the Church and might have the same effect as if a Country Curate in England were brought over to the Roman Faith This Confession is the Cause also that upon every small accident of complyance a new reconciliation is presently divulged and so it happened in the year 1678. when at Rome for six Months together it was generally reported That the Armenian Patriarch with six and thirty Bishops was on their way thither to submit unto and to acknowledge the Apostolical See Howsoever I perswade my self that were the particulars wherein there is any Controversie between the Church of England and that of Rome well stated according to the Capacity of the Armenians it would not be difficult to procure another Confession at least an Explication of their Doctrine with little variety from that of the Church of England so little Understanding have these People of Controversies the which perhaps would be the sense of most good Christians in the World who laid aside all prepossessions to a Party or Tenent Howsoever I am sure it ought to be the Desire and Prayer of every good Christian that God would be pleased to lessen and close the Differences in the Church of Christ that we may have one God one Faith one Baptism and one Head the Lord Jesus Amen FINIS Histories and other Curious Discourses Printed for and sold by John Starkey in Fleet-Street 1. 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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
passage through their Country and this Tax is as well common to Turks as Greeks But this is a matter inconsiderable in respect of that Custom of Decimation which was a taking away of the Tythe or every Tenth of Male-children from the Greeks according to the number of them in the respective Parishes out of which proceeded the best and stoutest of the Turkish Janisaries but this Custom is now wholy out of use not having been practised for many years either because the Turks are willing to lay an easie Yoke on the Greeks or because so many of them turn Mahometans and of other parts and Nations such numbers flock daily to the Profession of Turcism that there is no need of this unnatural addition to increase the Power and Kingdoms of the Turk But with what freedom soever Christianity is licensed amongst the Turks in Europe it lies under a Cloud and a greater abhorrency in Asia unless in the Maritime Towns and Places where Traffick and Commerce have taught them Civility For Mahometanisme having had its first Original in Asia is most precisely observed in those Eastern parts where Christian Priests are forced to live with caution and officiate in obscurity and privacy fearing the superstitious temper of the Asian Zealots who are of a Pharisaical humour high esteemers of their own sanctity in comparison of which they account the European Turks loose and negligent Professors defiled by the use of Wine and unhallowed by their conversation with the Christians to whom they commonly bear so horrible a detestation that some of them judge it unlawful to be in their company or receive presents from them or to give them the salutation of peace and esteem their Cloaths if touched by Christians to be polluted Garments profaning their prayers It is generally observed that Pharisaical Professors in all Religions are the worst people in the world and the greatest disturbers of Humane Conversation and the peace and quiet of a Commonwealth I knew once at Smyrna a Reverend Preacher amongst the Turks or as you may call him a Doctor or Schoolmaster who had many Pupils under him whom he instructed in the Mahometan Law who was so great a lover of his own Sect that he hated the rest of Mankind his Sermons were always stuffed with Invectives against Christians charging Smyrna with unpardonable sins for indulging priviledges unto them and for admitting them into their Country on consideration of that lucre and benefit which their Trade brings in which discourse he oftentimes suffered himself to be so extravagantly transported with intemperance of language that at length the Officers of the City were forced to put him in mind of the common scandal he gave to the interest and subsistence of the Inhabitants that those discourses reflected on the Grand Signor and his Government and were Declamations against the clemency of their Emperour towards his Subjects and opposed those Capitulations and Articles which the wisdom of their Government had concluded with Christian Princes which were matters of that concernment as were neither safe for him to handle nor for them to hear with which Admonition though this Pharisee grew more moderate in his language yet his pride and insolence was not in the least abated for when he mounted his Mule accompanied with his Followers on foot of the same rank and head and accidentally met with Franks riding abroad on Horses such they call all the Western Christians they would force them to alight and with great reverence attend until the sanctity of so holy a man were past For their Books as they report say and teach them not to suffer Christians to sit on their Horses whilst men of their profession pass by them But