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
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
that the words which denote the Action are pronounced they take the Baptism to be null without considering that the manner of administring the Sacraments amongst the Orientals consists chiefly in certain Prayers which they say and that they are not so great Metaphysicians as the Latins which makes them ignorant of a vast number of Difficulties that our Divines handle with much subtilty but the Belief of the Nestorians is not therefore less pure nor less Ancient IV. The Unction which they use after Baptism is with them the Sacrament of Confirmation that differs much from that of the Latins And it was not needfull that Archbishop Meneses should have introduced another Unction that was practised in his Church and which at most was no more than a Ceremony He ought to have known that the Nestorians according to the Ancient Practice of the Eastern Church administer to Children Confirmation and the Eucharist with Baptism It had been then fit to have examined their Rituals to see whether any abuse might not have crept into the Administration of that Sacrament whereas Meneses his chief care seems to have been to abolish most Ancient Customs because they were not agreeable to the Practices of the Latins V. The Archbishop is mistaken when he says that the Christians of St. Thomas had no Knowledge of Confirmation nor of Extreme Unction and were ignorant of the very Names It may be they might have been ignorant of the Names of these Sacraments especially of Extreme Unction which is no where known but in the Latin Church for though the Eastern Church hath the Custome of anointing the Sick according to the words of St. James yet she calls not that Ceremony Extreme Unction for the reasons we mentioned before when we spoke of the Greeks and the same reasons may be also applied to Confirmation The Priests administer that Sacrament amongst the Nestorians as well as amongst the Greeks at the same time they do Baptism of which according to them it is a perfection that ought never to be separated from it As to Auricular Confession which they had in abhorrence it is certainly an abuse introduced into that Church because the use of Confession is in all the East though most part think not themselves obliged to it by Divine Right VI. As to the Errours which the Archbishop pretends to have found in their Books so far as that they would have entirely abolished the Office of Advent it was easie to have given a good meaning to all these pretended Errours besides that the Reformation which he made in their Liturgy was improper for there is nothing worse digested than the Mass of the Nostorians in the manner as it hath been reformed by Meneses and as it is found inserted in the Bibliotheca Patrum The whole Order of it is changed in endeavouring to accommodate that Liturgy to the Opinion which the Latin Divines have of Consecration which they make to consist in these words This is my Body c. whereas the Nestorians believe as all the Orientals do that the Consecration is not completed till the Priest hath ended the Prayer which they call the Invocation of the Holy Ghost Nevertheless Meneses makes the Nestorian Priests adore the Host so soon as they have pronounced these words This is my Body though they believe it not to be as yet consecrated About this Question the Notes on Gabriel of Philadelphia may be consulted where the Authour particularly justifies the Nestorians and proves clearly that their Liturgies even that which carries the Name of S. Nestorius contain nothing but what is Orthodox which is far from the Sentiment of Meneses who calls them impious and heretical and who onely defends the Correction that he hath made by these general Terms that their Liturgies were full of Blasphemies The same Authour affirms that in one of the Liturgies for the use of the Nestorians which he had from a Babylonian Priest the Name of Nestorius with many other things were blotted out and others added that were not of the same hand writing because the Nestorian Priest who made use of that Liturgy was reconciled at least in appearance to the Roman Church which obliged him to reform in his Missal all that might disgust the Divines of Rome The Nestorians have also done the like on another occasion as Stroza (1) Petr. Stroza de dogm Chald. relates for so soon as they come to Rome and hear Nestorius spoken of as an impious Person and Heretick they tear out the Leaves of their Books where mention is made of him taking away all that they believe to be contrary to the Theology of the Church of Rome VII Their Custome of consecrating with Leavened bread mingling therein Oil and Salt ought not to be reckoned amongst their Errours since that does not alter the Nature of Bread The Ceremony besides which they observe to render in some sort the Bread more Holy before the Consecration is Laudable nay and Ancient They thereby distinguish as the Greeks do the Bread that is destin'd to be made the Body of Christ from all common Bread which