that it is no more a process to be instructed it 's all instructed already and they can do no more for their part to put it in a condition to be discerned on But who shall be the Judge of it It shall be every one of you according to the Principles of your own Religion For according to the Principles of ours there would be no question at all because on one hand our Church has all the marks by which it has been judged since St. Augustin's time that we ought to acknowledge it the true Church of Jesus Christ And on the other we believe that Jesus Christ has given to his Church an infallible Authority to which every particular person is bound to submit But your Church is grounded on another Maxim directly contrary and you are made to believe that every one of you have right to examine and judge after all your Ministers assembled in a General Synod could say unto you Make use then of the liberty which is given you even to the end you may be sure if they had reason or not to give it you Read and Judge but read with such attention and care as you would bring to comprehend an Affair upon which depended the Life of one of your best Friends and judge with that Conscience and sincerity of Heart with which you would desire to be judged if your Life or Death depended on the Judgment they were to make of you And indeed there is no less at the stake in this occasion only with this difference that these Men who should Judge you could not preserve your Life but for a little time nor condemn you but to a Death which sooner or later you could not eschew Whereas it is of far greater importance to you to discern in this process after the instruction that is given you of the same for in judging it aright and having nothing but God before your eyes you may eschew a Death which never ends a Death which all those will incur who have been made to look upon as a Damnable Errour the Ancient and perpetual Faith of the most sublime Mystery of our Religion and may put your selves in a condition to enjoy one day a Life eternally happy after having received the pledge thereof by the real and true partaking of the Worlds Saviour wherewith the Catholick Church nourishes her Children THE FAITH OF THE CATHOLICK CHVRCH Concerning the EUCHARIST Invincibly proved by the Argument used against the Protestants in the Books of Mr Arnaud entituled The Perpetuity of the Faith c. THere is no Christian can deny that a Doctrine regarding one of the principal Mysteries of Religion such as is the Eucharist * The Controversie of the Eucharist is one of the most important of those which makes the separation betwixt the Roman Church and the Protestants says Mr. Claud p. 1. of the Preface of his Answer to Mr. Arnaud The Article of the Eucharist in my Judgment is one of the most essential says M. de Larroque Minister at Rouen in his Preface to the History of the Eucharist which had been always believed in the Universal Church is a Doctrine taught by the Apostles to the first Believers We shall then have proved the Doctrine of the Real Presence such as the Roman Church now believes it to be the Apostles Doctrine when we shall have proved it to be that which has always been believed in all the Churches of the World. Now it 's impossible but it must have been always believed in all Churches If being certain it was universally believed in some Ages we can demonstrate that it could not proceed from an innovation or change of its ancient Faith that the Church of these Ages began to believe it The business will be compleatly done then if we can make out this And thus we make it out SECT 1. ARGUMENT All the Churches both of the East and West were found to be united in the Belief of the Real Presence towards the beginning of the eleventh Century and they are found to be yet united in the same Belief excepting onely some new Sects of the last Age. But it is impossible this Belief should have been established of new or by an innovation of their ancient Faith in all these Churches and yet no trace nor memorial of that Innovation appeared And it is certain there has appeared none at all neither from Paschasius his time to that of Berengarius nor from Berengarius his time even to this day Therefore it is certain that the Doctrine of the Real Presence is the perpetual Doctrine of the Church and consequently none can maintain the contrary without being an Heretick THe first Proposition which is called the major has two parts one that the Churches of the East were united in the same Faith concerning the Eucharist with the Roman Church in Berengarius his time The other that they are united with the same at this time The second Proposition which is called the minor has likewise two parts One that supposing the truth of the major as to Berengarius's time it 's impossible that the innovation pretended by the Calvinists to have been made in all Churches from Paschasius to Berengarius could be made in that time The other that if it was not made in that time in all the Eastern Churches it would be impossible it could have been made from Berengarius's time to this day SECT 2. The general Proof of the major in respect of Berengarius his time A Matter of fact unanimously asserted by contemporary Authors who cannot be suspected to have been deceived or intending to deceive and which has not been contradicted by those who were most concerned to contradict it ought to be held for most certain and undoubted But we have shewn from the very beginning of the first Treatise of the Perpetuity and in the first Tome 2 Book 7 Chap. and 9 Book 1 Chap. That all those who wrote against Berengarius Adelmanus who had studied under S. Fulbert Hugo Bishop of Langres Deodurnus Bishop of Leige Lanfrancus Archbishop of Canterbury Durandus Abbot of Troarn Guitmondus Archbishop of Aversa in Italy did all of them reproach to him That he had separated himself from the unity of the Holy Church that he scandalized the whole Church that none before him had dreamed of his Follies that his Heresie was so notorious that there needed not a Council assembled to condemn it that he impugned what the Church taught througbout the World That the Berengarians had not for themselves one sole Town nor so much as one Village And in a word that there needed no more but to ask the Latins the Greeks the Armenians and generally all the Christians of whatsover Nation and all would answer That they believed the change of the terrestical substance of the Bread and Wine by the infallible incomprehensible and miraculous operation of the Omnipotence of God into the essence or substance of the Lords Body We did likewise
