Florence Nay they wash the Altars on which the Latins have celebrated and will not suffer Latin Priests to celebrate upon their Altars because they pretend that the Sacrifice ought to be performed with leavened bread IX They say that the Ordinary words wherein the Latins make the Consecration to consist are not sufficient to change the Bread and the Wine into the Body and Bloud of our Lord if some Prayers and Benedictions of the Fathers be not added X. They affirm that the Communion under both kinds is to be given to Children even before they can distinguish that Nourishment from another because that is a matter of Divine Right And therefore they give the Communion to Children immediately after Baptism and they account the Latins who are of a contrary Judgment Hereticks XI They hold that Lay-men are by Divine Law obliged to communicate under both kinds and call the Latins Hereticks for maintaining the contrary XII They affirm that Believers when they have attained to years of discretion are not to be forced to communicate every Year at Easter but that they are to have liberty of Conscience XIII They shew no Respect Worship nor Veneration to the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist even when their Priests celebrate and they carry it to the Sick without Torch-light Besides they keep it in a little Bag and Box without other Ceremony than fastening it to the VVall whereas they light Lamps before their Images XIV They believe that the Host consecrated on Holy Thursday is much more efficacious than those which are consecrated on ordinary Days XV. They deny that the Sacrament of Marriage is a Bond which cannot be broken And therefore they accuse the Church of Rome of Errour for teaching that Marriage cannot be dissolved in the Case of Adultery and that it is not allowed to marry again in that Case But the Greeks teach the contrary and practise it daily XVI They condemn fourth Marriages XVII They solemnize not the Festivals of the Virgin Apostles and other Saints instituted by the Catholick Church and the Fathers on the same Days that the Western Church celebrates them and besides that they do it after another manner they also despise the Feasts of many very ancient Saints XVIII They say that the Canon of the Latin Mass ought to be abrogated as being full of Errours XIX They deny that Usury is a mortal Sin XX. They deny that Subdeaconship is at present a sacred Order XXI Of all the General Councils that have been celebrated in the Catholick Church by Popes at different times they admit of none after the seventh General Council which is the second of Nice that was called against those who rejected Images The Greeks acknowledge none of the rest and submit not to their Decrees XXII They deny Auricular Confession to be of Divine Right pretending it onely to be a Positive and Ecclesiatical Constitution XXIII They say that Lay-mens Confessions ought to be arbitrary And therefore amongst them Laicks are not constrained to confess once a year and they are not excommunicated for neglecting it XXIV They pretend that in Confession it is not necessary nor of Divine Right that men should confess all their Sins in particular nor yet tell all the Circumstances that alter the nature of a Sin XXV They give the Communion to Laicks both in Health and Sickness though they have not before confessed their Sins to a Priest and that because they are perswaded that Confession is arbitrary and that Faith is the onely and true Preparation for receiving the Eucharist XXVI They slight the Vigils of the Latins before the Festivals of Our Lord the Virgin and Apostles aswell as the Fasts of the Ember-weeks Nay on these Days they eat Flesh in contempt of the Latins XXVII They accuse the Latins of Heresie because they eat flesh that hath been strangled and other Meats that are condemned in the Old Testament XXVIII They deny that simple Fornication is a mortal Sin XXIX They affirm that it is lawfull to deceive an Enemy and that it is no Sin to doe him Injury XXX As to Restitution they are of the Opinion that it is not necessary to Salvation to restore what one has robbed XXXI In fine they believe that he who hath once been a Priest may return again to a Lay-condition These are the Opinions that distinguish the Greeks from the Latins if we credit Caucus who attributes that Belief not onely to the Greeks of Corfou but also to the other Greeks who are separated from the Church of Rome But if we listen to (1) Caucus Venetus Archiepiscopus Corcyrensis vir nullius plane doctrinae vel Judicii ... Libello edito de Graecorum recentiorum haeresibus Graecos omnes non sine evidenti calumnia diffamavit ... an mendacio an scelere an fraude an falaciis ... summorum Pontificum gratia demerenda est Leo Allat lib. 3. de Consens cap. 10. Leo Allatius Caucus is an Ignorant a Slanderer and a Man without Judgment who thought to oblige the Pope by multiplying the Errours of the Greeks and hath attributed to all what he learnt and saw in Corfou Nevertheless it is no hard matter to justifie Caucus in most part of the Opinions which he imputes to the Greeks unless perhaps in what concerns Morality the Corruption whereof proceeds rather from private Persons than an universal and approved Belief and it is to be feared that it may be objected to Allatius that he hath softned a great many things in the Opinions of the Greeks through a Design of Reconciliation and to curry Favour with Pope Urban VIII who at that time proposed to himself the Re-union of the Greeks to the Church of Rome by soft and mild ways In effect if we carefully examine the Errours which Caucus imputes to the Modern Greeks we shall find that few Men have more exactly observed them And indeed the Pope having enjoined him to doe it there is no probability that he would have imposed upon the Pope in an affair of that importance Seeing he was not learned in the Divinity of the Ancients he hath referred all to School-Divinity and the Decisions of the Council of Trent which he took to be the Rule according to which he ought to condemn as erroneous what ever did not conform thereunto and in that his sincerity appears the more For for a long time he had informed himself wherein they agreed with the Church of Rome and wherein they differed condemning nevertheless too boldly what suited not with the Practice of his Church But let us consider more particularly whether Caucus be so great a Slanderer and whether he hath imposed so much on the Greeks as Leo Allatius would have the World believe In the first Place as to the re-baptising of the Latins it is certain that they have done it in other Places besides Corfou and that because of the Enmity they bear towards them looking upon all their Ceremonies as abominable And for the same
