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Liv. li. 34. * In the Morea and parts of Greece The Esteem which the Greeks have of the power of the Keys The Greeks presume not to vary in their Doctrine or Practice The Turks have some opinion of the sanctity of the Christian Religion The pride of Pharisaical Professors The advantage of the Latine Church above the Greek Tmolus Smyrna * Besides 10 old Fountains which were dry but again repaired The Theatre The original of Smyrna Ephesus The River Cayster The Temple of Diana S. John's Church The Temple of Diana in its ruines Tac. An. lib. 3. Acts 19. 27. The seven Sleepers The Theatre The Aquaeduct Phygela Tyria not Thyatira Lib. 37. Laodicea The Meander Dingizlee Vespasian's Circus Hierapolis The Theatre The pestilential Grota Philadelphia Sardis Selimus The true Thyatira * The Greeks call their Bishops by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Cyprus 1678. The Ceremony in creating the Patriarch of Constantinople Contentions for the Office of Patriarch The late differences in the Church Copy of a Patent whereby the G. Signior makes Bishops The other three Patriarchs Revenue of the Patriarchs And of Secular Priests The Bishops of Rome and Constantinople compared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obedience due to the Orders of the Church Cosma and Damianus S. George Canonizing Saints used by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Eucharist The question of Transubstantiation how determined in the Greek Church Ep. 6.3 Offertory to the dead Offertory for the living The Consecration The Administration Distinction of Priests The severe lives of Kaloires The Reformed of this Order The Description of the Mountain The antiquity of the Monasteries on this Mountain The manner of taxing the Monasteries The Riches of the Monasteries The ancient troubles amongst the Friers 1430. In the time of the Council of Florence Laura Athanasius the Monk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caracal Ibero 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Revenue of the Monasteries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Devotion and Charity of the Greeks to these Monasteries The number of Kaloires in this Mountain Their indepen dency on the Patriarch A Turkish Aga set over them Kareis The employment of the Kaloirs The learning of their Priests Their Libraries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the holy Oyl 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Excommunications granted on every trivial occasion The manner of receiving into the Church such as have denyed the faith Or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The â—imes appointed to commemorate the dead The Opinion of the Greeks touching the state of Souls after death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Greek Church easie to grant divorces The Islanders of a different humour Greek Women making Kabin with Turks in the Morea and Romania 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ep. 70◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 42. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A difference between the Latines and Greeks at Jerusalem The disposition of the Greek Islanders Xio It proceeds from the Lentiscus which in other parts of the world produces the like Gum.
Imprimatur Hic Liber cui Titulus The Present State c. Car. Trumball Rev. in Christo Pat. ac Dom. Dom. Gul. Archiep. Cant. a Sac. Dom. THE PRESENT STATE OF THE GREEK AND ARMENIAN Churches Anno Christi 1678. Written at the Command of his Majesty By PAUL RICAUT Esquire Late Consul at Smyrna and Fellow of the Royal Society LONDON Printed for John Starkey at the Mitre in Fleet-street near Temple-Bar 1679. THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY TO THE KING'S Most Excellent MAJESTY DREAD SOVERAIGN THESE following Treatises which contain the Articles of Faith and Customs of the Greek and Armenian Churches are a Task which some Years past Your Royal Self was pleased to impose upon me which though it be a Work more proper and fit to be undertaken by some Learned Divine rather than by a Person of my Profession yet being moved thereunto by Command of Your Majesty I esteemed the Incumbence thereof to be a Duty as obligatory as any other Act of Obedience which I owe unto your Majesty from which nothing but Death or Sickness or some other violent disappointment could absolve me But that I have been thus tardy in the Execution of Your Royal Command was occasioned by my Attendance on Your Majesties Affairs in Turky which being protracted beyond my expectation I deferred the payment of this Debt until I could make tender of it with my own hands and personally on my Knees at the same time beg a remission for the defect Being now therefore by God's Providence returned to my own Country behold me Great Sir at the Foot-stool of Your Throne to pay this my Vow which I always esteemed both Sacred and Religious and therefore tender it with a fear and trembling agreeable to that vast distance and disproportion which is between Your Sublime Majesty and the humblest of your Servants For Your Majesty who transcends in Wisdom is able to penetrate into the deepest Points of these Discourses and make more judicious Reflections thereon than the ablest Clerks and Criticks of the Schools to which when I add that admirable Spirit which God often-times bestowes on Kings illuminating them like Prophets and bestowing on them supereminent Graces I cannot but with profound reverence and awe expose this little Work to the judicious and perspicatious Eye of Your Majesty and with the same care and caution offer nothing but what is sincere and approved by the Confession of the Oriental Faith and allowed by the ablest Divines of the Greek Church to be consentaneous to their Doctrine having therein offered nothing out of partiallity to the Cause of the Reformed Churches or prejudice to the Papal Interest If this Treatise may find acceptance with Your Majesty I shall account my self extremely happy and be encouraged to dedicate all my vacant hours and recesses from more necessary and publick Services to Studies grateful to Your Majesty and useful to my Country For being the Son of that Father who by his Services and Sufferings hath set a fair Example to his Posterity of Loyalty and Obedience to Your Majesty and of Conformity to the Church of England I have in the largest Characters Copied out that Lesson and thereby delight my self in nothing so much as when I am performing my Duty and Services towards God and Your Majesty who am with all Allacrity and Devotion Your Majesty's Most obedient most loyal most humble Subject and meanest of your Servants PAUL RICAUT THE PREFACE THESE following Treatises of the Greek and Armenian Churches contain a perfect Compendium as I may report of those Principles which they call the Articles of an Orthodox Faith deduced as they profess from the purer times of Christianity and conserved uncorrupt from the Tainture and Contagion of Heresie in all succeeding Ages I have not pretended in these ensuing Discourses to discover which are Ancient and which are Modern Positions but clearly to lay down the matter of Fact how they are held and how maintained Not have I undertaken to confute those Tenents which I find to oppugne the Articles of the Reformed Religion being of a temper naturally averse to all Disputations and rather inclinable to reconcile Differences than to widen them that so by a favourable interpretation of all that is not plain Heresie or open Blasphemy I might as it were throw a Covering over the smaller Blots or Blemishes of Humane Errours whereby all the Christian World if possible might agree in Charity to bear each others Infirmities and entertain no other Emulations and Contests than those which tend to out-vy one the other in excesses of Piety and a vertuous Religion For besides the uneasiness I find in my self on all occasions of Wranglings and Debates as well as an unsufficiency for Polemick Learning I have observed That very few have yielded the Fort of their Understanding to the force or violence of Disputations or Arguments though Marshaled in all the Warlike Exercitations of the Schools For the Defendants as Pride Interest Zeal and the Troops of other Passions which are the common Souldiers of Reason are so well fortified and obstinate within that they fear no storm or assault from without nor can they be constrained to surrender by a long Siege and Famine for their nourishments consisting only of Notions and Air are never to be reduced until that Pabulum be intercepted and our Appetites breath their last and then when Death comes and we enter into the Regions of Light and our Intellects become free and manumised from the slavery and usurpations of our Passions we shall then and not till then discover the sophistry of our Reasons whereby those Clouds and Mists will vanish which vain jangling about Words Interest Pride and the rest have exhaled and therewith obscured and almost extinguished the true Lamp of the Soul Witness those Volumes and Folios of Disputation between the Reformed and Roman Churches what Kingdoms or Provinces have they convertted or what Universities by plain demonstration of Argument have they confuted and caused to recant their Errour Nay what single person almost hath yielded to the conviction of a Syllogism without having first been prepossessed by an affection to a side or Party on score of some Relation or something of Example which they fancy admire and would imitate It is very easie as an ingenuous Country-man of ours saith without growing to the extream impudence of palpable lying by leaving out the bad on one side and good on the other by enforcing and flourishing all Circumstances and Accidents which are in our favour and by elevating and disgracing the contrary by sprinkling the terms of Honour wholly on the one side and of Hatred and Ignominy on the other to make the Tale turn which way it shall please the Teller And herein too many Protestants as well as the Papists seem to blame who being both over-passionate towards their Party and Interest have for the most part in the Relation of their Stories done injury to Truth abused the present Age and injured
Institutions of the Universal and of their own Church or weighs the private Instructions of a Priest who is the Monitor of his Soul Nay even those who profess Obedience to the Church of England and attribute an efficacy to the power of the Keys and would not for the world be under an Excommunication and hold themselves obliged to celebrate the Feasts with devotion and rejoycing and account the non-observance thereof the Characteristical point of a Phanatick yet when the Anniversary Fasts take their turn which impose the same injunction on them of keeping holy as do the Feasts they find excuses to evade the obligation and dispute against all Penance Mortification and Severities of life as grounded on the Doctrine of Merits and Works of Supererogation And in this manner elude that admirable duty enjoyned by Christ himself where he saith That when the Bridegroom is taken from them then they should fast and would abolish that signal mark of Christianity which by its rigour and frequency distinguishes it from all other Religions in the World Some I know will be apt to attribute this abridgment of the Clergies power to their supereminent knowledge and more clear light of Scripture that they are better instructed than to be guided by their Priests or to stand in awe of the condemnation of a supercilious Prelate but such Learning as this derived from the Principles of Pride and Licentiousness is far worse than ignorance and that Person who is humble and submissive apt and willing to be instructed is a better Christian and in a more secure path and way to Godliness and Heaven than he that having heard and read much stands dangerously towring on the presumptuous Pinnacle of his own Reason And indeed this adherence to the Doctrine of their Church is the proper Basis and Pillar of their Faith For those ancient janglings and controversies which possessed the Greek Spirits in former days and through the acrimony of their malice and hatred opened a breach in divers pales of the Eastern Church whereby the whole surface of things was over-whelmed with the vast inundation of the Mahometan Enemie are Tragedies so sadly recorded that the present Age seems by the memory of those Examples so far to dread the danger of divisions and innovations that they refuse to amend even that which by their own confession is an Errour either in doctrine or practice but it is no wonder that those from whom God hath removed the ancient glory of his Candlestick brightly shining amongst them should delight to dwell in the twilight of Batts and groap in an Egyptian darkness but it is strange that those to whom his mercies and patience indulge the clearer Rayes of the Gospel should forsake the Sun-shine of divine Illumination to follow fantastick and wandring lights mistaking them for that great Pillar of Fire which conducted the Israelites Another great help to support and maintain the Eastern Church is their Confession to a Priest for by nothing more doth the Power and Authority of the Greek Church and Clergy seem to be maintained and asserted who account it the sole Axel on which the Globe of Ecclesiastical Politie turns and that without it they can neither have Influence on Mens Consciences nor under the power of Infidels and Aliens govern the least Circumstance of their lives and manners I know not how far the Roman Clergy may have abused this Excellent evidence of repentance this Ordinance of the Gospel this admirable means to inflame our devotion and to guide and instruct us in the rules of holy Living It is more than probable that their use of it in an ordinary and familiar manner rather in form than substance without regard to feigned or real Penitentiaries and as an encouragment to annimate men to sin when they can so easily be pardoned hath afforded just occasion to those who desired a Reformation to exclaim against it and to take it wholly from the Church as an Institution so entirely corrupted as never more to be reformed or recovered but by a total abolishment The Church of England as I am perswaded apprehended it under this notion when its Wisdom and perhaps I may say the Spirit of God thought fit to dispence for a time with this Discipline of Penance but with intention to restore it again when the time should become more seasonable and we our selves more worthy to receive so profitable an Institution as our Rubrick seems to intimate in the Office appointed for the first day of Lent And this Doctrine is maintained in the Sermons and Writings of our Divines and given as Counsel in that Exhortation preceding the Communion Service that we should confess our sins not only to God and our Brethren whom we have offended but in Cases of scandal and a troubled Conscience or other need of Ghostly Counsel and Advice to consult God's Ministers the Priests in which Case also our Church hath provided a Form of Absolution Considering which Premises it will not be difficult to conjecture under what Notion the Eastern apprehends the Western Reformed Churches for they taking notice that the English neither keep Fasts nor practise Confession nor ordinarily make the Sign of the Cross and that the Dutch Nation at Smyrna rehearse no Prayers at the Burial of the dead are not only scandalised thereat but also Jews and Turks take offence at the silence of Prayers when the dead are buried wondering what sort of Heresie or Sect is sprung up in the World so different from the Religion of all the Prophets at which undecent practice the Roman Clergy taking advantage to disparage the Protestants represent them to the Greeks under the notion of Calvinists whom they characterise to be such as contemn all Order in the Church the authority of Priesthood abolish Fasts abhor the Cross contemn the Saints besides a thousand other Heresies and Schisms in which they report we are at odds amongst our selves And in reallity were it not that the English Nation by the orderly use of their Liturgy and Discipline of their Church observing the Lords day and the Grand Festivals did vindicate themselves of these Aspersions it were impossible to perswade the Oriental Countries that those which we call Reformed were Christians or at least to retain any thing of Ancient and Apostolical Institution Upon which score the Greeks detest that Confession of Faith supposed to be wrote by Cyrillus their Patriarch of Constantinople in the year 1629 and Printed and Confuted in the year 1631 by Mattheus Caryonhilus Arch-Bishop of Iconium for that Confession agreeing wholly with the Doctrine of Calvin in every particular is believed in a great measure to have been fathered on him by the Jesuits who to justifie their inhumane Persecutions of that worthy Prelate by making Turks and Infidels the Instruments of their rage formed and vented any thing which might procure the Curses and Anathemas of the Old and New Rome I am perswaded that this Cyrillus having spent some time in
England and there observed that purity of our Doctrine and the excellency of our Discipline which flourished in the beginning of the Reign of King Charles the Martyr and viewed our Churches trim'd and adorned in a modest Medium between the wanton and superstitious dress of Rome and the slovenry and insipid Government of Geneva entertained a high Opinion of our happy Reformation intending thence perhaps to draw a Pattern whereby to amend and correct the defaults of the Greek Church retrenching the length of their Services and the multitude of their Ceremonies and also by that Exemplar to reduce their Festivals to a moderate number to create a right apprehension of the state of Souls after separation and wholly to take away certain conceits both superstitious and savouring of Gentilism and confirm his Church in a reverend Opinion of the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist without lanching so far into the explication of that Mystery as of late they have done both in the Anatolian Confession which was generally owned and confirmed in the year 1672 by the Subscription of the four Oriental Patriarchs and of the Metropolites then present at the Instance of Mounsieur de Nointel Ambassadour for his most Christian Majesty a very intelligent and ingenious Gentleman And had not this good Patriarch been thus malitiously prosecuted and his life taken from him by unhappy Wiles he might with God's assistance have accomplished a work of Reformation and piloted the Church into that state of Apostolical Purity which King James Erasmus Cassander Melancthon Buçar the Arch-Bishop of Spalatro and others did design But God it seems hath not as yet ordained the time for so happy a Conversion and Reformation which is a Blessing rather to be wished for at present than to be expected till when it is the duty of all good Men and the Elect of God to offer a continual Sacrifice of Prayer on the Altar of their hearts that he would be pleased to grant us Unity of Faith in our Religion and Peace and Concord in all Christian Governments that being one Sheepfold under one Shepherd the Lord Jesus we may imitate the Example of him who is the Prince of Peace Amen THE CONTENTS OF The several Chapters of the Present State of the Greek Church CHAP. I. THE Present State of the Greek Church in general under the Turkish Tyranny pag. 1 CHAP. II. Of the seven Churches of Asia unto which S. John wrote viz. Smyrna Ephesus Thyatira Laodicea Philadelphia Sardis and Pergamus wherein also is treated of Hierapolis 30 CHAP. III. Of the Office and Constitution of the four Patriarchs the Extent of their respective Jurisdictions their Revenue and whence it arises with what precedency or place the Patriarch of Constantinople acknowledges to the Pope of Rome 81 CHAP. IV. The Opinion of the Greek Church concerning that Article in the Nicene Creed I believe one Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church and what Authority and Power is given by them thereunto 120 CHAP. V. Of the Fasts of the Greek Church 129 CHAP. VI. Of the Feasts observed in the Greek Church 139 CHAP. VII Of Baptism and the sealing of Infants called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 161 CHAP. VIII Of the second Mistery called Chrism 171 CHAP. IX Of the third Mistery called The Holy Eucharist as also of the Blessed Bread called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latin Panis Benedictus 177 CHAP. X. Of the fourth Mistery called Priesthood wherein is treated of their Monasteries Orders of Friars and Nuns and the Austerity of their lives 201 CHAP. XI In which is treated of Mount Athos called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or The Holy Mountain and of the Monasteries thereon and of the other more famous Monasteries of the Oriental Churches 215 CHAP. XII Of Confession Contrition and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or The Oyl of Prayer 263 CHAP. XIII Of the power of Excommunication and upon what slight occasions they make use of it 271 CHAP. XIV Of the treatment the Greeks use towards their Dead and the Opinion they have of Purgatory and the middle State of Souls 203 CHAP. XV. Of the fifth Mistery called Marriage and the Customs they use therein 305 CHAP. XVI Of the Liturgies used in the Greek Church and of their length and when used 317 CHAP. XVII Of Pictures and Images in the Greek Church 321 CHAP. XVIII Of Prayers to Saints and Adoration of Angels 331 CHAP. XIX Of the Greek Islands in the AEgean Sea called now the Arche-pelago and the division there of Religion between the Greek and Latin Churches 337 CHAP. XX. Of other Matters and Tenents held in the Greek Church not comprised in the premises and particular Customs observed amongst them 370 THE CONTENTS OF The several Chapters of the Present State of the Armenian Church CHAP. I. OF the Armenian Church in general 385 CHAP. II. Of their Patriarchs and Government in the Church 390 CHAP. III. Of Etchmeasin 396 CHAP. IV. The Confession of Faith in the Armenian Church 409 CHAP. V. Of Fasts in the Armenian Church 415 CHAP. VI. Of Feasts in the Armenian Church 419 CHAP. VII Of their Monasteries and Rules observed therein 423 CHAP. VIII Of the two Sacraments Baptism and the Lord's Supper 431 CHAP. IX Of Penance and Excommunication 438 CHAP. X. Of their Marriages 440 CHAP. XI Their Opinion of Souls in the state of separation and their Ceremonies used towards the dead 442 CHAP. XII A Confession of the Armenian Doctrine subscribed unto by the Patriarch and Bishops together at Constantinople 447 THE PRESENT STATE OF THE GREEK CHURCH CHAP. I. The Present State of the Greek Church in general under the Turkish Tyranny THE ancient division of Greece into many Commonwealths and their inveterate hatred against Philip of Macedon for no other Reason than because he was a King and as they stiled him a Tyrant and the unquiet disposition of that People never contented in their Estate nor satisfied in their Rulers the Humour and Fate of most Popular Governments have to us and to all future Ages represented the Grecians as great lovers of alteration and freedom Time afterwards and vicissitude of things transforming them from Associates to be Subjects of the Roman◠Empire they enjoyed notwithstanding for some Ages the benefit of their own Laws Protection and Liberty under the successful progress of the conquering Eagles and when the Imperial Seat was transported to Bizantium the Emperours themselves became Grecians and the People enjoyed still the lenity and gentleness of the Roman Yoke In this easiness of living things continued until the year of Christ 1300. when an unexpected Storm arose from the East which as a little Cloud appearing first at a distance like a spot or the measure of a Palm doth afterwards diffuse it self in a general blackness over the Face of the whole Heavens or as I have seen at a large Prospect something like the Swarm of a single Hive which approaching nearer hath proved to be an Army of
