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A60240 The critical history of the religions and customs of the eastern nations written in French by the learned Father Simon ; and now done into English, by A. Lovell ...; Histoire critique de la creance et de coutumes des nations du Levant. English Simon, Richard, 1638-1712.; Lovell, Archibald. 1685 (1685) Wing S3797; ESTC R39548 108,968 236

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not It is enough that they are in practice to make them pass for Apostolical And seeing there are but few able Men amongst them they are incapable of Judging whether or no their Traditions be really founded on Antiquity One of the Ceremonies which hath most astonished the Latins is that which they observe with great Pomp in respect of the Mysteries when they are upon the little Altar which they call the Altar of Proposition and that before the Consecration For which is surprizing they render Extraordinary Honours to the Bread and Wine before they are consecrated and onely barely blessed Amongst their Ceremonies which are onely grounded on Tradition but Apostolical may be reckoned most part of their Sacraments because as we have observed before they do not believe that Jesus Christ was the immediate Authour of them All these Sacraments are accompanied with a great many Ceremonies because they are perswaded that too much external respect cannot be given to Holy things And therefore they Celebrate their Liturgy and other Offices with far greater Pomp than the Church of Rome doth They have besides a great many Books of their Offices but no Breviaries for the use of private Persons as the Latins have because say they the Office ought to be said publickly in the Church and not privately in a Chamber (1) Jan. Nic. Erythr in Pinacoth Francis Arcudius having thought fit to make a kind of Breviary for the use of the Greeks which he compiled out of their Books of Offices met not with the Satisfaction that he proposed to himself for the Greeks despise that Breviary and there are none but the Monks of St. Basil of the Monastery of Crypta Ferrata Fifteen Miles from Rome who use it in their Travels We shall not insist longer on the Ceremonies of the Greeks for it requires a whole Volume to describe them fully Most part of these Ceremonies have a Mystical Sense if we will Credit some of their Doctors who have written on that Subject But all Men know that there is nothing worse grounded than that Mystical and Allegorical Divinity I could rather have wished that I could have represented here in Abridgement the Singing and Musick of the great Church of Constantinople but besides that that would be too tedious there would be need also of a great many Figures I shall onely add by way of Supplement a Discourse concerning belief of Transubstantiation which is at present no less known to most of the Greeks than it is to those of the Church of Rome CHAP. II. Of Transubstantiation Whether it be acknowledged by the Greeks who are commonly called Schismaticks * THough this Question hath been largely handled by Mr. Arnaud in his Books against Mr. Claude yet it still lies under great difficulties Nay there are a great many especially amongst the Protestants who do not altogether credit the great number of Attestations produced by that Doctour in his Book of the Perpetuity because say they he gives onely a Vulgar Translation of all these Attestations without publishing the Originals and it may be they have been ill Translated besides that say the same Protestants some things are to be found in these Testimonies which are no ways the Belief of the Greeks and which by consequent give occasion to doubt of the Sincerity of these Records Wherefore some Jesuits have had a design of publishing more Authentick Attestations and in the same Languages they have been made in which will certainly be of great use However till that be done I shall here produce some Proofs of the Belief of the Greeks concerning Transubstantiation which in my Opinion ought to be preferred before all the Attestations that can be brought from the Levant because the Jesuits will not onely be suspected by Protestants but they will not fail also to say that these Attestations have been gain'd by artifice and that the modern Greeks may be made to doe any thing for Money whereas Testimonies taken out of Books that have been composed by Greeks before these Disputes are Proofs that cannot be excepted against Mr. Arnaud who saw the Force of such Proofs objected to Mr. Claude the Authority of Gabriel Archbishop of Philadelphia who in formal Termes asserts Transubstantiation in the same manner as the Latins do But seeing he had not the Book of that Authour he took it altogether upon the Testimony of Cardinal Perron who cited it in his Book of the Eucharist from whence Mr. Claude hath taken occasion to reject that Authority as being suspect in as much as the Cardinal who mentions commonly the Greek words of the Authours whom he cites related onely in French the Testimony of that Archbishop Monsieur Claude eluded also the Testimonies of the same Gabriel cited in Greek by Arcudius pretending that he had not Translated the words of that Greek