the Armenian Archbishops of Constantinople of Amasea and Adrinople Attestation of the Patriarch of Cis at number 10. Attestation of the Armenians of Cairo Attestation of the Armenians of Ispahan in Persia at number 16. For the Church of the Syrians Attestation of the Patriarch of the Syrians concerning the Faith of their Churches in matter of the Eucharist 12. Condemnation of the Calvinists by the Church of the Syrians at Damascus Extract of an Arabick Manuscript of the Kings Bibliotheck shewing the Belief of the Jacobites concerning the Eucharist in the Tenth Age. For the Nestorians Attestation of the Patriarch of the Nestorians of the Town of Diabeker Extract out of the Missals and Prayer-Books of the Nestorians For the Church of Cophtes Attestation of the Patriarch of the Cophtes Another Attestation of the same concetning the Eucharist In particular These Attestations are to be found at the end of the Third Tome of the Perpetuity of the Faith either at length or by citation of other places of these Books I know not if Mr. Sphanhemius Professor at Leyden will yet be so bold as to say as he did in his Strictures against the Bishop of Condom's Book that no regard is to be had to all these Attestations as being given by the miserable Greeks who can be made to say any thing one pleases for Money A quibus nihil non pretio extorqueas And so we have ground to think that they continued still in the Opinion of the Calvinists concerning the Eucharist even when they seem to condemn it with the greatest zeal But I perswade my self there is no honest man but will conceive indignation at an Answer so unreasonable which leaves us no moyen to be assured of the Religion of any People The least that those deserves who makes use of it is to doubt whether they be Christians Jews or Mahometans there being left them no way to hinder us from believing that they are in their heart any thing we please to suspect them of But to deprive them of all means of being able by their most unjust and extravagant Calumnies to brangle those who shall read this little Treatise I shall chuse one only of all these Testimonies which is the Book of the Orthodox Confession whereof the History is set down in the General Answer Book 1. Chap. 9. in these terms If one should set himself on purpose to contrive the Idea of an Act proper to decide the matter in question betwixt us he could not in my Judgment require other conditions and other circumstances than those I am going to speak of 1. That it be signed and authorized by the four Patriarchs and by the principal Bishops and Ecclesiasticks of the Eastern Church 2. That it appear that those who made and approved it had not any intelligence with the Latins and that they continue in all the particular Sentiments of the Greek Church 3. That it was made for the particular necessities of the Greek Church without that the Latins had any hand in it 4. That the terms thereof be peremptory and contain so clearly the Doctrine of the Real Presence and Transubstantiation that Mr. Claud cannot elude them by his ordinary subtilties Now all these circumstances are exactly found in the Act which I shall here set down whereof a Patriarch of Jerusalem named Nectarius has taken the pains to make the History in a Letter at the beginning of it and here it is Peter Mogilas who had been ordained Archbishop of Russia by Theophanes Patriarch of Jerusalem having assembled three of the most Learned Bishops his suffragants and the most pious Theologues of his Archipiscopal City to banish away the Errours and Superstitions of his People resolved with them by unanimous consent to draw up a Confession of Faith on the Articles of the Christian Doctrine and to cause it be received and approved by the Church of Constantinople and by the Synod which was there assembled To bring this to pass they composed a Book on the Articles of Faith which they entituled The Confession of Faith of the Russians And then they entreated the Church of Constantinople to appoint those they should depute into Moldavia in quality of Exarcks to examine it together with those whom they should send on their side The matter was executed as it was thus projected The Synod of Constantinople did depute into Moldavia Porphyrius Metropolitan of Nice and Meletius Syrigus Theologue of the Great Church to whose Piety and Learning the Patriarch of Jerusalem gives very ample commendation And the Deputies of the Russians being met there that Confession of Faith was examined with all exactness possible But yet they did not content themselves with this examination and to render this piece more Authentick they thought fit to send it to all the four Patriarchs of the Eastern Church and to submit it anew to their Judgment These Patriarchs then having received and examined it found it so conform to the Belief of their Church that not onely they approved it and signed it with their own hands with many other Bishops but they appointed moreover that instead of the Title it had before of Confession of Faith of the Russians it should be thenceforth called Confession of Faith of the Eastern Orthodox Church After the Letter of this Patriarch of Jerusalem containing the History above-mentioned we find at the very beginning of that Confession the Approbation and Subscription of four Patriarchs of nine Bishops and of all the principal Officers of the Church of Constantinople The Approbation of the four Patriarchs is dated in the year 1643 in the Month of March and that of the Letter of the Patriarch of Jerusalem which was prefixed only to the Print is only in 1662. This Confession no having been printed in Greek till long time after it was made and not being distributed before but in writâ— because the Turks permits no Printing in their Empire As to all the other Conditions we have pointed at they are likewise found in that Confession The Latins medled not in it any manner of way it was allenerly made for the utility of the Greek Church It was composed by the Greeks examined by all the Heads of the Estern Church These who composed it had no aim to gratifie any person It is now more than fourty years since it was made and more than twenty since it was printed Yea it appears the Hollanders were employed for the printing of it for certainly the Types are of Holland All the Doctrines controverted betwixt the Greeks and Latins are therein openly asserted and the Authors of this Confession can be no ways suspected to have had any sway or inclination for the Roman Church So that it 's hard to imagine or deny a Book less suspect more authorized more authentick and of which greater assurance can be had that it contains the true Sentiments of the Eastern Church There remains no more but to see what it contains And in this manner it begins to