the Greek Church therein notwithstanding the Oppression and Contempt put upon it by the Turk and the Allurements and Pleasures of this World is a Confirmation no less convincing than the Miracles and Power which attended its first beginnings For indeed it is admirable to see and consider with what Constancy Resolution and Simplicity ignorant and poor men keep their Faith and that the proffer of Worldly Preferments and the priviledge which they enjoy by becoming Turks the Mode and Fashion of that Country which they inhabit should not decoy or debauch such silly Souls who can offer little more of Argument in defence of their perswasion than the Doctrine of their Forefathers and the common profession of those who in many places especially in the Morea and all Romagnia use the same Customs and speak the same Language of Greek with them Nor can I attribute this Constancy to the meer force of Education for Turks intermingle with them inhabit in the same Street and sometimes under the same Roof their Children play and are bred up together and have almost the same Manners and Customs with them and have little different besides their Religion and something of Briskness and Spirit in the Children of Turks which seems naturally to usurp an Authority over their Greek Play-Fellows So that if Education were the sole motive and principle Turcism might sooner take root than Christianity having the opportunity equal and in the easiness of things naturally to be believed and other specious and fair offers the advantage before the mysterious Doctrine of our Faith and the exact severity of our lives which is neither revealed nor performed by the meer motion of flesh and blood But certainly much is to be attributed herein to the Grace of God and the Promises of the Gospel and if any Art or Polity can be said to have place over the affection of the People none seems more efficacious than the strict observation of the Fasts and Feasts of their Church by which the people are taught as in a visible Catechism the History of Christianity more I dare say than by their ill-composed Sermons or repetition of the Scripture in the Vulgar Tongue for being severely imposed and observed with much solemnity they affect the Vulgar with an awe of something divine and extraordinary in them The fear also and apprehension of some Authority in the Church as the power of the Keys Excommunications and other Ecclesiastical Censures work a reverence in the people towards their Clergy which is indeed the main Pillar and Basis which supports a Church For as Tacitus speaks of the Jewish Nation when under the Roman Power That Honâ—â— Sacerdotii firmamentum Potentiae eorum the Honour which they gave to their Priesthood was the foundation of their Regimen for that which commands the conscience reduces the body will and affections to obedience so more particularly in Ecclesiastical Polity it is the Fence and Hedge of the Sheepfold This being broken down the Sheep stray and Satan enters with his seed of Heresie and Schism for what can hinder men from running into Prodigies of Fansie and wild Opinions where every man is his own Pastor and his own Bishop This apprehension of Power which attends the Keys is available in a double capacity for besides the energy it hath in Spiritual Matters it supplies amongst the Greeks the defect of a Temporal Authority in regard that they though Subjects of the Turk do yet oftentimes in Controversies about matters of Right follow the advice of the Apostle by referring the determination of their Cause to the arbitrement of spiritual men and chief of their Saints who are their Bishop or Patriarch and other Chiefs of their Clergy rather than to stand to the Judicature of Infidels But this the Church presumes not to bind on mens Consciences left it should seem to usurp that Right which others hold by the Sword and contradict that saying of our Saviour My Kingdom is not of this world Howsoever such as are religious and devout amongst them esteem it a Crime highly scandalous and savouring of a bad intention to have recourse rather to a Mahometan Divan than a Christian Sentence as if those who can judge of the inward Conscience were not yet sufficient to Umpire in a Temporal Cause Secondly This Reverence to the Church produces a firm belief and strict adherence to the Articles of it and to all the Ceremonies and matters the most minute and indifferent not suffering the least change or alteration in them which in this conjuncture and state of things seems very convenient if not necessary in the Greek Church For though they are sensible as many of their Priests have confessed to me of the inconvenient length of their Liturgies concerning which we shall speak in another Chapter and of many superstitious Customs and Ceremonies derived to them from the times of Gentilism which are now ingrafted into and as it were grown up with their Religion and many other Rites of which the wiser men are ashamed and wish they were amended yet they fear to correct and alter them Nay as they have assured me the very alteration of the Old to the New Stile would be highly hazardous lest the People observing their Guides to vary in the least point from their ancient and as they imagine their Canonical Profession should begin to suspect the truth of all and from a doubt dispute themselves into an indifference and thence into an entire desertion of the Faith Though the Christian Religion profess'd in the Ottoman Dominions lies under a Cloud and a sad discouragement yet thanks be to God there is a free and publick exercise thereof allowed in most parts and something of respect given to the Clergy even by the Mahometans themselves who esteem honour due to all persons of what Profession soever who are set apart and consecrated to Gods service For it is evident that the Turks entertain something of a good opinion of the sanctity of the Christian Religion and a belief that God hears their Prayers because that in the time of common Pestilence or Calamity both the Greek and Armenian Patriarchs are enjoined by the Turks to assemble their People and pray against it This permission of the Christian Religion indulged by the Turks is both agreeable to Mahomet's Doctrine and the Priviledges granted by the Sultans who in their Conquests of the Grecian Empire judged that a toleration of Religion would much facilitate the entire subjection of that People The greatest burden that is laid upon them by the Turk is their Haratch or Poll-money for which every man who is arrived to 20 years of age pays Four Lyon Dollars per Annum and Youths between 15 to 20 pay half so much but Women are exempt from this burden Also Greeks who have Lands and Houses are taxed pro rato for extraordinary Expences for entertaining a Pasha or some great Person whose charges they are obliged to defray in his
ever after over-whelmed that vast Tract of Land which now makes a Sea leaving only some few Isles which were the tops of Mountains and make up those many Islands which we find in the Archi-pelago And thus much we are assured from a piece of Turkish History but it matters little what the Turks report or write in these cases for it is more probable that that Woman which the Turks call Coidafa was that great Amazon-Smyrna which Strabo saith gave the Name to this City whose Face may be that which we find enstamped on Medals with the Inscription of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The People that first built this City came from Ephesus and dispossessed the Leleges of their Habitation as Strabo reports Afterwards the Lydians demolished the Buildings so that for the space of 400 years it was inhabited rather like a Village than a City until Antigonus and after him Lysimachus restored it to its ancient splendour The City was chiefly built on the side of the Hill and it is now evident since the great Ruines round the Town were digged up to supply the New-Buildings with Stone that all those Ruines on the East-side of the River Meles were no other than Temples and Burying-places of the dead and particularly that which we called the Temple of Janus which being demolished proved no other than a Vault full of Sepulchres and might become the Bodies of the Monarchs and Princes of this Country I once believed it to be the Homerium or the square Porch which Strabo saith was dedicated to Homer but my Eyes have evinced the contrary and it may rather be that large Porch which we find situated on the Hill near to the Castle Having taken this view of Smyrna let us proceed to the next Church which in my Travels was Ephesus distant about 45 English Miles S. South-East from Smyrna and about five Miles from the Sea accounted in ancient times for a Maritime City by reason of the River Cayster which near to the Sea was capable to receive the Vessels of those days but further up and nearer to the City it turns and winds so wantonly through the Plains and with such curious doublings as gave occasion to Travellers upon the Authority especially of Heylin to mistake it for the Meander which Errour the Name which the Turks give it of the lesser Mendres may confirm But before we enter into this City if we may now so call it let us first hear what Strabo reports thereof in ancient times It was encompassed says he with that Wall which now stands at the charge of Lysimachus who therefore named it Arsinoa after the Name of his Wife but that Name prevailed not long before it returned to its ancient denomination of Ephesus The Government was exercised by a Senate and in matters of great importance all the People were assembled The Temple of Diana was first built by Chersiphron but this being burnt by one Herostratus a more stately Edifice was erected by the large and devout Contributions of the Female Sex but these not being sufficient to perfect the Work Alexander proffer'd to compleat the remainder at his own Expence on condition that his Name might be entituled to the whole Fabrick But this offer was refused by the Complement of a witty Ephesian That it was not seemly for one God to contribute to the Temple of another All the Priests of this Temple were Eunuchs called Megalobizi these were in great Honour and assisted by Virgins This City hath both a Port and Shipping belonging to it but the Port is very shallow by reason of the great quantity of mud which the Cayster throws up but the City daily increases and is the principal Emporium of Asia on this side of the Taurus Pliny who was also well acquainted with the Geography of these places instructs us farther and tells in his Nat. Hist. lib. 5. That Ephesus attollitur Monte Pione alluitur Caistro in Cylbianis jugis orto And true it is that its situation is on the side of a Hill having a Prospect to the West towards a lovely Plain watered and embellished with the pleasant Circles of the Cayster Some Marshes there are not far distant and yet so far as that the Vapour of them seems not to reach or corrupt the air of the City The Soyl produces abundantly Woods of Tamerisk which over-running the Plains render them delightful to the Eyes of the beholders But nothing appears more remarkable and stately to a Stranger in his near approach to this place than the Castle on the Hill and the lofty Fabrick of Saint John's Church now converted to a Turkish Mosch the biggest Pillar in which is five Turkish Pikes and a half in compass which is upwards of four English yards these lifting up their heads amongst other Ruines and humble Cottages of the present Inhabitants seem to promise that magnificent Structure which renowned and made famous this City in ancient-History But at the entrance a person stumbles at Pillars of Porphiry and finds an uneasie passage over subverted Temples and Palaces the memory of what they have been is not preserved by Tradition and few or no Inscriptions remaining to direct us Some marks there are of a Building more ample and stately than the rest which seems to have been seated in the Suburbs of the City without the Wall and therefore gives us cause to conjecture it to have been the Temple of Diana the Metropolitan Shrine of all others dedicated to that Goddess anciently adjoining to the Ortygian Grove and Cenchrian Stream where she and Apollo were reported in Fables to be born from Latona Ephesii memorabant non ut vulgus crederet Dianam atque Apollinem Delo genitos Esse apud se Cenchrium Aninem lucum Ortygium ubi Latonam partu gravidam Oleae quae tum etiam maneat adnifam edidisse ea Numina This therefore might probably have been the Temple of that Goddess which all Asia and the World worshipped and caused that riot and pudder amongst the Silver-smiths of this place Under the Ruines of this Temple we descended about 30 Stairs with Lights in our hands where we entered into divers narrow passages with many turnings and windings that it was necessary to make use of a Clew of Thread to guide us which some therefore call a Labyrinth but to me it seemed no other than the Foundation of the Temple which for Fabricks of that weight and magnificence is convenient as I conceive according to the Rules of the best Architecture The air below was moist and of a suffocating heat which nourished Bats of a prodigious bigness which oft-times struck at our Torches as Enemies unto light and Companions of those Spirits which inhabit the Stygian darkness Not far from hence was a stately Lavatory of Porphiry called Saint John's Font the Diameter of which was about seven Turkish Pikes wherein it is reported he baptized great multitudes of Believers Not far from
with pleasure Ipse recurvatis ludit Maeander in undis And so continues to encircle all the Plains it runs through with wanton Mazes and with such a rapid current that it stirred up the Earth and Gravel from the bottom so that we found not the Streams of Water so clear and Crystalline as we hoped to have enjoyed when we sate down to make our Collation on the Banks of the River and so continues its swift motion until it falls more gently into the Sea not far distant from Miletum now called by the Turks Melas the true place where Saint Paul landed when he sent for the Presbytery of Ephesus which agrees with what Pliny writes in his description of the Meander Amnis Maeander ortus e lacu Aulocrene plurimisque affusus oppidis repletus fluminibus crebris ita sinuosus flexibus ut saepe credatur reverti Apamenam primum pervagatur regionem mox Eumenicam ac dein Bargelicos campos postremo Cariam placidus omnesque eos agros fertilissimos rigans ad decimum a Mileto Stadium lenis illabitur mari The first place which we imagined might be Laodicea was a City called by the Turks Dingizlee being so esteemed by the Greeks who there inhabit and are not above 40 in number where they have a little Church But little credit are we to give unto them concerning the ancient condition of their Nation for they who are in those parts and have lost their own Language and speak and understand no other Tongue than the Turkish are not competent Judges of the Antiquities which extend themselves beyond the time of the Turks Howsoever the situation of that place which is exceedingly pleasant and not far distant certainly from the true Laodicea might yield us Reason sufficient to enquire for it in that City which is planted with all sorts of Fruit-trees watered with plentiful Streams and abounds with all Provisions either necessary or convenient for livelyhood so that the Turks compare it with the air and fruitfulness of Damascus The outward Walls are ancient but neglected after the Turkish Custom the City within built low after the modern Fashion of that Country and is chiefly maintained by a Trade of Bogasines Some few Churches there are which appear to have been built by the Christians now converted into Moschs so that nothing appeared in this case which could induce us to concur in Opinion with the Greeks that that place was Laodicea but being informed by Turks of certain Ruines about four miles distant from thence called by them Eski-hisar or the Old Castle curiosity lead us thither where being entred we found a City of a vast Circumference subverted and overthrown situated on three or four small Hills What first we had sight of was an Aquaeduct which guided us to the rest beneath which runs a River which I call the Lycus nourished with two other Streams which I call Asopus and Caper that so the situation may agree with the description which Pliny gives of it Celeberrima Urbs Laodicea imposita est Lyco flumini latera alluentibus Asopo Capro This certainly can have been no other than the ancient Laodicea according to the Description of Geographers anciently called Diospolis Here within we found besides a multitude of other Ruines three large Amphitheatres and a Circus the three first were of a round form consisting of about 50 Seats one above the other the Stones of which were not much displaced The Circus was long and at the end thereof was a Cave where the wild Beasts were kept designed for the Roman Sports over the mouth of which was an Arch with this Inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Many other Ruines there were of mighty Fabricks of which we could receive no knowledge nor make conjectures nor could we be guided by Inscriptions for time and Earthquakes had so strangely defac'd all things that besides the Theatres there scarce remained one Stone upon the other Strabo saith Laodicea cum ante esset exilis nostra parentum nostrorum aetate crevit quanquam oppugnatione Mithridatis Eupatoris damnum accepisset non contemnendum sed soli praestantia laeta civium quorundam fortuna eam amplicaverunt It seems that this City suffered much by Mithridates Eupator yet the excellency of the soil and the Riches of the Citizens quickly repaired the damages and restored it again to its pristine happiness For as I said the situation of it is elevated on two or three pleasant Mounts rather than Hills which oversee the most rich and delightful Plains of all Phrygia It hath to the North the Mountain Cadmus being distant as may be conjectured about ten English Miles from whence the Lycus hath its source and over-flows those Pastures round about which in the time of Augustus Caesar bred numerous Flocks of black Sheep which for the fineness of the Fleece far exceeded the Milesian Wools. And thus the Riches of their Woollen Manufacture being added to the Donative of two thousand Talents which Hiero bequeathed to that People might be a considerable Revenue to the Publick and serve to raise them out of the dust when overthrown by Earth-quakes For when Nero was the fourth time Consul Laodicea saith Tacitus tremore terrae prolapsa â—â—llo in nobis remedio propriis opibus revaluit It was then sorely shaken by an Earthquake the fate of most of the great Cities of Asia which notwithstanding was re-edified by the pâ—â—â—â—ance of its own Riches but relapsing again into the same Calamity was deserted by its Inhabitants and became irrecoverably lost not only as to its pristine condition of prosperity but also as to its very Name having now no other existence or being than what Wise and Learned men have conserved in the Histories thereof Having taken our view of Laodicea we traversed the Country tovvards Philadelphia and about five Miles on our right hand from Laodicea to the North vve espied a White Cliff on the side of a Hill vvith some Buildings thereon vvhich from their Whiteness the Turks call Pambuck or Cotton And having received information from the Greeks that Hierapolis vvas there to be seen Curiosity carried us thither of vvhich place Strabo reporteth in this manner Hierapolis is seated over against Laodicea vvhere are to be seen Baths of hot Waters and the Plutonium The Waters easily congeal the earth whereon they run into Stone so that the Chanels are firm Rock The Plutonium is under the brow of the Hill the entrance into which is no wider than that a man can thrust himself through yet it is very deep within of a quadrangular Form containing about the compass of half an Acre and is filled with such a thick and caliginous air that the ground cannot be seen At the new Moon the poysonous air contains it self within the circumference of the Cave so that a man may approach to the mouth of it at that time without danger but if any living Creature ventures to go in it immediately
Christian Faith for it being inhabited by many Greeks is adorned with no less than Twelve Churches of which S. Mary's and S. George's are the chief which we visited there the Chief Papa's presented before us some Manuscripts of the Gospel pretending them to be very ancient but we could hardly be perswaded to believe them so because the Gospel of S. John as the prime Apostle of Asia was prefixed in the first place and because the Chapters were not disposed in their due form and order but according only to the method observed in their Missals The situation of Philadelphia is on the rising of the Mountain Tmolus having a pleasant prospect on the plains beneath well furnished with divers Villages and watered as I take it by the Pactolus The only raritie which the Turks show in that place to Travellers is a wall of Mens bones which they report to have been erected by the Prince which first took that City who having slaughtered many of the besieged in a sally for the terrour of those which survived raised a wall of their bones which is so well cemented and the bones so entire that I brought a piece thereof with me from thence About 27 miles to the Northwest from Philadelphia lye the ruines of the Anciently famous City of Sardis one likewise of the seven Churches of which Strabo gives this account 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The City of Sardis is great and ancient and yet of later days than the State of the Trojans It hath a Castle well fortified and is the Capital City of the Lydians called by Homer Maeone the Mountain Tmolus hangs over this City on the top of which is erected a high Tower of white Stone built after the Persian manner from whence is a pleasing prospect overall the adjacent plains and thence also you may take a view of the Cayister Out of the Tmolus flows the Pactolus whose streams of ancient times carried great Flakes of Gold with its current from whence Craesus and his Ancestors amassed their Riches But now the springs of Gold are failed The Rivers Pactolus and Hyllas fall into the Hermus and afterwards those three joyned with more ignoble streams empty themselves into the Phocean Sea now called Fogia or rather Fochia But whatsoever this City was in former days it is now only a poor Habitation of Shepherds living in low and humble Cottages howsoever the ancient Pillars and Ruines list up their heads as unwilling to lose the memory of their ancient Glory once the Seat of the rich Craesus This City is also seated at the foot of the Tmolus as Strabo before-mentioned hath well described it the which also Pliny confirms in these words Celebratur maxime Sardis in latere Montis Tmoli c. The Castle which is erected on a high and steep Mountain is very difficult to ascend and almost inaccessible by force of Arms but being on the top there appears the most pleasant prospect that ever my eyes beheld to which the Pactolus gives a wonderful embellishment which turns and winds so delightfully through all the Plains watering all parts about in that manner as to make that Country exceeding fertile and rich and from thence might give occasion of that saying that the Pactolus ran with golden streams Over the Gate I read this Inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pergamus another of those seven Churches of Asia called by the Turks Bergam which was amongst the rest so highly honoured with the aforesaid Divine Epistle lyes about Sixty Miles North-ward from Smyrna once the Regal City over the Provinces of Mysia AEolis Jonia Lydia and Caria and afterwards bequeathed to the Roman Empire by the Will and Testament of Attalus the last King thereof whose Antiquity and Fame is celebrated and recorded in Strabo in this manner Lysimachus the Son of Agathocles one of the successours of Alexander kept his Treasure at Pergamus the situation whereof is on the side of a small Hill or Mount which near the top ends in a Conical Form The charge and defence of this City was committed to Philetaetus an Eunuch who amidst many Treasons and Revolutions remained faithful to his Prince concerning the Government of the Castle for the space of 20 years during which time Lysimachus being slain by Seleucus Nicator the eldest Son of Philetaetus called Eumenes obtained the Government of the City and Country of Pergamus whose Son Eumenes overthrew Antiochus the Son of Seleucus in the plains of Sardis him Attaâ—us succeeded who was the first that was honoured with the Title of King After he overcame the Galatae or Gallo-Grecians in a bloody Battel and was he who joyning confederacy with the Romans against King Philip was their true and faithful Ally to whose Son Eumenes after the victory over Antiochus in the plains of Magneâ—â—â— at Sipylum was committed the Government of all that Country which extends it self to the Mountain Taâ—reo But that which I observed of the City Pergamus as it now stands at present is this that its situation is on the side of a Hill which Strabo saith is in a Conical Form having a prospect into a most pleasant and fruitful Plain watered by the River Caicus and abounding with all sorts of Fruits the Earth also yielding with little pains or industry causes the people to become lazy and negligent which manured with the same care as is practised in the like naturally happy Countries would prove one of the most fertile Gardens and Paradises of the World for from the top of that small hill which over-shadows the City small I say in respect of the adjacent Mountains on which stands an ancient Castle or rather the Walls thereof ill repaired so pleasant a prospect discovers it self on all sides of the Plain as for some hours may well entertain the Eyes of a Stranger with great delight The Inhabitants being slothful and abhorring labour addict themselves principally to Thefts and Robberies being more pleased to seize a Booty in their Plains with rapine and violence than with honest and religious labour to purchase their Bread by turning up the rich Clods of their Native Soyl by which means this City goes more and more to decay and ruine meerly for want of Industry So that whereas about 10 years past there were 53 Streets of this Town inhabited there are now only 22 frequented the others are deserted and their Buildings go to ruine Here are still many remains and appearances of antique Buildings such as vast Pillars of Marble subverted One place seems to have been the Palace of the Prince still conserved by Columns of polished Marble which like Buttresses support the Wall for at least 50 paces in length There are also the Ruines of several Churches one of which more spacious and magnificent than the rest is by Tradition of the Greeks of that Country reported to have been dedicated to Saint