is carried about the Streets on Corpus Christi day CHAP. IV. Of the Belief of the Melchites HAving treated at length of the Greeks there remains but little to be said of the Melchites who differ hardly in any thing from them either as to Belief or Ceremonies The name of Melchites or Royalists was onely given them because they followed the common Opinions of the Greeks who submitted to the Decisions of the Council of Chalcedon and as if they had onely done so to comply with the Will of the Emperour their Enemies called them Melchites thereby intimating that they were of the Emperour's Religion However at present we give the Name of Melchites to the Syrians Cophties or Egyptians and other People of the Levant who not being true Greeks are nevertheless of their Perswasion And therefore Gabriel Sionita calls them indifferently Greeks or Melchites who besides observes that they are spread over all the Levant (1) Purgatorium nullum existere pessimè crediderunt indèque illis odium intestinum in summum Pontificem ita ut eidem veracissimo Christi in terris Vicario primatum pertinaciter abnegent Gabr. Sion de Rel. Mor. Orient that they deny Purgatory that they are sworn Enemies to the Pope whose Supremacy none of the East do so vigorously oppugn But it is no wonder they are so great Enemies to the Church of Rome seeing they retain all the Sentiments of the Greeks that are not Latinized As to their Opinion concerning Purgatory they differ not neither from the true Greeks and though both deny that there is a particular place called Purgatory where the Souls are punished by a material and real Fire yet they deny not the truth of a Purgatory in the manner as we have explained it when we spake of the Greeks Besides the Judgment of the Melchites concerning the Primacy of the Patriarch of Rome is also the same with that of the Greeks who have not submitted to the Decisions of the Council of Florence In a word if you except a few Points of small Importance concerning Ceremonies and Ecclesiastical Discipline the Melchites are in all things true Greeks they have even rendered into Arabick the Greek Euchology or Ritual and most of their other Books of Offices in which they are not singular because the other Sects of the East have also translated for their own use the Greek Euchology and other Books of Ceremonies But their Translations are commonly faulty and the Arabick Canons of Councils are of no great Use yet I think the Arabick versions of the Melchites ought to be preferred before all others because they are true Greeks though they want not their prejudices which sometimes hinders them from being sincere In general the Christians of the East are so far from being exact in their Translations of Greek Books that they think it lawfull to paraphrase after their way upon the Authours which they translate Every Sect defends their Opinions by all manner of ways and I make no doubt but that is the cause of the supposititious Canons which have been published under the Name of the Canons of the Council of Nice translated from the Arabick The great Authority of the Council of Nice hath given occasion of inventing those Arabick Canons which the several Sects have accommodated to their own Sentiments The Melchites find enough in these Canons attributed to the Council of Nice to defend them against the Jacobites And the Jacobites on the contrary by the same Canons defend their Opinion concerning the Unity of Nature in our Lord. Both of them make the Council of Nice to speak in their favour The Jacobites accuse the Melchites of having corrupted these Canons The Maronites who in the beginning were of the Sect of the Jacobites reproach them with the same fault John Baptista Leopard a Maronite Archbishop of Esdron (1) Abrah Ecchel Not. in Can. Ar. Conc. Nic. in the Book which he intituled The Vintage of the Sacraments accuses the Melchites of having added to the 55th Canon of the Council of Nice some words that favoured their Opinion concerning the Repudiation of Wives and he upbraids them that they had taken that Custome from the Mahumetans which they afterward inserted into that Canon But there is no ground for that reproach since it is certain that the Greeks and other Eastern Nations may divorce from their Wives and marry others especially in the case of Adultery The Melchites inserted nothing into that pretended Canon of the Council of Nice but what was agreeable to the Practice of the Greek Church CHAP. V. Of the Belief and Customs of the Georgians or Iberians and of those of Colchis or Mangrelia IN the History (1) Clem. Galan in Concil Armen cum Rom. Edit Rom. typ Congreg de propag fide Ann. 1650. which Galanus hath caused to be Printed at Rome concerning the Reconciliation of the Armenian Church with the Roman there are some Curious Pieces relating to the Present State of the Iberians and other neighbouring People Pope Urban VIII sent Emissaries to these People of which Father Avitabolis a Regular Priest was the chief And this Monk wrote from that Countrey a Letter to the Pope wherein he marks the Errours of the Iberians exactly enough which are the same that are attributed to the Greeks to wit they acknowledge indeed a Purgatory but not in the manner the Latins do because (2) Purgatorium affirmant non tamen per ignem sed animas cruciari in loco obscuro maestitudinis they onely believe that the Souls are in a Place of Obscurity and Sadness without being tormented by Fire they deny the particular Judgment of Souls being perswaded that when one dies his Soul is by his Guardian Angel carried into the Presence of Christ and if it be the Soul of a just Man that is without Sin it is immediately sent into a Place of Light and Joy if it be the Soul of a wicked Man it is put into an obscure Place if that Person dye in the Act of Repentance it is sent for a time into the Place of Horrour and Obscurity whence it is afterwards conveyed into the Place of Joy and all expect the day of General Judgment because they absolutely deny that the Souls see God before that time The Iberians besides according to the same Authour believe that Infidels are onely judged in a particular Judgment and not at the General Judgment They ground themselves upon these words of the Gospel (1) John 3. He that believeth not is condemned already Nor do they believe (2) Inferorum poenas non faciunt aeternas that the Pains of the Damned are Eternal but they say that if a Christian dye in Mortal Sin without Repentance he may be relieved out of Hell before the Universal Judgment by praying to God for him However I think that that Belief which comes near to that of Origen and which seems to have been followed by some new Greeks is
