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
England and there observed that purity of our Doctrine and the excellency of our Discipline which flourished in the beginning of the Reign of King Charles the Martyr and viewed our Churches trim'd and adorned in a modest Medium between the wanton and superstitious dress of Rome and the slovenry and insipid Government of Geneva entertained a high Opinion of our happy Reformation intending thence perhaps to draw a Pattern whereby to amend and correct the defaults of the Greek Church retrenching the length of their Services and the multitude of their Ceremonies and also by that Exemplar to reduce their Festivals to a moderate number to create a right apprehension of the state of Souls after separation and wholly to take away certain conceits both superstitious and savouring of Gentilism and confirm his Church in a reverend Opinion of the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist without lanching so far into the explication of that Mystery as of late they have done both in the Anatolian Confession which was generally owned and confirmed in the year 1672 by the Subscription of the four Oriental Patriarchs and of the Metropolites then present at the Instance of Mounsieur de Nointel Ambassadour for his most Christian Majesty a very intelligent and ingenious Gentleman And had not this good Patriarch been thus malitiously prosecuted and his life taken from him by unhappy Wiles he might with God's assistance have accomplished a work of Reformation and piloted the Church into that state of Apostolical Purity which King James Erasmus Cassander Melancthon Buçar the Arch-Bishop of Spalatro and others did design But God it seems hath not as yet ordained the time for so happy a Conversion and Reformation which is a Blessing rather to be wished for at present than to be expected till when it is the duty of all good Men and the Elect of God to offer a continual Sacrifice of Prayer on the Altar of their hearts that he would be pleased to grant us Unity of Faith in our Religion and Peace and Concord in all Christian Governments that being one Sheepfold under one Shepherd the Lord Jesus we may imitate the Example of him who is the Prince of Peace Amen THE CONTENTS OF The several Chapters of the Present State of the Greek Church CHAP. I. THE Present State of the Greek Church in general under the Turkish Tyranny pag. 1 CHAP. II. Of the seven Churches of Asia unto which S. John wrote viz. Smyrna Ephesus Thyatira Laodicea Philadelphia Sardis and Pergamus wherein also is treated of Hierapolis 30 CHAP. III. Of the Office and Constitution of the four Patriarchs the Extent of their respective Jurisdictions their Revenue and whence it arises with what precedency or place the Patriarch of Constantinople acknowledges to the Pope of Rome 81 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 120 CHAP. V. Of the Fasts of the Greek Church 129 CHAP. VI. Of the Feasts observed in the Greek Church 139 CHAP. VII Of Baptism and the sealing of Infants called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 161 CHAP. VIII Of the second Mistery called Chrism 171 CHAP. IX Of the third Mistery called The Holy Eucharist as also of the Blessed Bread called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latin Panis Benedictus 177 CHAP. X. Of the fourth Mistery called Priesthood wherein is treated of their Monasteries Orders of Friars and Nuns and the Austerity of their lives 201 CHAP. XI In which is treated of Mount Athos called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or The Holy Mountain and of the Monasteries thereon and of the other more famous Monasteries of the Oriental Churches 215 CHAP. XII Of Confession Contrition and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or The Oyl of Prayer 263 CHAP. XIII Of the power of Excommunication and upon what slight occasions they make use of it 271 CHAP. XIV Of the treatment the Greeks use towards their Dead and the Opinion they have of Purgatory and the middle State of Souls 203 CHAP. XV. Of the fifth Mistery called Marriage and the Customs they use therein 305 CHAP. XVI Of the Liturgies used in the Greek Church and of their length and when used 317 CHAP. XVII Of Pictures and Images in the Greek Church 321 CHAP. XVIII Of Prayers to Saints and Adoration of Angels 331 CHAP. XIX Of the Greek Islands in the AEgean Sea called now the Arche-pelago and the division there of Religion between the Greek and Latin Churches 337 CHAP. XX. Of other Matters and Tenents held in the Greek Church not comprised in the premises and particular Customs observed amongst them 370 THE CONTENTS OF The several Chapters of the Present State of the Armenian Church CHAP. I. OF the Armenian Church in general 385 CHAP. II. Of their Patriarchs and Government in the Church 390 CHAP. III. Of Etchmeasin 396 CHAP. IV. The Confession of Faith in the Armenian Church 409 CHAP. V. Of Fasts in the Armenian Church 415 CHAP. VI. Of Feasts in the Armenian Church 419 CHAP. VII Of their Monasteries and Rules observed therein 423 CHAP. VIII Of the two Sacraments Baptism and the Lord's Supper 431 CHAP. IX Of Penance and Excommunication 438 CHAP. X. Of their Marriages 440 CHAP. XI Their Opinion of Souls in the state of separation and their Ceremonies used towards the dead 442 CHAP. XII A Confession of the Armenian Doctrine subscribed unto by the Patriarch and Bishops together at Constantinople 447 THE PRESENT STATE OF THE GREEK CHURCH CHAP. I. The Present State of the Greek Church in general under the Turkish Tyranny THE ancient division of Greece into many Commonwealths and their inveterate hatred against Philip of Macedon for no other Reason than because he was a King and as they stiled him a Tyrant and the unquiet disposition of that People never contented in their Estate nor satisfied in their Rulers the Humour and Fate of most Popular Governments have to us and to all future Ages represented the Grecians as great lovers of alteration and freedom Time afterwards and vicissitude of things transforming them from Associates to be Subjects of the Roman◠Empire they enjoyed notwithstanding for some Ages the benefit of their own Laws Protection and Liberty under the successful progress of the conquering Eagles and when the Imperial Seat was transported to Bizantium the Emperours themselves became Grecians and the People enjoyed still the lenity and gentleness of the Roman Yoke In this easiness of living things continued until the year of Christ 1300. when an unexpected Storm arose from the East which as a little Cloud appearing first at a distance like a spot or the measure of a Palm doth afterwards diffuse it self in a general blackness over the Face of the whole Heavens or as I have seen at a large Prospect something like the Swarm of a single Hive which approaching nearer hath proved to be an Army of
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