year are Dionysius of Constantinople Paisios of Alexandria Theositios of Jerusalem and Macarios of Antioch which names they take upon themselves when they first enter into Monasteries or a Religious life The Patriarch of Constantinople is elected by the Metropolites or Bishops according to the plurality of Voices but afterwards constituted and confirmed by the G. Signor before whom after his Election he presents himself with all humility and the G. Signor after the ancient Custom of the Greek Emperours presents him with a white Horse a Manto or black Coole a pastoral staff with a Costan or figured Vest and being mounted on his Horse with a Train of the Clergy and principal Persons of the Greek Nation and accompanied with a great Number of Turkish Officers he returns with all solemnity to the Patriarchal Seat at the entry into which he is met and received by the chief Metropolites and others with wax Tapers burning in their hands and by them conducted into the Church and there before the Altar is consecrated by the Arch-Bishop of Heraclea who habited in his Pontifical Garments takes the Patriarch by the hand and seats him in the Patriarchal Chair sets the Mitre on his Head and commits the Crosier to his hand which being performed and the Offices sung the whole Ceremony is ended The Contention between the Greek Clergy for the Patriarchal Power at Constantinople hath begotten many troubles in the Church for such whom Ambition and Covetousness excite with a desire of this Ecclesiastical Preferment and having some Riches of their own and Credit to make up the rest at Interest seldom or never miss the prize they pursue for the Arguments of Gifts and Benefits are so prevalent with the G. Vizier and the other Turkish Officers that they can afford easie admittance to the most frivolous Accusation that may be objected against the present Incumbent by which means the Patriarch is often changed and the Debts of the Church increased and the Election rather in the hands of the Turk than the Bishops the one being guided by Bribes and the other by Faction by which means the Debts of the Church in the year 1672 as I was informed by the Bishop of Smyrna amounted unto 700 Purses of Mony which makes 350 thousand Dollars the Interest of which increasing daily and rigorously extorted by the Power of the most covetous and considerable Turkish Officers who lend or supply the Money is the reason and occasion that the Patriarch often summons all his Archbishops and Bishops to appear at Constantinople that so they may consult and agree on an expedient to ease in some measure the present Burden and Pressure of their Debts the payment of which is often the occasion of new Demands For the Turks finding this Fountain the fresher and more plentifully flowing for being drained continually suck from this Stream which is to them more sweet for being the Blood of the Poor and the life of Christians It is a remarkable Story and very pertinent to this place which the Bishop of Smyrna when he once did me the honour to make me a Visit recounted to me That not long since certain Principal Officers amongst the Turks perswaded or rather forced a poor simple Kaloir to stand Candidate for the Patriarchal Office and to cheapen it at the price of 25000 Dollars which offer the Turks signified to the Patriarch that so he might either pay the Money himself and thereby purchase his Confirmation or prepare to give way to a new Successor The whole Assembly of the Greek Clergy were greatly perplexed hereat yet knew not which way to resolve For to accept of this Kaloir for Patriarch who was poor and brought nothing with him besides his contemptible Person and Debt which they must at length pay would bring a scandal and scorn on the Church besides the bad Bargain they should make in exchange of their Patriarch Wherefore at length applying themselves with great Humility to the Vizier they obtained a remission of 5000 Dollars of the price demanded and on payment of 20000 procured the continuance of their old Patriarch which matter being thus accommodated the Clergy desired that the Kaloir might be delivered into their hands to receive punishment according to the Canons of their Church but this would not be granted lest such an Example should deter Men from the like designs and thereby prejudice the Musselmin Cause and Interest Nor can the Laws and Canons in the Church against Simony prevail for the Clergy are tender to assert their power of Excommunication in this point or any other part of their Spiritual Authority which the Temporal Power of the Turk in those Cases where his Interest commands over-awes and frustrates usurping a power more Ecclesiastical Supreme and Pontifical than that of the Patriarch But to evidence the turbulent State of the Greek Church we shall not need to fetch Examples farther back than from the year of our Lord 1670 when one Mythodius was Patriarch at Constantinople in which Office he had not been long seated before he was forced by one Parthenius to retire and hastily to take up his Bag and Baggage and be gone and flye for Sanctuary into the House of the English Ambassadour it being usual for the new Patriarch to seize on the person of his Predecessor with his Goods and Estate for paying the Debts of the Church and part of that price for which the Patriarchate was bought by him for which seldom wants some just Cause or at least a seeming pretence in regard that not only the real necessity of the Church Debts forces the Patriarchs to extort Money from the People but likewise a provident care for their future subsistence prompts them to make Friendship with the Mammon of Unrighteousness against that time that they shall be necessitated to surrender an account of their Stewardship And I have heard some say that this change of Patriarchs is so necessary for the maintenance of their Metropolites or Bishops that without it they might starve unless they had this pretence for frequent Taxes For levying Money in this manner on the people some of it sticks to their Fingers providing not only sufficient to pay the proportion expected from their respective Diocesses but also for their own support Mythodius having no sooner as is said quitted the place but Parthenius entered a person not only of a considerable Estate but well acquainted and respected in the Turkish Court Howsoever he continued not above a year before he was forced to give way to Dionysius Metropolite of Larissa who being a monied Man carryed his business with a high hand and entered into the Patriarchal Seat with all the Ceremonies usual at the Instalment to that Dignity procuring not only the Banishment of Parthenius unto Rhodes but caused him also to be Anathematized and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be pronounced with a loud Voice in a full Synod or Convocation of all the Metropolites then
present at Constantinople Notwithstanding which Dionysius did not long sit quietly before he was disturbed with some vexations from the Wife of Panaioti Interpreter to the Great Vizier who being a high-spirited Dame and elevated with the thoughts of her Husbands Riches and Preferment comported her self in the Church towards the Patriarch with an arrogance undecent and mis-becoming the gravity of a principal Matron which caused Dionysius sometimes to resent her Carriage and to discourse contemptibly of her as is natural for men to speak of those who assume too much unto themselves With which this Lady being provoked made Complaints to her Husband who sympathizing with the grievance of his Wife attended an opportunity to satisfie her Feminine Revenge the which was not long expected before one Gerasimus Metropolite of Turnova on the Borders of Valachia presented himself as a Candidate or one sufficiently qualified for the Patriarchal Office and in the first place applyed himself to Panaioti who being a Greek and near the G. Vizier was best able to represent his qualifications and his offers to the Court the which he performed in complascency to his Wife with that pressure and heat that Gerasimus was speedily invested in the Patriarchal See and Dionysius deposed and forced to content himself with the Bishoprick of Phillipopolis where he remained with the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that place which is an honour given to those who have formerly born the Dignity of Patriarch Of all these changes and mutations Parthenius received intelligence though far remote in his Exile at Rhodes which he observed with such attention as served to shuffle him into play at the next Game For having in the time of being Patriarch amassed a considerable Treasure soon after the death of Panaioti the great Patron of Gerasimus he pushed again for the Patriarchal Office and notwithstanding all the resistance made to the contrary and the formal Anathema's and Curses used against him at the time of his deposition he wrested it again to himself and enjoyed it in despite of all his Adversaries for some Months until that Dionysius the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Phillipopolis observing what success attended Parthenius in his Restoration resolved to tread the same path the which he prosecuted so effectually that he crouded out Parthenius again and in this year 1678 Dionysius sits in the Patriarchal Throne there to remain until some other who making a new proffer of advantage to the Turkish Court shall expel him from thence In this manner the G. Signor seems to be Head of the Greek Church and Arbitrator in all their differences which every good Christian ought with sadness to consider and with compassion to behold this once glorious Church to tear and rent out her own bowels and give them for food to Vultures and Ravens and to the wild and fierce Creatures of the World In former times the Church paid no more to the G. Signor at the change of a Patriarch than ten thousand Dollars but the multitude of Pretenders for this Office hath enhansed the price to 25000 Dollars Formerly also the Instalment of a Patriarch was with the Solemnity and Formality before premised but the daily contests introduce that confusion and contempt of the Office as hath left no place for honour or respect so that a Patriarch ascends his Throne and takes hold of the Mitre and Crosier with as little Ceremony as an ordinary Priest or Curate takes possession of his Living or Vicaridge or when he takes hold of the Ring of the Church door The Patriarch cannot act in his Office nor any other Bishop in his See without a Baratz or Commission from the G. Signor Nor is any Monastery allowed or protected nor the Prior or Guardian endued with a power over his Monks but by virtue of his Baratz A Copy of one of which given formerly to the Latine Bishop of Scio I have thought fit here to insert for the better evidence of the matter and curiosity of the Style The Command and Decree of the Noble and Royal Signature of the High State and Sublime Seat of the Fair Imperial Firm which enforces the Universe and through the assistance of God and defence of the Supreme Benefactor is received and obeyed by all as followeth The Priest which is named Andrea Soffiano who hath in his hands this Imperial and Blessed Command is now by vertue of these Letters Patents of high State created Bishop of those who profess to be of the Latin Rite in the Island of Scio and having brought with him his old Baratz and desiring that the same might be renewed and having to that end paid into our Treasury 600 Aspers as the usual Fee in such Cases I have therefore granted to this Andrea Soffiano this Baratz as the perfection of Felicity And moreover I command that he go and be Bishop of the Christians of the aforesaid Rite inhabiting that Island according to the usual and ancient Custom and vain and unprofitable Ceremonies willing and commanding that all Religious Priests and all other Christians both great and small of the same Rite inhabiting that Island do acknowledge the said Priest for their Bishop and that on every business which shall depend or appertain on or of his Office and Episcopal Jurisdiction they have recourse unto him not deviating from his equitable and just Sentence Moreover that no other do meddle or concern himself when the said Bishop according to his unprofitable and vain Ceremonies shall constitute or deprive in or of his Office any Priest or Religious person as he shall judge him deserving or undeserving and that no Priest or Fryar of the said Rite presume to marry any persons without the Consent or License of the said Bishop And every Will or Testament which shall be made by any Priest dying in favour of the poor Churches shall be firm and valid And if it should happen out that any Christian Woman under the Jurisdiction of this Bishop should depart from her Husband or any Husband should abandon his Wife none shall have power to grant the Divorce nor intermeddle therein except the aforesaid Bishop And in fine the said Bishop shall enjoy and possess the Vineyards appertaining to his Church with Gardens Orchards Villages Fields Barks Mills Monasteries and Pious Legacies bequeathed in favour of his other Churches and all these Priviledges he shall enjoy in the same manner as anciently the Bishops his Predecessors have enjoyed before him and as firmely as ever without receiving trouble molestation or interruption from any person whatsoever And so be it known and belief be given to this Noble Signature The other three Patriarchs being far from Court and from the Evil and Covetous Eyes of the Turks are the farther removed from Jove's Thunder-bold and therefore are morefreely elected by the fole Votes and Suffrages of the Bishops who having chiefly respect to the welfare and flourishing Estate of the Church do most commonly prefer those
who are most signal for their Piety and Learning The Patriarch of Constantinople besides the extent of his Jurisdiction is of greater power by reason of his Vicinity to the Court but the Alexandrian is of greater Authority in his Ecclesiastical Censures and Civil Regimen stiling himself with the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Judge of the world And the Patriarchs of Antiochia and Jerusalem by reason of their poverty not having sufficient to subsist are little reverenced by the Turks or their own People The Patriarch of Constantinople who was so great and opulent under the Christian Emperours is now reduced to a narrow Fortune being deprived of his certain and setled Revenue by the violence and sacriledge of the common Enemy to the Church of Christ so that the chief income is accidental arising from the death of Bishops Arch-Bishops and ordinary Priests and from such as are consecrated and admitted into their Diocesses and Parishes What a deceased Priest leaves not having Children accrues to the Patriarch as to the common Father and Heir of them all from which arises a considerable Revenue every year The other Patriarchal Sees by reason of the paucity and poverty of the Christians are worse provided but yet being far from the Court have not so many nccessities to satisfie The chief subsistence of the secular Priests is from the charity of the People but they being cold in that Vertue as well as in their Devotion contribute faintly on the days of Offering so that the Clergy who are the Guardians of the Holy Mysteries are forced to sell the Ordinances of the Church for their own subsistence none being able to receive Absolution or be admitted to Confession or procure Baptism for their Children or enter into a state of Matrimony or divorce his Wife or obtain Excommunication against another or Communion for the sick without an agreement first for the price which the Priests hold up as they discover the Zeal and Abilities of the party who cheapens them When the Holy Church triumphed in the days of Constantine the Great the Bishops of Rome and Constantinople were independent each of other and afterwards they were also made of equal honour and power but in regard that for better order and distinction it was necessary they two being to meet and concur in the same Council that the precedency of place should first be determined The priority of Order not of Authority was adjudged to the Pope lest old Rome which was the ancient Mistress of the World should lose her honour in yielding to the new which was Constantinople and had no greater Dignity or Fame than that which she challenged and borrowed from the presence and brightness of the others Emperours and so much Socrates Scholasticus affirms in these words In the Council of Constantinople Anno 385. in the Reign of Theodosius the Emperour when Nectanius was chosen Bishop it was decreed That the Bishop of Constantinople should possess the next place and prerogative after the Bishop of Rome And likewise it was determined in the Council of Chalcedon Can. 28. That the Bishops Seat of new Rome that is Constantinople should enjoy equal priviledges with old Rome and in all Ecclesiastical matters to be extolled and magnified as that of Rome being the second in order after her the words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor did the Bishop of Rome ever preside in the first six General Councils which only are received by the whole Church either by himself or his Legates This and such-like honour of precedency the Church of Greece may yield unto the Church of Rome and perhaps now rather in these times of Oppression wherein being humbled by the hand of God they seek not worldly Honours nor swelling Titles nor Dominions but are desirous only to govern in the Hearts and Affections of their people Ambitio cupido gloriae faelicium hominum sunt affectus saith Tacitus However the Oriental Confession doth not seem to condescend so far in that it declares That notwithstanding the priority of Honour and Antiquity which was formerly given to Jerusalem and other Churches before that of Constantinople yet afterwards the Council of Constantinople and Chalcedon did give the primacy of honour unto new Rome and to the Clergy thereof by reason of the Imperial Power whose Seat was there But let us not only hear what the Greeks themselves do utter in this point but observe the words of that famous Venetian Father Paul Sarpus who in the 25th Chapter of his History of the Inquisition hath these pertinent and impartial words The Eastern and Western Churches continued both in Communion and Christian Charity for the space of nine hundred years and more in which time the Pope of Rome was reverenced and esteemed no less by the Greeks than by the Latines He was acknowledged for the Successor of St. Peter and chief of all the Eastern Catholick Bishops In the Persecutions raised by Hereticks they implored his Aid and of other Bishops of Italy and this Peace was easily kept because the Supreme Power was in the Canons to which both parts acknowledged themselves subject Ecclesiastical Discipline was severely maintained in each Country by the Prelates of it not arbitrarily but absolutely according to Order and Canonical Rigour none putting his hand into the Government of another but advised one the other to the observance of the Canons In those days never any Pope of Rome did pretend to confer Benefices in the Diocesses of other Bishops neither was the custome yet introduced of getting mony out of others by way of Dispensations or Bulls But as soon as the Court of Rome began to pretend that it was not subject to Canons and that she might according to her own discretion alter any Order of the Fathers Councils and of the Apostles themselves and that she attempted instead of the ancient Primacy of the Apostolical See to bring in an absolute Dominion not ruled by any Law or Canon then the division grew And as this division grew between the Eastern and Western Churches for the causes aforesaid so the same Reasons were the causes of division and separation in the Western Church it self for as to considering men nothing seemed more absurd than the Usurpation of Rome over other Churches independent thereon in secular Government so to the people who lived under its Dominion nothing could be more Tyrannical and oppressive CHAP. IV. The Opinion of the Greek Church concerning that Article in the Nicene Creed I believe one Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church and what Authority and Power is given by them thereunto THE See of Rome taking it for granted that she is the head of the Catholick Church would seem to deduce from that Principle undeniable consequences of Infallibility of Priviledges Power and Jurisdiction as ample and as extensive as the absolute and supreme Authority of our Lord and Master Jesus But this being a Foundation rather
supposed than real presumed gratis and not granted that Universal Jurisdiction becomes as empty and airy as those Titles which Popes give to those Patriarchs and Bishops whom they constitute over the several Diocesses of the Eastern Churches though they neither have a Revenue from thence nor Command over any of the Greek perswasion To evince which with more Evidence it will be pertinent to understand what Confession herein the Oriental Church makes and layes down for Orthodox viz. That as there is one Faith one Baptism one God and one Father of all so the Church of God is one Holy Catholick and Apostolick which denomination of Catholick they are the very words of the Confession the Church doth not take from one particular place or See predominant over all others as from Ephesus Philadelphia Laodicea Antioch Rome Jerusalem or the like but from an aggregation of all the Christian Churches in the World collected into one Body and united under one head Christ Jesus It is true saith this Confession that Jerusalem may properly be called the Mother Church of the World it having been the Stage whereon the Mystery of man's Redemption was represented and the place where the Gospel was first preached and the Fountain from whence were derived through the World the Streams of that Holy Doctrine which published the Passion and Resurrection of our Saviour and made known unto the World the glad Tidings of Repentance and remission of Sins but can betermed the Universal Mother with no more right than any other though if any particular Church can pretend thereunto that of Jerusalem might challenge an Authority and Priviledge above others having in the Infancy of Religion Acts II. v. 22. sent forth her Teachers and Pastors into all places and was famed for the glorious Blood of the Primitive Martyrs Whereby it is evident that the Greek Faith acknowledges no other Universal Head or Foundation than Jesus Christ himself under whom the Patriarchs Arch-bishops and Bishops of particular Churches subjected to different Powers of secular Government exercise their sway and jurisdiction over Human Souls Acts 20. v. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take heed unto your selves and to all the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Bishops By which it appears That the Greek Church doth not only not esteem the Church of Rome for the sole Catholick but also how absurd it is in reason to exclude the Greek the Armenian and many other Christan Churches from the pale of the Universal and consequently from the Benefits and Promises purchased by Christ for his Church And strange it is that none besides the Roman which is not of that extent as the vast Circumference of the other Christian Churches should yet have the sole Power of the Keys of the Divine Ordination and dispensing the Mysteries of the Holy Sacraments and that such who are excluded or are without her pale should be strangers to the Church of God and Aliens from his People Whilst in this manner the Oriental Churches believe no particular Church to have any other Universal Head than Jesus Christ they bear all obedience and respect to that Church of which they are members submitting to all its Orders and Censures Ecclesiastical for they believe that those words of our Saviour Matth. 18. 27. carry with them some force and authority and if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the Church and if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as a Heathen man or a Publican On this ground the Interpretation of Scripture made by the holy Synods and Councils and the judgments given by Patriarchs Bishops and other Priests according to Canonical Rites are established and esteemed of Divine Authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Priests with them are the mouth of their Spiritual Law and the Guides of their Souls on their Doctrine they entrust and adventure their safe Pilotage to the everlasting Haven of happiness And believing that no Scripture is of private Interpretation they judge it rational to resign themselves intirely to the belief of those to whose conduct they are committed having that high esteem of obedience as that which contains an admirable Vertue and Efficacy to atone for the sins not only of a misled understanding but for Actions of irregular practices And that the people may better understand the Precepts and Rules of the Church the Oriental Confession hath reduced all the commands thereof unto these nine following The first is Prayer to God attending at the times of the Liturgy Morning and Evening on the Lords Day and holy Festivals of the Church The second is the observation of the Fasts and Feasts of the Church The third is Obedience and Honour towards their Spiritual Pastors and Teachers The fourth is Confession of sins four times a year to a Priest lawfully constituted and ordained The fifth forbids the Laity to read the Books of Hereticks or any other which may divert them from the Profession of the Christian Faith The sixth enjoyns them to pray for all Kings and Princes for their Patriarchs Metropolites Bishops and all the Clergy and for all Souls departed in the Catholick Faith and for all Hereticks and Schismaticks that they may return to the true Faith before their passage from this present life The seventh enjoins an Obedience to all extraordinary occasional Fasts besides the Common or General namely such as are appointed and ordained by the Bishops in their respective Diocesses on occasional Calamities such as Famine War Pestilence or the like The eighth forbids the Laity to invade the Rights or Spiritual Livings or Benefices of the Clergy or convert the Ornaments of the Priest or Altar to private and profane uses or sacrilegiously to rob the Poor's Box and abuse the charitable Contributions of well-disposed Christians by employing them contrary to the intention of the Donor The ninth forbids the celebration of Marriages in Lent or during the time of their other Fasts or to frequent Theaters or imitate the Customs of the Barbarians or Infidels that so those who profess the Gospel may be charged with nothing that is over-sensual undecent or of ill report CHAP. V. Of the Fasts of the Greek Church THE Principal Fasts or Lents are four The first begins the 15th day of November being forty days before Christmas The second is the great Lent before Easter beginning with ours according to the Old stile the which stile they observe through the whole year The third begins the Week after Pentecost or Whitsontide called The Fast of the Holy Apostles being the time in which they judge that the Apostles prayed and fasted when they prepared themselves to preach the Gospel Acts 13. v. 3. which ends the 29th of June being the Festival of St. Peter and the other Apostles so that of this Fast there is no fixed number of days but is some years more some less according as the Pentecost falls