THE Critical History OF THE RELIGIONS AND CUSTOMS OF THE EASTERN NATIONS Written in French by the Learned Father SIMON And now done into English by A. LOVELL A. M. LONDON Printed by J. Heptinstall for Henry Faithorne and John Kersey at the Rose in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXV THE TRANSLATOUR TO THE READER IF at anytime a Book of this nature hath been usefull it seems now to be necessary when most men think themselves obliged to make a bustle for proselyting others to their Opinions and yet are not certain wherein they differ one from another or how far they agree together Difference will still be difference though to use a word well known at this time it may be trimm'd under a disguise of Conformity And therefore to prevent the mistakes and disappointments that those who labour about so good a Work as the Vniting of Christians under one and the same Belief may meet with from Prejudice Interest or Artifice perhaps not one thing may be more effectual than the true stating of the Faith and Opinions of others who if they be ingenuous will never be complemented out of their Perswasions nor look upon them as Friends who would impose upon them for friendship sake what is inconsistent with their Principles It were to be wished indeed that all men were of one mind if Providence which governs the World thought it convenient it should be so but since it hath been foretold that Offences must come it were to be desired at least that all knew the minds one of another that so they might rightly understand how to rectifie mistakes or confirm the truth amongst men In order to that usefull discovery probably none of those many who have laboriously sifted the truth by their Criticks deserve the Title of Candid and Impartial Judges better than Father Simon the Learned Authour of this Treatise who through the whole Book has employed his great Talent with so much Integrity and Disengagedness that one may say of him Amicus Papa Amici Graeci Amici Latini sed magis Amica Veritas And therefore when this Book came recommended from beyond Sea and that I perused it I thought that I could hardly in my low Station doe better service to the publick than to render it into English especially seeing the whole design of it is to clear matter of fact from mistakes and aspersions and the Belief and Practice of the Eastern Christians from the Erroneous Notions that at this distance may be given us of them by the Travellers and Writers of all sorts And though the Authour discourses largely of Transubstantiation as being the belief of the Greek Church the Reader will easily perceive that he never meant to enter into the merits of the cause and to dispute the truth of the Doctrine which peradventure may seem in the Author's Opinion very difficult to be attempted by Humane Reason but barely to assert and relate matter of fact which it is fit all should know Nor indeed could he have used in my weak Judgment a meaner Argument either for or against that Doctrine than the belief of an ignorant and opprest People seeing Protestants that weigh things are not startled or moved by the same belief which they know to be maintained and professed in the Church of Rome a Church far more conspicuous both for Freedom Wealth and Learning than that of the forlorn Greeks The truth is the Learned Authour of a Discourse lately published against Transubstantiation manages the Controversie much better and reasons more closely to the point when amongst his other Arguments he assigns the time that that Doctrine came to be established in the Church to be when Image-Worship was enjoyned by the second Council of Nice which to me is as strong an Argument as any that Father Simon has produc'd to prove that the Greeks who own that Council and are very Superstitious in Image-Worship have ever since entertained that belief seeing no attempt was ever used before the Reformation to convince them of the contrary Since then the onely design of this Book is to relate matter of Fact and to clear the truth from mistakes I Question not but that it will be so well taken that even those Ingenious Persons who have asserted in Print some things which they will find here contradicted may not dislike what I have done who am very carefull not to offend in any thing against the publick in setting it forth in English and since they or their Friends want not Learning to defend the truth they cannot be suspected to want Modesty and Sincerity if convinc'd to acknowledge a mistake A. LOVELL A Table of the Chapters of this Book and of the Pieces subjoyned to it CHap. I. Of the Belief and Customs of the Modern Greeks Page 1. Chap. II. Of Transubstantiation Whether it be acknowledged by the Greeks who are commonly called Schismaticks p. 33. Chap. III. Of the Adoration of the Sacrament of the Eucharist Whether it be in use amongst the Greeks p. 57. Chap. IV. Of the Belief of the Melchites p. 61. Chap. V. Of the Belief and Customs of the Georgians or Iberians and of those of Colchis or Mengrelia p. 64. Chap. VI. A Supplement concerning the Belief and Customs of the Georgians and Mengrelians p. 70. Chap. VII Of the Belief and Customs of the Nestorians p. 74. Chap. VIII Of the Indians or Christians of St. Thomas p. 87. Chap. IX Of the Customs and Ceremonies of the Jacobites p. 106. Chap. X. Of the Belief and Customs of the Cophties p. 110. Chap. XI Of the Belief and Customs of the Abyssins or Ethiopians p. 118. Chap. XII Of the Belief and Customs of the Armenians p. 123. Chap. XIII Of the Belief and Customs of the Maronites p. 131. Chap. XIV A Supplement to what has been said concerning the Maronites p. 144. Chap. XV. Of the Religion and Customs of the Mahometans p. 148. A List of the Churches depending on the Patriarchate of Constantinople Composed by Nilus Doxopatrius and related by Leo Allatius Lib. 1. de Cons Eccl. Occid Orien c. 24. p. 165 Another List of the Churches depending on the Patriarchate of Constantinople Published by Mr. Smith in his Discourse of the Present State of the Greek Church p. 171. The Testimony of Gennadius concerning Transubstantiation taken out of a manuscript Book of Meletius Syrigus against the Confession of Faith Published under the name of Cyrillus Lucaris Patriarch of Constantinople p. 174. An Extract from a Manuscript Book whereof the Title is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. p. 176. An Extract of M. Claude's Copy of a Manuscript Letter attributed to Meletius Archbishop of Ephesus and pretended to have been written to some Divines of Leyden p. 183. A List of the Churches depending on the Patriarch of Armenia residing at Egmiathin which was dictated by Uscan Bishop of Uscavanch Proctor General to the Patriarch p. 184. THE Critical History OF THE Belief and Customs OF THE EASTERN NATIONS CHAP. I. Of the