they look upon as profane before they have said over it a certain Number of Prayers and Psalms VIII It is no matter of wonder that the Chaldeans do not say Mass so often as the Latins do and that many Priests are present at the Bishops Mass and take the Communion from his hands That is an ancient Practice in the Church whereas the Custome of saying so many Masses in the Latin Church is very late and hath been chiefly introduced by Mendicant Monks as it is observed by Cardinal Bona which Practice hath been much fortified since the Introduction of the new Law It is also a very ancient Custome that they who serve and are present at Mass rehearse a good part of it and that because the Liturgy is a Publick Action which concerns the People and may be easily proved even by the Prayers of the Latin Mass IX It is true the Nestorians and other Orientals are grown remiss in the Ancient Discipline as to what relates to Orders and that they observe not the Age required by the Canons But if that wanted to be reformed as well as what concerns the Marriage of Priests the Reformation should have been taken from their Laws rather than from those of Rome All Men know that in the Eastern Church Priests are allowed to marry before their Ordination This Archbishop Meneses ought to have considered in reforming them and not to have dissolved the Marriage of Priests that he might conform to some Statutes made in the Synods held at Goa by some Latin Emissaries X. Meneses seems to have been mistaken in reckoning the Custome of not saying the Breviary out of the Church amongst their Errours because that Practice is new and that the Breviary was not made to be said in private XI I doubt whether the Rates that the Nestorian Priests set for the Administration of the Sacraments ought to be called
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
THE Critical History OF THE RELIGIONS AND CUSTOMS OF THE EASTERN NATIONS Written in French by the Learned Father SIMON And now done into English by A. LOVELL A. M. LONDON Printed by J. Heptinstall for Henry Faithorne and John Kersey at the Rose in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXV THE TRANSLATOUR TO THE READER IF at anytime a Book of this nature hath been usefull it seems now to be necessary when most men think themselves obliged to make a bustle for proselyting others to their Opinions and yet are not certain wherein they differ one from another or how far they agree together Difference will still be difference though to use a word well known at this time it may be trimm'd under a disguise of Conformity And therefore to prevent the mistakes and disappointments that those who labour about so good a Work as the Vniting of Christians under one and the same Belief may meet with from Prejudice Interest or Artifice perhaps not one thing may be more effectual than the true stating of the Faith and Opinions of others who if they be ingenuous will never be complemented out of their Perswasions nor look upon them as Friends who would impose upon them for friendship sake what is inconsistent with their Principles It were to be wished indeed that all men were of one mind if Providence which governs the World thought it convenient it should be so but since it hath been foretold that Offences must come it were to be desired at least that all knew the minds one of another that so they might rightly understand how to rectifie mistakes or confirm the truth amongst men In order to that usefull discovery probably none of those many who have laboriously sifted the truth by their Criticks deserve the Title of Candid and Impartial Judges better than Father Simon the Learned Authour of this Treatise who through the whole Book has employed his great Talent with so much Integrity and Disengagedness that one may say of him Amicus Papa Amici Graeci Amici Latini sed magis Amica Veritas And therefore when this Book came recommended from beyond Sea and that I perused it I thought that I could hardly in my low Station doe better service to the publick than to render it into English especially seeing the whole design of it is to clear matter of fact from mistakes and aspersions and the Belief and Practice of the Eastern Christians from the Erroneous Notions that at this distance may be given us of them by the Travellers and Writers of all sorts And though the Authour discourses largely of Transubstantiation as being the belief of the Greek Church the Reader will easily perceive that he never meant to enter into the merits of the cause and to dispute the truth of the Doctrine which peradventure may seem in the Author's Opinion very difficult to be attempted by Humane Reason but barely to assert and relate matter of fact which it is fit all should know Nor indeed could he have used in my weak Judgment a meaner Argument either for or against that Doctrine than the belief of an ignorant and opprest People seeing Protestants that weigh things are not startled or moved by the same belief which they know to be maintained and professed in the Church of Rome a Church far more conspicuous