out sooner or later The fourth begins the first of August and continues until the 15th being a Preparatory to the Grand Festival which they keep in honour to the Assumption of our Lady who they say was bodily transported into Heaven which Fast is so strictly observed that even Oyl is forbidden to Kaloires and few others especially of Women there be but who observe this prohibition unless on the 6th of August which being a Festival in memory of our Saviours Transfiguration they have a permission to eat Oyl and Fish but on other days they return again to their slender Diet. Besides which Grand Fasts there are some other Fasts as the 28th of August in commemoration of the decollation or beheading of St. John Baptist. Likewise there is another Fast beginning the first of September which continues until the fourteenth being the Feast of the exaltation of the Holy Cross in which time of fourteen days the History of the Passion is preached and represented But this last is only observed by Kaloirs and such as are entered into Vows and a Monastical life whose profession is Mortification and their business Religion In all which times they do not only abstain from Flesh or Lacticinia such as Butter Cheese and the like but also from Fish which have Scales or Finnes or Blood only Shell-Fish as Lobsters Crabs Oysters c. are lawful though it is probable that in them there may be more of heat and nourishment excepting only in that Lent which begins on the 15th of November it is lawful for them to eat all sorts of Fish as also other ordinary and Weekly Fasts of Wednesday and Friday oblige them only to an abstinence from Flesh and what comes from thence but all sorts of Fish are freely indulged And though Wednesdays and Frydays are for the most part Fasts through the whole year yet we must except from hence Wednesday and Friday of the eleventh Week before Easter which they call Arzeiburst the reason whereof as Christophorus Angelo reports was from the dog of certain Hereticks so called whom they used to send with Letters At lengh the Dog dying his Heretical Masters used to fast that 11th Week before Easter for sorrow in opposition to whom and to have no conformity with them the Orthodox appointed that Wednesday and Fryday of that Week should be exempted from any Obligation of abstinence On Whitson-Monday they abstain from Flesh and Fast by reason that the people meeting that morning in the Church ask of God the Communication of his Holy Spirit as he gave unto his Holy Apostles in commemoration of which they eat Flesh on Wednesday and Friday of that Week The 25th of March being the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin though it happen in Lent yet they have a priviledge to eat all sorts of Fish as they have to eat Flesh from Christmas to Epiphany Wednesdays and Frydays not being exempted and the first Week after Pentecost In like manner they are permitted to eat Flesh all the first Week of three before the great Lent which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sunday of which answers to our septuagesima The next Week following which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are commanded abstinence from Flesh Wednesdays and Frydays but the Week immediately before Lent is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies fresh Cheese it being a time when they may eat all sorts of Milk and what is made thereof likewise Eggs and Fish of all kinds being perhaps a time to prepare their Stomacks to a leaner and morerigorous Dyet This Lent begins on Monday as ours doth on Wednesday These Fasts are strictly observed and undergone by them with no less patience and sobriety than superstition supposing it a sin not less hainous willingly to break this Fast or transgress the rules of this Abstinence and with that the Institution and Rites of the Church than to commit Adultery or invade the possessions of his Neighbour Education and Custom hath brought them to that Opinion of Fasting that they believe Christianity can hardly be professed and subsist without it It is very pleasant to be observed what Cyrillus the Patriarch of Constantinople reports of the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem who being desirous to prove the sanctity of his Church and Religion to be greater than that of the Greeks or any others brings it for an Argument that they did not only abstain from flesh and fish in Lent but even also from Beans and Pease which the Greeks allowed of consulting the inclination of their Appetite more than true Religion On these grounds they can by no means be induced to believe the English and others of the reformed Churches to be Orthodox Christians because they neither use Fasting nor reverence the sign of the Cross two matters of great scandal amongst them though in point of observation of the Feasts according to the old style with them and by their opposition to the Church of Rome they are on the other side more unsatisfied and doubtful what to judge The severity of their Lents is more easily supported by the expected enjoyment of the following Festival at which time they run into such excesses of mirth and riot agreeable to the light and vain humour of that people that they seem to be revenged of their late sobriety and to make compensation to the Devil for their late temperance and mortification towards God and this extravagancy of Mirth and loose Debauchery they practise with so much liberty that their Priests reprove them not for it but rather maintain Drunkenness not to be a Sin on a Festival being a hearty memorial of the Holiness of the Saint or a Testimony of joy in commemoration of the works of mans Redemption but this is spoken rather as a corruption of manners than as a Tenent or Profession of that Church In the observation of these Fasts they are so rigid and superstitiously strict that they hold no case of necessity may or can claim a Dispensation and that the Patriarch hath not power and authority sufficient to give a License to eat flesh where the Church hath commanded Abstinence For suppose a person sick to death who with Broth made of Flesh or with an Egg may be recovered to life they say it were better he should dye than eat and sin Howsoever perhaps the Ghostly Father will be so far concern'd in the others health as to advise the sick Penitent in such cases to eat flesh and afterwards confessing the sin he promises to grant Absolution and this I have known to have sometimes been practised which perhaps amongst the ignorant Priests may be esteemed an excellent and an ingenious accommodation between humane Necessities and the Institutions of the Church But such of the wiser sort who have studied in Italy and there been seasoned with the Doctrine of the Latines believe their own Church endued with as much authority in Ecclesiasticks as the Roman and that the difficulty of granting
Licenses to eat flesh is a scruple grounded on that Government which is agreeable to the present state of things rather than want of power in the Church to grant Dispensations for it CHAP. VI. Of Feasts observed in the Greek Church THE Greeks begin their Year in September observing the first day thereof with jollity and feasting esteeming a chearful spirit to be a good Omen that the succeeding year shall be prosperous though not being dedicated to the memory and honour of any Saint it is no point of Religion to abstain from labour yet it is esteemed undecent arguing either covetousness or a necessitous poverty The grand Feast of the Year as amongst all other Christians is Easter or the Festival of the Resurrection at which time the Greeks have this ancient and laudable Custom When they meet their acquaintance in the Morning or at any time within the three days of Easter they salute with these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ is risen and then the other answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is risen indeed and so they kiss three times once on each Cheek and on the Mouth and so depart The second day of September is the Feast of S. John the abstemious not of Precept but of Devotion and therefore is only celebrated by Kaloires and other Religious in honour of the holy S. John Baptist who by his severe and abstemious life in the Wilderness set the first Example of holy Fasts to such as would be Disciples of the holy Jesus The twenty sixth is dedicated with great honour and devotion to the Translation of the Body of S. John the Evangelist into Heaven for they maintain that this S. John being banished by Trajan the Emperour into the Isle of Patmos and there having wrote the Apocalypse he passed over unto Ephesus where ending his glorious life he was interred but after some days burial his Disciples searching for his Body in the Grave found it not from whence immediately arose a belief that his Body was assumed into Heaven and placed in the Mansion of Enoch and Elias who in company together shall again return to converse on Earth before Antichrist is perfectly revealed and made known unto the World And this they partly ground on the words of our Saviour to S. Peter If I will that he stay till I come what is that to thee The Greeks as they delight in the Histories of their Saints and recount them with as much variety and fancy as the Latines do their Legends so I might in this place recite long and tedious Histories of them but because the lives of most of them are recorded in Holy Scripture and of the later of them in the Synaxarion of which Book we shall hereafter speak we shall only here mention Cosma and Damianus and St. George the Cappadocian which are persons who after the Apostles and immediate Disciples of Jesus with some Fathers of the Church such as St. Basil St. Chrysostom c. take up a principal place in the Greek Kalendar The first two are called the Holy Anargiri to whom I found a poor Oratory erected at Ephesus which was thrown up of late with a few loose stones encircling a little Altar without Roof in the place of a more ancient Church whither the Greeks resort on the first of November to say Mass and sing Hymns in praise and commemoration of these Saints whom they report to have been born in Asia their father a Gentile and their mother a Christian called Thedosa who educated these her two Sons in Religious Piety and laudable Sciences but they principally addicting themselves to the studies of Physick did by the Divine assistance cooperating with the means of Herbs and Medicines become such perfect Practitioners that they cured all Diseases incident to Man and Beast without Money or other consideration of Interest for which cause they were called the Anargiri or those that took no Money They farther report That Damianus was so strict in this point that he dissented greatly from his Brother Cosma for having only accepted of two Eggs from a poor Widow though employed on her self for an Unguent or Cataplasm for the Sciatica that he ever after avoided all society and converse with him and at his death gave order that his Brother should not be interred in the same Vault or Grave with him the which resolution of Damianus the Friends of both designed to perform but that carrying the Corps of Cosma to burial they were met by a Camel which opening his mouth as miraculously as Balaam's Ass admonished the Bearers to lay the Brothers in the same Tomb together for that neither the Crime of Cosma was so great nor the difference so lasting but that both their Bodies might be contained in the same Sepulchre whose Souls were already united in the same heavenly Mansion The Kaloires also farther boasting of the Miracles of these Saints tell us that at Athens there is a Well adjoining to the Porch of that Church which is dedicated to them which is dry the whole year excepting only on that day when their Festival is celebrated and begins to flow at the first words of the Mass which seem to have the same Efficacy on this Spring as Moses's Rod had upon the Rock to produce a Flood of sweet and delicious water not only pleasant to the taste but wholesom for the Body but dries up and fails with the Evening of the Festival St. George the Capadocian is in like manner highly reverenced by this People there being scarce a Town where are two Churches but one of them is dedicated to this Saint of whom they recount many and various stories and what is most strange they believe them all They say that he was born of noble Blood and lived in the time of Dioclesian the Emperour under whom arising a bloody persecution this Saint as a Champion of undaunted Courage publickly presented himself owning and avouching the Gospel to be the only true and saving Faith inveighing against Idolatry and superstitious Customs and belief of Gentilism This Christian boldness sharpened the Arms of persecution against the Saint so that the Executioner struck him into the Belly with a Lance which though a great effusion of Blood followed yet the Wound closed and immediately became whole They tell us of his being thrown into a Pit of Lime and his walking bare-foot on Planks studded with sharp Nails of his remaining unconsumed and untouched amidst the flames of his raising the dead of his slaying a Dragon on the Banks of Euphrates near a place now called by the Turks Barut which the Greeks and Christians of those parts show unto Travellers to this day by which variety of Miracles many were converted unto the Christian Faith amongst which was the Queen Alexandra Wife of Dioclesian At length the time being come that this Saint was to dye the power of his persecutors prevailed against him by whom his head being struck off his soul ascended into
it was judged necessary in those days to super-add this Ceremony to the more material parts of Baptism Before Baptism the Priest blows three times upon the Child to dispossess the Devil of his Seat then he pours Oyl on the Water in form of a Cross as a token of peace and reconciliation between God and Man and of regeneration by the Spirit as appears by this Prayer immediately following that Ceremony O Lord the God of our Fathers who sentest to those in Noah's Ark a Dove bearing in her mouth an Olive-Leafe the token of reconciliation denoting the mystery of Salvation and Grace by the flood and bestowing the fruit of the Olive for perfecting the mysteries of thy Saints by which thou satisfyest those who are in the Law of the Holy Spirit and in the Grace of Perfection do thou bless this Oyl with Power †Energy †and Illumination of the Holy Spirit that it may be the Chrism against all Filthiness the Armour of Righteousness and the renewing of the Spirit †and conversion of the Body from all Diabolical Works Immediately before the Act of Baptism the Priest takes the Child from the Arms of the God-father or Surety of which the Greek Church requires but one and making the sign of the Cross with Oyl on the Forehead Breast and reins of the back saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Servant of the Lord is anointed when he seals the Breast as they call it he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for cure of soul and body then he anoints the Ears 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that by hearing Faith may be received the Feet that they may walk in the ways of God the hands that they may perform good Actions and thus the Child being anointed the Priest dippeth it three times into the Water and looking towards the East saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Servant of God is baptized And these are the Principal Ceremonies observed in Baptism by the Greek Church In Baptism one God-father stands at the Font if it be a Male-child and one God-mother if it be a Female which Gossips or compari and as they call them in Greek comparos esteem themselves to have the same duty incumbent on them in the Care and Education of the Child as hath the natural Father and hereby so great a Friendship is contracted between the two Gossips that ever after they are concerned for each others interest and they fancy that imaginary relation of a sacred consanguinity arising hence that the God-father cannot marry the Wife of his deceased Compare nor his Son the Daughter of him nor can they mix Blood for several descents after but under the censure of Incest and condemnation of the Church all which did arise at first from the undecency of the Godfather marrying the Child to which he was a Father in Baptism The Georgians which in some manner depend on the Greek Church baptize not their Children until they be eight years of Age they formerly did not admit them to Baptism until 14 but by means of such Preachers as the Patriarch of Antioch sends amongst them yearly they were taught how necessary it was to baptize Infants and how agreeable it was to the practice of the ancient Church but these being a people very tenacious of the Doctrines they once received could hardly be perswaded out of this errour till at length being wearied with the importunate Arguments of the Greeks they consented as it were to a middle way and so came down from 14 to 8 years of Age and cannot as yet be perswaded to a nearer complyance CHAP. VI. Of the second Mystery called Chrism in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHRISM though used in Baptism is yet different from it being the Seal or Confirmation of the party baptized in order to a performance of those Vows which he then makes The Oriental Confession declares that as the Spirit of God descended on the Apostles in form of Fire enduing them with supernatural graces and gifts agreeable to that employment whereunto they are called so this Chrism which is an anointing of the Infant with Oyl in most parts of the Body as before mentioned using these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Seal of the Spirit of God is instituted by Gods Church as a means to convey Grace and Strength to the Receiver the authority whereof is grounded on the 2 Cor. c. 1. v. 21 22. Now he which established us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts And as their Oriental Confession hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is as formerly the Spirit of God was conveyed by the imposition of hands so now it is by this Chrism or anointing with Oyl And the Greeks farther say That Dionysius the Areopagite Schollar of S. Paul testifies so much In this manner we may perceive how symbolical and proper Oyl is esteemed in the Greek Church to represent the mysteries of Grace being used in Baptism Confirmation in all their solemn Acts of blessing in extreme Unction or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we have already declared and it is here to be observed that the Greeks do baptize and confirm at the same time and for that reason this anointing is used On Good-Fryday the Arch-Bishop or Bishop makes and sanctifies the Chrism or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hallowing a quantity of Oyl sufficient to supply all the manners of anointing for the whole year the which is worked to a consistency as thick as Butter The Composition of which together with the Oyl are Xylobalsamum Echinanthes Myrrhe Xylocatia Carpobalsamum Ladanum and several other odoriferous Gums and Spices The manner of the consecration of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is very ceremonious for the Oyl being as before prepared the Curate carries it in an Alablaster-Box with a Covering to it and sets it upon the Altar being accompanied with his Deacons Then the Curate taking it from thence and being attended likewise with his Deacons who carry Lamps in their hands he meets the Patriarch or Bishop at the Gate of the Church and there delivers the Alablaster-Box into his hand who having received it places it at the left hand of the Communion-Table and then one of the Deacons says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us perform our Prayers unto the Lord. Then the Patriarch if present or else the Bishop ascends to the foot of the Communion-Table and covering the Holy Oyl with a Vail signs it three times with the sign of the Cross adding with a low voice this Prayer Merciful Lord and Father of Lights from whom every perfect good and gift proceeds bestow upon us unworthy grace to perform this great and life-giving Mystery in the same manner as thou gavest to Moses thy faithful Servant and Samuel thy Servant and all the Holy Apostles And send thy holy Spirit on this Ointment Make it a Royal Chrism a Spiritual Chrism conserving
taking the Bread and the Wine together in a Spoon from the hand of the Priest The Bread is made of the finest Wheaten Flower with Leaven from whence arises a sharp Dispute between them and the Latines the latter of which argues That it ought to be without Leaven in regard that it is more than probably presumed that the Institution of this Sacrament being ordained at the time of the Passeover it was administred with unleavened Bread which was only lawful on that occasion The Wine in the Sacrament before Consecration they mix with Water in representation of the Blood and Water which issued out of the side of our blessed Saviour opened by the Spear of the Roman Souldier The mixing of Wine with Water in this Holy Sacrament is no question of great Antiquity in the Church being acknowledged by most of the ancient Writers Fathers and Councils and particularly by Cyprian who believes it to have been so practised by Christ himself Others judge it an Ordinance of the Church only but all agree and assent unto it as to a Custom derived from a long Antiquity The Modern Writers of the Reformed Religion such as Vossius and othersâ— do not deny but that the Primitive Church mixed Waterâ— with their Wine in this Sacrament because drinking the same Wine at the Agapae or Love-Feasts as they did at the Lords Supper they might give occasion to the World to censure their Intemperance were their Wines which in the Eastern parts of the World are generous and strong not tempered and their force abated with Water This probably may be the Reason hereof rather than any Inference that can be made from the Example of our Saviour declared in the Holy Evangelists or the practice of the Church specified by the Apostles But because this Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is an essential part of the Christian Worship and greatly controverted between the Reformed and Roman Churches it will not be impertinent to set down distinctly the form and manner how it is celebrated in the Greek Church In the next place the Priest cuts off a second part from the Loaf before mentioned and forms it in the fashion of a Triangle Δ saying In honour and memory of our blessed Lady Mother of God and perpetual Virgin Mary through whose Prayers O Lord accept this Sacrifice to thy Celestial Altar and this Triangular is placed on the left hand of the formen with these words the Queen stood by in a Vesture of Gold c. Then the Priest takes the third part of the Loaf from which with his Lance in like manner he cuts out a small piece and places it under the first which he designed for himself and says of the honoured and glorious prophet the fore-runner of Christ John the Baptist then takes out a second and places it under the former saying of the holy glorious Prophets Moses Aaron Elias and all the other holy Prophets then taking out a third places it under the second and says of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul and of all the twelve Apostles and so is finished the first Order Next the Priest cuts another small piece from the remaining parts of the Bread and places it near the first part and says of our Holy Fathers and Prelates of Basil the great of Gregory the Divine of John Chrysostom Athanasius Cyril and of all the Holy Doctors then he takes another piece and places it under that immediately before going and says of the Apostle first Martyr and Arch-Deacon Stephen and of the holy Martyrs Demetrius Gregory and all the other Martyrs then he takes a third and places it under the second saying of the holy Confessors Antonius Euthymius Sabba and Onuphrius Then is taken out another particle and placed under the left Angle of that part which the Priest is to receive who proceeds and says of the holy and miraculous Anargyri Cosma †Damianus Cyrus and John the merciful under which is also placed another particle of the holy Progenitors of the blessed Virgin Joachim and Anna and last of all is taken out a ninth particle in honour of S. Chrysostom whose Liturgy is that day read naming with him the Saint whose Festival is that day celebrated which nine particles of Bread represent the nine Hierarchies of Angels and are adjoyned to this Office in honour and commemoration of the Saints and Martyrs departed Then follows the Offertory for the living The Priest taking another small piece from the Bread says Remember O Lord who art a Lover of Mankind every Christian Prelate naming particularly the Bishop of the Diocess and of him who ordained him unto Ecclesiastical Orders and places it on his right hand names all those living which are recommended to their Prayers especially those who paid for that Mass. Then last of all is taken out another small piece of Bread which is laid on the left haâ—â— in commemoration of the Founders of the Church and of the Parents and Friends of those who are departed which paid for the Mass the meaning and nature of which Commemoration we shall declare more particularly in the Chapter wherein we treat of the Office for the Dead Things thus prepared in order for the Sacrament the Priest raises the form of a Star in Silver and holds it over that Bread which is ordained for Consecration in the Eucharist saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Star stood over the place where the young Child was and repeating some short Prayers and Ejaculations that God would purifie him and make him worthy to offer this glorious Sacrifice he goes forth from the place of the Offertory and reads the Epistle and Gospel for the day in representation of the Apostles going forth into the world to preach and propagate the Christian Faith Then the Priest returning takes the Bread and Wine covers it and before the Consecration is completed and as they say themselves not yet transubstantiated sets it on his head and goes in Procession with it through all the Church at which time the people bow worship and make the Sign of the Cross casting the sick and infirm in the way that the Priest striding over them they may receive some miraculous benefit and remedy by the direct beams and influx of the Sacrament which when I have objected to some Priests as a thing strange to see the Elements adored before Consecration till which time they could not pretend them to be transubstantiated They knew not well how to answer otherwise than that they adored the Elements as being in immediate capacity and disposition to be converted into the true Body and Blood of Christ. The Creed or Symbolum Apostolicum is next repeated and then the Cover or Vail is taken off called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then over the Bread the air is moved with a Fan signifying the wind and breath of the Spirit which illuminated and inspired the Apostles when they composed the Articles of this holy Faith Then are