enough to square their Consciences according to the Rules of Christian Morality But the Ignorance and Poverty wherein they are at present are the cause of their Disorders which nevertheless the vertuous Men amongst them prevent asmuch as they can as the Patriarch Jeremy who openly (1) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jerom. Patr. Const reproves Confessours who make a Traffick of Holy Things and exact Presents He says that such deserve to be punished by God and that when he finds any amongst his People he chastises them and deprives them of their Office As to Ecclesiastical Discipline they conform not in all things to the Prescript of their Canons For instance they observe not exactly the Age that is required for Priesthood and Episcopacy besides they mind but very little the Intervals and take several Orders together at one time The Election of their Patriarch is not always Canonical for he that gives most to the Grand Signior is commonly preferred before the rest And therefore there are many times several that take the Title of Patriarch Monsieur de Nointel Ambassadour for the French King at the Port (2) Monsieur Noint Tom. 3. de la Perpet takes notice of four Patriarchs alive in the Year 1671. The Greeks are ambitious and therefore they take all courses to rise to that Dignity which is the Cause of great Troubles in that Church Besides the money that the Patriarch Elect gives to the Grand Signior for Letters of Confirmation he is also obliged to buy the Voices of the Bishops who elect him and every one upon that Occasion is willing to make the most of his Voice But on the other hand the Patriarch knows very well how to make himself amends when he makes any Bishop which the Bishops also doe in regard of their Papas to whom they sell Orders and Cures as dear as possibly they can and all at length falls upon the poor People who pay very dear for the Administration of Sacraments and that 's the reason they goe but seldom to them The Patriarch and Bishops are not married but the Priests marry before their Ordination and that Practice which is General over all the Levant is ancient I do not here examine whether it be agreeable to the Primitive Canons of the Church or a Deviation for the Ancient Canons It is certain the Greeks pretend to be warranted as to that by the Canons called the Canons of the Apostles and (1) Concil in Trullo they accuse the Latins of having contravened the Ancient Canons of the Church If a Priest happen to marry after that he hath been called to be a Priest he cannot afterward perform any Functions of the Priesthood which is according to the Council of Neocaesarea but the Marriage is not therefore dissolved whereas in the Latin Church the Marriage is null because Priesthood is an impediment that breaks it I believe Caucus meant of those Priests that marry after ordination when he saith (2) Cauc in Hist de Graec. errorib that the Greeks believe that he who hath been once a Priest may again return to the State of Lay-men In effect he retains nothing of Priesthood unless it be some Honour in the Church where he hath a Seat separate from the Place of Laicks Monachism is in great esteem amongst the Greeks as appears by the Answer which the (1) Jerem. Patriarch Respons 1. 2. Patriarch Jeremy made to the German Divines who spoke of Monks as of useless Members to which Divines he opposes St. Basil and the other Greek Fathers who have made an Elogy of the Monastick Life and have lookt upon it as a Pure and Angelical way of living And this he confirms besides by the Authority of Councils wherein many good regulations were made concerning Monks Metrophanes Critopulus also praises Monachism as a most ancient thing in the Church (2) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saying that it is an Ornament to it Their way of living according to the same Authour is very austere because they never eat Flesh though they be not engaged to that by any Vow but onely by Custome which they never violate None of them ever sleep more than four Hours and some but two They goe to Prayers in the Church thrice a day and they who apply themselves not to study work with their hands so that there is no Monastery where all sorts of Workmen may not be found (3) Leo Allat de Consens Eccl. Occid Orient l. 3 c. 8. Leo Allatius treats more at large of the Greeks Monks that are now-a-days in the Levant and that very exactly which obliges me to give here an Abridgment of what he hath observed Though there be different kinds of Monks amongst the Greeks yet they all derive their Original from St. Basil who is the first and sole Authour of Monastick Discipline All the Monks look upon him as their Father and it would be a Crime amongst them to deviate in the least from his Rule There are to be seen all over Greeks many fair Monasteries with well built Churches where these Monks sing day and night However they have not all one and the same way of living for there are some called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first live together in Society eat in the same Refectory have nothing singular amongst them as to their Habit and in fine have all the same Exercises none being exempted There are nevertheless two Orders amongst them for one is of (1) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Great and Angelical Habit who are of a Degree more elevate and perfect than the rest and profess a more perfect way of living these are in greatest number The others who are of (2) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Little Habit otherways 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are of an inferiour rank and lead not so perfect a life The second which are named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 live according as they please themselves as their Name does import And therefore before they take the Habit they give some money for a Cell and some other Necessaries of the Monastery The Yeoman of the Cellar or Butler furnishes them with Bread and Wine as he does the rest and so being exempted from the Duties of the Monastery they mind their own business These last leave by Will what they possess aswell within as without the Monastery to their Servant or Companion whom they call Disciple and whom they have chosen from among the Monks to assist them in their occasions This Man after the Death of the other by his management improves the goods that he hath inherited and leaves by Will what he hath purchased to him whom he hath chosen for his Companion the rest of the goods which he possessed that is to say what his Master left him when he died falls to the Monastery which afterwards sells them to those that please to purchase Nevertheless amongst these last Monks there are some so