both for Freedom Wealth and Learning than that of the forlorn Greeks The truth is the Learned Authour of a Discourse lately published against Transubstantiation manages the Controversie much better and reasons more closely to the point when amongst his other Arguments he assigns the time that that Doctrine came to be established in the Church to be when Image-Worship was enjoyned by the second Council of Nice which to me is as strong an Argument as any that Father Simon has produc'd to prove that the Greeks who own that Council and are very Superstitious in Image-Worship have ever since entertained that belief seeing no attempt was ever used before the Reformation to convince them of the contrary Since then the onely design of this Book is to relate matter of Fact and to clear the truth from mistakes I Question not but that it will be so well taken that even those Ingenious Persons who have asserted in Print some things which they will find here contradicted may not dislike what I have done who am very carefull not to offend in any thing against the publick in setting it forth in English and since they or their Friends want not Learning to defend the truth they cannot be suspected to want Modesty and Sincerity if convinc'd to acknowledge a mistake A. LOVELL A Table of the Chapters of this Book and of the Pieces subjoyned to it CHap. I. Of the Belief and Customs of the Modern Greeks Page 1. Chap. II. Of Transubstantiation Whether it be acknowledged by the Greeks who are commonly called Schismaticks p. 33. Chap. III. Of the Adoration of the Sacrament of the Eucharist Whether it be in use amongst the Greeks p. 57. Chap. IV. Of the Belief of the Melchites p. 61. Chap. V. Of the Belief and Customs of the Georgians or Iberians and of those of Colchis or Mengrelia p. 64. Chap. VI. A Supplement concerning the Belief and Customs of the Georgians and Mengrelians p. 70. Chap. VII Of the Belief and Customs of the Nestorians p. 74. Chap. VIII Of the Indians or Christians of St. Thomas p. 87. Chap. IX Of the Customs and Ceremonies of the Jacobites p. 106. Chap. X. Of the Belief and Customs of the Cophties p. 110. Chap. XI Of the Belief and Customs of the Abyssins or Ethiopians p. 118. Chap. XII Of the Belief and Customs of the Armenians p. 123. Chap. XIII Of the Belief and Customs of the Maronites p. 131. Chap. XIV A Supplement to what has been said concerning the Maronites p. 144. Chap. XV. Of the Religion and Customs of the Mahometans p. 148. A List of the Churches depending on the Patriarchate of Constantinople Composed by Nilus Doxopatrius and related by Leo Allatius Lib. 1. de Cons Eccl. Occid Orien c. 24. p. 165 Another List of the Churches depending on the Patriarchate of Constantinople Published by Mr. Smith in his Discourse of the Present State of the Greek Church p. 171. The Testimony of Gennadius concerning Transubstantiation taken out of a manuscript Book of Meletius Syrigus against the Confession of Faith Published under the name of Cyrillus Lucaris Patriarch of Constantinople p. 174. An Extract from a Manuscript Book whereof the Title is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. p. 176. An Extract of M. Claude's Copy of a Manuscript Letter attributed to Meletius Archbishop of Ephesus and pretended to have been written to some Divines of Leyden p. 183. A List of the Churches depending on the Patriarch of Armenia residing at Egmiathin which was dictated by Uscan Bishop of Uscavanch Proctor General to the Patriarch p. 184. THE Critical History OF THE Belief and Customs OF THE EASTERN NATIONS CHAP. I. Of the
Belief and Customs of the Modern Greeks SEEING all the Sects that are at present in the Eastern Countries have sprung from the Greeks and that excepting some particular Points for which they have separated from them they agree in the rest of their Belief and Ceremonies it is necessary that we treat first of the Religion of the Greeks before we come to those others that depend upon it The Greek Church subject to the Patriarch of Constantinople was not always of that vast extent to which it attained after that it pleased the Eastern Emperours to lessen other Patriarchates for greatening that of Constantinople which they could the more easily do because their Power as to things of that Nature hath been far greater than that of the Emperours of the VVest and that for erecting of new Bishopricks or granting new Rights and Jurisdictions they stood but very little on the consent of Patriarchs whereas in the Western Church the Popes by Degrees have become Supreme in these Affairs and Princes must now have their recourse to them There are several Lists of Churches which are subject to that of Constantinople but because they are ancient and do not sufficiently inform us of the Extent to which that Church pretends we shall produce two that are later one made by a Greek not much known called Nilus Doxapatrius (1) See the Lists that are at the End of the Book A. and related by Leo Allatius And the other mentioned in the Letter of Mr. Smith (2) In the same Place B. concerning the