read the same words which we use at the Consecration of the holy Communion viz. In the same night when he was betrayed he took Bread and when he had given thanks he brake it c. Then follows this Prayer with some Soliloquies Lord who in the third hour didst send thy holy Spirit graciously take it not away from us but grant it unto us praying Lord make clean our hearts within us Which Prayer is repeated three times with the head bowed down and then the Priest raising himself again with an humble voice saith Lord hear my Prayer and lifting up his hand by way of blessing adds make this Bread the holy Body of Christ. Amen And here all the order of Consecration being finished he thus proceeds Thou art my God thou art my King I adore thee piously and faithfully And so covering again the Chalice which contains both species he elevates it and the People worship The Priest then Communicates eating that part of the Bread which in the time of preparation was divided into four pieces and the other three he puts into the Chalice of which with great devotion he sups three times and having himself received he administers the rest in a Spoon in both Kinds to the Communicants which being done the Chalice is carried to the side-Table of Preparation called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therein are also put the remaining Particles which were laid aside and designed for commemoration of the living and dead of which when the Priest hath received some himself the remainder is divided amongst the Communicants Thus the Mass being finished the Priest cleanses the Cup with great care lest any thing should remain of the Sacrament to be carelesly and prophanely treated It is the Custom in this Church to conserve the Sacrament for the use of the sick but it is never exposed to the view of the People unless at the time of Celebration and thence also covered in the Chalice with a Vail But a most laudable Custom it is in this Church That those who intend to Communicate before they dare to approach the Altar and receive the Divine Mystery they first retire to the bottom of the Church and there ask forgiveness of the whole Congregation desiring their pardon in case they have offended any particular person whatsoever If any one at that time acknowledges himself agrieved or injured the party abstains and withdraws from the Sacrament until such time as he is reconciled and his Adversary satisfied The words they use are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pardon us Brethren for we have sinned in word and deed The people answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God pardon you Brethren Immunis ar am si tetigit manus Non sumptuosa blandior hostia Mollibit aversos Deos Farre pio Saliente Mica CHAP. X. Of the fourth Mystery called Priesthood wherewith is treated of their Monasteries Orders of Fryars and Nuns and the austerity of their Lives P Riesthood amongst the Greeks is accounted one of the seven Mysteries of the Church in respect of that Power and Authority the Clergy is endued with for dispensation of the Mysteries of mans salvation as the power of the Keys for loosing and binding sins the power and energy of Preaching and interpreting the holy Scriptures as Oracles of God of receiving into the Church baptizing cleansing and regenerating with water in a mysterious manner from the foulness of Original sin power of administring the Sacrament of the holy Eucharist the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Chrism of healing the body by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or holy Oyl matters of such deep and profound concernment beyond the most sublime and elevated understanding as cannot proceed from the vertue and efficacy of any natural calling but only from that unintelligible and mysterious Character of the Priesthood acoording to that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4. v. 1. Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God Besides the different Orders of Religious and Secular Priests there are others distinctly appointed to administer in the Church and at the Altar namely Anagnostes who is ordained only to read the Hymns which are sung and the Prophets of the Old Testament the Psaltes which is appointed to sing the Psalms of David the Lampadarios who hath the care to trim the Lamps the Deacons and Sub-deacons who read the Epistles and Gospels all which are initiated and first blessed by the Bishop with imposition of hands who gives to the Anagnostes a Bible or Book of the holy Scripture which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to the Psaltes the Psalms of David signing and blessing them with the sign of the Cross All which after Ordination have the Crowns of their heads shaven Of Priests there are two sorts who have the power of Preaching and Administring the Sacraments viz. Secular and Religious The first though married have license to enter into holy Orders but their Wives dying they cannot be admitted to a second Marriage of which hard Injunction of their Church some early Widowers have complained unto me with sad remembrances of their past estate and inabilities for a continent life These wear Caps turned up with white from which hangs a fall of the same Cloth on their backs which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Dove being a Badge of their innocent life but this is oftentimes nay most commonly forfeited being cut off by the Bishop for some omission of duty or commission of sin so that few are observed to have continued this evidence of purity so frail are even Priests in those appetites which they profess to subdue The Religious Priests are called Kaloires from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good Priest or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good old Fathers which are Monks inclosed or encloistered in Monasteries professing chastity and obedience Their Order is of S. Basil besides which there is no other amongst the Greeks their Habit is a long Cassock of coarse Cloth girt to them of Camel colour with a Cap of Felt or Wool made to cover their ears and covered with a black Cool called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their Government and way of living is very austere and strict for they wholly abstain from flesh for all their life In the Lents and times of Fasting they are nourished with Bread and Fruits Oyl and Fish with blood not being allowed which with Lacticinia and Eggs are the Dishes and Delicacies indulged at their Feasts and times of less austerity Most of their time is taken up in their Quires being obliged every day in Lent to read over the whole Psalter once and at the end of every four Psalms is said the Gloria Patri c. with three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Metagnai or in better Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they call them which is a bowing or kissing the ground three times At the end of every ten Psalms
which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are made forty Metagni or bowings on the knees kissing the ground which every Kaloir hath obligation to perform 300 times every 24 hours unless any one of them be sick and then his Santolo who is the Priest who first covered him with the habit is bound to do it for him The one half of these Bowings is performed in the two first hours of the Night and the other half at mid-night before they arise to Mattins which are to begin four hours before day and to end with the dawning of the morning At that season of the year when the Nights are long a great part of the Nocturnal Devotion is spent in rehearsing the Psalms of David and at the end of every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or ten Psalms is read some short relation of the life of some holy man or devout Hermite or some select and choice pieces of St. Chrysostom or S. Basil or of some holy and devout Doctor of the Church Afterwards are read or sung nine Hymns consisting of twelve Verses a-piece six of which are sung in honour of the blessed Virgin and three in honour of the Saint to whom the Church is dedicated or of him whose Festival is that day celebrated before which business is finished the day especially in the Summer breaks upon them and the Sun arises before their Devotions are ended so that they have scarce the time and liberty of a convenient and natural repose The Lent before Easter they commonly begin with three days of Fast without tasting either Bread or Water at the end of which time the Kaloirs appear all before their Prior or Abbot entering one by one at one door and bow before him and he giving them his blessing they pass out at the other where in an outward room stands a Basket of Bread of which who will may take none observing who eats or who still continues his Fasts which some of strongest complexions maintain until the end of five days not tasting so much as Water There are some of this Order who are Reformed or pass into a more strict severity of life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who are as it were dead to the World taking no other sustenance than Bread and Water and that with great moderation using moreover much fasting in the times of Lent but these are commonly such whom we call Anchorites or Hermites living in Caves or Desarts of which sort there are many in Mount Athos called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Holy Mountain of which we shall treat in the following Chapter To such strictness of life as this none is admitted without approbation on tryal first made of his abilities of body for such subjection in which time he takes upon him the most servile and laborious Offices aâ— ringing of the Bell knocking or calling at the set hours of Prayer lighting the Lamps or the like I fly knocking or calling because in no parts of Turkie or Dominions of the G. Signor unless in Moldâ—â—â—â— Valachia and Mount Athos are Bells permitted Which time of approbation being passed over with the good esteem and opinion of the Monastery he is admitted and eâ—â—â—â—â—â— to be a Kaloir and vested with the Habit with the usual Prayers and Ceremonies In these Monasteries they especially respect the Vigils to the principal Feasts as of Christmas Easter and Pentecost called by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Vigils which are Watchings beginning at the third hour of the night and continue until the morning in which time the whole Psalter of David is read over and the morning being come the Liturgy begins which with other parts of Divine Service continues until Noon But because in this manner the Kaloires who live in Convents are obliged to long attendances in their Churches and to their Offices which are so exceeding prolix and tedious that they cannot comply therewith and yet serve the necessary demands of life without other assistances There are therefore in every Monastery stery certain Lay-Brothers who take on them the Habit obliging themselves to the rule of this Order called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Converts men weary of the Vanities of the World and Penitent who having been guilty of some mortal sins in token of their contrition and conversion to a better life confine themselves to the strict Rules of S. Basil. These govern all the domestick affairs of the Monastery keep their Sheep and other Cattel in which some Monasteries are very rich and though by obligation of their Order they dare not taste the tenderest of their Herds yet in times which are not Fasts they can drink the Milk and enjoy comfortably the plenty of their Dairy these also dig the Vineyards tread the Wine-press and the whole Monastery drinks freely of their own Cellars Out of some Monasteries they frequently send forth Messengers which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to collect from distant places the Contribution of charitable people in which Employment they continue for the space of five years after which returning home they are separated from the rest being confined to their Cells for the space of a Month in which time they have leisure and opportunity to consider their omissions their neglect of Offices and Duties and what sins they committed during the time they were in the World and accordingly make satisfaction to God and their Consciences Many of this sort of people are long-lived in regard they are temperate in eating and drinking and ever unacquainted with Women â— once knew one of them who was an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a Monastery in Cyprus called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereunto belonged 200 Kaloirs he told me that he was 119 years of age and the better to assure me he was not mistaken in his Calculate he confidently affirmed that he remembred the taking of Cyprus by the Turk when the Channels of his Town ran with blood which according to History may be about the space of 107 years past and at that time he conceived that he might have been about 12 years of age when he remembers that the cruel Souldiers bloodily massacring all persons which met them in their fury his Mother defended him from violence for having the fortune to meet with a Souldier more flexible than the rest she fell on the body of this her Son and by her Prayers and Tears prevailed to rescue him from deathâ— in commemoration of which deliverance she afterwards dedicated him to the service of God speedily entering him into the Order of Kaloires he never remembers to have eaten flesh his Father lived but to 80 years of age but his Grandfather to 158. But not only men amongst the Greeks enter into Monastical lives but likewise pious and devout maids who dedicating themselves to the service of God enter into Monasteries vowing Poverty and Chastity Widows also having fallen into mortal sins and desirous to
there will want 100 Dollars per Month to complete the Tribute according to the ancient Tax of the Monasteries occasioned by the Poverty of the three Monasteries before denoted which remain in the condition and under notion of Kesim and rendred unable to pay the Tax Wherefore it being necessary to find out the complete sum of an hundred Dollars more per Month the other Monasteries were forced to answer for the inabilities of their Brethren and to add a new Tax proportionable to the first estimation of their Revenue and Riches And now by the Premises it appears that Laura Batopedi Chiliadar and Ibero are the four chief and most flourishing Monasteries both in respect of their Revenues abroad as well as of the limits of Land allotted them on the Mountain what their Lands and Vineyards are and benefits arising from thence is well known and may easily be calculated but Donatives arising from abroad which are the charitable Contributions of well-disposed people as they are for the most part uncertain so they are hidden and concealed as much as is possible Howsoever they all plead misery and poverty which will be a Riddle and Mystery to any person to whom they will shew or expose their Treasure unless they be compared to the condition of the wealthy miser who is miserable and starving amidst the heaps of his Gold for he that sees the various Coverings they have for their Altars the rich Ornaments they have for their Churches will not easily apprehend those people to be poor For amongst their other Treasures they have first a representation of Christ in the Sepulchre which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exposed every Good-Friday at night and is very rich with Gold and Precious Stones Most of their Monasteries can represent the History of its Foundation not in Paint or Colours but in Embroideries of Gold and Pearl and other pretious Stones intermixed with singular Art and Curiosity They have also variety of rich Vestments for the Priest especially in the four chief Monasteries where are many Chests filled with such Robes as are used at the celebration of Divine Service Their Basons Ewers Dishes Plates Candlesticks and Incense-Pots of Silver are not to be reckoned many of which are of pure Gold or Silver gilt They have Crosses of a vast bigness edged with plates of Gold and studded with pretious Stones from whence hang strings of Oriental Pearl The Covers of their Books of the Gospel Epistles Psalters and Missals are often embossed with beaten Gold or curiously bound up with Cases of Gold or Silver gilt or plain Silver Many of which Utensils and Ornaments have been the Presents of the Dukes of Moscovy before the time that that Country declined or fell off from their respect to the Patriarch of Constantinople howsoever Moldavia Valachia and Georgia remaining constant to that Patriarchate have been anciently and still continue to be very liberal and splendid in their Presents to these Monasteries towards one or more of which some Prince or Princess of those Countries do always evidence an extraordinary devotion especially the Georgians whose Country was anciently called Iberia are ever bountiful to the Monastery of Ibero by whose Charity it is become as considerable as any of the other Monasteries With such Presents and Donatives the Churches of this Mountain are enabled to make very splendid Processions which they practice with great state and magnificence on the high Festivals of the year and the common 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Procession in the time of Divine Service is so stately and pompous that it affects the hearts of the Vulgar with so much reverence and devotion to the holy Rites that scarce any of them will depart or at least think he receives a blessing by his attendance unless he leaves his gift behind him in testimony of his real and hearty affection imitating perhaps the ancient Custom in the times of Gentilism when every one who approached the Altar was obliged to offer something though but a handful of Flower or Salt It would be a matter of great work and something difficult to trace the original of these Monasteries and to render an account of the various vicissitudes of Fortune which they have undergone We know well that in the times of the Arians the divisions of Religion impoverished these Monasteries And afterwards Michael Paleologus on a politick design to maintain and support his Empire was contented to introduce the Roman Faith and the Popes Supremacy into the Greek Church as it happened about the year 1430 in the time of Pope Eugenius the Fourth which was the cause of great disturbance and ruine in this Mountain For the Kaloires remaining resolute against the Papal Authority assaulted the Romish Priests at the very Altar whereby such dissensions and skirmishes arose that some Monasteries were burnt and others demolished in the Contest and at length the Romanists being forced to give way carried with them some of the holy Spoils and much of their Riches But if you examine the Kaloires concerning these particulars they can inform you no otherwise than that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unbelievers such as Turks Saracens and they know not who or Iconomachi oppugners of Pictures or such who would place sculptile Images in the place of painted Histories being those who brought all those ruines on them of which Books relate such sad Stories Wherefore for knowledge of these matters being obliged to Books of ancient History we shall only touch on those Monasteries which are of most esteem and riches amongst them and for account thereof shall depend on such imperfect Relations as they produce and first of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hagia Laura was begun at the expence of Nicephorus the Emperour and at the instance of a most devout person in those days called Athanasius and though this Emperour was cut off about the year 803 leaving this Structure imperfect yet Athanasius continuing his endeavours perswaded others to finish this pious Work and at length obtained such considerable Contributions thereunto that the Building was completed and adorned in an excellent manner Since which time not only the main Structure but many little Chappels and Oratories have been erected within the Walls to the number of 19 by means and assistance of good and well-disposed people who entertained a particular devotion for that Monastry the which though chiefly founded by those Collections which were made by Athanasius yet it will be no wonder that so many Chappels were added thereunto if we believe what the Kaloires report that when their money failed the blessed Virgin concerning her self in the merit became their Benefactoress and supplyed whatsoever came short in the account The Story of Athanasius they report in this manner He was as they say born at Trapezond of a good Family of good parts and of some Learning and being addicted to a godly retired life he applied himself to a certain reverend person called
than those who are Drones or unskilful in any Art or Trade Whether such men as these can read or not it matters not much for there is not one of a hundred of them so well learned it is sufficient if he can make his Cross and his Metagnia before the blessed Virgin which is a bowing on their Knees touching the ground with their Forehead which some will do 300 times together as I have already declared in the foregoing Chapter But the Fathers or Priests are of a Classis or Form above these for they can all read and write from the Prior to the lowest Deacon though very few of them understand the learned or School Greek in any perfection for it would puzzle the wisest heads amongst them to interpret every word in their Liturgy and yet they are so expert and ready therein that they can run from the beginning to the ending without stop or hesitation and gallop it over at that rate that one must have a good ear and some skill in the Greek Language to distinguish the different sound of the words which they utter besides which their chief study is of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hymns of John Damascen and to find out and know the proper Lessons for the day and the Offices of the Church with all the Responses and Suffrages which is a Learning so intricate as requires some practice and application of the mind But such as have any Learning more than the rest it consists for the most in the knowledge they have of the Fathers and Councils of their own Church and in the Ecclesiastical Authors of the first Century after Constantine the Great The Latine and Hebrew Tongues and any besides the Greek they contemn and esteem as prophane Philosophy and Mathematicks being matters of Humane Learning they account as unnecessary for men who lead a mortified and spiritual life to whom also all Books are unlawful but such as treat of Divinity and a holy and devout way of living Every Monastery hath its Library of Books which are kept in a lofty Tower under the custody of one whom they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who also is their Steward receives their money and renders an account of all their Expences but we must not imagine that these Libraries are conserved in that order as ours are in the parts of Christendom that they are ranked and compiled in method on Shelves with Labels of the Contents or that they are brushed and kept clean like the Libraries of our Colleges but they are piled one on the other without order or method covered with dust and exposed to the Worm They have few Books amongst them but what treat of Divinity and as I have heard they have scarce any of much worth in regard that the Emissaries of France and other parts have by force of money deprived them of all the choicest Books in their Libraries Nor have they as I have been well inform'd one Book that varies in the least from the Doctrine of the Seventh Council for there is not one Book to be found of those which were wrote by those whom they call Hereticks esteeming that the easiest way to confute a Heretick and stop his Doctrine in its progress is to condemn the same and burn his Book In every Monastery they have Bells such as they daily use are small but those of greatest bigness are of about 4 or 500 weight which they ring at Festivals when they would make the greatest noise and rejoicing on these their Clocks strike which are fixed like those on our Churches in England which are not to be found as I remember in any other place in Turkey unless at Buda where I saw one of this sort For conclusion In this manner this Mountain of Athos is inhabited and this is the Government amongst these Religious men of the Greek Church who are for the most part good simple men of godly lives given greatly to devotion and acts of mortification for as out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks so these men discoursing with a lively sense of God and of his Service we may without over-much credulity or easiness of belief conclude them not only to be real and moral good men but such also as are something touched with the Spirit of God whose devotion and affection to his Commands and Precepts shall carry them farther in their way to Heaven than the Wisdom of the most profound Philosophers or the wisest Clerks And that such people are found in the world endowed with such Priviledges in the Countries of the Grand Oppressour of Christendom to God's Name be Glory and Honour now and for ever Amen CHAP. XII Of Confession Contrition and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the sanctified Oyl practised in this Church BEfore we treat of this last Mystery which is the Oyl of Prayer let us premise something touching the Confession of sins which is to be performed four times in the year to a Priest lawfully Constituted and Ordained that is for such who have leisure and convenience of living Priests and others entred into holy Orders or into a life of Regular Devotion are obliged to a Confession once a Month. The labouring and common people are enjoined to a Confession but once a year and that before their entrance into the great Lent which is before Easter To sick and infirm people it is recommended as a Remedy against the Diseases of the Soul and ease of a burdened Conscience Repentance the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is by them defined to be A sorrow of heart for sin of which a man accuses himself before a Priest with a firm resolution to correct the errours of his past life by that which is to come and with intention to perform whatsoever shall be enjoined him by his Spiritual Pastor for his Penance By which definition it appears how necessary the Greeks esteem Confession to a Priest having these words in the Orthodox Doctrine of the Oriental Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Priest cannot release unless he enquire first what he is to release and likewise it is apparent by the foregoing Definition That the Priest hath power to enjoin Penance which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as Prayers extraordinary Alms Fastings visiting of holy Places and the like When the Penitent comes to Confession the Priest utters these words to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold the Angel of the Lord is at hand to take thy Confession see therefore that thou conceal no sin for fear of shame for I also am a man and a sinner as thou art To such Penitents who are sick and languishing and find their Consciences guilty of any mortal sin as Fornication Adultery or Pride which tends to the contempt of God is administred the Sacrament of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or The Oyl of Prayer which is performed by the Bishop or Arch-Bishop assisted by seven Priests and begins