XII They committed Symony in the Administration of Baptism and the Eucharist setting rates of the Price they were to receive for them For their Marriages they made use of the first Priest that they found especially those who lived in the Countrey XIII They had an extraordinary respect for their Patriarch of Babylon a Schismatick and Head of the Nestorian Sect on the contrary they could not endure that the Pope should be named in their Churches where most commonly they had neither Curate nor Vicar but the ancientest presided in them XIV Though on Sundays they went to Mass yet they did not think themselves obliged to it in Conscience so that they were at Liberty not to goe nay there were some Places where Mass was said but once a Year and others where none was said in 6 7. and 10. Years XV. The Priests discharged Secular Employments The Bishops were Babylonians sent by their Patriarch and lived onely by sordid Gain and Symony selling Publickly Holy things as the Collation of Orders and the Administration of other Sacraments XVI They are flesh on Saturdays and were in this Errour in regard of the Fasts of Lent and the Advent that if they had failed to Fast one day they fasted no more thinking themselves not obliged to it because they had already broken their Fast These are the greatest Part of the Errours which Archbishop Meneses pretends to have found amongst the Christians of St. Thomas and which the Compiler of that History exaggerates to shew that extraordinary Labour was needfull for gaining these People But if that Archbishop and other Emissaries into the East had been well acquainted with the Ancient Theology they would not have so multiplied Errours In effect seeing they measured all things by the Rule of the Theology which is taught in the Schools of Europe it is not to be thought strange that they would needs reform the Oriental nations according to that Standard I confess there were abuses there that needed amendment but they ought not to have been rectified according to our Customs The Course that was to have been taken on these Occasions was to have turned back unto their Ancient Books and to have reformed them according to the Contents thereof and that might have been easily done as will appear in the Sequel of this Discourse But we must first relate the rest of that History that we may be able to make the better Judgment on the Conduct of Meneses and of the pretended Errours of the Nestorians Archbishop Meneses called a Synod the 20th of June 1599. where the Deputies of the Nestorians were present to deliberate jointly with the Archbishop about Matters of Religion And that it might appear that the Nestorians had all the Liberty that is necessary upon such Occasions and that on the other Hand they might give their Consent to all that should be decreed there the Archbishop gained Eight of the most Famous Churchmen and fully informed them of his Design and of the ways that were to be taken for succeeding in it giving them the particulars of all the Decrees that were to be made there and asking their Opinion upon every distinct Point as if nothing had as yet been resolved upon to the end that being present in the Synod they might doe the same and thereby oblige the rest to follow their Example He took many other measures for succeeding in his Designs which it would be to no purpose to relate and all that hath been hitherto alledged is onely to shew the manner how the Roman Religion hath been established in the East and that it is not to be thought strange that all the Reconciliations that have been made with those People whom we call Schismaticks have been of no long Duration It was then decreed in that Synod that the Priests Deacons Subdeacons and besides all the Deputies of Towns that were present should sign the Confession of Faith that the Archbishop had privately made by himself which was done and all solemnly swore obedience to be Pope whom they acknowledged to be Head of the Church swearing also that they would entertain no more Commerce with the Patriarch of Babylon Moreover they Anathematized the Person of Nestorius and all his Errours owning Cyrill Patriarch of Alexandria for a Saint Besides a great many particular Statutes were made in that Synod for reforming the Errours that Archbishop Meneses pretended to be in the Administration of their Sacraments and in their Books And therefore he caused their Liturgies and other Offices to be rectified He regulated the matter of Marriage according to the Decrees of the Council of Trent The Sacraments of Penance Confirmation and Extreme Unction were likewise reformed according to the Practice of the Church of Rome Priests were for the future prohibited to marry and regulations were made for those who were already married In a word the Archbishop introduced the Religion of the Latins amongst the Chaldeans as well in that synod as in the Visitations which he made of several Churches But let us now consider if he had reason to introduce so many Novelties amongst the Christians of St. Thomas which will serve to discover the Religion of those People I. As to what concerns the Errours which Archbishop Meneses imputes to them we have in the foregoing Chapter reconciled the Sentiments of the Nestorians with those of the Church of Rome and that was the way that the Archbishop should have proceeded with them if he intended to have established a lasting Reformation for he ought to have heard them before he condemned them for being called Nestorians When it had been made clear to them that all the Disputes which they had with the Church of Rome consisted onely in the Ambiguity of Terms they would have become a great deal more tractable and docile II. As to Images the Chaldeans reverence them not so much as the Greeks do because that great Veneration of Images was not so firmly established in the Greek Church but since the second Council of Nice which was posteriour to all the Sects of the Chaldeans who commonly are satisfied with a Cross in their Hand and that Cross wherewith the Priest blesseth the People is of plain Metal without any figure The Archbishop might very well have let the Christians of St. Thomas alone in that Ancient simplicity because all that hath been since that time decreed concerning Images is but barely matter of Discipline III. It is very true they administer not Baptism after the manner of the Latins but it is not therefore to be thought that the form of their Baptism is invalid and it was far less necessary to rebaptize those who had been baptized according to the Chaldean rite That which deceives the Emissaries when they treat about Affairs of Religion with the Orientals is the prejudices which they have learned in the Schools concerning the Matter and Form of Sacraments When for instance they see that the Child is not baptized at the same time