shew it was not credible that all these Authors were mistaken or knew not if there were any Churches holding Berengarius his Opinion or not Lanfrancus a Native of Italy who had been a Monk at Bec afterwards Abbot of Caen and at last Archbishop of Canterbury could bear witness of the Sentiments of a great part of Europe Deoduinus and Adelmanus could serve as witnesses for Germany and Guitmondus for Italy where the Greeks were mixt with the Latins and Hugo for France Nor can it be said they intended to deceive the World because there is not any probability that so considerable Men would have been so imprudent as to advance against their Conscience so important a matter of fact concerning which it had been easie to have covered them with shame had it not been true Finally it is there made out farther that neither Berengarius nor his Sectators did object to these Authors that their Reproaches of the novelty of their Opinion was false or that it was not contrary to all the Churches of the World That we find not they cited any Author either of the Eleventh or Tenth Age as favourable to their Opipion but were forced to go seek it in some passages of St. Augustin interpreted according to their fancy and in the Book of John Scot Aeâ—rgene And that they found themselves so straitned by that Argument of the uniform Belief of all Churches as they had nothing to say but that after the Gospel was preached to all Nations and the World had believed it and the Church was formed augmented and fructified it fell afterwards into Errour by the ignorance of those who understood not the Mysteries and that it was perished and remained extant onely in their Party It ought then to be held for certain and undoubted that all Christian Churches were found united in the Belief of the Real Presence in the time of Berengarius about the beginning of the Eleventh Age. And this is what Aubertin lib. 9. p 943. a most Learned Protestant acknowledges at least as to the Latins For he pretends that the Innovation was made in the darkness of the Tenth Age That those of the Eleventh had suckt in with their Milk the Belief of the Real Presence Hac Opinione una cum Lecte imbuli SECT 3. The particular Proof of the same Major in regard of the Greeks in the time of Berengarius AMong many Proofs which may be seen in the First Tome of the Perpetuity lib. 2. c. 5 6 7 8. c. I shall content my self with one onely During the Eleventh Century when the Heresie * The Heresie of Berengarius consisted in denying the Real Presence of the Body of Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrament of Berengarius made so much noise in the Latin Church when it was condemned by nine Councils whereof some were held in France and some in Italy the Greeks had several Churches and Monasteries in Italy and the Latins had also Churches at Constantinople Whence it was not possible that being so mixed together either of them could be ignorant of the Sentiments of one another especially in respect of a Mystery concerning which there was risen up a Heresie in the Judgment at least of the Latins Wherefore it is inconceivable that if the Greeks had been Berengarians at that time as Mr. Claud would have it believed they should have without the least bustle or noise suffered the Latin Church to condemn as an Heresie their Sentiment in the matter of the Eucharist And that the Latins on their side should have said nothing to the Greeks seeing them maintain that same Heresie which they had so recently condemned in the person of Berengarius Now it is certain that these two Churches did not at that time nor afterwards upbraid one another on this matter although they were never more inclined nor had greater provocations to have done it if there had been any ground for it For it was at that time there arose the hottest debate that could be imagined betwixt Michael Cerularius Patriarch of Constantinople and Leo Archbishop of Acride Metropolitan of Bulgaria on one side and Pope Leo and the whole Latin Church on the other Nothing could parallel the bitterness and animosity of the Greeks Michael and Leo of Acride did write in the year 1053 which is the very same year wherein Berengarius was condemned in two Councils both held in Italy one at Rome and the other at Vercelli to John Bishop of Trani in Apulia This Letter was most bitter They upbraided the Latins in several things That celebrating the Eucharist in Azimis they communicated with the Jews That they eated strangled meats That they did not sing Alleluia in Lent But not so much as one word of the Faith of the Eucharist And this Letter having been communicated to Pope Leo the IX He wrote thereupon a Letter to that Patriarch and Archbishop wherein after having defended the Latin Church on the point of Azimis he complains of the violence of the Patriarch Michael who had caused shut up all the Churches of the Latins that were at Constantinople And he extols the modesty of the Roman Church in that there being several Churches of the Greeks both within and without the City of Rome yet they were not hindred to observe the Traditions of their Ancestors Because says he the Roman Church knows well that the diversity of Customs according to Times and Places is no ways prejudicial to the Salvation of Believers when they have the Same Faith. Whence it appears that although there were then a great number of Greeks in Italy whose Sentiments in matter of the Eucharist Pope Leo could not be ignorant of he was perswaded there was no more but a diversity of Customs in point of the Eucharist by reason of the Azimis betwixt the Greek and Latin Church and that both these Churches had but one and the same Faith of that Mystery And consequently he was no leâ—â— perswaded that the Greek Church believed the Real Presence and Transubstantiation as well as the Latin For aâ— to the Latin Church the Calvinists doeâ— not deny that she believed both those points at that time This is farther confirmed by another Letter which Michael Cerularius wrote the year following when he could be no more ignorant of the condemnation of Berengarius to the Patriarch of Antiochia which as the forementioned is full of Accusations against the Roman Church to perswade him to forsake the Popes Communion amongst which Accusations there were some altogether calumnious as that the Latins did not Honour St. Basil and Sr. Chrysostom and yet not so much as a word of their Belief of the Eucharist which had been a far more considerable ground of separation if the Greeks had not had the same Faith on that matter than the â—ifles which they objected to the Laâ—ins That their Priests raised their Beards That their Monks eated fat That their Bishops carried the Effigies of a Lamb. And by what passed