the Synod of Nice and of all other holy Synods and being without the Church of Christ let no man administer unto them the things of the Church or bless them or offer Sacrifice for them or give them the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the blessed Bread or eat or drink or work with them or converse with them and after death let no man bury them in penalty of being under the same state of Excommunication for so let them remain until they have performed what is here written The effect of this dreadful Sentence is reported by the Greek Priests to have been in several instances so evident that none doubts or disbelieves the consequences of all those maledictions repeated therein and particularly that the body of an excommunicated person is not capable of returning to its first Principles until the Sentence of Excommunication is taken off It would be esteemed no Curse amongst us to have our Bodies remain uncorrupted and entire in the Grave who endeavour by Art and Aromatick spices and Gums to preserve them from Corruption And it is also accounted amongst the Greeks themselves as a miracle and particular grace and favour of God to the Bodies of such whom they have Canonized for Saints to continue unconsumed and in the moist damps of a Vault to dry and desiccate like the Mummies in Egypt or in the Hot sands of Arabia But they believe that the Bodies of the Excommunicated are possessed in the Grave by some evil spirit which actuates and preserves them from Corruption in the same manner as the Soul informes and animates the living body and that they feed in the night walk digest and are nourished and have been found ruddy in Complexion and their Veins after forty days Burial extended with Blood which being opened with a Lancet have yielded a gore as plentiful fresh and quick as that which issues from the Vessels of young and sanguine persons This is so generally believed and discoursed of amongst the Greeks that there is scarce one of their Country Villages but what can witness and recount several instances of this nature both by the relation of their Parents and Nurses as well as of their own knowledge which they tell with as much variety as we do the Tales of Witches and Enchantments of which it is observed in Conversation that scarce one story is ended before another begins of like wonder But to let pass the common and various Reports of the Vulgar this one may suffice for all which was recounted to me with many asseverations of its truth by a grave Candiot Kaloir called Sofronio a Preacher and a person of no mean repute and learning at Smyrna I knew said he a certain person who for some misdemeanours committed in the Morea fled over to the Isle of Milo where though he avoided the hand of Justice yet could not avoid the Sentence of Excommunication from which he could no more fly than from the conviction of his own Conscience or the guilt which ever attended him for the fatal hour of his death being come and the Sentence of the Church not revoked the Body was carelesly and without Solemnity interred in some retired and unfrequented place In the mean time the Relations of the deceased were much afflicted and anxious for the sad estate of their dead Friend whilst the Paisants and Islanders were every night affrighted and disturbed with strange and unusual apparitions which they immediately concluded arose from the Grave of the accursed Excommunicant which according to their Custom they immediately opened and therein found the Body uncorrupted ruddy and the Veins replete with Blood The Coffin was furnished with Grapes Aples and Nuts and such fruit as the Season afforded Whereupon Consultation being made the Kaloires resolved to make use of the common Remedy in those cases which was to cut and dismember the Body into several parts and to boyl it in Wine as the approved means to dislodge the evil Spirit and dispose the body to a dissolution But the friends of the deceased being willing and desirous that the Corps should rest in peace and some ease given to the departed Soul obtained a Reprieve from the Clergy and hopes that for a sum of Money they being persons of a competent Estate a Release might be purchased from this Excommunication under the hand of the Patriarch In this manner the Corps were for a while freed from dissection and Letters thereupon sent to Constantinople with this direction That in case the Patriarch should condescend to take off the Excommunication that the day hour and minute that he signed the Remission should be inserted in the Date And now the Corps were taken into the Church the Country-people not being willing they should remain in the Field and Prayers and Masses daily said for its dissolution and pardon of the Offender When one day after many Prayers Supplications and Offerings as this Sofronio attested to me with many protestations and whilst he himself was performing Divine Service on a sudden was heard a rumbling noise in the Coffin of the dead party to the fear and astonishment of all persons then present which when they had opened they found the Body consumed and dissolved as far into its first Principles of Earth as if it had been seven years interred The hour and minute of this dissolution was immediately noted and precisely observed which being compared with the Date of the Patriarchs release when it was signed at Constantinople it was found exactly to agree with that moment in which the Body returned to its Ashes This story I should not have judged worth relating but that I heard it from the mouth of a grave person who says That his own eyes were Witnesses thereof and though notwithstanding I esteem it a matter not assured enough to be believed by me yet let it serve to evidence the esteem they entertain of the validity and force of Excommunication I had once the curiosity to be present at the opening of a Grave of one lately dead who as the people of the Village reported walked in the night and affrighted them with strange Phantasmes but it was not my fortune to see the Corps in that nature nor to find the Provisions with which the spirit nourishes it but only such a Spectacle as is usual after six or seven days Burial in the Grave howsoever Turks as well as Christians discourse of these matters with much confidence This high esteem and efficacy being put on Excommunication one would believe that the Priests should endeavour to conserve the reverence thereof being the Basis and main support of their Authority and that therefore they should not so easily make use thereof on every frivolous occasion that so familiarity might not render it contemptible and the salvation of mens Souls not seem to be played with on every slight and trivial Affair But such is the much to be lamented poverty in this Church that they are not only forced to sell Excommucations
but the very Sacraments and to expose the most reverend and mysterious Offices of Religion unto sale for maintenance and support of the Priesthood The taking off Excommunications after death hath been usual but the Excommunicating after death may seem a strange kind of severity for so we read that Theodosius Bishop of Alexandria excommunicated Origen two hundred years after his decease On the same Authority of Excommunication depends the power of re-admission again into the Church which according to the Greek Canon is not to be obtained easily or at every cold request of the Penitent but after proof or tryal first made of a hearty and serious conversion evidenced by the constant and repeated actions of a holy life and the patient and obedient performance of Penance imposed and enjoined by the Church Such as have aposâ—â—â—tized from the Faith by becomiâ—â—â— Turks under the age of 14 years upon their repentance and desire of return to the Church sought earnestly with tears signified and attested by 40 days fasting with bread and water accompanied with continual Prayer day and night are afterwards received solemnly into the Church in presence of the Congregation the Priest making a Cross on the Forehead of the Penitent with the Oyl of Chrism or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 usually administred to such who return from the ways of darkness and mortal sins But of such who in riper years fall away from the Faith as many Greeks do for the sake of Women or escape of punishment their re-admission or reception again into the Church is more difficult for to some of them there is enjoined a Penance of six or seven years humbling themselves with extraordinary Fasts and continual Prayer during which time they remain in the nature of Catechumeni without the use or comfort of the Eucharist or Absolution unless at the hour of death in which the Church is so rigorous that the Patriarch himself is not able to release a Penance of this nature imposed only by a simple Priest and for receiving Penitents of this nature there is a set Form or Office in the Greek Liturgy But now we have few Examples of those Apostates who return from the Mahometan to the Christian faith for none dares own such a Conversion but he who dares to dye for it so that that practice and admirable part of Discipline is become obsolete and disused Yet some there have been even in my time both of the Greek and Armenian Churches who have afforded more Heroick Examples of Repentance than any of those who have tryed themselves by the Rules and Canons prescribed for after that they denyed the Faith and for some years have carried on their heads the Badge or distinction of a Mahometan feeling some remorses of Conscience they have so improved the same by the sparks of some little grace remaining that nothing could appease or allay the present torment of their minds but a return to that Faith from whence they were fallen In this manner having communicated their anguish and desires to some Bishop or grave person of the Clergy and signifying withal their Courage and Zeal to dye for that faith which they have denyed they have been exhorted as the most ready expiation of their sin to confess Christ at that place where they have renounced him and this they have resolutely performed by leaving off their Tulbants and boldly presenting themselves in publick Assemblies and at the time of publick prayers in the Church and when the Turks have challenged them for having revolted or relapsed again from them they have owned their Conversion and boldly declared their resolution to dye in that old Faith wherein they were baptized and as a Token or Demonstration hereof being carried before the Justice of the City or Province they have not only by words owned the Christian Doctrine but also trampled their Turkish Tulbants or Sashes under their Feet and withstood three times the demand whether they would still continue to be Mahometans according as is required in the Mahometan Law For which being condemned to dye they have suffered death with the same chearfulness and courage that we read of the Primitive Martyrs who daily Sacrificed themselves for the Christian Verity Considering which I have with some astonishment beheld in what manner some poor English men who have fondly and vilely denyed the faith of Christ in Barbary and the parts of Turky and become as we term them Renegados have afterwards growing weary of the Customes of Turks to which they were strangers found means of escape and returned again into England and there entered the Churches and frequented the Assembly of Gods people as boldly as if they had been the most constant and faithful of the Sheepfold At which confidence of ignorant and illiterate men I do not so much admire as I do at the negligence of our Ministers who acquaint not the Bishops herewith to take their Counsel and Order herein But perhaps they have either not learned or so far forgot the ancient Discipline of ours and all other Christian Churches as to permit men after so abominable a Lapse and Apostasie boldly to intrude into the Sanctuary of God with the same unhallowed hands and blasphemous mouths with which they denyed their Saviour and their Country But what can we say hereunto Alas Many are dissenters from our Church which by our divisions in Religion hath lost much of its Power Discipline and esteem amongst us and men being grown careless and cold in Religion little dream or consider of such methods of Repentance for whilst men contemn the Authority and censures of the Church and disown the power of the Keys they seem to deprive themselves of the ordinary means of Salvation unless God by some extraordinary light and eviction supplies that in a sublimer manner which was anciently effected by a rigorous observation of the Laws and Canons of the Church It is a strange Vulgar Errour that we maintain in England that the Greek Church doth yearly excommunicate the Roman which is nothing so and common reason will tell us That a Church cannot excommunicate another or any particular Member thereof over which it pretends no Jurisdiction or Authority and that the Greek Church hath no such Claim of Dominion or Superiority over the Roman no more than it owns a subjection to it is plainly evinced in the third Chapter of this Book and this I attest to be so upon enquiry made into the truth thereof and on Testimony of Greek Priests eminent and knowing in the Canons and Constitutions of their Church Though we cannot deny but that anciently one Patriarch might renounce the Communion of another over whom he had no Jurisdiction for his notorious Heresie as S. Cyril did to Nestorius before the Assembly of the Council of Ephesus CHAP. XIV Of the treatment the Greeks use towards their dead and the Opinion they have of Purgatory or the middle state of Souls THE Greeks in the time of sickness and
mournings for the dead retain not only Ceremonies by us accounted superstitious but also savouring somewhat of ancient Gentilism If the headache or be ill-affected the Priest binds it with the Vail of the Sacramental Chalice and administers to the sick a draught of consecrated Water in which is Basil or Dittamon or some other odoriferous Herb blessed with the touch of a Crucifix or the Picture of our Lady and administred as a spiritual Medicine as well operative for the benefit of the Soul as conducing to the health of the Body But in case the indisposition increase the holy Oyl or extream Unction is applyed called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mixed with some of that Water which was consecrated at the Sacrament of the Communion and some Prayers proper for that occasion are rehearsed together with such Chapters and Verses out of the new Testament which relate to the resurrection of the dead It is likewise usual amongst them as in the Roman Church to make Vows upon recovery and on the Altar to tender the form of a Leg Arm or Eyes or some other Member ill-affected in Silver or Gold in remembrance and gratitude for the late mercy of Almighty God But when the party dyes the lamentations which they make are most barbarous For after his eyes are shut his Corps are clothed in its best Apparel and being stretched on the Floor with a Taper at the head and another at the feet then begins the Scene of sorrow the Wife the Children and the rest of the Family and Friends entring with their Hair dishevelled their Garments loose and torn pulling their Locks and beating their Breasts and scratching their Faces with their Nails Faedantes unguibus ora make such deep sighs and sad cryes as might justly incur the reprehension of the Apostle who gave them that reasonable Counsel of Mourn not like those without hope 1 Thes. 4. v. 13. The Body thus dressed up with a Crucifix on the Breast attended by the Priests and Deacons is carried to burial and the Prayers solemnized with Incense that God would receive his Soul into the Region of the blessed the Wife follows her departed Husband with such passion to perform the last office of kindness as if she intended with violence of her shreeks to force out her own Soul and to bear company with the Corps of her Husband in his Cave of darkness And where passion is not found so vigorous and violent in its representation of sorrow by reason of the gentle and more even temper of some Wives there want not Women who are perfect Tragedians that are hired to follow the Corps of the dead and to act in behalf of the Relations all the distracted postures and motions of real grief and confused sorrow The Corps being placed in the Church and the Office for the dead being ended the Friends which accompany it first kiss the Crucifix on the Breast and then the Mouth and Forehead of the deceased and afterwards every one eats a piece of Bread and drinks a glass of Wine in the Church wishing rest to the Soul departed and consolation to the afflicted Relations which done they attend them home and so end the Ceremonies of Burial At the end of eight days after the Burial the friends of the deceased make their charitable Visits to condole with and comfort the nearer Relations and accompany them to the Church to joyn with them in the Prayers offered for the quiet and rest of the departed Soul at which time the men eat and drink again in the Church whilst the Women renew their barbarous lamentations with shreeks and cryes and with all other evidences of distraction and sorrow but such as can pay others to act this part of passion force not themselves with that violence but send them to lament and mourn over the Sepulcher for the space of eight days the third day after which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on which Prayers are said for the Soul departed In like manner at the end of nine days of forty days and at the end of six months and at the conclusion of the year Prayers and Masses are said for repose of the Soul which being ended those then present are entertained with boiled Wheat and Rice Wine and dryed fruits and this is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a custom esteemed by the Greeks of great Antiquity which they more devoutly solemnize on the Fryday before their entrance into the Lent of Advent Good-Fryday and the Fryday before the Feast of Pentecost which are special days observed for Commemoration of the dead as well such as dyed of violent as of natural deaths Now as to the Opinion which the Greek Church holds concerning the condition of Souls departed this life there is some diversity being a matter not clearly determined by Councils Howsoever the Anatolian Confession which is generally accepted and approved by the Greek Divines doth clearly and expresly maintain this Doctrine That the Souls so soon as they are cleared and loosed from the Fetters of the Body go either to Heaven or to Hell the first hath the name of Paradise Abraham's Bosom the Kingdom of Heaven where the Saints sit and intercede for those who are on Earth in honour of whom are daily sung Hymns of praise and glory Such as go to Hell called the Grave the eternal Fire the Bottomless Pit and the like are of two sorts The first are such who dye in the state of Divine anger on whom are immediately imposed Chains and Fetters which can never be taken off nor loosed to all Eternity The second are such who enter or are introduced into the Mansions of Hell without those Bonds Fetters Pains and Torments which for ever enslave and afflict the damned but departing this life with dispositions to Justice Repentance and a new life with the advantagious assistances of Confession and Absolution of the Priest though the work of Grace be not thoroughly perfected in them nor their resolution of godliness proceeded to action have yet their resolutions dispositions beginnings of Pietymade acceptable and brought to maturity esteem in the sight of God not by any works performed in the next World according to that of the Psalmist who shall praise thee in the Grave or shall the dead give thanks unto thee in the Pit but by the Offertories Oblations and Almes and Prayers of the Church made in behalf of the dead by the living on Earth and this is the meaning of those Prayers Tu autem Domine repone animam ejus in loco lucenti in loco quietis consolationis ex quo longe est omnis maestitia dolor suspirium condonans ei omne peccatum Do thou Lord repose his Soul in the Mansions of light of quietness and consolation from whence are banished all sadness grief and sighs But this place it seems they account no different Limbo from Hell and is no Purgatory whose flames purge and cleanse or whose