Holy Ghost proceeds only from the Father that the Souls of the Saints deceased goe not to Heaven nor those of the damned to Hell before the last Day of Judgment that there is no place called Purgatory and Hell and that the Church of Rome hath no Supremacy over other Churches He farther adds that the Armenians detest the Memory of Pope Leo and of the Council of Chalcedon that they observe not the Festivals of Our Lord after the Manner of the Church of Rome nor Fasts according to the Canons of the Church that they acknowledge not seven Sacraments inasmuch as they use not Confirmation nor Extreme Unction and more that they are ignorant of the real essece of the other Sacraments that at Mass they put no water into the Chalice that they pretend that the Eucharist is not to be given to the People but in both kinds He objects to them also their Custome of consecrating in Wooden and Earthen Chalices that all Priests indifferently give absolution for all Sins there being no reserved Cases amongst them that they are subject to two Patriarchs who severally take the Title of Patriarch of all Armenia that the Curates and Bishops succeed to one another as if their Dignities were Inheritances that the Sacraments are bought and sold amongst them that Divorces are given for Money without any reason that they make no Holy Oil for Baptism and Extreme Unction and that in fine they give the Communion to Children before they attain to the use of reason From this whole Catalogue it appears that the Armenian who is the Authour of all these pretended errours was Latinized for as we have observed before most part of these Opinions are common to all the Christians of the East in the Manner as we have explained them when we treated of the Greeks The Armenians are indeed to be blamed that they are too scrupulously addicted to certain Fasts which they have in great Number and that they are not exactly enough instructed in the Mysteries of Religion There are none in the Eastern Church that set a greater Value upon Fasts than the Armenians and to hear them speak one would say that their whole Religion consisted in fasting As to their obstinate Perseverance in celebrating the Festival of Our Lord's Nativity and the Epiphany always on one and the same day they seem not to be blameable therein because it was a Custome long practised in the Church and in effect the Epiphany or Apparition of Our Lord is properly nothing but his Birth The Title of Master or Doctour is so great amongst the Armenians that they give it with the same Ceremonies that they confer Orders (1) Galan in Concil Eccles Armen cum Rom. and they say that that Dignity imitates the Title of Our Lord who was called Rabbi or Master These are the Doctours who are consulted in Points of Religion and who decide in them The Bishops being lookt upon rather as Persons proper for administring Orders than as Doctours These are also the Doctours who Preach in the Churches and who are the Judges of Differences that happen betwixt private Persons In a word they hold the same rank amongst them as the Rabbins did amongst the Jews The Monastick Order hath been also in great reputation amongst the Armenians since the time that Nierses one of their Patriarchs introduced that of St. Basil but since their Reunion with the Church of Rome they have wholly altered their Rule accommodating themselves to that of the Latins and the Armenian whom we mentioned before to have made a Catalogue of Errours which he imputes to his Nation being come to Rome made a Vow that so soon as he returned home into the East he and his Companions would live according to the Rule of St. Austin and the Constitutions of St. Dominick One Bartholomew a Monk of St. Dominick was the first that gave occasion to this Reformation not onely in Religion but Monachism He made great Progresses in Armenia in the time of Pope John XXII having by his Preaching drawn many Monks over to his Party who were usefull to him in reuniting the two Churches About that time was the Order of St. Dominick setled in Armenia and these Monks were called United Friars because of the new Reunion This Order which was onely established to destroy the Ancient got in a short time great Reputation insomuch that the United Friars built Monasteries not onely in Armenia and Georgia but also on the other side of the Euxine Sea especially at Caffa which at that time was subject to the Genoese But since the Turks and Persians are become Masters of that Countrey the Number of the United Friars is much decreased and there remains but a few of them at present who have retired into the Province of Nascivan in the greater Armenia where being at length reduced to utmost Extremity they have united themselves with the Dominican Monks of Europe and are at present subject to the General of that Order who sends thither a Superiour Provincial They perform their Office in the Armenian Language which is a rough Tongue and but little known Yet the Modern Armenian is different from the Ancient and the People have much adoe to understand the Liturgy and other Offices that are written in Armenian They have the whole Bible also Translated into their Language and that from the Septuagint Greek This Translation of the Bible was made about the time of St. John Chrysostome by some of their Doctours who had Learned the Greek Language and amongst others by one named Moses the Grammarian and another called David the Philosopher We may observe that the Armenians make one Mesrop and Holy Hermite to be the Authour of their Characters who invented them in the Town of Balu near Euphrates and lived in the time of St. John Chrysostome CHAP. XIII Of the Belief and Customs of the Maronites THE Jesuit (1) Girolamo Dandini nella sua missione Apostolica Dandini who was sent by Clement VII in Quality of Nuncio to the Maronites of Mount Libanus hath written a Relation of his Travels in Italian which hath been lately Translated into French with Notes declaring at large the Religion of those People Seeing the Authour of these Notes hath played the Critick upon the Mistakes of that Jesuit and of many others who have spoken of the Maronites I thought I could not doe better than here to give an Abridgement aswell of the Relation of the Jesuit Dandini as of the Critical Remarks from whence we may learn the Belief and Present State of those People It is hard to know exactly the Original of the Maronites They who bear that Name pretend they derive it from one Maron an Abbot whose life Theodoret hath written and who lived about the beginning of the fifth Century This Opinion which is followed by Brerewood is strongly confirmed by the Jesuit (1) Sacchini in hist Societ Sacchini who pretends aswell as the Modern Marcnites do that