Authour but that he had enlarged them by paraphrasing them after his way In this manner did that Minister elude many other Proofs of Fact by mere Subtilties untill Father Simon caused the Works of Gabriel of Philadelphia to be printed in Greek and Latin with many other Pieces taken out of Good Originals which cannot be called in Question * Since that Mr. Smith a Protestant of the Church of England who travelled into Greece hath published a Letter concerning the Present State of the Greek Church wherein he freely acknowledges that Transubstantiation is owned by the Greeks and that in a Confession of Faith not long since published in the Name of all the Greek Church the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the same as the Latin Transubstantiatio is used These are the words of that Confession (1) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Priest hath no sooner said the Prayer called the Invocation of the Holy Ghost but that the Transubstantiation is made and the Bread changed into the real body of Jesus Christ And the Wine into his real Bloud nothing more remaining but the bare Species or appearances These are as plain and formal words as any can be and contained in a Book that is generally approved all over Greece Nevertheless Mr. Smith is so far from submitting to so Authentick and Publick a Confession that though he could not accuse the Authours of Falshood as Mr. Claude not very judiciously hath done yet he hath his recourse to other Niceties which have some shew of reason and to which it is necessary to give an answer that the Faith of the Greeks may be clearly and undoubtedly known He pretends that the term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath been lately invented for authorising a new opinion that Gabriel of Philadelphia is the first at least one of the first that hath made use of it that that Archbishop having lived a long time at Venice and having filled his head with School Divinity nay and being won by the Arts and Tamperings of those of the Church of Rome had asserted that by a new word which Jeremy Patriarch of Constantinople by whom he
that the Ancient Fathers gave the Name of Antitypes to the Symbols even after their Consecration not thinking that that word signified any thing contrary to the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist It appears manifestly by the Dispute that was betwixt the Iconoclasts and the Patrons of Images that there was no Difficulty betwixt them concerning the Body of Jesus Christ which both Parties acknowledged to be in the Eucharist after the Consecration They differed onely in this to wit whether after the Consecration the Bread ought still to be called an Antitype The Iconoclasts affirmed it and had Antiquity on their side the Defenders of Images denied it and fell into a mistake of a matter of fact which did not the least prejudice the Affair in Question So that what way soever the word Antitype be interpreted Protestants can draw no consequence from it against the Belief of Transubstantiation CHAP. III. Of the Adoration of the Sacrament of the Eucharist whether it be in use amongst the Greeks THough this Adoration be a necessary Consequent of Transubstantiation yet there are some Protestants who freely confess that the Greeks are much of the same Judgment with the Latins as to the Matter of Transubstantiation but they deny that they adore Jesus Christ in the Consecrated Symbols pretending that their Worship terminates on Jesus Christ in Heaven They are confirmed in this Opinion chiefly because the Greeks in the Celebration of their Liturgy render not much Honour to the Sacred Symbols after their Consecration as the Latin Church doth But we are not always to pass a Judgment on things by the External Worship and in that many Emissaries have been mistaken aswell as Protestants when they would measure the Orientals by the Practice and Custome of their own Church It is certain we shew greater Respect and Veneration to Jesus Christ in the Eucharist than we did before the time of the Berengarians nay and before the time of the Protestants too at least in what concerns the exteriour It is chiefly but since the Birth of Nestorianism that greatest Respect has been shewn to the Virgin Besides the Greek Church never rendered such excessive Honours to Images but since the Iconoclasts were so incensed against them * * It must not therefore be said that before that time no Honour was rendered neither to the Virgin nor Images The case is the same with the Greeks and other Eastern Christians who have continued in their Ancient simplicity because they have not had the same reasons as the Latins had to come out of it and if they be accused that they adore not the symbols the Ancients are likewise to be accused for not having adored them because there is nothing to be found neither in their Books nor Liturgies that comes near the External Worship of our times In this manner we are to understand the words of Caucus when he affirms that no Nation under the Sun renders less Honour to the Sacrament of the Eucharist than the Greeks do and it is not to be denied but that he goes too far in what he relates comparing them to some Reformers