Present State of the Greek Church which he assures us he had from some Greeks of Constantinople Both these Lists are in Greek and Latin subjoined to the end of this Treatise Let it now suffice us to observe here that most of the Greek Metropolitans still retain certain Dignities or Titles of Honour which distinguish them one from another so that when the Patriarch of Constantinople writes to the Archbishops nay and to some Bishops he never fails to give them their Titles even in the miserable State to which they are at present reduced The Greeks in all times have been nice in distinguishing themselves by Titles of Honour and by lofty and magnificent Names which by many is attributed to an Oriental vanity whilst they who are more sparing in Censure will attribute it to their Politeness and Civility Though the Church of Constantinople hath lost the great Splendour which it enjoyed under Christian Emperours yet the Churchmen still take to themselves Titles of Honour and Pompous Names of which they are proud Nor are the Monks and Religious free from that Ambition And that 's the reason why Modern Greek VVriters attribute commonly to themselves such kinds of Titles and prefix them to their Books as for instance Doctour of the Great Church and the like which do not always excuse them from the ignorance wherein they are plunged But let us now speak of their Belief Since the Greek Church hath been reduced to the sad State wherein we see it at present the Latins have imposed many things upon them without cause and the Emissaries have often called them Hereticks without any ground But at length some Learned Men at Rome under Pope Urban VIII perceived the ignorance of the Latin Divines that condemned for Heresie what ever they had not learnt in their Schools This hath been already observed by an Authour who published his Travels to Mount Libanus with some pretty large Remarks wherein he explains the Theology of the Eastern Churches That Authour alledges that the Latins often accuse the Greeks of Innovation without any reason and that if Theology were traced to its source it would be found that the Greeks have stuck closer to Antiquity than the Latins have done We have of late some learned VVorks on that Subject which seem to have been composed by an Authour that hath solidly refuted what the ablest Protestants of France alledged in that matter However I think the Authour of the Notes upon Gabriel of Philadelphia hath come nearest the Truth by keeping a mean betwixt both Parties and distinguishing the new Greeks who have read the Books of the Latins or have studied in their Schools from those who have had no Commerce with them he confesses that the former agree more with the Latins than the other at least as to the manner of Expression The Authour of the Remarks on the Voyage to Mount Libanus hath gone farther for the affirms that the Modern Greeks do for most part but Copy the Books of the Latins not following in all things the Sentiments of their Forefathers and besides that their minds being raised but little above Popular traditions they take no pains to search for Divinity in its Original Nay he adds that the VVorks of Gabriel Archbishop of Philadelphia though he be in the Number of those who are not reunited to the Latin Church are no more but a medly of the Theology of the Greeks and Latins which is chiefly to be understood of the method and expressions P. Morin was also of that opinion when in his VVorks of Penance and Ordinations he speaks of the Archbishop of Philadelphia If we follow that Principle which is very well grounded in these two Authours we shall more easily discover what the Belief of the Greeks is and it will be no hard matter to reconcile the different Opinions of those who have written on that Subject I could not in my Judgment make the Belief of the Modern Greeks more apparent than by inserting the Catalogue which Caucus Archbishop of Corfou hath made of the Errours which he imputes to them and by adding at the same time some necessary Reflexions for distinguishing what is true from what is false in that matter which hath been variously treated by different Authours (1) Caucus in Hist de Graec. recentiorum Haeresibus Caucus a Noble Venetian and Archbishop of Corfou in the Book that he wrote concerning the Errours of the New Greeks dedicated to Pope Gregory XIII observes the following Errours I. They re-baptise all the Latins that embrace their Communion II. They delay the Baptism of Children untill the third fourth fifth sixth tenth and eighteenth Year of their Age. III. Of the seven Sacraments of the Roman Church they admit not Confirmation nor Extreme Unction IV. They deny Purgatory though they pray for the Dead V. They acknowledge not absolutely the Primacy of the Pope VI. They deny that the Church of Rome is the true Catholick Church and that she is Mistress of all other Churches They even prefer their own Church before the Latin Church and on Holy Thursday excommunicate the Pope and all the Latin Bishops as Hereticks and Schismaticks VII They deny that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son VIII They refuse to adore the Holy Sacrament in the Mass of Latin Priests who consecrate in unleavened bread according to the ancient Custome of the Roman Church confirmed by the Council of