that the words which denote the Action are pronounced they take the Baptism to be null without considering that the manner of administring the Sacraments amongst the Orientals consists chiefly in certain Prayers which they say and that they are not so great Metaphysicians as the Latins which makes them ignorant of a vast number of Difficulties that our Divines handle with much subtilty but the Belief of the Nestorians is not therefore less pure nor less Ancient IV. The Unction which they use after Baptism is with them the Sacrament of Confirmation that differs much from that of the Latins And it was not needfull that Archbishop Meneses should have introduced another Unction that was practised in his Church and which at most was no more than a Ceremony He ought to have known that the Nestorians according to the Ancient Practice of the Eastern Church administer to Children Confirmation and the Eucharist with Baptism It had been then fit to have examined their Rituals to see whether any abuse might not have crept into the Administration of that Sacrament whereas Meneses his chief care seems to have been to abolish most Ancient Customs because they were not agreeable to the Practices of the Latins V. The Archbishop is mistaken when he says that the Christians of St. Thomas had no Knowledge of Confirmation nor of Extreme Unction and were ignorant of the very Names It may be they might have been ignorant of the Names of these Sacraments especially of Extreme Unction which is no where known but in the Latin Church for though the Eastern Church hath the Custome of anointing the Sick according to the words of St. James yet she calls not that Ceremony Extreme Unction for the reasons we mentioned before when we spoke of the Greeks and the same reasons may be also applied to Confirmation The Priests administer that Sacrament amongst the Nestorians as well as amongst the Greeks at the same time they do Baptism of which according to them it is a perfection that ought never to be separated from it As to Auricular Confession which they had in abhorrence it is certainly an abuse introduced into that Church because the use of Confession is in all the East though most part think not themselves obliged to it by Divine Right VI. As to the Errours which the Archbishop pretends to have found in their Books so far as that they would have entirely abolished the Office of Advent it was easie to have given a good meaning to all these pretended Errours besides that the Reformation which he made in their Liturgy was improper for there is nothing worse digested than the Mass of the Nostorians in the manner as it hath been reformed by Meneses and as it is found inserted in the Bibliotheca Patrum The whole Order of it is changed in endeavouring to accommodate that Liturgy to the Opinion which the Latin Divines have of Consecration which they make to consist in these words This is my Body c. whereas the Nestorians believe as all the Orientals do that the Consecration is not completed till the Priest hath ended the Prayer which they call the Invocation of the Holy Ghost Nevertheless Meneses makes the Nestorian Priests adore the Host so soon as they have pronounced these words This is my Body though they believe it not to be as yet consecrated About this Question the Notes on Gabriel of Philadelphia may be consulted where the Authour particularly justifies the Nestorians and proves clearly that their Liturgies even that which carries the Name of S. Nestorius contain nothing but what is Orthodox which is far from the Sentiment of Meneses who calls them impious and heretical and who onely defends the Correction that he hath made by these general Terms that their Liturgies were full of Blasphemies The same Authour affirms that in one of the Liturgies for the use of the Nestorians which he had from a Babylonian Priest the Name of Nestorius with many other things were blotted out and others added that were not of the same hand writing because the Nestorian Priest who made use of that Liturgy was reconciled at least in appearance to the Roman Church which obliged him to reform in his Missal all that might disgust the Divines of Rome The Nestorians have also done the like on another occasion as Stroza (1) Petr. Stroza de dogm Chald. relates for so soon as they come to Rome and hear Nestorius spoken of as an impious Person and Heretick they tear out the Leaves of their Books where mention is made of him taking away all that they believe to be contrary to the Theology of the Church of Rome VII Their Custome of consecrating with Leavened bread mingling therein Oil and Salt ought not to be reckoned amongst their Errours since that does not alter the Nature of Bread The Ceremony besides which they observe to render in some sort the Bread more Holy before the Consecration is Laudable nay and Ancient They thereby distinguish as the Greeks do the Bread that is destin'd to be made the Body of Christ from all common Bread which they look upon as profane before they have said over it a certain Number of Prayers and Psalms VIII It is no matter of wonder that the Chaldeans do not say Mass so often as the Latins do and that many Priests are present at the Bishops Mass and take the Communion from his hands That is an ancient Practice in the Church whereas the Custome of saying so many Masses in the Latin Church is very late and hath been chiefly introduced by Mendicant Monks as it is observed by Cardinal Bona which Practice hath been much fortified since the Introduction of the new Law It is also a very ancient Custome that they who serve and are present at Mass rehearse a good part of it and that because the Liturgy is a Publick Action which concerns the People and may be easily proved even by the Prayers of the Latin Mass IX It is true the Nestorians and other Orientals are grown remiss in the Ancient Discipline as to what relates to Orders and that they observe not the Age required by the Canons But if that wanted to be reformed as well as what concerns the Marriage of Priests the Reformation should have been taken from their Laws rather than from those of Rome All Men know that in the Eastern Church Priests are allowed to marry before their Ordination This Archbishop Meneses ought to have considered in reforming them and not to have dissolved the Marriage of Priests that he might conform to some Statutes made in the Synods held at Goa by some Latin Emissaries X. Meneses seems to have been mistaken in reckoning the Custome of not saying the Breviary out of the Church amongst their Errours because that Practice is new and that the Breviary was not made to be said in private XI I doubt whether the Rates that the Nestorian Priests set for the Administration of the Sacraments ought to be called