Cogitations It would have doubtless been the principal Occupation of these Paschasites and these Paschasites who should have so changed the Faith of the whole Church could be no other than Men who were considered as the Heads of the Religion of that Age and who by their Authority drew the Ecclesiasticks and People after them Now we have the Lives of the most part of these persons written by Authors contemporary or at least of the following Age. We can reckon more than twenty of them whom I omit for brevity and resume the Discourse by this reflection But it is not said neither of these Saints nor of any other that they preached the Doctrine of the Real Presence that they were zealous for its establishment that they converted many persons to this Belief And that which should have been their chiefest occupation and the principal object of their Zeal and Devotion according to Mr. Clauld's fancies is not so much as observed by the Historians save only by St. Odo Archbishop of Canterbury Uncle to St. Oswald but in a manner far from giving ground to think that the Belief of the Real Presence was not that of his time The History of St. Odo which William of Malmsbury draws from Osborn carries onely that several persons doubting of the verity of the Eucharist he confirmed them in the Faith by a Miracle in shewing the Host changed into Flesh Plurimos de veritate Dominici corporis dubitantes says William of Malmsbury it a roboravit ut panem Altaris ver sum in carnem vâ—num calicis in sanguinem propalam ostenderet denuo in pristinam speciem retorta usui humano conducibilia faceret Guil Malmsb. in Odone The matter of fact is acknowledged by the Protestants themselves though Baleus no less than Aubertin ascribes it to the Devil mendacibus Satanae miraculis This proves indeed that there were in St. Odo's time some persons who doubted of the Real Presence which is no strange thing being that the Mysteryitself is capable to excite these kind of doubts And besides this John Scot had retired himself to England where he might have made some private Disciples of his Doctrine But here it s manifestly seen that this doubt was condemned by Odo Head of the English Church who having been lookt upon as a Saint by those of his time and not accused of Errour by any is an unquestionable Witness of the Faith of the Church of England during the Tenth Age The same Osborn in the Life of St. Dunstan chap. 44. speaks likewise of the Eucharist but onely occasionally and to shew how much this Saint was replenished with the Spirit of God Being returned says he to the Altar he changed the Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ by the holy Benediction And when he had given the Blessing to the People he left once more the Altar to preach and being inebriated with the Spirit of God he spake of the verity of the Body of Jesus Christ of the future Resurrection and of Life eternal in such a manner that one would have thought they heard speaking a Man already beatified Lo here the rank which was given to the Article of the Real Presence in the Tenth Age. It ought moreover to be concluded from the example of St. Odo that if all the Authors of the Lives of Saints had had any such thing to be related of those whose Lives they wrote and if they had had ground to remark the Conversions they had made they would not have omitted to have done it and consequently their silence is an evident proof that these Saints never had it in their view to inspire the Doctrine of the Real Presence that they never dream'd of this project And as it could not have been established by others than by them it follows that it was not established by any person in that Age because it needed not being the ancient Belief of preceeding Ages After having remarked what ought to have been found in the Lives written particularly of the Saints of that time we pass next to the Histories Annals and Chronicles The same observation may be made on the Historian Ditmarus Bishop of Mersbourg who at least had no less intention to write the Ecclesiastical History of his time than that of the Temporal State of Germany His great Birth did not suffer him to be ignorant of what passed in his time He was an intimate Friend of all the Bishops of his Age and he makes the Eloge of several of them in his History wherein are reckoned to the number of eleven He speaks of a great many others and makes his own Life in his History but he neither mentions of himself nor of any other that took pains to establish the Belief of the Real Presence Will Mr. Claud say that all these Bishops had no part in this Work or that the matter was not worth the remarking Will he pretend that to withdraw Germany from an Opinion which the Paschasites must have lookt upon as a detestable Crime to perswade the World a Doctrine so contrary to Reason and which they judged so necessary for Salvation was a thing too trivial to appear in the Eloge of these Bishops We find the same silence in all the other Historians of the Ninth and Teâ—th Age how sollicitous soever they were to transmit to us the Affairs of the Church There are reckoned up ten what Histories what Annals or Chronicles which says not so much as one word of that establishment of the Real Presence of these Disputes of these Conversions nor of the Zeal of the Bishops of that time to instruct all the people in that Doctrine In a word as Mr. Claud who is acute enough to forsee what ought to be misses not to rank amongst those means which could advance the establishment of the Real Presence the Intrigues of Courts the Combinations of great Men the Interests of Bishops and other worldly Engines and which he says he would have remarked if he had been living at that time It must be granted to him that Intrigues which should have had so great effects ought to have been most remarkable and yet we find no mention at all made of them in any of the contemporary Authors who wrote the Lives of the Princes and Princesses of this Age as in Wittichindus Ditmarus Glaber Rodolphus Helgaldus Odilo and several others Many proofs are there seen of the Zeal of these two Princes for Religion and it 's hard to find any who were more careful who had more favour for the Church and who had more esteem and affection for the holy Bishops and Religious Men of their time And if it was true that the Doctrine of the Real Presence was introduced in their time it must have been by their Authority and favour Whence comes it then that that Zeal and all these Actions which should have flowed from it have not been observed by any Author And that in the telling us
of these Kings of these Princes and Princesses they make no mention of their particular Devotion to the Real Presence nor of the care they had to establish it more and more among the faithful And yet according to Mr. Claud these Princes ought to have had a great hand in that Innovation no less than the Pope and the Bishops seeing that to make it the more credible he supposes Pascasius his Doctrine ought to have been establisht by the help of Violence and Authority But it was found altogether established then when Berengarius proposed his figurative Sence So there must have been before Berengarius either Princes or Popes or Bishops who employed Violence or Authority to set it in that height of credit it was found in before Berengarius appeared How comes it then that in so many Histories Annals and Lives of holy Bishops nothing of all that is to be seen The prodigious silence of so many persons on a matter so important as the universal change of Belief which could no have come to pass without the participation of all these he speaks of will stand for a most evident demonstration to all judicious persons there being no method more convincing to prove Negatives of this kind for it ought not to be pretended that these Authors should have prophesied that there were to come Men so audacious as to assert that the whole Church had changed her Faith during this Age or that they were obliged to belye before-hand so ridiculous an Imagination