out sooner or later The fourth begins the first of August and continues until the 15th being a Preparatory to the Grand Festival which they keep in honour to the Assumption of our Lady who they say was bodily transported into Heaven which Fast is so strictly observed that even Oyl is forbidden to Kaloires and few others especially of Women there be but who observe this prohibition unless on the 6th of August which being a Festival in memory of our Saviours Transfiguration they have a permission to eat Oyl and Fish but on other days they return again to their slender Diet. Besides which Grand Fasts there are some other Fasts as the 28th of August in commemoration of the decollation or beheading of St. John Baptist. Likewise there is another Fast beginning the first of September which continues until the fourteenth being the Feast of the exaltation of the Holy Cross in which time of fourteen days the History of the Passion is preached and represented But this last is only observed by Kaloirs and such as are entered into Vows and a Monastical life whose profession is Mortification and their business Religion In all which times they do not only abstain from Flesh or Lacticinia such as Butter Cheese and the like but also from Fish which have Scales or Finnes or Blood only Shell-Fish as Lobsters Crabs Oysters c. are lawful though it is probable that in them there may be more of heat and nourishment excepting only in that Lent which begins on the 15th of November it is lawful for them to eat all sorts of Fish as also other ordinary and Weekly Fasts of Wednesday and Friday oblige them only to an abstinence from Flesh and what comes from thence but all sorts of Fish are freely indulged And though Wednesdays and Frydays are for the most part Fasts through the whole year yet we must except from hence Wednesday and Friday of the eleventh Week before Easter which they call Arzeiburst the reason whereof as Christophorus Angelo reports was from the dog of certain Hereticks so called whom they used to send with Letters At lengh the Dog dying his Heretical Masters used to fast that 11th Week before Easter for sorrow in opposition to whom and to have no conformity with them the Orthodox appointed that Wednesday and Fryday of that Week should be exempted from any Obligation of abstinence On Whitson-Monday they abstain from Flesh and Fast by reason that the people meeting that morning in the Church ask of God the Communication of his Holy Spirit as he gave unto his Holy Apostles in commemoration of which they eat Flesh on Wednesday and Friday of that Week The 25th of March being the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin though it happen in Lent yet they have a priviledge to eat all sorts of Fish as they have to eat Flesh from Christmas to Epiphany Wednesdays and Frydays not being exempted and the first Week after Pentecost In like manner they are permitted to eat Flesh all the first Week of three before the great Lent which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sunday of which answers to our septuagesima The next Week following which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are commanded abstinence from Flesh Wednesdays and Frydays but the Week immediately before Lent is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies fresh Cheese it being a time when they may eat all sorts of Milk and what is made thereof likewise Eggs and Fish of all kinds being perhaps a time to prepare their Stomacks to a leaner and morerigorous Dyet This Lent begins on Monday as ours doth on Wednesday These Fasts are strictly observed and undergone by them with no less patience and sobriety than superstition supposing it a sin not less hainous willingly to break this Fast or transgress the rules of this Abstinence and with that the Institution and Rites of the Church than to commit Adultery or invade the possessions of his Neighbour Education and Custom hath brought them to that Opinion of Fasting that they believe Christianity can hardly be professed and subsist without it It is very pleasant to be observed what Cyrillus the Patriarch of Constantinople reports of the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem who being desirous to prove the sanctity of his Church and Religion to be greater than that of the Greeks or any others brings it for an Argument that they did not only abstain from flesh and fish in Lent but even also from Beans and Pease which the Greeks allowed of consulting the inclination of their Appetite more than true Religion On these grounds they can by no means be induced to believe the English and others of the reformed Churches to be Orthodox Christians because they neither use Fasting nor reverence the sign of the Cross two matters of great scandal amongst them though in point of observation of the Feasts according to the old style with them and by their opposition to the Church of Rome they are on the other side more unsatisfied and doubtful what to judge The severity of their Lents is more easily supported by the expected enjoyment of the following Festival at which time they run into such excesses of mirth and riot agreeable to the light and vain humour of that people that they seem to be revenged of their late sobriety and to make compensation to the Devil for their late temperance and mortification towards God and this extravagancy of Mirth and loose Debauchery they practise with so much liberty that their Priests reprove them not for it but rather maintain Drunkenness not to be a Sin on a Festival being a hearty memorial of the Holiness of the Saint or a Testimony of joy in commemoration of the works of mans Redemption but this is spoken rather as a corruption of manners than as a Tenent or Profession of that Church In the observation of these Fasts they are so rigid and superstitiously strict that they hold no case of necessity may or can claim a Dispensation and that the Patriarch hath not power and authority sufficient to give a License to eat flesh where the Church hath commanded Abstinence For suppose a person sick to death who with Broth made of Flesh or with an Egg may be recovered to life they say it were better he should dye than eat and sin Howsoever perhaps the Ghostly Father will be so far concern'd in the others health as to advise the sick Penitent in such cases to eat flesh and afterwards confessing the sin he promises to grant Absolution and this I have known to have sometimes been practised which perhaps amongst the ignorant Priests may be esteemed an excellent and an ingenious accommodation between humane Necessities and the Institutions of the Church But such of the wiser sort who have studied in Italy and there been seasoned with the Doctrine of the Latines believe their own Church endued with as much authority in Ecclesiasticks as the Roman and that the difficulty of granting
Institutions of the Universal and of their own Church or weighs the private Instructions of a Priest who is the Monitor of his Soul Nay even those who profess Obedience to the Church of England and attribute an efficacy to the power of the Keys and would not for the world be under an Excommunication and hold themselves obliged to celebrate the Feasts with devotion and rejoycing and account the non-observance thereof the Characteristical point of a Phanatick yet when the Anniversary Fasts take their turn which impose the same injunction on them of keeping holy as do the Feasts they find excuses to evade the obligation and dispute against all Penance Mortification and Severities of life as grounded on the Doctrine of Merits and Works of Supererogation And in this manner elude that admirable duty enjoyned by Christ himself where he saith That when the Bridegroom is taken from them then they should fast and would abolish that signal mark of Christianity which by its rigour and frequency distinguishes it from all other Religions in the World Some I know will be apt to attribute this abridgment of the Clergies power to their supereminent knowledge and more clear light of Scripture that they are better instructed than to be guided by their Priests or to stand in awe of the condemnation of a supercilious Prelate but such Learning as this derived from the Principles of Pride and Licentiousness is far worse than ignorance and that Person who is humble and submissive apt and willing to be instructed is a better Christian and in a more secure path and way to Godliness and Heaven than he that having heard and read much stands dangerously towring on the presumptuous