torments afflict the soul or make the least satisfaction for sin according to the sentence of the second Council of Constantinople which condemned the Opinion of Origen herein for the soul then becomes uncapable either by its sufferings or repentance to obtain pardon in its own behalf But whatsoever is to be done in this matter is to be performed by the Soul united with the Body in this life afterwards the Bridegroom being entered the Gate is shut and no Path or way is left to repentance only the Prayers of the Saints on Earth their Almes-deeds and Offertories of frequent Sacrifices without Blood with the intercession of the Blessed Martyrs and Church triumphant open the doors of Paradise to languishing and wishing Souls but this is not done until the Judgment of the last day in which interim the Greek Church holds That neither the Sentence of the four Patriarchs nor the Decrees of the Universal Synod nor all the Bishops of the whole World assembled are able by their Autority Bolles or Indulgences to prescribe a time for release of one Soul from the confines of Hell only the Mercies of God who vouchsafes to be moved by the Prayers of the Church can sign this release and delivery at what time he shall think fit And that as the Blessed receive not their repletions of Glory in Heaven until after the day of Judgment so neither shall the Damned their fullness of Torment in everlasting flames By which it appears that the Tenents of the Greek Church are in this point First that the Repository of longing Souls is not locally different from Hell it self Secondly that they endure no other punishment than only the sence of deprivation from God and Heaven and are not purged by Fire and Flames And thirdly that no Indulgences nor Pardons of all the Patriarchs or of the Universal Bishop can by their Autority remit one moment of detention to the imprisoned Souls farther than as they are Members of the Church Militant by whose Prayers and good works only those Souls find ease and benefit and this is the true and certain meaning of the Greek Church in this point against which and their Tenent about the Pontificial Authority the Romanists make their greatest exception CHAP. XV. Of the Fifth Mystery called Marriage MArriage in the Greek Church is called a Mystery being the Union of two Bodies into one Flesh which having a Spiritual Benefit as well as a Politick the Church under all Christian Governments hath taken upon it self the power of tying the Matrimonial Knot of blessing the Parties and of giving or granting rules and limits thereunto The Greek Church retaining unto these days many of the Precepts and Laws of ancient severity and mortification used in the Primitive times of Christianity forbids and declares unlawful the fourth Marriage for though they are subject to the Turks with whom Polygamie is allowable yet they do not only disapprove it as dissentaneous to the Christian Religion but likewise as a matter undecent and savouring too much of the Flesh and sensuality of Concupiscence For a man after he hath buried his first Wife and taken a second and being deprived of that also hath proceeded to the embraces of a third the Church is so far satisfied but gives a stop here judging that where death hath three times made a separation from the Matrimonial Bed there ought a limitation to be set unto farther proceedings that so the Widower may lament and condole the unhappiness of so many deprivements and having proved the troubles and importunities of the Flesh may find time and leisure for Prayer and Repentance The reason that the Greeks give why the fourth Marriage is unlawful is because it would come under the notion of Polygamie which hath been forbidden by the Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws of Christians for they understand Polygamie to be a Conjunction of divers Copulatives in number which is not understood until a person proceeds unto a fourth Wife which makes more than one Copulative in the rule of Marriage but this allegation is so frivolous and unsatisfactory that I cannot understand the nicety and therefore rather believe that this prohibition was grounded on the ancient Customs of the Church when mortifications were more in use and all luxurious indulgence to carnality generally condemned and out of fashion as appears by the Writings of S. Augustine lib. 3. cap. 18. de doct Christ. lib. 16. contra Faustâ—â—â— against which also S. Jerom in his Epistles so much inveighs that he stiles the second Marriage little better than Fornication what censure then is it likely that he would pass on the fourth or fifth Marriages and herein hath been great variety of Opinions in former Ages as Socrates Schol. saith lib. 5. c. 21. The Novatians in Phrygia allow not of a second Marriage such as inhabit Constantinople do neither receive nor reject it again such as are in the Western parts of the World admit it wholly the Original Authors of so great diversity were Bishops who governed the Churches at divers and at several times How strict soever this Church is esteemed in admitting many degrees of Marriage that is of proceeding farther than to the fourth Marriage yet through corruption and poverty of the Clergy the dissolution of that Knot is with much more facility obtained so that it is ordinary for a man to take out a Divorce from the Patriarch and to marry another Woman and the Patriarch afterwards to alter his Sentence and enjoyn the Party to reassume his first Wife leaving the ignorant soul as well confused in his love as in his Conscience The reason hereof is rather Ignorance in Government than the Authority of any Canon whereby such a liberty is dispensed for the Metropolites as well as the Priests being miserably poor their Divorces as well as Excommunications are made vendible from whence yearly accrues a considerable benefit to the Church and perhaps also this freedom may the more easily be indulged in imitation and complyance with the Government under which they live The Ceremonies used at their Marriages are some of them serious and significant and others too light and frivolous for so considerable and important a part of Religion for though their Prayers and Collects at this Service are holy and full of apt and Divine Expressions and the use of the Ring is very decent and becoming but the changing of Garlands from the Bridegroom to the Bride the giving them Wine and sugared Confects in a Spoon and tying them with a Garter and rocking them together are Ceremonies and Toys which seem too mean and low and not aptly fitted to an Institution so serious and and important as this The Greeks being a people of a merry and sanguine complexion are wanton and unconstant in their Amours so that it is usual as amongst other Nations for them to make Addresses to one Mistress and pass to the Marriage of another for which they commonly give their Sponsalia
of the Turk hoping that this Argument might be sufficient to procure the bannishment of all the Roman Clergy and that others of the same Sect terrifyed with the thoughts of loosing their Estates and the Country in which they were born might be forced to an adherence to this Church and to an acknowledgment of the Metropolite's Jurisdiction To effect which Design the better the Bishop associated to himself a Greek Priest a man of no mean Capacity and well practised in the Turkish Law and Language and so well acquainted with the great men amongst the Turks that the Latines gave him the Nick-name of Papas Mustapha To help which design forward the Greek Church at Scio happened at that time to be indebted to certain great men about the Court to whom speedy payment was promised with an unconscionable Interest if the Revenue of the Latine Diocess were annexed to the Greek Jurisdiction with which benefit these Unbelievers being moved and valuing more the advantage of the Money than the justice of the Cause obtained by their power and interest at Court a Command to this effect First That the Latine Bishop at Scio for the future should have no farther Jurisdiction over those of the Latine Church but that all should depend in that Island on the Metropolite 2. That no Matrimony or other Ecclesiastical Rite should be celebrated without particular License of the Greek Metropolite 3. That no Priest of the Latine Church should be ordained without his License 4. That the Metropolite by vertue of his Command should take possession of the greatest part of the Churches which belonged to the Latines 5. That the Latine Bishop should render an Account to the Metropolite of all the Proffits that he hath made since his entry into that Diocess and having surrendred and made satisfaction he should depart and commit the Charge of his Flock to the Government of the Greek Metropolite These matters being of high concernment and seeming intollerable to the Latines at Scio they with great Fury unanimously resolved to loose or hazard all rather than to subject themselves to the Tyranny of another Church Wherefore the Bishop with ten others appointed by publick Election to attend him departed towards Adrianople venting many menacing Speeches and flourishes of their Power to be revenged on the Greek Metropolite These took their Journey by way of Constantinople to consult with others of the same Religion and to try in what manner the Patriarch stood affected to these Practices The Metropolite on the other side thought it not time to sit longer quiet and therefore speedily hastned to Adrianople well knowing that the first complaint hath the advantage and commonly takes the best impression with the Turks to obtain which he proceeds directly and arrives before his Adversaries during which time he so dexterously represented the evil inclinations of the Latine Church to the Welfare of the Ottoman Empire their Correspondence with Rome and Venice their Designs to extirpate the Greek Church from Scio and make the whole Island Latine towards which by force of great Collections of Money from several parts of Christendom they had made so considerable a progress that by reason of the poverty of the Greeks they had bought the best part of those Churches which for many years and Ages had been appropriated to their Rites and Religion To which Insinuations and others of the like nature the Turks lent an Ear with singular attention who have always found That the differences amongst Christians have ever concluded with gain and benefit unto them especially to the Chimacam called Kara-Mustapha Pasha a person well qualified to manage an Intrigue of this kind to the best advantage blessed and welcomed the opportunity designing to improve the business to the best that he was able And therefore as if the Accusation and Crime had been no less than Treasonable on the side of the Latines he dispatched Commands in a Turkish Fury to bring them to Constantinople The Bishop being advertised hereof whilest he was on his way to the Court made the more haste in By-ways lest he should fall into the hands of the Turkish Officers Howsoever as soon as they arrived at Adrianople as men already convicted were committed to a severe Imprisonment lying for the space of fifteen days and nights with one Leg in the Stocks and the other in Chains But this rigour was not exercised on the Latines in favour to the Greek Cause but only as the most expedite means to extort Money that so they might both buy their Liberty and obtain that the Tryal of their Cause might be referred to the legal and ordinary course of Justice The Chimacam had likewise well squeezed the Greeks and extracted from them no less than 4000 Dollars on promise of favour to their Cause and Interest by punishing their Adversaries in which conceiving that he had already moderately complyed and well deserved the Money from the Greeks he proceeded to exact other 7000 Dollars from the Latines and so being by this time indifferently disposed towards both Parties he appointed a day for judgment of the Cause in the Method of which Proceedings and in Conclusion of this business we shall find him to act with the same equallity as he hath done in all Affairs since he hath been promoted to the charge of Supreme Vizier The day being come and both sides appearing the Greek Papas inveighed furiously against the disaffection of the Latines to the Ottoman Empire and that for his own part though he wore the Cross yet he could fight under the Half-moon with suchlike terms of flattery and dissimulation Those on the other side vindicated themselves of those Aspersions making professions of their quietness and obedience to the Power under which they lived and next proved the ancient possessions of their Churches most of which they enjoyed by vertue of their Capitulations and the rest by Title of purchase confirmed by a long tract of time beyond the term of any prescription The Chimacam having been mollified by both parties gladly carried an even and moderate hand towards both and therefore as inclining to neither party adjudged some of those Churches to the Latines and as if the Title to the others had been more intricate and different he referred the determination thereof to the Pasha and Kadi of Scio giving the Greeks a Command under-hand and privately that what Churches had not remained in the possession of the Latines for above 60 years should notwithstanding all Reasons to the contrary be adjudged again to the right of the Greeks And in this manner both parties setting forward on their Journey as contented and victorius to Scio with equal hopes of success being there arrived soon appeared and joyned issue together before the Pasha But the Metropolite producing his Command of which his Adversaries had no knowledge or suspition Sentence was given according thereunto whereby the Latines were deprived of above 60 Churches And this was the issue for that time
of this Quarrel between Christians who in matters of Religious and Ecclesiastical Concernments sought Justice from the determination of Turks Besides this difference others have arisen of later standing and date but we shall only instance in that one which is very remarkable happening at Jerusalem about the time of Easter in the year 1674. when Monsieur de Nointel Ambassador for his most Christian Majesty to the Grand Signor had a curiosity in his other Travels to make a Pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre which having been anciently in the hands of the Latines at least in equal possession of both one and the other was now demanded by the Greeks as their right and as the true and only lawful Guardians of that place the which Title they took the boldness to assert not only by words but by force and violence For some days before Easter when the Latines were making their usual preparations to adorn the Sepulchre the Greek Priests assaulted them with Clubs with which the Latines being equally provided there followed such a skirmish in the Church maintained with zeal and fury that several both of one side and the other were grievously wounded and one of the Greeks killed but as one of the Fryars of Jerusalem then present told me that he received not his mortal wound from them but that he starved himself obstinately refusing all sustenance for no other Reason than that his blood might be required of the Latines which he imagined to have been of so great import as would cause the Latines to be expelled the Holy Land being desirous in this good Cause to suffer death which he esteemed a Martyrdom for revenge of his Religion and Country The cause which moved the Greeks to revive their pretence to the custody of the Holy Sepulchre with so much resolution and fervour is diversly reported Some say that Panaioti the Viziers Interpreter a Christian of the Greek Church had through the favour of the Vizier obtained a Hattersheriff for investing the Greeks solely in possession of the Sepulchre the which he concealed and laid by him during his life time well considering the opposition and trouble he should encounter by putting it into execution from the union of all the Representatives of the Christian Princes against him and how far a Contention of this nature might proceed to the ruine of his life and fortune at least of his quiet he was too prudent and cautious to make the Experiment but rather chose to conceal it until the time of his death when he bequeathed it for a Legacy to the honour and benefit of his Church Others say That Sultan Morat had granted this Hattersheriff which at the intercession of all the Christian Ambassadours had until now been suspended and lay dormant being only revived by this Quarrel between the Latin Fathers and the Greek Kaloirs for the Vizier to correct as is judged the insolence and presumption of the Latines upon the great Complaints of the Greeks renewed the rigour of the ancient Hattersheriff the which Dositheus Patriarch of Jerusalem an active bold and stiring man put into execution with that briskness and zeal as highly provoked the Latins to an extreme heat of indignation but their passion was little available in the Case whilest they wanted force to right and revenge themselves For notwithstanding all the applications they could make to the G. Vizier enforced by the strong and prevailing Arguments of Money and by the Instances of most of the Christian Ambassadors at the Court the Vizier remained inexorable and not to be moved with any Intreaty or Sollicitation whatsoever And when the English Ambassador about August 1675. designed to make experience how successful and powerful his Interest might prove at Court above the Addresses of other Ministers he was privately advised by a person of nearest intimacy to the Publick Counsels not to move in a matter which was so ungrateful and which would force the Vizier against his Will to give him the first denyal of what he had demanded from him In this manner for some years this business remained in which interim Addresses were made to the Pope at Rome and to the Courts of Christian Princes for a Remedy but no Interest of Money or Favour could incline the Vizier Ahmet Pasha during his Life and Government to alter his Sentence or Judgment in the Case but now Kara-Mustapha Pasha succeeding to the Government a recovery may probably be expected in case those Arguments of Money and Presents be applyed which had little power on the resolution and integrity of the Vizier deceased The Greeks of the Islands are men of robustious and well-proportioned Bodies strong and fit for War for which reason the Turks employ them for Levents or Souldiers for Sea-service but being Christians they deny them the priviledge of exercising Arms at Land They are a people extremely well contented with their condition and would not change their Possessions on their little Rocks and Isles for all the Antick Glory of the Grecian Empire where they pipe and dance promiscuously Men and Women together in despight of Enemies or the double Duty and Tax which they paid in time of War to the Venenetians on one side and to the Turks on the other But since Peace between the G. Signor and the Venetian is concluded all the Isles of the Arche-pelago are solely allotted to the Dominion of the Turk except the Isle of Tino as we have said before which by Articles is reserved to the Venetians who have there a Proveditor and Castle to defend it The other Isles are open having no other Fortresses than their little Chappels and Oratories for which cause they are much infested by Corsaires or Free-booters under the Colours of Ligorn Malta Mayorca c. to whom these Islanders are so perfectly subject in all duty and service that their goods are liable to their rapine and the bodies of their Wives and Daughters to their lusts Notwithstanding which these poor people rejoice in their homes and can dispense with all inconveniences rather than abandon their beloved rocks so powerful is that affection which every one bears to his own Country But the entertainment which these Islands afford the Corsaires hath so far moved the indignation of the Turk that as we have said before he hath more than once taken a resolution entirely to depopulate all the open or unfortified Islands by transporting the people to some places on the Continent where their industry and labours might bring them more profit and advantage but as yet the design hath not succeeded though greatly feared and sadly expected by that miserable people But in no place of the Turks Dominions do Christians enjoy more freedom in their Religion and Estates than on the Isle of Xio or Scio to which they are entituled by an ancient Capitulation made with Sultan Mahomet the Second to whom they surrender'd themselves on Composition and Articles of liberty and enjoyment of their Estates which to
or the Turks themselves yet treating here of the Oriental Churches it may be some elucidation of the premises to give the Reader an instance whereby he may understand how constant the minds of men living in the East are to their Traditions and to keep up their fancy to any ancient superstition which particular is undoubtedly true being transmitted to me by a worthy and ingenious person residing at Aleppo It is well known how much the Telesmatical Doctrine which was anciently the wisdom or rather folly of the Learned prevailed in the Eastern Quarters of the World in imitation of which on the 15th of April 1671 there was brought into Aleppo a little Copper-Vessel of Water out of a strong imagination that it was endued with a Telesmatical Vertue to draw thereunto a sort of Birds which feed on Locusts commonly called by the Arabs Smirmar I have seen them every Summer about the parts of Constantinople and Smyrna they are about the bigness of a Starling and very like it in the Bill and Legs but of various Colours on the Head Breast Back and Wings This Bird as they report hath so shrill a note that the very sound of it will strike down a thousand Locusts at a time and are such Acridophagi that when they come in great numbers are sufficient to devour and destroy those vast swarms of Locusts which in some years consume all the green Corn Grass Herbs and Plants in the Country and turn the hopes and expectation of a plentiful Spring into a barren Autumn and a Winters Famine so that to be freed of this Plague to which the parts about Aleppo are greatly subject no more happy or easie remedy could be found than something endued with a power attracting such beneficial and useful Guests to perform which nothing was esteemed more effectual than a certain Water fetched as they say from a Pool in Samarcand or rather from a holy Well of the Arabs called Zimzam the which Water was not to be carried under any Arch unless the immediate Arch of Heaven This being the Opinion of the Inhabitants of Aleppo the Water was sent for and brought into the City with great pomp and solemnity The procession was made at the Southern Damascus Gate every Religion and Sect attending in their Habits with the most formal Devotion imaginable according to their different Rites and Ceremonies every Nation bearing before them the respective Badges of their profession viz. The Law the Gospel and the Alchoran with Songs in their mouths according to their several Religions The Mahometans surpassed all the others in the Gallantry of their Streamers their Prophets Banners being near about a hundred in number were carried by sheghs who bellowed most hideously till they foamed at the mouth out-doing themselves with the violent agitation of their Spirits being of the Order of Kadri whose lives and Institutions we have declared in the Ottoman State A Dispute happened before they entered the City between the Christians and Jews for precedence which they challenged on the score of Antiquity but after a little striking and a greater Avania afterwards it was determined that the Christians were the better men and payed most for the exercise of their Religion The concourse of all sorts of people was exceeding great and the Pageantry seven hours in acting for the Water was drawn up over the Gate and over all covered passages and finally over the Castle Walls where in a Mosch it was lodged with all reverence and devotion This kind or species of Birds which resort to this Country are according to the Opinion of all Sects drawn thither by the vertue of this Water which though they have nothing of effectual vertue in them yet this fancy is so strongly rooted not only in the Vulgar people but also with those of greater quality that it seems to be a durable remain of the Sabean Superstition In this manner Reader I have finished this short discourse of the Greek Church what is to be amended or added hereunto is a work of time and worthy the pains and consideration of curious and ingenious Travellers into those Parts FINIS THE PRESENT STATE OF THE Armenian CHURCH CONTAINING The Tenents Form and Manner of Divine Worship in that CHURCH 1678. By PAUL RICAUT Esquire LONDON Printed for John Starkey at the Mitre near Temple-Bar 1679. READER THIS Discourse touching the Armenian Church may for divers Reasons probably delight thee First because few have wrote thereof and I think none so distinctly as I have done Secondly because it is a Christian Church far remote from us and therefore their Customs and Doctrines may be the more acceptable to the curious Thirdly because their Learning and Tenents are confined within a Language peculiar to that Nation and known to few of the Western Christians Add likewise to this difficulty an Universal Ignorance in the Armenian Clergie who are neither very willing to learn themselves nor very apt to instruct others So that what I have here briefly delivered is the effect of a difficult Enquiry and the small fruit of much Labour in whatsoever therefore I come short of an exact account of the Armenian Doctrine and Practice be pleased Courteous Reader to pardon and compassionate the ignorance and inability of my Teachers and the difficulty of my Task for it seems unreasonable to exact more learning from the Scholar than what he hath been able to copy from his Master Farewel THE PRESENT STATE OF THE ARMENIAN CHURCH CHAP. I. Of the Armenian Church in general THE Armenian Nation being much dispersed in many Countries of the Turks through the encouragement of Trade and Traffick to which they are much addicted I have had the opportunity of conversation and acquaintance with many of them by which means and that curiosity and desire of knowledge which always guides me I have penetrated as far as my leisure and abilities would permit me into the Humours Customs and especially into the Religion of this People It will not be to our purpose to deduce their lineage from its original or recount the various successes of their Princes in past times or their martial actions and fortunes against the Romans It is sufficient as to their Secular and Temporal Estates to describe them as men naturally of healthy strong and robustious Bodies their Countenances commonly grave their Features well proportioned but of a melancholy and Saturnine air On the contrary their Women are commonly ill-shaped long-nosed and not one of a thousand so much as tolerably handsom The men are in their humours covetous and fordid to a high degree heady and obstinate hardly to be perswaded to any thing of Reason being in most things of a dull and stupid apprehension unless in Merchandise and matters of gain and in that they cannot or will not understand other than what is agreeable to their advantage I have never read or heard of any amongst them famous for Poetry or Romantick Fancies or that they were of late years