I pretend then that the Minor is most clearly proved in respect of the first time that is to say the impossibility of a change whereof no trace should have remained which the Calvinists must pretend to have been made in all the Churches of the World from the end of the Ninth to the beginning of the Eleventh Age is most solidly demonstrated There remains then no more but to prove the second part of the Major that is the unanimous agreement of all these Churches at this present time And the second part of the Minor to wit That it 's impossible they should be found at present in this union by an insensible change as to the Faith of the Eucharist which should have hapned in all the Churches of the East in the time that has run since Berengarius till now And this is a thing more easie because the truth of things nearer to us is discovered SECT 6. Proofs of the Major in regard of the present time that is to say that the Eastern Churches especially the Greek Church are of the same Faith that the Roman Church is concerning the Eucharist I Cannot tell if ever there was a matter of fact proved by so many pieces and irrefragable Testimonies as the Agreement of the present Eastern Church with the Roman in the Belief of the Mysterie of the Eucharist that is of the Real Presence Transubstantiation and Adoration They are all to be seen some in the First Tome of the Perpetuity Book 12. others in the first Book of the General Answer and more at length in the Thrid Tome Book 8. Where they are found altogether marked at the end in a Table which here follows For the Greek Church of the Patriarchate of Constantinople A Writing of a Nobleman of Moldavia concerning the Belief of the Greeks entituled Enchiridion sive stella Orientalis Letter of M. Olarius concerning the Belief of the Muscovites and Armenians Extract of a Synod held in the Isle of Cyprus in the year 1668. Attestation of a Priest and Canon of Muscovia and of three other Muscovites in the Ambassadors Train concerning the Belief of their Nation Confession of Faith required by Methodius from Doctor Cicada Extract of the Book of Agapius Monk of Mount Athos entituled The Salvation of Sinners Attestation of eight Superiors and Monks of Mount Athos Attestation of Methodius Patriarch of Constantinople Attestarion of the Superior of Mount Athos concerning Agapius Attestation of seven Archbishops of the East Attestation of the Church of the Ifland of Anaxia Attestation of the Church of the Isles of Cephalonia Zacynthus and â—â—thaca Attestation of the Isle of Micone Attestation of the Isle of Milo. Attestation of the Church of the Isle of Chios Attestation of a Superiour and the Monks of the Monastery of Mauromale Letter of M. Panjotti Attestation of the Patriarch of Constantinople of three other Patriarchs preceeding him and of the Metropolitans of that Patriarchate Attestation of the Churches of Miâ—grelia Colichis and Georgia Attestation of the Vicar Apostolick â—esident at Constantinople Attestation of M. Casimir Resident â—t Poland Attestation of M. Quirino Refident â—f the Republick of Venice Attestation of M. Fieschi Resident of Genoa Attestation of the Ambassadors of â—he the Republick of Ragusa Attestation of the Community of â—he Perots as well Supetiours as Offiâ—ers Attestation of M. Taisia on the â—eath of his Son communicated by the Greeks Extract of some Decisions of the Church of Constantinople sent to the Russians The Answer of Marcus Donus of â—he Isle of Candia sent to Mr. Claud. Attestation of the Monastery of St. George Extract of the Treatise of Meletius Syrigus against Cyrilius Lucar For the Greek Church of the Patriarchate of Alexandria Extract of a Letter of the Patriarch of Alexandria sent to Constantinople For the Greek Church of the Patriarchate of Antiochia Profession of the Faith of the Greek of the Patriarchate of Antiochia concerning the Eucharist Condemnation of the Calvinists by Macarius Patriarch of Antiochia oâ— the Greek Nation A new Condemnation of the Calvinists by the Grecian Church of the Patriarchate of Antiochia under the Patriarch Neophilus signed by the Patriarch Archbishops Curats Priests Deacons and others Apology of Sotericus Panteugenâ—â— to the Patriarch of Antiochia and to thâ— Council concerning the matters oâ— which he was accused For the Grecian Church of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem Letter of Nectarius Patriarch of Jerusalem to Paysius Patriarch of Alexandria Extract of a Synodical Treatise composed by Docitheus Patriarch of Jerusalem and by a Synod at the Dedication of the Church of Bethlehem signed by sixty two Archbishops Bishops Abbots Curats and other Ecclesiasticks Extract of the Treatise of Elias Patriarch of Jerusalem concerning the Mysteries drawn from an Arabick Manuscript of the Kings Bibliotheck For the four Patriarchs together A Book entituled The Orthodox Confession of the Oriental Church approved by the four Patriarchs Approbation of the second Edition of the same Book For the Maronites Act or Treatise of the Marionites of Antiochia concerning the Faith of their Churches For the Armenian Church Attestation of the Armenian Patriarch who is presently at Rome concerning the of Belief the Armenians in matter of the Eucharist Attestation of Vscanus Bishop of St. Sergius in the Greater Armenia given at Amsterdam Attestation of the Patriarch and of several Priests and Armenian Bishops residing at Alippo Attestation of the Patriarch of Ermeazin concerning the Belief of the Armenians Attestation of
King for justification of their Faith against the Calumnies of the Calvinist Ministers There was amongst these Attestations a Manuscript very sumptuously Bound which Mr. Panajotti made a Present of to his Majesty to be conserved in his Library and to serve for ever as a Testimony of the Faith of the Orâ—ental Church This Manuscript is one of the Originals of the Orthodox Confession it 's Subscribed by the Patriarch of Constantinople by many Bishops and by several Officers of the Church of Constantinople But whereas the Printed Copies are onely in Greek this Manuscript is in Greek and Latin the Latin being no less Original than the Greek There is prefixed to it a new Approbation of Dionysius bearing that M. Panajotti has caused â—et out a new Edition of it at the request of the Patriarch and that this Gentleman has distributed gratis Copies throughout the whole East Here follows that Attestation Dionysius by the mercy of God Arch-Bishop of Constantinople the New Rome and Oecumenical Patriarch THose who make the holy Books their daily study and applies themselves continually to them do certainly reap thence very great fruit for Salvation for it is as a way in which they cannot go astray which leads in a supernaural manner those who aim streight at eternal Glory and which procures them a happy end it being according to the Scripture that he is blessed who meditates day and night in the Law of the Lord. Wherefore considering that the reading of this Orrhodox Doctrine may be very profitable which having