Pinnacle of his own Reason And indeed this adherence to the Doctrine of their Church is the proper Basis and Pillar of their Faith For those ancient janglings and controversies which possessed the Greek Spirits in former days and through the acrimony of their malice and hatred opened a breach in divers pales of the Eastern Church whereby the whole surface of things was over-whelmed with the vast inundation of the Mahometan Enemie are Tragedies so sadly recorded that the present Age seems by the memory of those Examples so far to dread the danger of divisions and innovations that they refuse to amend even that which by their own confession is an Errour either in doctrine or practice but it is no wonder that those from whom God hath removed the ancient glory of his Candlestick brightly shining amongst them should delight to dwell in the twilight of Batts and groap in an Egyptian darkness but it is strange that those to whom his mercies and patience indulge the clearer Rayes of the Gospel should forsake the Sun-shine of divine Illumination to follow fantastick and wandring lights mistaking them for that great Pillar of Fire which conducted the Israelites Another great help to support and maintain the Eastern Church is their Confession to a Priest for by nothing more doth the Power and Authority of the Greek Church and Clergy seem to be maintained and asserted who account it the sole Axel on which the Globe of Ecclesiastical Politie turns and that without it they can neither have Influence on Mens Consciences nor under the power of Infidels and Aliens govern the least Circumstance of their lives and manners I know not how far the Roman Clergy may have abused this Excellent evidence of repentance this Ordinance of the Gospel this admirable means to inflame our devotion and to guide and instruct us in the rules of holy Living It is more than probable that their use of it in an ordinary and familiar manner rather in form than substance without regard to feigned or real Penitentiaries and as an encouragment to annimate men to sin when they can so easily be pardoned hath afforded just occasion to those who desired a Reformation to exclaim against it and to take it wholly from the Church as an Institution so entirely corrupted as never more to be reformed or recovered but by a total abolishment The Church of England as I am perswaded apprehended it under this notion when its Wisdom and perhaps I may say the Spirit of God thought fit to dispence for a time with this Discipline of Penance but with intention to restore it again when the time should become more seasonable and we our selves more worthy to receive so profitable an Institution as our Rubrick seems to intimate in the Office appointed for the first day of Lent And this Doctrine is maintained in the Sermons and Writings of our Divines and given as Counsel in that Exhortation preceding the Communion Service that we should confess our sins not only to God and our Brethren whom we have offended but in Cases of scandal and a troubled Conscience or other need of Ghostly Counsel and Advice to consult God's Ministers the Priests in which Case also our Church hath provided a Form of Absolution Considering which Premises it will not be difficult to conjecture under what Notion the Eastern apprehends the Western Reformed Churches for they taking notice that the English neither keep Fasts nor practise Confession nor ordinarily make the Sign of the Cross and that the Dutch Nation at Smyrna rehearse no Prayers at the Burial of the dead are not only scandalised thereat but also Jews and Turks take offence at the silence of Prayers when the dead are buried wondering what sort of Heresie or Sect is sprung up in the World so different from the Religion of all the Prophets at which undecent practice the Roman Clergy taking advantage to disparage the Protestants represent them to the Greeks under the notion of Calvinists whom they characterise to be such as contemn all Order in the Church the authority of Priesthood abolish Fasts abhor the Cross contemn the Saints besides a thousand other Heresies and Schisms in which they report we are at odds amongst our selves And in reallity were it not that the English Nation by the orderly use of their Liturgy and Discipline of their Church observing the Lords day and the Grand Festivals did vindicate themselves of these Aspersions it were impossible to perswade the Oriental Countries that those which we call Reformed were Christians or at least to retain any thing of Ancient and Apostolical Institution Upon which score the Greeks detest that Confession of Faith supposed to be wrote by Cyrillus their Patriarch of Constantinople in the year 1629 and Printed and Confuted in the year 1631 by Mattheus Caryonhilus Arch-Bishop of Iconium for that Confession agreeing wholly with the Doctrine of Calvin in every particular is believed in a great measure to have been fathered on him by the Jesuits who to justifie their inhumane Persecutions of that worthy Prelate by making Turks and Infidels the Instruments of their rage formed and vented any thing which might procure the Curses and Anathemas of the Old and New Rome I am perswaded that this Cyrillus having spent some time in
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
year are Dionysius of Constantinople Paisios of Alexandria Theositios of Jerusalem and Macarios of Antioch which names they take upon themselves when they first enter into Monasteries or a Religious life The Patriarch of Constantinople is elected by the Metropolites or Bishops according to the plurality of Voices but afterwards constituted and confirmed by the G. Signor before whom after his Election he presents himself with all humility and the G. Signor after the ancient Custom of the Greek Emperours presents him with a white Horse a Manto or black Coole a pastoral staff with a Costan or figured Vest and being mounted on his Horse with a Train of the Clergy and principal Persons of the Greek Nation and accompanied with a great Number of Turkish Officers he returns with all solemnity to the Patriarchal Seat at the entry into which he is met and received by the chief Metropolites and others with wax Tapers burning in their hands and by them conducted into the Church and there before the Altar is consecrated by the Arch-Bishop of Heraclea who habited in his Pontifical Garments takes the Patriarch by the hand and seats him in the Patriarchal Chair sets the Mitre on his Head and commits the Crosier to his hand which being performed and the Offices sung the whole Ceremony is ended The Contention between the Greek Clergy for the Patriarchal Power at Constantinople hath begotten many troubles in the Church for such whom Ambition and Covetousness excite with a desire of this Ecclesiastical Preferment and having some Riches of their own and Credit to make up the rest at Interest seldom or never miss the prize they pursue for the Arguments of Gifts and Benefits are so prevalent with the G. Vizier and the other Turkish Officers that they can afford easie admittance to the most frivolous Accusation that may be objected against the present Incumbent by which means the Patriarch is often changed and the Debts of the Church increased and the Election rather in the hands of the Turk than the Bishops the one being guided by Bribes and the other by Faction by which means the Debts of the Church in the year 1672 as I was informed by the Bishop of Smyrna amounted unto 700 Purses of Mony which makes 350 thousand Dollars the Interest of which increasing daily and rigorously extorted by the Power of the most covetous and considerable Turkish Officers who lend or supply the Money is the reason and occasion that the Patriarch