of the West But after all we cannot make a better Judgment of the Practice of the Greeks than by the Books the have written on that Subject Gabriel Archbishop of Philadelphia whom we have mentioned before asserts so vigorously that Adoration in a Book that he wrote on purpose against the Latins that it is impossible to doubt of it That Archbishop established two sorts of Honour or Adoration which are rendered to the Symbols of Bread and Wine The first is but a bare respect paid to them whilst they are as yet but Blessed and Antitypes But the second wherewith they are honoured after Consecration (1) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gabr. Philad in Apol Orat. Lat. is not a simple Veneration saith Gabriel but a Worship of Latria or real Adoration This he explains more at large after Cabasilas Simeon of Thessalonica and many others who also assert those two sorts of Honour rendered to the Holy Gifts both before and after the Consecration Nay he remarks the time when the last and real Adoration is performed to wit when the Symbols have been consecrated and when the Priest standing at the door of the Sanctuary cries with a loud Voice let all draw near with Faith Reverence and Love Then they do not say continues the same Gabriel as they do when they honour the Antitypes Lord Remember me in thy Kingdom but (2) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I believe Lord that thou art Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God which words are directed to Jesus Christ under the Symbols of the Bread and Wine that are presented to the People And at that time saith Gabriel the Priest (3) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. gives them notice to adore with a Worship of Latria We are to expound the thought of Cabasilas with relation to the same time and to the words of the Liturgy when he speaks of those that draw near to the Holy Mysteries (1) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who says he as an Expression of their Piety and Faith adore bless and praise Jesus Christ as God whom they acknowledge to be in the Consecrated Symbols Simeon of Thessalonica whom Gabriel of Philadelphia follows in all his Works distinguishes as well as he two Honours rendered to the Symbols in one of his answers related by Allatius where he says that (2) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if they honour the Holy Gifts whilst they are but Antitypes or Images by stronger reason they ought to honour them after their Consecration when they are become the real Body and Bloud of Jesus Christ To these Authours may be added Metrophanes Critopulus whose Testimony is the more considerable that he hath done all he could in his Book to disguise the Belief of his Church in favour of the Protestants of Germany He acknowledges the change of the Bread and Wine into the Body and Bloud of Jesus Christ and saith (3) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the manner how that change is wrought is unknown to us and inscrutable then he onely blames the Latin Church in that they carry the Body of Jesus Christ with Pomp about the Streets acknowledging nevertheless that it is carried to the Sick to be given them as a viaticum and in the same Place (4) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he proves that the Symbols never lose their Consecration if they have been once consecrated for that end alledging the Example of Wool which being once died never loseth its Tincture Whence it may be clearly gathered that that Authour acknowledges the Body of Jesus Christ in the Symbols when they are not applied to use and by consequent that they ought to be adored not condemning the Adoration and Honour that those of the Church of Rome render in-general to Jesus Christ in that Sacrament but onely that great Pomp and Ostentation when it
Florence Nay they wash the Altars on which the Latins have celebrated and will not suffer Latin Priests to celebrate upon their Altars because they pretend that the Sacrifice ought to be performed with leavened bread IX They say that the Ordinary words wherein the Latins make the Consecration to consist are not sufficient to change the Bread and the Wine into the Body and Bloud of our Lord if some Prayers and Benedictions of the Fathers be not added X. They affirm that the Communion under both kinds is to be given to Children even before they can distinguish that Nourishment from another because that is a matter of Divine Right And therefore they give the Communion to Children immediately after Baptism and they account the Latins who are of a contrary Judgment Hereticks XI They hold that Lay-men are by Divine Law obliged to communicate under both kinds and call the Latins Hereticks for maintaining the contrary XII They affirm that Believers when they have attained to years of discretion are not to be forced to communicate every Year at Easter but that they are to have liberty of Conscience XIII They shew no Respect Worship nor Veneration to the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist even when their Priests celebrate and they carry it to the Sick without Torch-light Besides they keep it in a little Bag and Box without other