the Greek Church therein notwithstanding the Oppression and Contempt put upon it by the Turk and the Allurements and Pleasures of this World is a Confirmation no less convincing than the Miracles and Power which attended its first beginnings For indeed it is admirable to see and consider with what Constancy Resolution and Simplicity ignorant and poor men keep their Faith and that the proffer of Worldly Preferments and the priviledge which they enjoy by becoming Turks the Mode and Fashion of that Country which they inhabit should not decoy or debauch such silly Souls who can offer little more of Argument in defence of their perswasion than the Doctrine of their Forefathers and the common profession of those who in many places especially in the Morea and all Romagnia use the same Customs and speak the same Language of Greek with them Nor can I attribute this Constancy to the meer force of Education for Turks intermingle with them inhabit in the same Street and sometimes under the same Roof their Children play and are bred up together and have almost the same Manners and Customs with them and have little different besides their Religion and something of Briskness and Spirit in the Children of Turks which seems naturally to usurp an Authority over their Greek Play-Fellows So that if Education were the sole motive and principle Turcism might sooner take root than Christianity having the opportunity equal and in the easiness of things naturally to be believed and other specious and fair offers the advantage before the mysterious Doctrine of our Faith and the exact severity of our lives which is neither revealed nor performed by the meer motion of flesh and blood But certainly much is to be attributed herein to the Grace of God and the Promises of the Gospel and if any Art or Polity can be said to have place over the affection of the People none seems more efficacious than the strict observation of the Fasts and Feasts of their Church by which the people are taught as in a visible Catechism the History of Christianity more I dare say than by their ill-composed Sermons or repetition of the Scripture in the Vulgar Tongue for being severely imposed and observed with much solemnity they affect the Vulgar with an awe of something divine and extraordinary in them The fear also and apprehension of some Authority in the Church as the power of the Keys Excommunications and other Ecclesiastical Censures work a reverence in the people towards their Clergy which is indeed the main Pillar and Basis which supports a Church For as Tacitus speaks of the Jewish Nation when under the Roman Power That Honâ—â— Sacerdotii firmamentum Potentiae eorum the Honour which they gave to their Priesthood was the foundation of their Regimen for that which commands the conscience reduces the body will and affections to obedience so more particularly in Ecclesiastical Polity it is the Fence and Hedge of the Sheepfold This being broken down the Sheep stray and Satan enters with his seed of Heresie and Schism for what can hinder men from running into Prodigies of Fansie and wild Opinions where every man is his own Pastor and his own Bishop This apprehension of Power which attends the Keys is available in a double capacity for besides the energy it hath in Spiritual Matters it supplies amongst the Greeks the defect of a Temporal Authority in regard that they though Subjects of the Turk do yet oftentimes in Controversies about matters of Right follow the advice of the Apostle by referring the determination of their Cause to the arbitrement of spiritual men and chief of their Saints who are their Bishop or Patriarch and other Chiefs of their Clergy rather than to stand to the Judicature of Infidels But this the Church presumes not to bind on mens Consciences left it should seem to usurp that Right which others hold by the Sword and contradict that saying of our Saviour My Kingdom is not of this world Howsoever such as are religious and devout amongst them esteem it a Crime highly scandalous and savouring of a bad intention to have recourse rather to a Mahometan Divan than a Christian Sentence as if those who can judge of the inward Conscience were not yet sufficient to Umpire in a Temporal Cause Secondly This Reverence to the Church produces a firm belief and strict adherence to the Articles of it and to all the Ceremonies and matters the most minute and indifferent not suffering the least change or alteration in them which in this conjuncture and state of things seems very convenient if not necessary in the Greek Church For though they are sensible as many of their Priests have confessed to me of the inconvenient length of their Liturgies concerning which we shall speak in another Chapter and of many superstitious Customs and Ceremonies derived to them from the times of Gentilism which are now ingrafted into and as it were grown up with their Religion and many other Rites of which the wiser men are ashamed and wish they were amended yet they fear to correct and alter them Nay as they have assured me the very alteration of the Old to the New Stile would be highly hazardous lest the People observing their Guides to vary in the least point from their ancient and as they imagine their Canonical Profession should begin to suspect the truth of all and from a doubt dispute themselves into an indifference and thence into an entire desertion of the Faith Though the Christian Religion profess'd in the Ottoman Dominions lies under a Cloud and a sad discouragement yet thanks be to God there is a free and publick exercise thereof allowed in most parts and something of respect given to the Clergy even by the Mahometans themselves who esteem honour due to all persons of what Profession soever who are set apart and consecrated to Gods service For it is evident that the Turks entertain something of a good opinion of the sanctity of the Christian Religion and a belief that God hears their Prayers because that in the time of common Pestilence or Calamity both the Greek and Armenian Patriarchs are enjoined by the Turks to assemble their People and pray against it This permission of the Christian Religion indulged by the Turks is both agreeable to Mahomet's Doctrine and the Priviledges granted by the Sultans who in their Conquests of the Grecian Empire judged that a toleration of Religion would much facilitate the entire subjection of that People The greatest burden that is laid upon them by the Turk is their Haratch or Poll-money for which every man who is arrived to 20 years of age pays Four Lyon Dollars per Annum and Youths between 15 to 20 pay half so much but Women are exempt from this burden Also Greeks who have Lands and Houses are taxed pro rato for extraordinary Expences for entertaining a Pasha or some great Person whose charges they are obliged to defray in his