often summons all his Archbishops and Bishops to appear at Constantinople that so they may consult and agree on an expedient to ease in some measure the present Burden and Pressure of their Debts the payment of which is often the occasion of new Demands For the Turks finding this Fountain the fresher and more plentifully flowing for being drained continually suck from this Stream which is to them more sweet for being the Blood of the Poor and the life of Christians It is a remarkable Story and very pertinent to this place which the Bishop of Smyrna when he once did me the honour to make me a Visit recounted to me That not long since certain Principal Officers amongst the Turks perswaded or rather forced a poor simple Kaloir to stand Candidate for the Patriarchal Office and to cheapen it at the price of 25000 Dollars which offer the Turks signified to the Patriarch that so he might either pay the Money himself and thereby purchase his Confirmation or prepare to give way to a new Successor The whole Assembly of the Greek Clergy were greatly perplexed hereat yet knew not which way to resolve For to accept of this Kaloir for Patriarch who was poor and brought nothing with him besides his contemptible Person and Debt which they must at length pay would bring a scandal and scorn on the Church besides the bad Bargain they should make in exchange of their Patriarch Wherefore at length applying themselves with great Humility to the Vizier they obtained a remission of 5000 Dollars of the price demanded and on payment of 20000 procured the continuance of their old Patriarch which matter being thus accommodated the Clergy desired that the Kaloir might be delivered into their hands to receive punishment according to the Canons of their Church but this would not be granted lest such an Example should deter Men from the like designs and thereby prejudice the Musselmin Cause and Interest Nor can the Laws and Canons in the Church against Simony prevail for the Clergy are tender to assert their power of Excommunication in this point or any other part of their Spiritual Authority which the Temporal Power of the Turk in those Cases where his Interest commands over-awes and frustrates usurping a power more Ecclesiastical Supreme and Pontifical than that of the Patriarch But to evidence the turbulent State of the Greek Church we shall not need to fetch Examples farther back than from the year of our Lord 1670 when one Mythodius was Patriarch at Constantinople in which Office he had not been long seated before he was forced by one Parthenius to retire and hastily to take up his Bag and Baggage and be gone and flye for Sanctuary into the House of the English Ambassadour it being usual for the new Patriarch to seize on the person of his Predecessor with his Goods and Estate for paying the Debts of the Church and part of that price for which the Patriarchate was bought by him for which seldom wants some just Cause or at least a seeming pretence in regard that not only the real necessity of the Church Debts forces the Patriarchs to extort Money from the People but likewise a provident care for their future subsistence prompts them to make Friendship with the Mammon of Unrighteousness against that time that they shall be necessitated to surrender an account of their Stewardship And I have heard some say that this change of Patriarchs is so necessary for the maintenance of their Metropolites or Bishops that without it they might starve unless they had this pretence for frequent Taxes For levying Money in this manner on the people some of it sticks to their Fingers providing not only sufficient to pay the proportion expected from their respective Diocesses but also for their own support Mythodius having no sooner as is said quitted the place but Parthenius entered a person not only of a considerable Estate but well acquainted and respected in the Turkish Court Howsoever he continued not above a year before he was forced to give way to Dionysius Metropolite of Larissa who being a monied Man carryed his business with a high hand and entered into the Patriarchal Seat with all the Ceremonies usual at the Instalment to that Dignity procuring not only the Banishment of Parthenius unto Rhodes but caused him also to be Anathematized and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be pronounced with a loud Voice in a full Synod or Convocation of all the Metropolites then
read the same words which we use at the Consecration of the holy Communion viz. In the same night when he was betrayed he took Bread and when he had given thanks he brake it c. Then follows this Prayer with some Soliloquies Lord who in the third hour didst send thy holy Spirit graciously take it not away from us but grant it unto us praying Lord make clean our hearts within us Which Prayer is repeated three times with the head bowed down and then the Priest raising himself again with an humble voice saith Lord hear my Prayer and lifting up his hand by way of blessing adds make this Bread the holy Body of Christ. Amen And here all the order of Consecration being finished he thus proceeds Thou art my God thou art my King I adore thee piously and faithfully And so covering again the Chalice which contains both species he elevates it and the People worship The Priest then Communicates eating that part of the Bread which in the time of preparation was divided into four pieces and the other three he puts into the Chalice of which with great devotion he sups three times and having himself received he administers the rest in a Spoon in both Kinds to the Communicants which being done the Chalice is carried to the side-Table of Preparation called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therein are also put the remaining Particles which were laid aside and designed for commemoration of the living and dead of which when the Priest hath received some himself the remainder is divided amongst the Communicants Thus the Mass being finished the Priest cleanses the Cup with great care lest any thing should remain of the Sacrament to be carelesly and prophanely treated It is the Custom in this Church to conserve the Sacrament for the use of the sick but it is never exposed to the view of the People unless at the time of Celebration and thence also covered in the Chalice with a Vail But a most laudable Custom it is in this Church That those who intend to Communicate before they dare to approach the Altar and receive the Divine Mystery they first retire to the bottom of the Church and there ask forgiveness of the whole Congregation desiring their pardon in case they have offended any particular person whatsoever If any one at that time acknowledges himself agrieved or injured the party abstains and withdraws from the Sacrament until such time as he is reconciled and his Adversary satisfied The words they use are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pardon us Brethren for we have sinned in word and deed The people answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God pardon you Brethren Immunis ar am si tetigit manus Non sumptuosa blandior hostia Mollibit aversos Deos Farre pio Saliente Mica CHAP. X. Of the fourth Mystery called Priesthood wherewith is treated of their Monasteries Orders of Fryars and Nuns and the austerity of their Lives P Riesthood amongst the Greeks is accounted one of the seven Mysteries of the Church in respect of that Power and Authority the Clergy is endued with for dispensation of the Mysteries of mans salvation as the power of the Keys for loosing and binding sins the power and energy of Preaching and interpreting the holy Scriptures as Oracles of God of receiving into the Church baptizing cleansing and regenerating with water in a mysterious manner from the foulness of Original sin power of administring the Sacrament of the holy Eucharist the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Chrism of healing the body by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or holy Oyl matters of such deep and profound concernment beyond the most sublime and elevated understanding as cannot proceed from the vertue and efficacy of any natural calling but only from that unintelligible and mysterious Character of the Priesthood acoording to that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4. v. 1. Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God Besides the different Orders of Religious and Secular Priests there are others distinctly appointed to administer in the Church and at the Altar namely Anagnostes who is ordained only to read the Hymns which are sung and the Prophets of the Old Testament the Psaltes which is appointed to sing the Psalms of David the Lampadarios who hath the care to trim the Lamps the Deacons and Sub-deacons who read the Epistles and Gospels all which are initiated and first blessed by the Bishop with imposition of hands who gives to the Anagnostes a Bible or Book of the holy Scripture which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to the Psaltes the Psalms of David signing and blessing them with the sign of the Cross All which after Ordination have the Crowns of their heads shaven Of Priests there are two sorts who have the power of Preaching and Administring the Sacraments viz. Secular and Religious The first though married have license to enter into holy Orders but their Wives dying they cannot be admitted to a second Marriage of which hard Injunction of their Church some early Widowers have complained unto me with sad remembrances of their past estate and inabilities for a continent life These wear Caps turned up with white from which hangs a fall of the same Cloth on their backs which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Dove being a Badge of their innocent life but this is oftentimes nay most commonly forfeited being cut off by the Bishop for some omission of duty or commission of sin so that few are observed to have continued this evidence of purity so frail are even Priests in those appetites which they profess to subdue The Religious Priests are called Kaloires from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good Priest or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good old Fathers which are Monks inclosed or encloistered in Monasteries professing chastity and obedience Their Order is of S. Basil besides which there is no other amongst the Greeks their Habit is a long Cassock of coarse Cloth girt to them of Camel colour with a Cap of Felt or Wool made to cover their ears and covered with a black Cool called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their Government and way of living is very austere and strict for they wholly abstain from flesh for all their life In the Lents and times of Fasting they are nourished with Bread and Fruits Oyl and Fish with blood not being allowed which with Lacticinia and Eggs are the Dishes and Delicacies indulged at their Feasts and times of less austerity Most of their time is taken up in their Quires being obliged every day in Lent to read over the whole Psalter once and at the end of every four Psalms is said the Gloria Patri c. with three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Metagnai or in better Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they call them which is a bowing or kissing the ground three times At the end of every ten Psalms
with this Prayer O Lord who with the Oyl of thy Mercies hast healed the Wounds of our Souls and of our Bodies do thou sanctifie this Oyl in that manner that those who are anointed therewith may be freed from their Infirmities and from all Corporal and Spiritual Evils that the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost may be glorifyed therein This Sacrament as they call it of the Holy Oyl is by some said to be different from that which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is administred unto healthful persons who are fallen into mortal sins which pollute the Body as well as the Soul and takes its Original from the parable of the good Samaritan in the Gospel who poured Oyl into the Wounds of him who fell amongst Thieves But this Unction is not applicable to those who are guilty of Rapine and Violence whose sins are only purged and expiated by Restitution and Satisfaction This Oyl of Prayer is pure and unmixed Oyl without any other composition a quantity whereof sufficient to serve for the whole year is consecrated on Wednesday in the holy Week by the Arch-Bishop or Bishop though it may be administred or application made thereof by three Priests This is the same with that which in the Roman Church is called Extreme Unction grounded on the words of St. James Cap. 5. 14. Is any sick amongst you let him call for the Elders the Church and let them pray over him anointing him with Oyl in the name of the Lord. In the administration of this Oyl of Prayer the Priest dips some Cotton at the end of a stick into the Oyl and therewith anoints the Penitent in the form of a Cross on the Fore-head on the Chin on each Cheek on the backs and palms of the Hands and then recites this Prayer Holy Father Physitian of Souls and Bodies who hast sent thine only Son Jesus Christ healing infirmities and sins to free us from death heal this thy Servant of corporal and spiritual infirmities and give him salvation and the grace of thy Christ through the Prayers of our more than holy Lady the Mother of God the Eternal Virgin through the assistance of the glorious celestial and incorporeal Powers through the Vertue of the life-giving Cross of the holy and glorious Prophet the fore-runner John the Baptist and of the holy and glorious Apostles and triumphant Martyrs of the holy and just Fathers and of the holy and life-giving Anargiri Amen Confession of Sins verbally and particularly to a Priest is esteemed a necessary duty for constituting a perfect Contrition though they do not deny but a person dying in a state of Regeneration that is to say with a Repentance proceeding from the love of God and having not opportunity by the suddenness of death or some other accident to confess and receive Absolution may yet through the mercies of God and bounty of the Saints have these necessary Sacraments conferred and mysteriously supplyed and the contrite Soul saved But yet that the omission thereof in a place where it may be obtained is a sin which as they say can no otherwise be pardoned in the next World than by the Prayers Intercessions of the Saints in Heaven and by the Alms and Oblations of good men on Earth of which Opinion of theirs we shall have occasion to speak more particularly hereafter CHAP. XIII Of the Power of Excommunication and upon what frivolous occasions it is made use of THE Third Command of the Church is Obedience towards their Spiritual Pastors and Teachers 1 Cor. 4. 1. Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God which is a Text that they often repeat in their Churches and raise consequences from thence of the sublimity of their Office and of the reverence and honour due from the people toward their Clergy so that though they want the advantages of Riches and Ornament to render them respected in the Eyes of the Vulgar yet their People being affected with their divine and separated Qualifications do not submit only in Spiritual matters but even in Temporals refer themselves to the determination of their Bishop or Metropolite according to that of S. Paul 1 Cor. 6. 