Ceremony than fastening it to the VVall whereas they light Lamps before their Images XIV They believe that the Host consecrated on Holy Thursday is much more efficacious than those which are consecrated on ordinary Days XV. They deny that the Sacrament of Marriage is a Bond which cannot be broken And therefore they accuse the Church of Rome of Errour for teaching that Marriage cannot be dissolved in the Case of Adultery and that it is not allowed to marry again in that Case But the Greeks teach the contrary and practise it daily XVI They condemn fourth Marriages XVII They solemnize not the Festivals of the Virgin Apostles and other Saints instituted by the Catholick Church and the Fathers on the same Days that the Western Church celebrates them and besides that they do it after another manner they also despise the Feasts of many very ancient Saints XVIII They say that the Canon of the Latin Mass ought to be abrogated as being full of Errours XIX They deny that Usury is a mortal Sin XX. They deny that Subdeaconship is at present a sacred Order XXI Of all the General Councils that have been celebrated in the Catholick Church by Popes at different times they admit of none after the seventh General Council which is the second of Nice that was called against those who rejected Images The Greeks acknowledge none of the rest and submit not to their Decrees XXII They deny Auricular Confession to be of Divine Right pretending it onely to be a Positive and Ecclesiatical Constitution XXIII They say that Lay-mens Confessions ought to be arbitrary And therefore amongst them Laicks are not constrained to confess once a year and they are not excommunicated for neglecting it XXIV They pretend that in Confession it is not necessary nor of Divine Right that men should confess all their Sins in particular nor yet tell all the Circumstances that alter the nature of a Sin XXV They give the Communion to Laicks both in Health and Sickness though they have not before confessed their Sins to a Priest and that because they are perswaded that Confession is arbitrary and that Faith is the onely and true Preparation for receiving the Eucharist XXVI They slight the Vigils of the Latins before the Festivals of Our Lord the Virgin and Apostles aswell as the Fasts of the Ember-weeks Nay on these Days they eat Flesh in contempt of the Latins XXVII They accuse the Latins of Heresie because they eat flesh that hath been strangled and other Meats that are condemned in the Old Testament XXVIII They deny that simple Fornication is a mortal Sin XXIX They affirm that it is lawfull to deceive an Enemy and that it is no Sin to doe him Injury XXX As to Restitution they are of the Opinion that it is not necessary to Salvation to restore what one has robbed XXXI In fine they believe that he who hath once been a Priest may return again to a Lay-condition These are the Opinions that distinguish the Greeks from the Latins if we credit Caucus who attributes that Belief not onely to the Greeks of Corfou but also to the other Greeks who are separated from the Church of Rome But if we listen to (1) Caucus Venetus Archiepiscopus Corcyrensis vir nullius plane doctrinae vel Judicii ... Libello edito de Graecorum recentiorum haeresibus Graecos omnes non sine evidenti calumnia diffamavit ... an mendacio an scelere an fraude an falaciis ... summorum Pontificum gratia demerenda est Leo Allat lib. 3. de Consens cap. 10. Leo Allatius Caucus is an Ignorant a Slanderer and a Man without Judgment who thought to oblige the Pope by multiplying the Errours of the Greeks and hath attributed to all what he learnt and saw in Corfou Nevertheless it is no hard matter to justifie Caucus in most part of the Opinions which he imputes to the Greeks unless perhaps in what concerns Morality the Corruption whereof proceeds rather from private Persons than an universal and approved Belief and it is to be feared that it may be objected to Allatius that he hath softned a great many things in the Opinions of the Greeks through a Design of Reconciliation and to curry Favour with Pope Urban VIII who at that time proposed to himself the Re-union of the Greeks to the Church of Rome by soft and mild ways In effect if we carefully examine the Errours which Caucus imputes to the Modern Greeks we shall find that few Men have more exactly observed them And indeed the Pope having enjoined him to doe it there is no probability that he would have imposed upon the Pope in an affair of that importance Seeing he was not learned in the Divinity of the Ancients he hath referred all to School-Divinity and the Decisions of the Council of Trent which he took to be the Rule according to which he ought to condemn as erroneous what ever did not conform thereunto and in that his sincerity appears the more For for a long time he had informed himself wherein they agreed with the Church of Rome and wherein they differed condemning nevertheless too boldly what suited not with the Practice of his Church But let us consider more particularly whether Caucus be so great a Slanderer and whether he hath imposed so much on the Greeks as Leo Allatius would have the World believe In the first Place as to the re-baptising of the Latins it is certain that they have done it in other Places besides Corfou and that because of the Enmity they bear towards them looking upon all their Ceremonies as abominable And for the same