year are Dionysius of Constantinople Paisios of Alexandria Theositios of Jerusalem and Macarios of Antioch which names they take upon themselves when they first enter into Monasteries or a Religious life The Patriarch of Constantinople is elected by the Metropolites or Bishops according to the plurality of Voices but afterwards constituted and confirmed by the G. Signor before whom after his Election he presents himself with all humility and the G. Signor after the ancient Custom of the Greek Emperours presents him with a white Horse a Manto or black Coole a pastoral staff with a Costan or figured Vest and being mounted on his Horse with a Train of the Clergy and principal Persons of the Greek Nation and accompanied with a great Number of Turkish Officers he returns with all solemnity to the Patriarchal Seat at the entry into which he is met and received by the chief Metropolites and others with wax Tapers burning in their hands and by them conducted into the Church and there before the Altar is consecrated by the Arch-Bishop of Heraclea who habited in his Pontifical Garments takes the Patriarch by the hand and seats him in the Patriarchal Chair sets the Mitre on his Head and commits the Crosier to his hand which being performed and the Offices sung the whole Ceremony is ended The Contention between the Greek Clergy for the Patriarchal Power at Constantinople hath begotten many troubles in the Church for such whom Ambition and Covetousness excite with a desire of this Ecclesiastical Preferment and having some Riches of their own and Credit to make up the rest at Interest seldom or never miss the prize they pursue for the Arguments of Gifts and Benefits are so prevalent with the G. Vizier and the other Turkish Officers that they can afford easie admittance to the most frivolous Accusation that may be objected against the present Incumbent by which means the Patriarch is often changed and the Debts of the Church increased and the Election rather in the hands of the Turk than the Bishops the one being guided by Bribes and the other by Faction by which means the Debts of the Church in the year 1672 as I was informed by the Bishop of Smyrna amounted unto 700 Purses of Mony which makes 350 thousand Dollars the Interest of which increasing daily and rigorously extorted by the Power of the most covetous and considerable Turkish Officers who lend or supply the Money is the reason and occasion that the Patriarch often summons all his Archbishops and Bishops to appear at Constantinople that so they may consult and agree on an expedient to ease in some measure the present Burden and Pressure of their Debts the payment of which is often the occasion of new Demands For the Turks finding this Fountain the fresher and more plentifully flowing for being drained continually suck from this Stream which is to them more sweet for being the Blood of the Poor and the life of Christians It is a remarkable Story and very pertinent to this place which the Bishop of Smyrna when he once did me the honour to make me a Visit recounted to me That not long since certain Principal Officers amongst the Turks perswaded or rather forced a poor simple Kaloir to stand Candidate for the Patriarchal Office and to cheapen it at the price of 25000 Dollars which offer the Turks signified to the Patriarch that so he might either pay the Money himself and thereby purchase his Confirmation or prepare to give way to a new Successor The whole Assembly of the Greek Clergy were greatly perplexed hereat yet knew not which way to resolve For to accept of this Kaloir for Patriarch who was poor and brought nothing with him besides his contemptible Person and Debt which they must at length pay would bring a scandal and scorn on the Church besides the bad Bargain they should make in exchange of their Patriarch Wherefore at length applying themselves with great Humility to the Vizier they obtained a remission of 5000 Dollars of the price demanded and on payment of 20000 procured the continuance of their old Patriarch which matter being thus accommodated the Clergy desired that the Kaloir might be delivered into their hands to receive punishment according to the Canons of their Church but this would not be granted lest such an Example should deter Men from the like designs and thereby prejudice the Musselmin Cause and Interest Nor can the Laws and Canons in the Church against Simony prevail for the Clergy are tender to assert their power of Excommunication in this point or any other part of their Spiritual Authority which the Temporal Power of the Turk in those Cases where his Interest commands over-awes and frustrates usurping a power more Ecclesiastical Supreme and Pontifical than that of the Patriarch But to evidence the turbulent State of the Greek Church we shall not need to fetch Examples farther back than from the year of our Lord 1670 when one Mythodius was Patriarch at Constantinople in which Office he had not been long seated before he was forced by one Parthenius to retire and hastily to take up his Bag and Baggage and be gone and flye for Sanctuary into the House of the English Ambassadour it being usual for the new Patriarch to seize on the person of his Predecessor with his Goods and Estate for paying the Debts of the Church and part of that price for which the Patriarchate was bought by him for which seldom wants some just Cause or at least a seeming pretence in regard that not only the real necessity of the Church Debts forces the Patriarchs to extort Money from the People but likewise a provident care for their future subsistence prompts them to make Friendship with the Mammon of Unrighteousness against that time that they shall be necessitated to surrender an account of their Stewardship And I have heard some say that this change of Patriarchs is so necessary for the maintenance of their Metropolites or Bishops that without it they might starve unless they had this pretence for frequent Taxes For levying Money in this manner on the people some of it sticks to their Fingers providing not only sufficient to pay the proportion expected from their respective Diocesses but also for their own support Mythodius having no sooner as is said quitted the place but Parthenius entered a person not only of a considerable Estate but well acquainted and respected in the Turkish Court Howsoever he continued not above a year before he was forced to give way to Dionysius Metropolite of Larissa who being a monied Man carryed his business with a high hand and entered into the Patriarchal Seat with all the Ceremonies usual at the Instalment to that Dignity procuring not only the Banishment of Parthenius unto Rhodes but caused him also to be Anathematized and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be pronounced with a loud Voice in a full Synod or Convocation of all the Metropolites then
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