our people little concerning themselves with what is written in their Books and less supporting an insolence and affront from them there often hapned rencounters and scuffles between both parties which had proceeded to higher quarrels had not the Magistrates seasonably suppressed the insolence of that people which was afterwards confirmed by Commands from the Grand Signor But not only hath the Greek Church the Turk for an Enemy and an Oppressor but also the Latines who not being able by their Missionaries to gain them to their party and perswade them to renounce the Jurisdiction of their Patriarchs and own the Authority and Supremacy of the Roman Bishop do never omit those occasions which may bring them under the lash of the Turk and engage them in a constant and continual expence hoping that the people being oppressed and tyred and in no condition of having relief under the protection of their own Governours may at length be induced to embrace a Foreign Head who hath riches and power to defend them Moreover besides these wiles the Roman Priests frequent all places where the Greeks inhabit endeavouring to draw them unto their side both by Preaching and Writings of which one being written in the Vulgar Greek by Francis Richard a Jesuite and printed at Paris called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was dispersed in all parts where that Language was current of which the Patriarch and Presbyters of that Church taking special notice and being very jealous and sensible of the ill effects it might produce in the minds of the Ignorant caused about 18 Years past that Book to be burnt prohibiting the use and reading thereof unto all people of their Church under penalty of the most severe Excommunication But so far indeed have the Latines the advantage over the Greeks as Riches hath over Poverty or Learning over Ignorance And whereas now the ancient Structures and Colleges of Athens are become ruinous and only a fit habitation for its own Owle and all Greece poor and illiterate such Spirits and Wits amongst them who aspire unto Sciences and Knowledge are forced to seek it in Italy where sucking from the same Fountain and eating Bread made with the same Leaven of the Latines it is natural that they should conform to the same Principles and Doctrine So that it will not be strange if in Exposition of those points wherein the Church of God for some Ages hath been silent and but now controverted in these latter days the Greek Priests should with little variety follow the sense of the Latine which they take up at adventure not being of themselves capable either to prove or try the meaning of the Scriptures or examine the ancient Tenents of their own Church And thus much shall suffice to have spoken of the Greek Church in general CHAP. II. Of the seven Churches of Asia to which St. John wrote Viz. Smyrna Ephesus Laodicea Philadelphia Sardis Pergamus and Thyatira wherein also is treated of Hierapolis BEING to treat of the Present State of the Greek Church the condition in which the seven Churches of Asia now stand of which Christ himself and the Holy Spirit was pleased to take so much notice Rev. I. must not only come pertinent to our discourse but in
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
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
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
by not painting Pictures to the life or not using engraven Images or by not drawing them farther than to the Waste with an ill-favoured sort of flat painting as if they would thereby excuse the inconvenience which may be objected Yet certainly the use of them is so scandalous amongst Turks who have scarce any thing good in their Religion but that they profess one God and are Enemies to Idolatry that though Pictures and Images may be allowed indifferently in other Churches yet being no essential part of Gods Worship they ought wholly to be rejected and wiped out in Turkey and all the Eastern parts of the World CHAP. XVIII Of Prayers to Saints and Adoration of Angels THE Greek Church in their Prayers to Saints in Heaven and Angels which enjoy the Beatifical Vision of God Almighty differ little or nothing in Doctrine from the Roman which we shall best understand by that which they call The Orthodox Confession of the Anatolian Church in which we have these words We crave the intercession of Saints with God that they should pray for us and we invoke them not as Gods but as his friends who serve him and praise him and adore him and we crave their assistance not as if they were able to assist us by their own Power but that they should procure for us the Grace of God by means of their administrations They say farther But some will say that they do not know nor understand our Prayers To whom we answer that they of themselves do not know nor hear our Prayers but only by Revelation and the Divine Grace which God hath richly bestowed on them they both understand and hear us In like manner we invoke Angels that they would mediate for us by their Ministry with God wherefore they offer to the Majesty of God the Prayers Alms and good works of men