was consecrated Bishop was wholly ignorant of He farther adds that since Gabriel of Philadelphia the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath been but little used by the Greek Writers that the Synods held against Cyrillus Lucaris have forborn it that it is a word unknown to the Ancient Fathers that it is neither to be found in their Liturgies nor Confessions that in fine Transubstantiation is so far from being believed amongst the Greeks that the contrary is evidently to be proved from their Liturgy where the Symbols even after they have been consecrated and called the Body and Bloud of Christ are nevertheless at the same time (1) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called the Antitypes of the Body and Bloud of Christ And these are the strongest Arguments that the Protestants have to object against the Modern Greeks who acknowledge Transubstantiation whereby they think to confute all the large Volumes composed by Mr. Arnaud upon that Subject This hath obliged me to examine these answers particularly and to shew the weakness of the same In the first Place it is not true that Gabriel of Philadelphia is the first Authour of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Greeks Gennadius who lived above an Hundred years before that Archbishop and who is thought to have been the first Patriarch of Constantinople after the taking of that City by the Turks in one of his Homilies (2) See the Collections at the end of the Book C. makes use indifferently of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Besides he explains how it can be that in that wonderfull change there remains (3) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no more but the Accidents of Bread without any thing of the Substance of the same Bread and that the real Substance of the Body of Jesus Christ is hid under the same Accidents I shall not here examine the particular Qualities of Gennadius and whether or not he was one of the Latinized Greeks It is sufficient that I make appear that Gabriel of Philadelphia is not the first Authour of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 since it is to be found in Greek Books written above an hundred Years before him At least it cannot be said that Gabriel who makes use of it hath been corrupted by the Latins as Mr. Smith affirms without any Proof That is so far from being true that Gabriel of Philadelphia wrote a Book against the Council of Florence having openly declared himself for the Party of Mark of Ephesus against those of his Church who had adhered to that Council and besides he was linked in intimate Friendship and Interest with one Miletius a great Enemy of the Church of Rome I confess he followed his Studies at Padua where he learnt School-Divinity of which he uses the Terms in his Books But Cyrillus Lucaris who wrote a Confession of Faith in favour of the Calvinists and which he hath taken almost verbatim out of the Works of Calvin studied also at Padua and was more learned in Divinity than Gabriel who onely made use of the Terms of the Latin Divines because he thought they explained his Belief more clearly and not for authorising a Novelty That affectation of the Language of the Schoolmen which appears in all the Writings of Gabriel concerns onely the Method and Expressions and not the Substance of the Matter and so he ought not to be blamed for having introduced new Terms into his Church and instead of concluding with Mr. Smith that he hath at the same time introduced Novelties it ought on the contrary to be inferred that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Greeks which signifies onely a change and which is to be found in Ancient Authours is the same with the Term transubstantiatio invented by the Latins seeing a Greek learned in the Expressions both of the Greeks and Latins makes use indifferently of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the same as transubstantiatio for expressing the Change of the Symbols into the Body and Bloud of Jesus Christ But Jeremy Patriarch of Constantinople who consecrated Gabriel of Philadelphia and made Learned Answers to the Divines of Wittemberg upon that Subject say they never made use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is true that Patriarch make use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it is Greek and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not He was not willing to bring into fashion a barbarous word unknown to the Ancients Nevertheless he makes it apparent enough that by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he means the same thing as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the transubstantiatio of the Latins The Divines of Wittemberg who caused his Answers to be Printed and who have no less Aversion to Transubstantiation than the Protestants of England and France have were so strongly perswaded that the Patriarch meant the Transubstantiation of the Church of Rome by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that