under him all of the Order of S. Dominick that his place of Residence was at Nachavan three days journey from Tavris which was the place where Noah's Ark rested after the flood These of the Roman as well as of the Armenian Church are so wretchedly ignorant that they are not capable to render a satisfactory answer to a curious Stranger in any thing relating to their own Customs and Manners but commonly make a reply to his Queries by begging for if you ask them Questions they will demand Alms of you The first time that the Roman Religion crept into this Country was about 350 years past by means of one Ovan de Kurnah who having a wandring head and a genius towards Learning somewhat more curious than the generallity travelled into Poland and thence into France and Italy where having comprehended something of the Western Knowledge and Doctrine returned into his own Country where he preached and instructed them in the material points of their Religion which seemed unto them to be all new matters and high notions and had not entred into the consideration and brains of the wisest amongst them so that the Doctrines and Tenents of Kurnah began to pass currant amongst them to the great admiration and applause of this travelling Doctor But at length touching on the Popes Supremacy to the prejudice of the Patriarchal Authority and Jurisdiction the whole mass of his Doctrine became leavened and he forbidden farther to preach or the people to hear him Howsoever a considerable number adhered to his Doctrine and to this day rather gain than lose ground in Armenia of whom there is a Church licensed at Rome and the form of their Mass priviledged and squared according to that of the Latines but excessive long and tedious and much differing from that of the Armenian as I have seen them revised and compared together In the year 1678 when I was passing through Rome and Italy in my way from Smyrna into England it was confidently reported in the Dominions of the Pope that the Chief Patriarch of the Armenian Church together with many of his Metropolites were on their journey towards Rome with intention to submit themselves to that Church but having remained in those parts for some Months after that report began and neither seeing nor hearing of their nearer approach I may confidently conclude that this Patriarch is still as far off in his agreement with the Church of Rome as he is at a distance by the situation of his Country As to the Service-Book which belongs to the true and that which is properly called the Armenian Church it was compiled as they report in part by S. James and the rest by S. Chrysostom and S. Basil whose forms of Prayer and Service are wholly in use amongst the Eastern Christians for I have not heard of any Liturgy of Surp Savorich or S. Gregory in this Church which to me is very strange There not being much Literature amongst these people we cannot expect to find great Libraries wrote in their Language or many Books wherein the retired Monks may exercise their Studies That Book which is of most note amongst them and agreeable to the design of Religious men is the Book of one Gregorio of the Monastery of Stat which treats of the lives of holy men and serves in the place of Homilies read on Festival Days the study of which is the chief employment of the Armenian Monks CHAP. VIII Of the two Sacraments Baptism and the Lords Supper and Panis Benedictus IT would be very difficult to be resolved by Armenian Doctors whether they hold seven or two Sacraments in their Church for that word
the Greek Church therein notwithstanding the Oppression and Contempt put upon it by the Turk and the Allurements and Pleasures of this World is a Confirmation no less convincing than the Miracles and Power which attended its first beginnings For indeed it is admirable to see and consider with what Constancy Resolution and Simplicity ignorant and poor men keep their Faith and that the proffer of Worldly Preferments and the priviledge which they enjoy by becoming Turks the Mode and Fashion of that Country which they inhabit should not decoy or debauch such silly Souls who can offer little more of Argument in defence of their perswasion than the Doctrine of their Forefathers and the common profession of those who in many places especially in the Morea and all Romagnia use the same Customs and speak the same Language of Greek with them Nor can I attribute this Constancy to the meer force of Education for Turks intermingle with them inhabit in the same Street and sometimes under the same Roof their Children play and are bred up together and have almost the same Manners and Customs with them and have little different besides their Religion and something of Briskness and Spirit in the Children of Turks which seems naturally to usurp an Authority over their Greek Play-Fellows So that if Education were the sole motive and principle Turcism might sooner take root than Christianity having the opportunity equal and in the easiness of things naturally to be believed and other specious and fair offers the advantage before the mysterious Doctrine of our Faith and the exact severity of our lives which is neither revealed nor performed by the meer motion of flesh and blood But certainly much is to be attributed herein to the Grace of God and the Promises of the Gospel and if any Art or Polity can be said to have place over the affection of the People none seems more efficacious than the strict observation of the Fasts and Feasts of their Church by which the people are taught as in a visible Catechism the History of Christianity more I dare say than by their ill-composed Sermons or repetition of the Scripture in the Vulgar Tongue for being severely imposed and observed with much solemnity they