been Composed some years ago by the Orthodox Doctors approved received and confirmed by the Venerable Patriarchs our Predecessors and printed some time after by the care pains and expences of the most Wise and Orthodox Signior Panajotti first Interpreter of the Emperours of the East and West our Dearest Spiritual Son full of Piety and Divine Zeal with an extraordinary prudence has gratis distributed Copies thereof round about to Christians for the publick good And all the Copies that were Prinred being employed in this Distribution which was made of them several persons who earnestly demands so profitable a piece cannot have it we Judged it our duty to provide for this and to sollicite the same Signior by his accustomed bounry to supply this want and put remedy to it by a second Edition holding out to him that he would thereby aquite to himself Reputation not only equal to that he has already throughout the World and whereof no person is ignorant but a better and far surpassing it to wit that by which noble Actions becomes immortal And as he has a fervent zeal and passionate desire of the publick good so he has not neglected our Counsel but on the contrary has incontinently by Gods help putten it in execution and by a second Impression has given of new a great number of Books to the Faithful by so doing rendering a piece of important service to the Author of them in not suffering his Work to be buried in obscurity for M. Meletius Syrigus Doctor of the Great Church has by order of the Patriarch and Synod laboured most carefully to review and set the Book in order Therefore ye Orthodox Christians receiving favourably this Book of the Orthodox Doctrine as pious and profitable to Souls give thanks for it to the common Benefactor and keep it well without ever neglecting the reading of it for Life eternal is found in the Meditation of the holy Scriptures which I wish all of us may attain to in Jesus Christ our Lord to whom be Glory for ever So be it The year 1672. in the Month of July Indiction 5. Seal of the Patriarch Dionysius of Constantinople But this Original being in Greek and Latin I though that if it was needless to set down the Greek Text which being a strange Language would be understood by few it would be fit to insert here in the Latin Tongue what is there said of the Eucharist and which has already been cited in French in the General Answer QUESTIO 106. Quodnam sit tertium Mysterium EEt Eucharista sive Corpus Sanguinis Christi Domini sub specibus panis vini realis presentia Hoc Sacramentum excillit allâ—is magis conducit saluti animae nostrae in hoc enim Sacramento omnis gratiae bonis Christi fidelibus manifestatur praesentatur In the following Question ANimadvertendum est ut Sacerdos habeat talem intentionem quod ipsa vera substantia panis substantia vini Transubstantientur in verum Corpus Sanguinam Christi per operationem Spiritus Sancti cujus invocationem facit tum temporis ut perficiat Mysterium hoc orando dicendo Mitte Spiritum Sanctum in nos in haec proposita dona fac hunc panem pretiosum Corpus Christi tui quod autem est in hac calice pretiosum Sanguinem Christi tui transmutans per Spiritum Sanctum Statim enim ad haec verba fit Transubstantiatio Transubstantiantur panis in verum Corpus Christi vinum in verum Sanguinem Christi remanentibus solum speciebus visibilibus hoc fit secundum divinam dispositionem propter duo Primo ne videamus Corpus Christi sed credamus illud esse propter verba prolata à Christo Domino Hoc est Corpus meum hic est Sanguis meus plusquam sensibus nostris Siquidem pro hoc promisit nobis beatudinem dicens Beati qui non vident credunt Secundo quia natura humana abhorret usum vivae carnis quoniam debet homo uniri Christo Domino per communicationem carnis Christi Domini Sanguinis Christi Domini ne igitur abhorreret constituit Dominus dare carnem suam Sanguinem suum in esum potum sub specibus panis vini De quo diui Damascenus Gregorius Nyssenus fusius disputant De Exibendo Honore qui debetur kuic Mysterio tanquam ipsi Christo Quemadmodem sanctus Petrus de de ore omnium Apostolorum dixit Tu es Christus Filius Dei viventis ita nos dicimus cultu Latriae Credo Domini confiteor quod tu'es Christus Filius Dei vivi Est etiam id Mysterium Sacrificium pro vivis defunctis iis qui in spe resurrectionis mortui sunt quod Sacrificium ad extremum judicium non cessabit There is at the end of the Manuscript an Act of Legalization of the Ambassador who gives Testimony of the Truth of what I have related whereof the tenor follows WE CHARLES R FRANCIS OLIER of Nointel Counsellor of the King in his Councils in his Court of Parliament of Paris and Ambassador for his most Christian Majesty at the Ottoman Port do certifie and attest That the present Latin and Greek Manuscript entituled The Orthodox Confession of the Church of the East was consigned into our hands by the Signior Panajotti first Interpreter of the Port who having assured us that it would serve
efficaciously to establish the verity of the Book bearing the same Title printed by his care seeing it is one of the Originals of it and has the Original Signatures of the Patriarchs at it He did out of Zeal to vindicate his Church from the Affronts put upon it entreat us to deal with his Majesty that he would be so good as to accept of it for the Confusion of those that would call it in question And as he lookt upon it as a matter of Conscience and Honour in imitation of the Patriarchs Prelates of his Church to put the matter of fact contested in the greatest evidence possible he sent us the last year an Approbation of the same Book by Dionysius the Patriarch then holding the See of Constantinople which we set before that Manuscript All these Verities being certain to the end none may doubt of them we make no difficulty to confirm them by our Subscription and the Seal of our Arms and the Counter-Seal of our first Secretary Given at our Palace on the Channel of the Black Sea the Eleventh of September 1673. Olier de Nointel Ambassadour to his Majesty at the Ottoman Port. By my said Lord his Command Le PICARD What can one say against this proof Is not this piece as decisive as if it had been made in the Sorbonne or at Louvain Is it not beyond all suspicion of having been extorted by the Roman Catholicks Can any imagine that it could have been altered in the printing coming onely from the hands of a Greek a Person of Quality most zealous for his Religion to those of a Protestant who sent it to Amsterdam where it was printed at the Charges of the States Can any thing be imagined more Authentick in the Greek Church seeing we find that having been at the very first approved by the four Patriarchs and several Bishops it has still continued to be in so great esteem that the new Patriarch of Constantinople desired to have it reprinted that it might be the more easily spread over all and every where There remains then no more but to prove the second part of the Minor to the end it may be said that we have invincibly shewn the Faith of Catholicks concerning the