1. Dare any of you having a matter against another go to Law before the unjust and not before the Saints But that which most enforces this Duty of Obedience is a sense of the Power of Excommunication which rests in the Church of which they so generally stand in fear that the most profligate and obdurate conscience in other matters startles at this sentence to which whilst any is subjected he is not only expelled the limits of the Church but his conversation is scandalous and his person denied the common benefits of Charity and assistance to which Christian or Humane duty doth oblige us In the Exercise of this censure of Excommunication the Greek Church is so ready and frequent that the common use of it might seem to render it the more contemptible but that the Sentence is pronounced with so much horrour and the sad effects which have ensued thereupon not only to the living but also to the Corps and Carcasses of such who have dyed under Excommunication are related with that evidence and certainty as still confirms in the people the efficacy of that Authority which the Church exercises therein The form of Excommunication is either expressive of the party with his name and condition secluding him from the use of Divine Ordinances or otherwise indefinite of any person who is guilty of such or such a Crime or Misdemeanour As for Example If any person is guilty of Theft which is not discovered an Excommunication is taken out against him whosoever he be that hath committed the Theft which is not to be remitted until Restitution is made and so the fault is published and repeated at a full Congregation and then follows the Sentence of Excommunication in this form If they restore not to him that which is his own and possess him peaceably of it but suffer him to remain injured and damnifyed let him be separated from the Lord God Creatour and be accursed and unpardoned and undissolvable after death in this World and in the other which is to come Let Wood Stones and Iron be dissolved but not they May they inherit the Leprosie of Gehazi and the Confusion of Judas may the Earth be divided and devour them like Dathan and Abiram may they sigh and tremble on earth like Cain and the wrath of God be upon their heads and Countenances may they see nothing of that for which they labour and beg their Bread all the days of their lives may their Works Possessions Labours and Services be accursed always without effect or success and blown away like dust may they have the Curses of the holy and righteous Patriarchs Abram Isaac and Jacob of the 318 Saints who were the Divine Fathers of
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
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
also they make but one meal they are to return betimes to their Vespers called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to which with an entire rehearsal of the Psalter they are daily obliged and this is that which employs their whole time on days of Fasting which tedious and indiscreet length of Liturgies I have observed to abate so much the heat of true zeal and affection which ought to be in the Worship of that pure and incomprehensible Spirit of God Almighty that the Priests run over their Offices as the School-boys do their Tasks pronouncing their words so swift and thick as renders them inarticulate and unintelligible and are of no savour or energy to persons who desire to prosper in Devotion To all these Prayers and Offices they repeat an additional Lecture of the life of some Saint which serves in the place of a Sermon or Homily of which one being read for every day the whole Summary of that Book may be finished in the whole course or circle of the year the which Book is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Collection of Acts and Histories CHAP. XVII Of Pictures and Images in the Greek Church THE Greeks in their Churches make use of Pictures for Adornment History and Worship they burn Lamps before them perfume them with Incense beginning and ending their Prayers with reverend bowings and crossings before the representations and figures of Saints to which end there is always layed on a Desk the Picture of the Virgin Mary and S. George which they kiss at their coming in or going out of the Church and at some grand Period of their Liturgy But all carved Images they abhor and Anathematize the adorers of Sculptile Representations because they have formerly been abused to Idolatry with the same maledictions as they do those who are Adversaries to both And that we may exactly deliver the Tenent of the Greek Church herein we have faithfully rendred in the words following their clear Sentence and Opinion being what is delivered as the undoubted faith of the Oriental Churches Great say they is the difference between Idols and Representations For Idols are figures of mans invention as the Apostle testifies We know that an Idol in the world is nothing 1 Cor. 8. 4. but an Image is a representation of some true transaction of what hath passed and been transacted in the World as the Picture of our Saviour of the holy Virgin Mary and of all the Saints But different from this the Gentiles worshipped their Idols who adored them as Gods and offered incense unto them saying That Gold and Silver were Gods as Nebuchadnezar did But we when he honour and adore Pictures do not worship the Wood nor Colours but those Saints whose Representations they are We honour them with the reverence of Servants figuring in our minds the person and presence of those Saints As when we bow to a Crucifix we form in our minds Christ hanging on the Cross for our salvation to which we encline our heads and knees with thanksgiving In like manner when we worship the Image of the Virgin Mary we raise our Contemplations unto that holy Mother of God We bow our heads and knees to her and pronounce her blessed above all men or Women The same may be said of the Arch-Angel Gabriel by which it appears that this is not the same Service which we offer unto God Nor do those of the Orthodox Faith allow of the graven Workmanship of Images to the life but only the Countenances of Saints whose persons they represent For as the Cherubims over-shadowing the Ark of the Covenant did represent those true Cherubims in Heaven which remain in the presence of God and were honoured and adored by the Israelites without transgression of that Commandment And when the Children of Israel worshipped the Tabernacle of the Covenant and lodged it with decent and due honour they committed no sin nor made invalid the Commands of the Decalogue but rather declare that God is wonderful in his Saints Only it is requisite that the Image have some lively resemblance of the Saint it represents that the mind of him that prayes may be the more easily affected thereby And for the better confirmation of the worship of holy and sacred Images the Church of God in the Seventh Universal Synod hath anathematized all such as do oppose them and hath authorized and for ever established the adoration of venerable Images as appears in the Ninth Canon of that Synod Hereby it is evident what Opinion the Greek Church holds concerning the use of Pictures in Churches which whilest they pretend to maintain from Antiquity and the Authority of a Synod though of late date and later received amongst them they despise the Sentence of their great Doctor and Father St. Basil therein who in his 70 th Epistle to the Bishops of France and Italy complains of the persecution arisen in the Oriental Churches for that either the faithful were forced to adore Images or resign their Bodies to the flames 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor can this be understood of the Images of Heathens in which Divine Worship was terminated for he