affect the Vulgar with an awe of something divine and extraordinary in them The fear also and apprehension of some Authority in the Church as the power of the Keys Excommunications and other Ecclesiastical Censures work a reverence in the people towards their Clergy which is indeed the main Pillar and Basis which supports a Church For as Tacitus speaks of the Jewish Nation when under the Roman Power That Honâ—â— Sacerdotii firmamentum Potentiae eorum the Honour which they gave to their Priesthood was the foundation of their Regimen for that which commands the conscience reduces the body will and affections to obedience so more particularly in Ecclesiastical Polity it is the Fence and Hedge of the Sheepfold This being broken down the Sheep stray and Satan enters with his seed of Heresie and Schism for what can hinder men from running into Prodigies of Fansie and wild Opinions where every man is his own Pastor and his own Bishop This apprehension of Power which attends the Keys is available in a double capacity for besides the energy it hath in Spiritual Matters it supplies amongst the Greeks the defect of a Temporal Authority in regard that they though Subjects of the Turk do yet oftentimes in Controversies about matters of Right follow the advice of the Apostle by referring the determination of their Cause to the arbitrement of spiritual men and chief of their Saints who are their Bishop or Patriarch and other Chiefs of their Clergy rather than to stand to the Judicature of Infidels But this the Church presumes not to bind on mens Consciences left it should seem to usurp that Right which others hold by the Sword and contradict that saying of our Saviour My Kingdom is not of this world Howsoever such as are religious and devout amongst them esteem it a Crime highly scandalous and savouring of a bad intention to have recourse rather to a Mahometan Divan than a Christian Sentence as if those who can judge of the inward Conscience were not yet sufficient to Umpire in a Temporal Cause Secondly This Reverence to the Church produces a firm belief and strict adherence to the Articles of it and to all the Ceremonies and matters the most minute and indifferent not suffering the least change or alteration in them which in this conjuncture and state of things seems very convenient if not necessary in the Greek Church For though they are sensible as many of their Priests have confessed to me of the inconvenient length of their Liturgies concerning which we shall speak in another Chapter and of many superstitious Customs and Ceremonies derived to them from the times of Gentilism which are now ingrafted into and as it were grown up with their Religion and many other Rites of which the wiser men are ashamed and wish they were amended yet they fear to correct and alter them Nay as they have assured me the very alteration of the Old to the New Stile would be highly hazardous lest the People observing their Guides to vary in the least point from their ancient and as they imagine their Canonical Profession should begin to suspect the truth of all and from a doubt dispute themselves into an indifference and thence into an entire desertion of the Faith Though the Christian Religion profess'd in the Ottoman Dominions lies under a Cloud and a sad discouragement yet thanks be to God there is a free and publick exercise thereof allowed in most parts and something of respect given to the Clergy even by the Mahometans themselves who esteem honour due to all persons of what Profession soever who are set apart and consecrated to Gods service For it is evident that the Turks entertain something of a good opinion of the sanctity of the Christian Religion and a belief that God hears their Prayers because that in the time of common Pestilence or Calamity both the Greek and Armenian Patriarchs are enjoined by the Turks to assemble their People and pray against it This permission of the Christian Religion indulged by the Turks is both agreeable to Mahomet's Doctrine and the Priviledges granted by the Sultans who in their Conquests of the Grecian Empire judged that a toleration of Religion would much facilitate the entire subjection of that People The greatest burden that is laid upon them by the Turk is their Haratch or Poll-money for which every man who is arrived to 20 years of age pays Four Lyon Dollars per Annum and Youths between 15 to 20 pay half so much but Women are exempt from this burden Also Greeks who have Lands and Houses are taxed pro rato for extraordinary Expences for entertaining a Pasha or some great Person whose charges they are obliged to defray in his
but the very Sacraments and to expose the most reverend and mysterious Offices of Religion unto sale for maintenance and support of the Priesthood The taking off Excommunications after death hath been usual but the Excommunicating after death may seem a strange kind of severity for so we read that Theodosius Bishop of Alexandria excommunicated Origen two hundred years after his decease On the same Authority of Excommunication depends the power of re-admission again into the Church which according to the Greek Canon is not to be obtained easily or at every cold request of the Penitent but after proof or tryal first made of a hearty and serious conversion evidenced by the constant and repeated actions of a holy life and the patient and obedient performance of Penance imposed and enjoined by the Church Such as have aposâ—â—â—tized from the Faith by becomiâ—â—â— Turks under the age of 14 years upon their repentance and desire of return to the Church sought earnestly with tears signified and attested by 40 days fasting with bread and water accompanied with continual Prayer day and night are afterwards received solemnly