And farther they say That as God commanded the Friends of Job that they should bring their Sacrifices and offer them for themselves and that Job should pray for them for that him God would accept so we bringing our Sacrifices of Prayer to the Footstool of the Throne of Grace have them there tendered to the Majesty of God by the Saints and Angels his accepted and beloved Ministers Who sees not here that the Greeks have learned the distinction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of the Roman Schools of whose Doctrine as we have said before they have extracted the Principles by their studies and Conversation in Italy which is the sole Gymnasion and Library of their knowledge and learning for in most points of Controversie where the Patriarchal Autority is not concerned they exactly concur with the sense of the Roman Schools But yet I do not find that their Prayers to Saints and Angels are so frequently enjoyned as they are in the Roman Offices and Rosaries but scattered here and there in their Breviaries of which for satisfaction of the Reader I have made some Collections Forms of Prayers to Saintsused in the Greek Church Holy Martyrs who have stoutly fought and are Crowned pray to the Lord to have mercy on our souls Holy Apostles beseech the merciful God to grant remission of sins to our souls These following are short Prayers appointed to be learned by Children and are commonly the Morning and Evening Devotions of private persons All holy Lady ' Mother of God pray for us Sinners All Celestial Powers of Angels and Arch-Angels pray for us Sinners Holy John Prophet and Fore-runner and Baptist of our Lord Jesus Christ pray for us Sinners Holy Orthodox Apostles Prophets and Martyrs and all Saints pray for us Sinners O sacred Ministers of God our Fathers Shepheards and Teachers of the World pray for us Sinners O invincible indissolvable and Divine Power of the Reverend and life-giving Cross forsake us not Sinners These particulars shall serve for instances that in the Greek Church Prayers are made to Saints in the same manner as in the Roman CHAP. XIX Of the Greek Islands in the AEgean Sea now called the Arche-Pelago and the devision there of Religion between the Greek and Latin Churches AMongst the many Isles in the Arche-pelago since the Conquest of Candia by the Turks none remains subjected to Christian Government but only Tino which belongs to the Venetians Tenedos Myteline Scio Negropont and some others are thought worthy of the Fortresses and defence of the Ottoman Sword The others lye open and ungarded and are the possession and prize of every Pyrate and Rover but yet according to the last Peace concluded between Venice and the G. Signor they are all annexed to the Dominions of the Turk to whom they pay a yearly Harach or Poll-money which is four Dollars per head whereas in the time of the War they paid the same both to the Venetians and the Turk The Turk looking on the Inhabitants of those Isles like out-lying Deer lodged without pale or defence and rather such who afford harbour and succour to Pyrates and Enemies than strength or Riches to the Borders of his Empire hath of late entered into consultation for dispeopling those Islands and transporting the Inhabitants into more secure Enclosures where they may render greater benefit and improvement to their Grand Landlord than they do at present but as yet no resolution hath been taken therein The Greeks are greatly divided in their Religion and consequently alienated each from other in their humour and inclinations some acknowledging the Patriarchal See at Constantinople some at Rome It is not to be doubted but that the Romanists possessing most of Wit and Money are always too hard for the Ignorance and Poverty of the Greeks by which and the convenient shortness of the Latin Mass they draw many of the Greeks from attendance on their own tedious Services to better ordered and more easie Devotions though as yet they cannot perswade them to renounce their obedience to their Church and Patriarch Moreover whilest the Venetians exercised an Authority over many of these Islands which was before they were constrained to render them to the Turk the Church of Rome enjoyed an opportunity of fixing a deep Foundation for that Religion and thereby so far encroached into the possessions of the Greeks that their Religion remained under great discouragements their Rites being suppressed in all the Isles of that Sea for want of protection and redress of their aggrievances until the Greek Bishop or Metropolite of Scio called Ignatius Neochori in the year 1664 being a person of an active Spirit and reported by his Adversaries to be of a proud and haughty disposition inclined to Covetousness and versed in crafty and subtle Arts endeavoured to buckle with the Power and Jurisdiction of the Latines To effect which he at first cunningly suggested to the Turks the danger of that people by reason of their nearness and affinity with the Venetians and constant correspondence with the Enemies
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
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