of Alexandria that resides at Cairo so that in all things they follow the Religion of the Cophties excepting some Ceremonies that are peculiar to them They have also a particular Language which they call Chaldaick because they think it has been derived from Chaldea though it be very different from the ordinary Chaldaick and therefore it is called the Ethiopian Language They use that Tongue in their Liturgies and in other Divine Offices though it be old and different from the vulgar Ethiopian They who understand Hebrew may easily learn that Language because there are many words common to both yet it hath particular Characters and whereas in the Hebrew Language the Points which serve for Vowels are not joyned to the Consonants in the Ethiopian Tongue there is no Consonant but which at the same time makes its Vowel The Abyssines have made many advances towards a Reunion with the Church of Rome And there are several of their Letters written to Popes of which the most considerable is (1) Epist David ad Clem. VII that of David who takes the Title of Emperour of the greater and upper Ethiopia and many other Kingdoms written to Clement VII to whom he made great Submissions and protested that he would obey him But it is certain that the Ethiopians have never had recourse to Rome and to the Portuguese but for setling their Affairs when they have been in Disorder and that they have slighted them so soon as they were any ways succesfull as may be seen in the Histories of the Portuguse which need not to be mentioned in this Place All Men know what became of John Bermudes who was made Patriarch of Ethiopia and consecrated at Rome at the solicitation of the Abyssines themselves who pretended that for the future they would have no metropolitans but such as should be sent them from Rome But no sooner had they mastered their Difficulties but that they rejected those Patriarchs and sent to Cairo for a Metropolitan from the Patriarch of the Cophties despising the Church of Rome and abusing the Portuguese that remained in their Countrey without any respect to the great Services which they had rendered them (1) Alex. Menes Hist Orient Alexis Meneses whom we mentioned before thought himself obliged to use his utmost endeavours for reconciling those People to the Church of Rome and having taken the Title of Primate of the Indies he pretended to extend his Jurisdiction also over Ethiopia And therefore he sent Emissaries with Letters to the Portuguese living in that Countrey writing at the same time to the Metropolitan of the Abyssines whom he earnestly exhorted to submit to the Church of Rome He farther urged that he ought not to make any difficulty of obeying that Church since the Patriarch of the Cophties and his whole Church had lately submitted to it which he proved by the very Acts and Instruments of that Patriarch's Legation which are inserted in the End of the fifth Tome of the Annals of Baronius whereof he sent him a Copy but he knew not that the Court of Rome had been overreached in that Point and that Baronius had too easily published these Acts under the Name of the true Patriarch of Alexandria and of the Church of the Cophties Moreover it is to be observed that Meneses and many others are mistaken when they accuse the Ethiopians of Judaizing in their Ceremonies because some of them observed Circumcision that besides they celebrated Mass on Saturday as well as Sunday and that they abstained from Blood and Flesh that had been Strangled The Circumcision of the Ethiopians differs from that of the Jews who look upon it as an indispensable Precept whereas the former reckon it onely a Custome that relates not at all to Religion the Women amongst them being even Circumcised This makes me think that that Ancient Custome hath been onely introduced amongst them for rendering the Parts that are circumcised more proper for Generation As to Saturday and things Strangled that is not peculiar to the Abyssines all the Oriental Church observes the same practice without being dyable for that to the Censure of Judaism since Saturday according to the Ancient Canons is a Festival day as well as Sunday And as to their abstaining from Blood and Meat that hath been Strangled it is a Constitution of the New Testament which hath ever been observed in the Western Church From this last remark it may be concluded that the Jesuit Roderigo ought not to have prest the Cophties so much in the Conference that he had with them to lay aside all those Ceremonies and besides that the Cophties did not speak sincerely when they told him that they erred in their opinions concerning the Repudiation of Wives Circumcision of Children and their abstaining from Flesh that was Strangled Besides these remarks we are also to take notice that many things are imputed to the Abyssines which are remote from their belief For instance it is alledged that they agree with the Latins as to the Procession of the Holy Ghost which is confirmed by the Ethiopian Liturgies Printed at Rome wherein it is said that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son But we are not always to rely upon what is Printed at Rome for it is certain that the Abyssines differ not from the rest of the Orientals touching the Procession of the Holy Ghost Nor are we to believe neither all that Thomas à Jesu hath written concerning the belief of the Abyssines Nay and the (1) Thomas à Jesu Acts that he hath inserted in his Book touching their belief are not always true though the Confession of Faith which he produces comes from Tecla an Abyssine Priest for it saith expresly that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son which nevertheless is not their belief It is likewise observed that the Abyssines believe that the Transubstantiation of the Bread and Wine is made when the Priest pronounces the words wherein the Latins make the Consecration to consist It is notwithstanding certain that the Liturgy of the Ethiopians is in that point agreeable to all the other Oriental Liturgies and that the Consecration is not performed according to their opinion but when the Priest invokes the Holy Ghost in a particular Prayer which is to be found in all the Missals of the Eastern Nations I wave a great many other points which are not altogether well express'd according to the belief of the Abyssines especially those that relate to the Sacraments but these mistakes may easily be corrected by what we have said before when we spoke of other Oriental Nations so that we shall not insist any more upon that Subject and it will be easie by that Method to rectifie what Brerewood hath related upon the Credit of these Authours CHAP. XII Of the Belief and Customs of the Armenians THE Victories obtained by Scha-Abas King of Persia over the Armenians within these late Years when he entred Armenia have almost