declares a little before that this persecution was of a different nature to those in past times when the Gentiles tormented the Professors of Christianity But now those that bear the glorious name of Christians condemned the others to banishment to Flames to Prison and all kind of Torments for no other Crime than for observance and defence of the Primitive Tradition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By which it is evident That Arianism in those days prevailing Christian Hereticks were then the Persecutors both for the enforcement of the Doctrine of Arius and the worship of Images And howsoever the Greeks distinguish and moderate their terms in the worship of Pictures in which to speak indifferently their Churches do not much abound there being seldom other Pictures which adorn their Walls or Portals of their Chancels than the representation of our Saviour the Blessed Virgin S. Michael the Arch-Angel and S. George to which though they yield much reverence yet they are not so apt to attribute the power of working Miracles unto them as they are in Spain and Italy Notwithstanding which considering the scandal which Pictures and Images in the Oratories and places of Gods worship administer to Turks Jews and other Enemies of the Gospel in the Eastern parts it were better that they were wholly taken away for they not being capable to comprehend the niceties of distinction in Divine Worship which the Schools and subtile men have formed to clear themselves in this case from the imputation of Idolatry reproach the Professors of the Christian Faith with the Infamy of that irrational sin which Christians first preached against and confounded and have thereby taken that Offence as may with good reason be believed hath in these latter days affrighted many from embracing the Gospel And though the Greeks would seem to use some caution herein
by not painting Pictures to the life or not using engraven Images or by not drawing them farther than to the Waste with an ill-favoured sort of flat painting as if they would thereby excuse the inconvenience which may be objected Yet certainly the use of them is so scandalous amongst Turks who have scarce any thing good in their Religion but that they profess one God and are Enemies to Idolatry that though Pictures and Images may be allowed indifferently in other Churches yet being no essential part of Gods Worship they ought wholly to be rejected and wiped out in Turkey and all the Eastern parts of the World CHAP. XVIII Of Prayers to Saints and Adoration of Angels THE Greek Church in their Prayers to Saints in Heaven and Angels which enjoy the Beatifical Vision of God Almighty differ little or nothing in Doctrine from the Roman which we shall best understand by that which they call The Orthodox Confession of the Anatolian Church in which we have these words We crave the intercession of Saints with God that they should pray for us and we invoke them not as Gods but as his friends who serve him and praise him and adore him and we crave their assistance not as if they were able to assist us by their own Power but that they should procure for us the Grace of God by means of their administrations They say farther But some will say that they do not know nor understand our Prayers To whom we answer that they of themselves do not know nor hear our Prayers but only by Revelation and the Divine Grace which God hath richly bestowed on them they both understand and hear us In like manner we invoke Angels that they would mediate for us by their Ministry with God wherefore they offer to the Majesty of God the Prayers Alms and good works of men And farther they say That as God commanded the Friends of Job that they should bring their Sacrifices and offer them for themselves and that Job should pray for them for that him God would accept so we bringing our Sacrifices of Prayer to the Footstool of the Throne of Grace have them there tendered to the Majesty of God by the Saints and Angels his accepted and beloved Ministers Who sees not here that the Greeks have learned the distinction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of the Roman Schools of whose Doctrine as we have said before they have extracted the Principles by their studies and Conversation in Italy which is the sole Gymnasion and Library of their knowledge and learning for in most points of Controversie where the Patriarchal Autority is not concerned they exactly concur with the sense of the Roman Schools But yet I do not find that their Prayers to Saints and Angels are so frequently enjoyned as they are in the Roman Offices and Rosaries but scattered here and there in their Breviaries of which for satisfaction of the Reader I have made some Collections Forms of Prayers to Saintsused in the Greek Church Holy Martyrs who have stoutly fought and are Crowned pray to the Lord to have mercy on our souls Holy Apostles beseech the merciful God to grant remission of sins to our souls These following are short Prayers appointed to be learned by Children and are commonly the Morning and Evening Devotions of private persons All holy Lady ' Mother of God pray for us Sinners All Celestial Powers of Angels and Arch-Angels pray for us Sinners Holy John Prophet and Fore-runner and Baptist of our Lord Jesus Christ pray for us Sinners Holy Orthodox Apostles Prophets and Martyrs and all Saints pray for us Sinners O sacred Ministers of God our Fathers Shepheards and Teachers of the World pray for us Sinners O invincible indissolvable and Divine Power of the Reverend and life-giving Cross forsake us not Sinners These particulars shall serve for instances that in the Greek Church Prayers are made to Saints in the same manner as in the Roman CHAP. XIX Of the Greek Islands in the AEgean Sea now called the Arche-Pelago and the devision there of Religion between the Greek and Latin Churches AMongst the many Isles in the Arche-pelago since the Conquest of Candia by the Turks none remains subjected to Christian Government but only Tino which belongs to the Venetians Tenedos Myteline Scio Negropont and some others are thought worthy of the Fortresses and defence of the Ottoman Sword The others lye open and ungarded and are the possession and prize of every Pyrate and Rover but yet according to the last Peace concluded between Venice and the G. Signor they are all annexed to the Dominions of the Turk to whom they pay a yearly Harach or Poll-money which is four Dollars per head whereas in the time of the War they paid the same both to the Venetians and the Turk The Turk looking on the Inhabitants of those Isles like out-lying Deer lodged without pale or defence and rather such who afford harbour and succour to Pyrates and Enemies than strength or Riches to the Borders of his Empire hath of late entered into consultation for dispeopling those Islands and transporting the Inhabitants into more secure Enclosures where they may render greater benefit and improvement to their Grand Landlord than they do at present but as yet no resolution hath been taken therein The Greeks are greatly divided in their Religion and consequently alienated each from other in their humour and inclinations some acknowledging the Patriarchal See at Constantinople some at Rome It is not to be doubted but that the Romanists possessing most of Wit and Money are always too hard for the Ignorance and Poverty of the Greeks by which and the convenient shortness of the Latin Mass they draw many of the Greeks from attendance on their own tedious Services to better ordered and more easie Devotions though as yet they cannot perswade them to renounce their obedience to their Church and Patriarch Moreover whilest the Venetians exercised an Authority over many of these Islands which was before they were constrained to render them to the Turk the Church of Rome enjoyed an opportunity of fixing a deep Foundation for that Religion and thereby so far encroached into the possessions of the Greeks that their Religion remained under great discouragements their Rites being suppressed in all the Isles of that Sea for want of protection and redress of their aggrievances until the Greek Bishop or Metropolite of Scio called Ignatius Neochori in the year 1664 being a person of an active Spirit and reported by his Adversaries to be of a proud and haughty disposition inclined to Covetousness and versed in crafty and subtle Arts endeavoured to buckle with the Power and Jurisdiction of the Latines To effect which he at first cunningly suggested to the Turks the danger of that people by reason of their nearness and affinity with the Venetians and constant correspondence with the Enemies