Eucharist to be the ancient Faith of the Church SECT 7. Proof of the second part of the Minor which is that it is impossible there should be made an insensible change in the Bel ef of the Eucharist in all the Eastern Churches during the time that has interveened betwixt Berengarius and us THere would be no need to be at the pains to prove this if Mr. Claud and the Ministers who have putten in his hands the Defence of their Cause were not altogether unreasonable for having proved most clearly in the second Section that these Churches were found united in the Belief of the Eucharist in Berengarius his time and in the preceeding Section that they are presently united in the same Faith to imagine that it was by an insensible innovation happened in that interval they come to the condition they are in at this day it must be feigned that the Eastern Churches having embraced the Opinion of the Real Presence in the Eleventh Age they should resume some time after that of the Real Absence and then again by an insensible change they should have fallen back again into the same condition wherein they certainly were in the Eleventh Age in believing as they do certainly at this day the Real Presence Transubstantiation and the Adoration of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist It 's ealsiy percieved how ridiculous this fiction would be But because Mr. Claud would not acknowledge this argreement of the Eastern Churchs with the Roman in Berengarius his time for no other reason but because it pleases him to pretend all is false which seems disadvantageous to his Cause we have thought fit to follow him in his wandrings and to let him see that setting aside all what proves that agreement in Berengarius his time there is nothing more contrary to common sense than that which he would perswade as most possible viz. That the Greeks having believed as he supposes the Real Absence until the end of the Eleventh Age did since that time by an insensible Innovation whereof no memory remains come to believe the quite contrary that is the Real Presence Transubstantiation and Adoration which is the state they are found in at this day And it must be carefully observed that what we have demonstratively proved reaches not only to shew that some particular persons of the Greek Church or even some or several of their Churches entirely believes what I say but that it is the manifest Belief of the whole Body of these Churches as it is that of the Roman Catholick Church This then ought to have been the effect of that pretended insensible Innovation in whatsoever time it is placed during the six Centuries of years that have intervened betwixt Berengarius and us And this is what we have shewn in the third Tome of the Perpetuity Book 8. Chap. 21. to be the most incredible of all Chimaeras so I need no more to prove the second part of the Minor but to set down here what is written there The least spark of common sence perceives instantly that it was impossible that the Latins being mixed throughout the whole East since the Eleventh Age with those Societies separated from the Roman Church being strongly perswaded of the Real Presence having it most present in their minds more than any other Article punishing in the West with all sorts of rigour those who doubted of it and examining carefully all the points of Belief of these Societies which did not agree with their own that these Latins I say should not have perceived during the whole space of six hundred years that these Societies had another Faith than they concerning this Article or that perceiving they should have thought fit to dissemble it and that in like manner those Oriental Societies could continue six hundred years either without perceiving in the Latins that difference of Belief in so important an â—rticle or without upbraiding it to them in so many Writings they made against them Of these two parts which are equally ridiculous Mr. Claud betakes himself to the second in his third Answer by maintaining that this came to pass by the policy of the Latins upon one hand and by the timerousness of the Oriental People on the other and this we have refuted in the General Answer by representing only the absurdity of this supposition according as we shall set it down here Mr. Claud supposes in the Greeks and in all the other Societies of the East that is in an infinite number of Men a timerousness of six hundred years hindring them all to rise up against the Latins and to treat them as Idolaters on the Doctrine of the Real Presence He stops the Latins mouth on the same point by a piece of policy of six hundred
it 's very like they all speak the same Language though they should not so boldly maintain so great a falshood it 's most certain they are very careful to conceal from you the general agreement of all these great Societies with the Roman Church not only in point of the Eucharist but likewise in many other points as the Sacrifice of the Mass Prayer for the Dead the Invocation of Saints the Honour of their Images and Reliques for which they have always induced you to condemn us as superstitious and Idolaters You cannot now doubt any more that they have maliciously disguised the Truth to you concerning all this what confidence then can you have in them in beholding clearly that they cheat you in matters of that importance where your Salvation is at the stake Perhaps you will say there is none but Mr. Claud who is guilty of this fault and that it 's true he is much to be blamed for denying things so unquestionable as is the great agreement of all those Churches with the Roman in all these Points But as we have already shown them Tom. 3 of the Perpetuity pag 805. that it was not to take part in a procedure so unbeseeming and disingenuous as is that of Mr. Claud to have suffered in a common Cause that he who had taken upon him their defence should establish it upon a notorious falshood and for four or five years debate about a matter of fact which ingenuity sincerity ought to have made be acknowledged the first day ought they not to have publickly disaproved this procedure and not have permitted that in the enterprise of defending what they take for truth the truth should be wounded by imposing upon the whole ' East to believe what it believes not Mean while consider if there be any Minister who disaproved Mr. Claud during so long a time as that Dispute lasted and very far from that there is very lately one of the most Famous and Learned Professours Mr. Spanhemius of the united Provinces who heaps up Praises on Mr. Claud for the advantages he pretends he has carried in this Dispute whereof the chief Point was to know if the Oriental Churches did really agree with the Roman in point of the Eucharist and who with a wonderful confidence affirms that his Illustrious Brother has exposed to open view the vanity of the suppositions of his Adversary by which he can mean no other but the principal matter of fact which the Author of the Perpetuity had taken for the ground of his whole Discourse viz. that