on the margin opposite to that word they have placed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as signifying the same thing in the thought of Jeremy and on the margin of the Latin Translation they have placed opposite to Mutari the Term transubstantiatio The same Divines in their answer to the Patriarch shew clearly that in the question that was betwixt them they reckoned the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be changed and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be transubstantiated to be synonymous Jeremy wrote to them that (1) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Belief of the Catholick Church the Bread and the Wine after the Consecration were by the Holy Ghost changed into the Body and Bloud of Christ To which those of Wittemberg answered (2) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they believed that the Body and Bloud of Christ were really in the Eucharist but that they do not believe for all that that the Bread was changed into the Body of Christ They make use of no other Terms in their Answer to express the Transubstantiation of the Latins than the Greek verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Patriarch had also employed In fine Jeremy having read the reply of the Divines of Wittemberg returns them this Answer (3) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Bread becomes the Body of Christ and the Wine and the Water his Bloud by means of the Holy Ghost that changeth them and that that change is above the reason of Man From whence it is easie to gather that these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and other such like which the Greeks commonly make use of to denote the change of the Symbols signifie the same thing as the barbarous word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which hath been made according to that of transubstantiatio by the latter Greeks who had read the Books of the Latins and studied in their Schools The new Greeks onely adopted that word because they thought it expressed very
ruined that Church which nevertheless still retains the Names of some Archbishopricks Bishopricks and Monasteries but which are for most Part in great Disorder I have informed my self exactly enough of the Present State of the Church of Armenia having had many Conferences upon that Subject with an Armenian Bishop who took the Title of Bishop of Uscovanch and who was at Amsterdam in the Year 1662. for Printing an Armenian Bible according to the Commission he had from his Patriarch For seeing the Manuscript Armenian Bibles were excessively dear and that that hindered private Persons from reading the Scripture the Patriarch took a resolution of causing it to be Printed From that Bishop who was called Uscam I had the Memoirs of the Armenian Churches which I have subjoyned (1 See the Collections at the End of the Book F. at the End of this Book and since that time I have conversed with him freely at Paris but having consulted him about several Points relating to the Theology of the Armenians I found him not to be very skilfull in those matters He died at Marseilles whither he went by permission from the King to cause several Armenian Books to be Printed for the use of his Countreymen The Cardinals of the Congregation de propagandâ fide at Rome were surprised that a Liberty of Printing all sorts of Armenian Books had been so easily granted in France because perhaps he might have caused bad Books to be Printed which might have favoured the Armenian Sect. But his Conduct during the time that he was in France was very respectfull towards the Church of Rome Now concerning the Belief and Ecclesiastical Discipline of the Armenian Church no Man hath treated of it more amply than Galanus in the Book which he published at Rome concerning the Reconciliation of the Armenian Church with the Roman (1) Galan Cler. Reg. in Concil Eccl. Arm. cum Rom. That Book is divided into two Parts of which the first is but an Abstract of the Histories of the Armenians but seeing the Armenians have been divided amongst themselves for several Ages and that they have had recourse to Rome in their Necessities aswell as the other Orientals I have found these Histories not to be always sincere and exact And therefore what I here take from Galanus touching the Armenians I shall accompany with some Reflexions The same Authour hath added Notes upon his History but because he was an Emissary and wrote at Rome we must not before we have examined him give credit to all he saith Nevertheless that Book contains a great many Curious things concerning the State and Religion of the Armenians It is to be observed then I. That the Armenian Histories translated by Galanus mention a certain Instrument of Reunion betwixt the Roman and the Armenian Churches under the Emperour Constantine and Tyridates King of the Armenians Sylvester then possessing the See of Rome and Gregory who is the great Patriarch of the Armenians possessing that of Armenia But besides that there are many things in that Instrument which appear to be fabulous it is probable that that Piece as to the greatest part of it hath been forged in the following Ages especially