inclined to the Mathematicks or any other Learning but such as is their diet which consists of such things as send up gross fumes to the head such is their temper and genius The Turks give them the name of Bokegees and the Jews esteem them to have been of the ancient Race of the Amalekites being a People whom they envy because they will not easily be cheated by them in their dealings Howsoever I have known some of these men who have received their Education in Italy to be well accomplished and men of an acute understanding and pleasing in their behaviour So that some persons who have travelled Armenia ascribe this heaviness of Complexion to the air of their Country which is imprisoned in the vast Woods of Mulberry-trees and thickned by the Vapours of their Fens and Marshes and Winds from the Caspian Sea to which they add those ungrateful steams which proceed from the Caldrons wherein they boil their Silk-worms which as they prove noxious and in time deadly to those who are employed about them so do they infuse into the air so malignant a fume as even enters into the Veins of men and possesses them with a strange stupidity and unactiveness of soul. Their Country was conquered in the year 1515 by Selimus the First and annexed to the Ottoman Dominions under whose Tyranny and Oppression we are to consider the afflictions of that Christian Church Armenia whilst subjected to the Roman Empire was one and the same Church with the Grecian maintaining the same Doctrine and acknowledging the patriarch of Constantinople for their Primate and head of their Church to whom the Council of Calcedon assigned it as part of his Province and Diocess until that afterwards differences in Government and vicissitude of things arising have divided them one from the other in their Doctrine and Discipline CHAP. II. Of their Patriarchs and Government in the Church THeir Church is ruled by four Patriarchs the chiefest of which had formerly his Residence at Sebastia in Armenia but now by those Priviledges which the King of Persia hath indulged unto them beyond the Immunities of the Turks is removed and abides at Etchmeasin a principal Monastery near Rivan in Persia. The second hath his abode at Sis in Armenia minor not far from Canshahar sixteen days journey from Etchmeasin Eastward near Candakar The third abides at Canshahar The fourth patriarch lives at Achtamar The which four Patriarchs govern all the Armenian Church independant of each other though the priority of honour and precedency is given to the Patriarch of Etchmeasin to whom the others have recourse in all matters of difficulty and Counsel and the presence and concurrence of these four either in person or by their Substitutes is necessary to the Constitution or Ordination of a Priest which is performed as among us by imposition of hands It is true that at Constantinople and at Jerusalem there are those who are called Armenian Patriarchs but they are titular only made to please and content the Turks who have judged it necessary and agreeable to the Armenian Faith or rather to their own that patriarchs should remain in those places and therefore have enjoined them to constitute such under that notion by which means the Armenian Church maintaining their Representatives at that place they may always know from whom they may exact the money and Presents at a new Investiture and may charge on him all those Avanias or false pretences which they find most agreeable to their own advantage Otherwise I say these Patriarchs are but titular and are in reality no other than Deputies and Suffragans of the Patriarch as are those at Smyrna or Angora where Trade hath convocated great numbers of the Armenian Nation or rather they may be more properly called Bishops under those Patriarchs having the name of Martabet which in their Language signifies a Superintendent or Overseer of the Church A married person whilst married cannot be preferred to this dignity though afterwards his Wife dying he may be capable thereof The Patriarchs have for their maintenance some Revenues in Land which is augmented by the voluntary Contributions of the People who every Sonday and Holy-day bestow something of their Alms either more or less according to their devotion and ability for whensoever the Church is full they make three several Collections the first for Jerusalem the second for Etchmeasin and the third for the Church in which they are and these rounds of the Basin never fail and sometimes a fourth is ordered on some emergent occasion especially if strangers be observed to attend the Ceremony from whom they expect extraordinary liberality And in this kind of begging they are so importunate in some poor Churches that when I have been my self present I have scarce had time to disengage my hand from my Pocket so nimbly the turns went about and so many Briefs for repair of poor Churches and distressed Brethren But besides these Collections the Duties are great which are paid for the Ordinances of the Church as Baptism Marriage Burials c. only Confession and the Communion are freed from Charge or such Exactions for all others there is no set price but men are obliged to pay according to their abilities and the bargain is driven as hard and with as many words and as much noise as this Nation doth usually practise when they sell their Silk or any other Commodity It was before the English Nation at Smyrna had purchased their Coemetery or place of burial for their dead that some of our people were buried in the Armenian Church-yard but the price of six foot of ground was so hardly obtained that a whole Field might have been purchased at a cheaper rate than a narrow Grave I have known a poor Armenian Servant could not be admitted to burial until his friends had paid 30 or 40 Dollars for the ground together with the Offices and Ceremonies for the dead And in this manner the Clergy gain their maintenance who are notwithstanding poor and miserably ignorant Their Fashions and Customs are agreeable to the people of the East or those amongst whom they live whether Turks or Persians They account it a sin to eat Hares and their Flesh is almost as abominable to them as Swines-flesh to a Jew or Turk I have asked them the Reason for it to which they replyed that a Hare was a melancholy Creature and therefore unwholsom besides it was accounted unlucky and portending evil to any man who met one and moreover that the Female was monthly menstruous and unclean but how they can make this good or where or how they learned or observed so much I never could understand from them CHAP. III. Of Etchmeasin THIS Patriarchal Seat is called vulgarly by the name of Etchmeasin but more usually in the parts of Turkey by the denomination of Changlee-Chilse or the Church with Bells having a priviledge from the Sultan to use them which is allowed in no other place that I have
heard of unless in Moldavia Valachia and Mount Athos It is also called Ouch Chilse or the three Churches because of the three Churches which are there built in a Triangle the first of which as we have said is this Etchmeasin the second Rupsameh and the third Gayeneh The Armenians report That these three Churches are founded on three Rocks placed in a triangular form under which was a strange hollowness or Cavity replete in the time of Gentilism and Idolatry with the voices of Prophetick Spirits or Ghosts which gave Answers to all Questions that were made to them in the same manner as the Oracles of Delphos or Jupiter Haman until such time as Jesus Christ intending to have his Name worshipped there descended from Heaven on that place and taking his Cross on which he suffered struck one blow therewith on each Rock with which they sunk into the Ground and thereby the Diabolical Spirits were displaced for the word Etchmeasin signifies one blow or stroak and there these three Churches were founded which are the highest in esteem amongst the Armenians They have a large History of the other two Churches called Rupsameh and Gayeneh wrote by one Acutanghios which remains amongst the Registers of Etchmeasin being to this purpose In the time of Dioclesian the Emperour when a violent Persecution arose against the Christians at Rome seventy Virgins which had taken a Religious Vow upon them were by Divine Inspiration directed to the Eastern parts of the World of which Rupsameh and Gayeneh two Sisters and Daughters of Gohetea for so they call their Father a noble Roman were the chief and arriving first at Alexandria in Egypt they travelled thence to Jerusalem and so into Armenia where at that time Tyridates governed as King In which long Journey forty of the seventy dying the other thirty designed to build their Monastery and therein to serve God according to the Christian Faith and Discipline The arrival of these new-come Guests being of the Female Sex was such a Novelty as filled all that Country with the rumour thereof and more particularly the incomparable beauty of Rupsameh and Gayeneh was the whole discourse at the Court of Tyridates whose heart was so affected therewith that he sent for the two Sisters supposing that the splendour of his Court and the greatness of his Authority was sufficient to command their affections and consent to his amorous addresses but they having their hearts enflamed with divine love gave no ear to his sensual Courtship but rather slighted and contemned all the fine words he could use and the large proffers he could make which applications were daily renewed to these Religious Virgins until the Prince disdaining to be so neglected converted his love into hatred and fury in the heat of which he caused an Executioner to cut off both their heads which being done accordingly their Corps were exposed in the Fields to be entombed in the bowels of wild beasts This matter happened at that time when Surp Savorich as they call S. Gregory who converted Armenia to the Christian Faith by order of Tyridates was for preaching the Gospel cast into a most profound Dungeon so damp and dark that it was a Habitation for none but Bats and Serpents where â—â—r the space of thirteen years he was most miraculously preserved by the administration of an Angel which daily supplyed him with bread and water than which he received no other sustenance during which time all the world believed that Savorich had been long dead and buried in his loathsom habitation until at length the Sister of Tyridates called Castrovitught being frequently disturbed in her sleep by an Angel which ordered her to supplicate her Brother for the releasement of Savorich could find no repose until she revealed the Vision which seeming strange and no other at first than a melancholy Dream did afterwards upon the tryal prove true Savorich being found alive in the Dungeon and strong and healthful Notwithstanding which Miracle and the Petitions made in behalf of Savorich by several Chief Officers and by his Sister in particular yet Tyridates having his heart hardned like Pharaoh refused to give license for the liberty of Savorich which sin of obstinacy so moved the anger of God against him that one day appointed for a general hunting being in pursuit of a wild Bore he was on a sudden transformed into the shape of a Swine and all his Followers into Hobgoblins and Fairies such as the Turks call Gin which metamorphosis is something like that of Ulysses and his Companions This Judgment of God Struck all the people into such an amazement that they immediately resolved to free the Saint begging him to pray unto God to restore their King and Attendants to their former shapes of Human Form Savorich or S. Gregory being released immediately sought for Tyridates and having found him was received by him with as much grace and in as good a fashion as could be expected by a person of so ill a feature and having prayed to God for him both he and all his Followers were transformed again to their natural shapes By which Miracle all the Country of Armenia was converted to the Christian Faith After this Savorich was commanded to gather up the Bodies of Rupsameh and Gayeneh preserved by divine Miracle and carry them to Etchmeasin to which place he was conducted by an Angel where he buried those bodies under the two Rocks which are therefore now called by their Names which place also being the Sepulchre of Savorich hath added much unto that devotion which the Armenians bear thereunto Next to this place of Devotion Virap which was the Dungeon of Surp Savorich is most in esteem of any in Armenia over which they have built a famous monastery which is seated in the Country of Ardashat being two days journey from Etchmeasin and one from Rivan This Savorich or S. Gregory is so high in esteem amongst them that they take the account of their years from the time of his Preaching and the Conversion of that Nation to the Christian Faith which in this present year is reckoned to be 1128. which answers to ours of 1679. To these Churches they commonly make their Pilgrimages being for their sanctity in opinion of this people esteemed before Jerusalem and are accounted so holy that before a person can be qualified to appear in that place he is required to prepare himself seven years beforehand which is performed by a Fast or Lent of 40 days in every one of those seven years purposely designed for this preparation besides the usual Fasts and Lents of the Church and with a sole intent to render himself worthy to receive the benefits and endowments which are acquired by this most acceptable and holy Pilgrimage For they say that he who comes thus prepared with humility and devotion shall have his desires satisfied in any gift qualification or blessing he expects unless it be Riches for Money being the Mammon of this World is
not to be conferred as a spiritual happiness But if one desires a Faculty in singing dancing or agility of body if he desires beauty and modesty in a Wife wisdom sincerity of Friends or any thing else that is vertuous or commendable he shall be endued with a voice like a Seraphim be active as an Olympick Gamester have a Wife as chaste as Penelope be wife as Solomon and in fine obtain any one thing which he can desire being of good report But in case any one miss of these blessings as many do who go on these Errands as one may well believe and return as little improved as some of those do whom we send to Paris there is something in the way which interrupted this blessing and no doubt but the man was either not fitly prepared or had not Faith enough to receive the blessing They say farther that some of those Pythonick Spirits which formerly inhabited under the cavities of these three Rocks were permitted by Christ to keep their Stations with intention to make them slaves and drudges to the Monastery where now invisibly they wash the Dishes sweep the House and do all the Offices of good Servants so that the good Fathers take no care of those homely services for what is in the day fouled and disordered is by next morning found cleansed and well disposed by the ministry and diligence of those careful and officious Spirits All these things and much more is believed by the Armenians of Etchmeasin so easie it is to obtrude vain and superstitious fancies on ignorant and illiterate people In their Monasteries the whole Psalter of David is read over every 24 hours but in the Cities and Parochial Churches it is otherwise observed For the Psalter is divided into eight divisions and every division into eight parts at the end of every one of which is said the Gloria Patri Filio c. Their manner of Worship is performed after the Eastern fashion by prostrating their bodies and kissing the ground three times which the Turks likewise practise in their Prayers At their first entrance into the Church they uncover their heads and corss themselves three times but afterwards cover their heads and sit cross-leg'd on Carpets after the manner of the Turks The most part of their publick Divine Service they perform in the morning before day which is very commendable and I have been greatly pleased to meet hundreds of Armenians in a Summer morning about Sun-rising returning from their Devotions at the Church wherein perhaps they had spent two hours before not only on Festival but on ordinary days of work in like manner they are very devout on Vigils to Feasts and Saturday Evenings when they all go to Church and returning home perfume their Houses with Incense and adorn their little Pictures with Lamps CHAP. IV. The Confession of Faith in the Armenian Church THEY allow and accept the Articles of Faith according to the Council of Nice and are also acquainted with that which we call the Apostles Creed which likewise they have in use As to the Doctrine concerning the Trinity they accord with the Greeks acknowledging three Persons in one Divine Nature and that the Holy Ghost proceeds only from the Father I have read in many Books which treat of this Church an accusation against it that it admits but of one Person and one Nature in Christ according to the Doctrine of Eutyches of which I my self was once of opinion until I read and well considered of the Articles of their Faith They believe that Christ descended into Hell and that he freed the Souls of all the damned from thence by the grace and favour of his glorious presence but not for ever or by a plenary pardon or remission but only as reprieved until the end of the World at which time they shall again be returned unto Eternal Flames But that we may take a more clear view of their Faith I have thought fit to represent that which they call their Tavananck or Symbolum different from the Apostles and Nicene Creed which for those words follwing viz. where the Deity was mixed with the Humanity without spot seems to be calculated for maintenance of the Herisie of Eutyches and in opposition to the Catholick Doctrine as that of Athanasius is to the Heresie of Arrius But these words though they look ill at first yet if well considered and compared with the same expression which the Greeks use on the same subject it will amount unto no more than what the Greeks declare in the Anatolian Confession That the Body of Christ was a true not a fantastick Body that it was formed in the Womb of the blessed Virgin and was made a perfect man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. his rational Soul mixed with the Divinity Now the words of their Creed are Verbatim as followeth I Consess that I believe with all my heart in God the Father uncreated and not begotten and that God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost were from all Eternity the Son begotten of the Father and the Holy Ghost proceeds only from the Father I believe in God the Son increated and begotten from Eternity The Father is Eternal the Son is Eternal and equal to the Father whatsoever the Father contains the Son contains I believe in the Holy Ghost which was from Eternity not begotten of the Father but proceeding three Persons but one God Such as the Son as to the Deity such is the Holy Ghost I believe in the Holy Trinity not three Gods but one God one in Will in Government and in Judgment Creator both of visible and invisible I believe in the Holy Church in the remission of sins and the Communion of Saints I believe that of those three persons one was begotten of the Father before all eternity but descended in time from Heaven unto Mary of whom he took blood and was formed in her Womb where the Deity was mixed with the Humanity without spot or blemish He patiently remained in the Womb of Mary nine Months and was afterwards born as man with soul intellect judgment and body Having but one body and one countenance And of this mixture or union resulted one composition of Person God was made man without any change in himself born without Humane Generation his Mother remaining still a Virgin And as none knows his eternity so none can conceive his being or essence for as he was Jesus Christ from all eternity so he is to day and shall be for ever I believe in Jesus Christ who conversed in this world and after thirty years was baptized according to his own good will and pleasure his Father bearing witness of him and said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and the Holy Ghost in form of a Dove descended upon him he was tempted of the Devil and overcame was preached to the Gentiles was troubled in his body being wearied enduring hunger and thirst was crucified with
not being understood amongst them it would be impossible to form a definition which may accord with their capacity we shall therefore tell you in what manner they celebrate those two Sacraments in their Church The Baptism of Infants they use and esteem necessary as being that which washes away their Original sin in performance of which the Priest takes the Child by the Feet and Hands and dips it three times under Water which immersion of three times these with the Greeks esteem essential unto this Sacrament so that where the Vessel is shallow and not capable to recieve the whole Body the Priest pours it with his hand that not Part or Member may remain unbaptized After Baptism they apply the Chrism anointing the Fore-head Eyes Ears Breast Palms of the hands and soals of the feet with consecrated Oyl in form of a Cross and then they administer unto the Child the Holy Eucharist which they do only by rubbing the Lips with it The distribution of the Panis Benedictus which they call Maz is in use amongst them as with the Greeks Surp Usiun as they call the holy Eucharist they celebrate only on Sondays and Festivals though on other days they perform the publick Services of the Church whereby it appears that they have other Morning Services besides that of the Communion They put no Water into the Wine nor Leaven into the Bread as do the Greeks They hold Transubstantiation as do the Papists from whom the Priests readily accepted of such a Doctrine as tends to their Honour and Profit Christ saith This is my Body and This is my Blood which plain words these good men are willing to accept in their litteral sense that so they may not be put to the subtilties of the Schools nor to the interpretation of Mystical and Sacramental Terms Let the meaning be how it will the Church of Rome which is more wise and learned than they hath so determined it and if they erre be the fault and errour upon them Howsoever this Tenent of Transubstantiation is held and discussed but of late years amongst them and is not altogether Universally accepted some of them will pretend to maintain and others will deny it and declare that the Epitome of their faith which is mentioned only in the 12 th Chapter of this Book was subscribed by some few of their Bishops and extorted from them by threats and rewards Their manner of distributing the Communion is done by sopping the Bread into Wine so that the Communicant receives both species together which is different from the Form and Custom of the Latine Greek and reformed Churches They differ from the Greeks in that they administer Bread unleavened made like a Wafer they differ from the Romans in that they give both Species to the Laity which the Priest doth by putting his Fingers into the Chalice out of which he takes the Wafer soaked in the Wine and delivers that unto the Communicant And it is pleasant to observe that he hath no sooner done so but that some Boy or young Lad is presently at hand to lick his Fingers which he willingly grants him in regard that they esteem it a kind of initiation or Pledge to them of receiving the Sacrament hereafter when they come to years of understanding as the rubbing of the Lips of the Infant with the consecrated Elements is to Children at the time of their ad-admittance to Baptism So that when I consider and observe in what a plain manner our Saviour instituted this Sacrament how easily understood and how clearly practised and how facil to be followed and brought into imitation for it is said he took Bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to his disciples c. in like manner he took the Cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink you all of this Notwithstanding which we may see how far the Churches have deviated from this easie and plain rule The Latines administer it with a Wafer and deny the Cup to the Laity the Greeks give both Species in a Spoon together the Armenians soak the Bread in the Wine Only God hath illuminated the Reformed Churches and taught them how to follow the Examples of the first Institution and yet amongst them likewise there is some difference and amongst the Sectaries yet greater whereby we may judge of the malice and subtlety of the grand Deceiver who would render that salutiferous food unwholesome and make this principal Instrument of Grace and Salvation to become the most dangerous snare and ruine of Humane Souls CHAP. IX Of Penance and Excommunication THEY use Confession in the Ear of a Priest who is for the most part very rigorous in the Penance he imposes for if the Sin be enormous and very foul he is not contented with one bare Act of Penitential satisfaction but lays a penance to continue for several years at the end of which it is seldom that the Penitent escapes or obtains absolution without some pecuniary mulct by way of peace-Offering or Atonement for sin and by which also the indignation of the Priest himself may be satisfied and appeased and this penance once imposed no man can remit no not the Bishop nor Patriarch himself Some I have known who have been enjoyned a whole weeks fast that is from Sonday night to Sonday Morning following during which time they have taken nothing into their Mouths of Meat or drink only on Wednesday night they had license to drink one draught of Sherbet Excommunication is made use of as frequently by them as by the Greeks by the abuse of which the Priests procure the most considerable part of their gains Nor is any Ecclesiastical Rite as we have said before performed nor a Benefice conferred without Money the Oppression and Exaction under which they live both of the Turks and Persian being a plea as they suppose sufficiently forcible to excuse from the Crime of Simony CHAP. X. Of their Marriages MArriage is not only lawful for a Secular Priest but is esteemed so necessary that none can be a Priest unless he enter first into the state of Matrimony I say a Secular Priest because a Bishop or a Monk cannot marry or rather that state is not inconsistent with the Office of a Bishop as a Bishop but as the Bishops are Monks being always chosen out of the Monasteries of Religious men In case the Wife of the Secular Priest dies and he marries again he is ipso facto degraded and suspended from his Sacerdotal Ministry Lay persons are permitted to marry twice but the third Marriage is abominable and esteemed as scandalous and as great a Sin as Fornication A Widow cannot marry with other than with a Widow as one that hath not been married must take one who is reputed a Virgin in which they observe the same degrees of consanguinity as are agreeable to the Canons of the Western Churches They usually chuse Monday Morning at or before break a-day for the time to be