all the Churches of the World were united in the Faith of the Real Presence in the time of Berengarius as they are likewise at this present time Lo here what Mr. Spanhemius dares call most false suppositions vanissimas Hypotheses altho ' you see with your own eyes that they are undenyable truths But you ought to be much more astonished to see that he is not ashamed to make the most authentick and most solemn attestations that ever a Church did give of her Faith pass for precarious Testimonies which ought not be noticed as having been given by Mercenary Souls who betrayed their Conscience in letting themselves be corrupted for money Tom. 3. of the Perpet 806. For what can you conclude from that but that among those of your Party no reguard is had to the truth and those who reigns in it by the confidence people has in them and by the Authority they attribute to themselves care not by what means they keep the People adhereing to them that falsehoods are equally good to them as truths when they produce this effect and provyding an Author make noise and be able to amuse the World with the sound of his words the most intelligent amongst the Calvinists are glad to let him be doing and considers always as an advantage the impression they make thereby upon the generality of their Party But you ought not stop here it is yet more important for you to consider that Mr. Claud did not engage himself to the denyal of so certain matters of fact and the other Ministers to applaud his Art to colour these falshoods but because they saw no other way to extricate themselves from the difficulty they were in To suppose as they did that all the Churches of the world had been for nine Ages without believing the Real Presence and to find them all united in this Belief at the beginning of the eleventh Age without that any one perceived this change or any mark or memory of it remaining is a Chimere so absurd to be maintained that they themselves were amazed at it Therefore to give it a little more liklyhood it was needful to restrict this Innovation within the limits of the Latin Church and to pretend that all the rest had not changed and were all Berengarians and had always been such when Berengarius was condemned in the West You cannot then be perswaded of the contrary as there is no man of good sence but ought to be by only reading what I have said in the 1 and 2 Sect. and yet more by reading the Chapters I have marked of the 1 Tom of the Perpet you cannot I say be convinced of the agreement of the Greek Church of that time but you must conclude that that pretended Innovation without which Calvinism cannot subsist is a work of the Father of Lyes for it ought to have had place in all the Churches of the World as well as in the Roman which they well saw was so inconceivable as Mr. Claud cryes out for fear lest he be necessitate to shew how its possible that insensible change was made at the same time over all the World The Question is not of the whole World The Question is of the Occident and of the Provinces subject to the Obedience of the Pope But the condition of the Greeks at present and of all the other Oriental Communions threw back your Ministers into the same difficulty for if they had granted that they also held all at present the Real Presence Transubstantiation and the Adoration and are perswaded they never had another Faith whom could they have made believe that this had happened four or five hundred years since by an insensible change in all these Communions of whom many have no connexion with one another it being they mutually accuse others of Heresie without so much as one person perceiving the Innovation Therefore it was needful to say farther that it was false the Oriental Churches were of this Faith and that this could not be true but only of some Latinised Greeks and not at all of the true Greeks But they are of this Faith whether Mr. Claud will or not you are doubtless perswaded thereof But beware lest for want of application to the most important Affair you have in the world which is that of your Salvation you smother the natural consequences you ought to draw from this conviction for you ought to say 1. Our Ministers have cheated us hitherto in denying many years pertinaciously and as far as can be judged against their own Consciences in a dispute of Religion a thing which is more clear than the light of the day we have then no reason to trust our selves to so blind guids and so void of sincerity 2. They deny or dissemble matters of fact so certain and important to be known for no other Reason but because being acknowledged to be true the pretended Innovation in the belief of the Eucharist in all the Churches of the World cannot subsist I cannot then be convinced as I am of the truth of these matters of fact but I must also be convinced that that Innovation is a dream invented by Aubertin and other Ministers because they saw well without that they could not hinder themselves from being looked upon as Innovators and Hereticks 3. It s not only in the belief of the Eucharist that these great Oriental Societies agree with the Roman Church it is also in the Sacrifice of the Mass in Prayer for the Dead in the Invocation of Saints in the Honour given to their Reliques and Images which our Ministers incessantly represent to us as Doctrins of Antechrist for which we ought to have made separation from the Roman Church and which are the most common subject of their invectives against that Church Now I see clearly all that is ill grounded since all other Christian Communions who are not subject to that pretended Antechrist have on all that the same Faith which the Roman Catholicks have I have therefore great reason to fear that I cannot in conscience continue to stay with Calumniators and Schismaticks and consequently I cannot do better than to return back whence our Fathers ought not to have come forth I think there is no intelligent Person will deny these consequences to be just yet it is so great a matter to change Religion that the conviction of the understanding is not sufficient for that effect God must besides touch the Heart with his Grace Prayer must beg this Favour from him and Hope must expect it from his Mercy FINIS Approbation of the Doctors WE underwritten Doctors in Theologie of the faculty of Paris do certify we have read 〈◊〉 Book Entituled The Faith of the Catholick Church concerning the Eucharist invincibly proved c with a Preface in form of a Letter to the Gentlemen of the pretended Reformed Religion by M We have found them conform to the Rules of Faith and most profitable for the conversion of Heriticks The Author sets down therein in Abridgement what is contained in several Volumns to the end he might facilitate the means of being instructed of the Truth of this great Mystery to those who might not have the leasure to read these Volumns entirely This is the judgement weâ—â—â—ke of this little but excellent Work at Paris the oâ— of November 1683. AUGET of the House of Sorbon RICHER of the House of Navarr