in the time of Innocent III. when the Armenian Church sought to be reconciled to the Church of Rome For there are in it ways of speaking concerning the Supremacy of Popes which were not in use at that time The Armenians however as Galanus observes make use of that Instrument to prove the Antiquity of their Patriarchate which was according to them erecten by Pope Sylvester And they have even alledged it in their Disputes with the Greeks But that will appear to be a weak Foundation to those who know Ecclesiastical History and shall consider the great extent of Jurisdiction that Pope Sylvester takes to himself in that Instrument II. All Men know that the Armenians are of the Sect of the Monophysites who acknowledge but one Nature in Jesus Christ But as we have already observed when we treated of the Jacobites that is but an imaginary Heresie consisting onely in the Ambiguities of words And yet it occasions great Disputes at this day amongst the Armenians for though they be for the most part ignorant in Divinity yet they talk rationally of the Mystery of the Incarnation and of the Council of Chalcedon which they reject We are to observe however that a good many Armenians are at present reconciled to the Church of Rome whose Sentiments they follow and that Galanus hath had a great hand in that Reconciliation in the time of Pope Urban VIII III. It is not true that the Armenians deny the real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist as (1) Brerew of Lang. and Rel. Chap. 24. Brerewood from no good Authour does affirm for the Armenians and Orientals have not disputed so much about that Sacrament as the Latins have especially since the time of Berengarius and in respect the Armenians have never examined that difficulty they have continued in the general Terms of the Change of the Symbols into the Body and Bloud of Our Lord. Galanus who mentions some of their Synods and the Disputes they have had with the Greeks takes no notice at all of that but onely that they mingle no Water with the Wine in celebrating the Liturgy and that they consecrate in Unleavened bread after the Manner of the Latins What the same Brerewood affirms concerning Purgatory is to be understood according to what we have mentioned before of the Greeks and other Orientals and it is very probable that what is said in the same place that they deny that the Sacraments have the Virtue of conferring Grace is the Chimera of some Scholastick Doctour who imagined that the Orientals were acquainted with all the Niceties of the Latins Nor do I think it true that the Armenians refuse to eat of all Animals that are esteemed unclean in the Jewish Law which Brerewood imputes also to the Abyssines But that which hath given occasion to this Belief is that the Armenians and Abyssines with the rest of the Eastern Christians abstain from bloud and things strangled wherein there is no Superstition It is to no purpose to enlarge upon the Belief of the Armenians who are not Latinized since there hath been enough said of that when we spoke of the Jacobites from whom they differ in nothing but in some Ceremonies and in what concerns Ecclesiastical Discipline However I think it will not be taken amiss if I give here a Catalogue of the chief Errours which (1) Joan. Hernac apud Galan a certain Latinized Armenian attributes to them and that will serve for a Confirmation of what we have already alledged and at the same time give occasion of clearing some other Points That Authour reproaches his Countreymen who are not reconciled to the Pope that they follow the Errours of Eutyches and Dioscorus concerning the Unity of Nature in Christ that they believe that the
it All that can be said is that that Emissary Jesuit seems to me to be sillier than the rest when he speaks of the Belief of the Maronites And therefore I think there is no credit to be given to a Miracle which he relates as an evident Proof of the Orthodox Faith of the Maronites He affirms that three Miles from Cannubin near to a Village called Eden there is a Metropolitan Church that goes by the Name of St. Sergius and that above that Church there is a Chapel dedicated to St. Abdon and St. Sennan where there is a Fountain of Spring-water which runs under the Altar during Mass the Day on which the Festival of those two Saints is celebrated He says besides that though that Feast be moveable falling always on the first Sunday of May yet there is never any change in the course of that Fountain which is always constant to the first Sunday of May even since the Calendar hath been reformed by Gregory XIII But I make no doubt but that this is a made story possibly to authorize the Gregorian reformation of the Calendar which that People have on many occasions refused to admit And the rather it appears to be suppositions in that the Authour assures us that that Fountain which runs during Mass sends forth water in greater abundance when the Priest elevates the Host not minding that the Elevation is not in use amongst the Maronites in the manner that it is practised amongst the Latins However Father Besson relates this Miracle as an evident Argument against the other Eastern Nations for authorising the Devotion