into the Church in presence of the Congregation the Priest making a Cross on the Forehead of the Penitent with the Oyl of Chrism or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 usually administred to such who return from the ways of darkness and mortal sins But of such who in riper years fall away from the Faith as many Greeks do for the sake of Women or escape of punishment their re-admission or reception again into the Church is more difficult for to some of them there is enjoined a Penance of six or seven years humbling themselves with extraordinary Fasts and continual Prayer during which time they remain in the nature of Catechumeni without the use or comfort of the Eucharist or Absolution unless at the hour of death in which the Church is so rigorous that the Patriarch himself is not able to release a Penance of this nature imposed only by a simple Priest and for receiving Penitents of this nature there is a set Form or Office in the Greek Liturgy But now we have few Examples of those Apostates who return from the Mahometan to the Christian faith for none dares own such a Conversion but he who dares to dye for it so that that practice and admirable part of Discipline is become obsolete and disused Yet some there have been even in my time both of the Greek and Armenian Churches who have afforded more Heroick Examples of Repentance than any of those who have tryed themselves by the Rules and Canons prescribed for after that they denyed the Faith and for some years have carried on their heads the Badge or distinction of a Mahometan feeling some remorses of Conscience they have so improved the same by the sparks of some little grace remaining that nothing could appease or allay the present torment of their minds but a return to that Faith from whence they were fallen In this manner having communicated their anguish and desires to some Bishop or grave person of the Clergy and signifying withal their Courage and Zeal to dye for that faith which they have denyed they have been exhorted as the most ready expiation of their sin to confess Christ at that place where they have renounced him and this they have resolutely performed by leaving off their Tulbants and boldly presenting themselves in publick Assemblies and at the time of publick prayers in the Church and when the Turks have challenged them for having revolted or relapsed again from them they have owned their Conversion and boldly declared their resolution to dye in that old Faith wherein they were baptized and as a Token or Demonstration hereof being carried before the Justice of the City or Province they have not only by words owned the Christian Doctrine but also trampled their Turkish Tulbants or Sashes under their Feet and withstood three times the demand whether they would still continue to be Mahometans according as is required in the Mahometan Law For which being condemned to dye they have suffered death with the same chearfulness and courage that we read of the Primitive Martyrs who daily Sacrificed themselves for the Christian Verity Considering which I have with some astonishment beheld in what manner some poor English men who have fondly and vilely denyed the faith of Christ in Barbary and the parts of Turky and become as we term them Renegados have afterwards growing weary of the Customes of Turks to which they were strangers found means of escape and returned again into England and there entered the Churches and frequented the Assembly of Gods people as boldly as if they had been the most constant and faithful of the Sheepfold At which confidence of ignorant and illiterate men I do not so much admire as I do at the negligence of our Ministers who acquaint not the Bishops herewith to take their Counsel and Order herein But perhaps they have either not learned or so far forgot the ancient Discipline of ours and all other Christian Churches as to permit men after so abominable a Lapse and Apostasie boldly to intrude into the Sanctuary of God with the same unhallowed hands and blasphemous mouths with which they denyed their Saviour and their Country But what can we say hereunto Alas Many are dissenters from our Church which by our divisions in Religion hath lost much of its Power Discipline and esteem amongst us and men being grown careless and cold in Religion little dream or consider of such methods of Repentance for whilst men contemn the Authority and censures of the Church and disown the power of the Keys they seem to deprive themselves of the ordinary means of Salvation unless God by some extraordinary light and eviction supplies that in a sublimer manner which was anciently effected by a rigorous observation of the Laws and Canons of the Church It is a strange Vulgar Errour that we maintain in England that the Greek Church doth yearly excommunicate the Roman which is nothing so and common reason will tell us That a Church cannot excommunicate another or any particular Member thereof over which it pretends no Jurisdiction or Authority and that the Greek Church hath no such Claim of Dominion or Superiority over the Roman no more than it owns a subjection to it is plainly evinced in the third Chapter of this Book and this I attest to be so upon enquiry made into the truth thereof and on Testimony of Greek Priests eminent and knowing in the Canons and Constitutions of their Church Though we cannot deny but that anciently one Patriarch might renounce the Communion of another over whom he had no Jurisdiction for his notorious Heresie as S. Cyril did to Nestorius before the Assembly of the Council of Ephesus CHAP. XIV Of the treatment the Greeks use towards their dead and the Opinion they have of Purgatory or the middle state of Souls THE Greeks in the time of sickness and