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
Licenses to eat flesh is a scruple grounded on that Government which is agreeable to the present state of things rather than want of power in the Church to grant Dispensations for it CHAP. VI. Of Feasts observed in the Greek Church THE Greeks begin their Year in September observing the first day thereof with jollity and feasting esteeming a chearful spirit to be a good Omen that the succeeding year shall be prosperous though not being dedicated to the memory and honour of any Saint it is no point of Religion to abstain from labour yet it is esteemed undecent arguing either covetousness or a necessitous poverty The grand Feast of the Year as amongst all other Christians is Easter or the Festival of the Resurrection at which time the Greeks have this ancient and laudable Custom When they meet their acquaintance in the Morning or at any time within the three days of Easter they salute with these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ is risen and then the other answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is risen indeed and so they kiss three times once on each Cheek and on the Mouth and so depart The second day of September is the Feast of S. John the abstemious not of Precept but of Devotion and therefore is only celebrated by Kaloires and other Religious in honour of the holy S. John Baptist who by his severe and abstemious life in the Wilderness set the first Example of holy Fasts to such as would be Disciples of the holy Jesus The twenty sixth is dedicated with great honour and devotion to the Translation of the Body of S. John the Evangelist into Heaven for they maintain that this S. John being banished by Trajan the Emperour into the Isle of Patmos and there having wrote the Apocalypse he passed over unto Ephesus where ending his glorious life he was interred but after some days burial his Disciples searching for his Body in the Grave found it not from whence immediately arose a belief that his Body was assumed into Heaven and placed in the Mansion of Enoch and Elias who in company together shall again return to converse on Earth before Antichrist is perfectly revealed and made known unto the World And this they partly ground on the words of our Saviour to S. Peter If I will that he stay till I come what is that to thee The Greeks as they delight in the Histories of their Saints and recount them with as much variety and fancy as the Latines do their Legends so I might in this place recite long and tedious Histories of them but because the lives of most of them are recorded in Holy Scripture and of the later of them in the Synaxarion of which Book we shall hereafter speak we shall only here mention Cosma and Damianus and St. George the Cappadocian which are persons who after the Apostles and immediate Disciples of Jesus with some Fathers of the Church such as St. Basil St. Chrysostom c. take up a principal place in the Greek Kalendar The first two are called the Holy Anargiri to whom I found a poor Oratory erected at Ephesus which was thrown up of late with a few loose stones encircling a little Altar without Roof in the place of a more ancient Church whither the Greeks resort on the first of November to say Mass and sing Hymns in praise and commemoration of these Saints whom they report to have been born in Asia their father a Gentile and their mother a Christian called Thedosa who educated these her two Sons in Religious Piety and laudable Sciences but they principally addicting themselves to the studies of Physick did by the Divine assistance cooperating with the means of Herbs and Medicines become such perfect Practitioners that they cured all Diseases incident to Man and Beast without Money or other consideration of Interest for which cause they were called the Anargiri or those that took no Money They farther report That Damianus was so strict in this point that he dissented greatly from his Brother Cosma for having only accepted of two Eggs from a poor Widow though employed on her self for an Unguent or Cataplasm for the Sciatica that he ever after avoided all society and converse with him and at his death gave order that his Brother should not be interred in the same Vault or Grave with him the which resolution of Damianus the Friends of both designed to perform but that carrying the Corps of Cosma to burial they were met by a Camel which opening his mouth as miraculously as Balaam's Ass admonished the Bearers to lay the Brothers in the same Tomb together for that neither the Crime of Cosma was so great nor the difference so lasting but that both their Bodies might be contained in the same Sepulchre whose Souls were already united in the same heavenly Mansion The Kaloires also farther boasting of the Miracles of these Saints tell us that at Athens there is a Well adjoining to the Porch of that Church which is dedicated to them which is dry the whole year excepting only on that day when their Festival is celebrated and begins to flow at the first words of the Mass which seem to have the same Efficacy on this Spring as Moses's Rod had upon the Rock to produce a Flood of sweet and delicious water not only pleasant to the taste but wholesom for the Body but dries up and fails with the Evening of the Festival St. George the Capadocian is in like manner highly reverenced by this People there being scarce a Town where are two Churches but one of them is dedicated to this Saint of whom they recount many and various stories and what is most strange they believe them all They say that he was born of noble Blood and lived in the time of Dioclesian the Emperour under whom arising a bloody persecution this Saint as a Champion of undaunted Courage publickly presented himself owning and avouching the Gospel to be the only true and saving Faith inveighing against Idolatry and superstitious Customs and belief of Gentilism This Christian boldness sharpened the Arms of persecution against the Saint so that the Executioner struck him into the Belly with a Lance which though a great effusion of Blood followed yet the Wound closed and immediately became whole They tell us of his being thrown into a Pit of Lime and his walking bare-foot on Planks studded with sharp Nails of his remaining unconsumed and untouched amidst the flames of his raising the dead of his slaying a Dragon on the Banks of Euphrates near a place now called by the Turks Barut which the Greeks and Christians of those parts show unto Travellers to this day by which variety of Miracles many were converted unto the Christian Faith amongst which was the Queen Alexandra Wife of Dioclesian At length the time being come that this Saint was to dye the power of his persecutors prevailed against him by whom his head being struck off his soul ascended into