which the Maronites have towards the Church of Rome and at the same time for confirming the Reformation of the Calendar That Relation likewise affirms that the Maronites are of a very soft and sweet temper and that they give good words at least promising to doe what ever they are desired that it is often in their Mouth that God is bountifull and that he will prosper the thing that is proposed to them and that they frequently pronounce the Name of God or some of his Attributes But as these People are of a good and easie Nature adds the same Authour so they are also very inconstant After they have heard a good Sermon you shall see them fully resolved to be converted and to make an exact Confession of their Sins but when they are to come to performance they appear insensible Their Women are indeed very modest but the greater they are in Quality the less they come to Church insomuch that to enhance the Quality of a Lady they say of her that she never hears Mass but on Easter-day nor does that happen yearly neither When a Maid is Married she keeps at home two years without going to Mass and in the mean time she frequents the Baths and Weddings It seems they are banished the Churches as the Mahometan Women are excluded the Mosques There is nevertheless a Monastery of Nuns of the Order of St. Anthony who are held in great Reputation of Sanctity Their whole Fabrick is hardly any more than a Church where these Nuns are lodged like Pigeons in their Nests in little odd holes made betwixt the Arch and the Floor These little Cells are so low that they cannot stand upright in them and hardly is there room enough to hold their Bodies All their employment is to sing the Office Meditate Pray and Work Their Prayers begin about two in the Morning and they work from day break busying themselves in cultivating their Gardens and the Grounds of their Monastery In fine Father Besson assures us in the second Part of his Book wherein he shews the great Antipathy that is betwixt the Syrians and the Franks that in Syria they say commonly but one Mass a day even on Sundays that they have but few Altars and sewer Priests that all except the Maronites consecrate with Leavened bread that the Priests who celebrate not are notwithstanding present at Mass and take their places but in an ordinary Habit unless they be those that serve as Deacons and Subdeacons and lastly that all communicate in both kinds except the Maronites whose Priests that communicate without celebrating the Liturgy receive a little Piece dipt in the Bloud of Our Lord. CHAP. XIV A Supplement to what hath been said concerning the Maronites THough what hath been mentioned before relating to the Maronites seems to be built upon good grounds yet a Learned Maronite Professour of the Arabick Language in the College Della Sapienza at Rome hath used all his endeavours to prove that his Countrey was never guilty of the Heresie that it is accused of and that Maron was really Orthodox and a Saint and not an Heretick Gabriel Sionita and since him Abraham Ecchellensis formed also a design of making an Apology for those of their Nation and for their pretended St. Maron but these Apologies have not appeared abroad in the World Faustus Nairon the Kinsman and Successour of Abraham hath lately undertaken to make that Apology in a (1) Dissert de origine nom ac relig Maron Autore Fausto Nairone Edit Rom. Anno. 1679. Dissertation Printed at Rome wherein according to the common Opinion of the Maronites he proves by the Testimonies of Theodoret St. John Chrysostome and some other Authours that Maron from whom the Maronites take their Name in the same who lived about the year 400. and who is mentioned in the Menology of the Greeks He adds that the Disciples of that Abbot Maron spread themselves over all Syria where they built several Monasteries and amongst others a very famous one called by the Name of Maron near the River Orontes This Authour farther pretends that all those Syrians who were not infected with Heresie sheltered themselves with the Disciples of Abbot Maron whom the Hereticks of those times called Maronites for that reason It were to be wished that M. Nairon had brought Arguments of less distance from those times to prove that Opinion and I think we ought not absolutely to give credit to the Authority of Thomas Archbishop of Kfartab who lived as it is pretended towards the Eleventh age though he was of the Sect of the Monothelites For if these Authours be carefully examined they will not be found very exact in matters of History and most frequently they relate for Matters of Antiquity what happened in their own time and which they have even drawn out of the Books of the Maronites since their Reconciliation with Rome That which hath greatest appearance of truth in the Apology of M. Nairon for those of his Countrey is the Argument he uses against the Testimony of Gulielmus Tyrius who is an Authour exact enough and who hath spoken of the Heresie of the Maronites as an ocular witness He affirms that Gulielmus Tyrius took most part of his History out of the Annals of Said Ebn Batrik otherwise called Eutychius of Alexandria and seeing Eutychius is not very exact in a great many matters of