miserably poor that having nothing to purchase a piece of Land with are obliged to work and labour for the Monastery and to apply themselves to the basest employments These do all for the profit of the Convent and therefore the Convent supplies them with Necessaries and if they have any spare time after their work is done they employ it in Prayers There is a third Order of these Monks who goe by the Name of Anchorites These not being able to work nor support the other Duties of the Monastery have notwithstanding a mind to live in the repose of solitude They buy a Cell out of the Monastery with a little piece of Land on which they may live and never goe to the Monastery but on Holy days to assist at the Office after which they return to their Cells where they mind their own Affairs having no hours appointed them for Prayers There are nevertheless some of these Anchorites who have left their Monastery with the Consent of their Abbot that they may lead a more retired life and apply themselves more to Meditation and Prayer The Monastery sends them once a month Provisions to live on because they possess neither Lands nor Vineyards but those who will not depend upon the Abbot hire some Vineyard near to their Cell of which they eat the Grapes others live on Cherries or such like Fruit. They also sow Beans in the Season of the year and some gain their living by transcribing Books Besides the Monks there are Nuns also who live in Community and are shut up in Monasteries under the Institution of St. Basil They are no less strict than the Monks as to Fasting Praying and the other Offices of the Monastick Life They chuse one of the Ancientest and most virtuous of their Community to supply the place of Abbess and these Abbesses are the same with them as the Abbots are with the Monks Nevertheless that Monastery of Women depends always on an Abbot who assigns them one of the oldest and most virtuous Monks to confess and administer the Sacraments to them This Monk lives near their Monastery that he may be at hand to assist them readily in their occasions He says likewise Mass for them and orders the other Offices These Nuns wear all the same Habit and a Cloak of the same colour Their Arms and Hands are covered to their Fingers ends and their Habit is of plain Woollen Cloth Their Heads besides are shaven and every one hath a Cell apart where they lodge conveniently The richer sort have a Maid and sometimes they bring up in their Houses young Girles whom they bring up in the Duties of Piety and Devotion When they have performed their ordinary Duties they work with their Needle and the Turks who bear a respect towards these Nuns come to their Monasteries to buy Girdles of their making The Abbesses willingly open the Doors of their Convent to the Turks who come to buy the Manufacture of these good Nuns who return to their Appartment so soon as they have sold their Wares I have read a Manuscript Relation that speaks not so much to the advantage of these Nuns The Authour of that Relation observes that the Nuns called Caloyeres who live at Constantinople are Widows some of which have had several Husbands and that they embrace not that Profession but when they are well stricken in years Then he adds that they make no Vows that all their Sanctity consists in wearing a Black Veil upon their Head and declaring that they will Marry no more that after all they live most commonly at home where they mind their House-wifery their Children and Relations He confesses nevertheless that there are some of them who live in Community but that these are more miserable than the former that both go about wheresoever they please and that in fine they have more Liberty under that Religious Habit than they had before The Fasts of the Greeks are different enough from those of the Latins for the Fasts of the latter would be Festival Days and Days of good Cheer amongst the Orientals in regard they not onely abstain from Flesh and all that comes from it as Butter and Cheese but they eat not so much as Fish contenting themselves with Fruits and Pulse with some small portion of Oil and drink very little Wine The Monks are more strict in their Fasting because they never taste Wine nor Oil unless on Saturdays and Sundays Yet the Moscovites are allowed to eat Fish because they have neither Wine nor Oil. Wednesdays and Fridays they abstain from Flesh and all that comes of it but on these days they are allowed to eat Fish I shall say nothing of their Lent nor private Fasts onely must observe that the Greeks and other Eastern Nations exceedingly blame the Saturdays Fast of the Latins because they say that Day is a Festival as well as Sunday which they prove by the Ancient Canons and the practice of the first Ages In fine as to their Ceremonies it may be said in general that no Nation in Christendom hath so many Their Euchology or Ritual with the Notes of P. Goar may be consulted as to that point So excessive is the Worship they render to Images that in a Manuscript which I have read concerning the Errours of the Latins they upbraid them (1) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 MS. Biblioth Bodlei Oxon. Tit. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with want of respect to Images which cannot well be understood unless it be that the Latins omit an infinite number of Ceremonies before their Images which are observed by the Greeks On the Festival day of a Saint (2) Metroph Critop they place his Image in the middle of the Church and that Image or Picture represents the History of the Festival that is Celebrated for instance of the Nativity or Resurrection of our Lord Then they that are present kiss the Image which in their Language is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latin Adorare That Adoration is not performed by Kneeling Bowing or any other Gesture of Body but onely by kissing the Image If it be the Image of our Lord they commonly kiss the Feet if an Image of the Virgin they kiss the Hands and in a word if it be the Image of some Saint they kiss the Face These and many other Ceremonies which the Greeks observe in the Adoration of their Images have been much augmented since the second Council of Nice where the Patrons of Images obtained a great Victory over the Iconoclasts And it is chiefly since that time that the Greeks have published the Miraculous Histories of their Images of which their Books are full and as if they had not had enough amongst themselves at home they have searched at Rome and other places for Miracles that have been wrought by virtue of Images After all the Greeks ground most of their Ceremonies upon their Traditions They take no great care to examine whether these Traditions be Ancient or
well the change of the Bread and Wine into the Body and Bloud of Christ and that it suited every way with their Belief And which is most remarkable in that matter Gabriel of Philadelphia employs hardly any other word but that in an Apology that he wrote on purpose for those of his Nation against some Divines of the Church of Rome who unjustly accused them of Idolatry It is moreover objected that since Gabriel of Philadelphia the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 occurs not in the books of other Greek Writers nor yet in the two Synods of Constantinople held against Cyrillus Lucaris but that Objection seems to have less ground than the former In the year 1635. there was Printed at Venice under the Name of a Greek Monk and Priest called Gregory a small Abridgment of the Divinity of the Greeks by way of a Catechism where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not onely to be found but the manner also how Transubstantiation is made is therein declared at length The Authour shewing the difference betwixt the Eucharist and the other Sacraments says that the other Sacraments contain onely Grace whereas (1) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. in Synopsi Dogmat. Ecclesiae the Eucharist contains Jesus Christ present and that it is for that reason that the change which is made in that Sacrament is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or transubstantiatio This Greek takes the Title of Protosyncelle of the great Church and resided in a Monastery of the Isle Chios In his Preface he acknowledges himself indebted for the best part of his Work to George Coressius whom he calls one of the Learnedst Divines of his Church and who in effect takes the Title of Divine of the great Church being besides a Physician by Profession This Coressius who bitterly wrote of the Errours of the Latins prefixt his approbation to that Book affirming (1) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it contains nothing but true and Orthodox Doctrine Besides this Work there was a far more considerable Book written in the year 1638. by Meletius Syrigus against the Confession of Faith attributed to Cyrillus Lucaris Patriarch of Constantinople which was Printed in Greek and Latin at Geneva The Title of that Book which was not Printed runs in these Terms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Authour vigorously refutes that pretended Confession of the Eastern Church by a great many Arguments taken from the Fathers and other Ecclesiastical writers down to our times and makes it evidently appear that the Confession of Cyril hath been taken out of the Works of Calvin then towards the End of his Book he adds a particular Dissertation about the word (2) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Transubstantiation and by many instances shews that though that word was not anciently used yet there was reason for making use of it or some such at present because of Hereticks And for the better Explication of the change that is made in the Sacrament of the Eucharist you may consult that (3) See the Collections at the end of this Book D. Dissertation subjoined to this Book in Greek which Mr. Arnaud hath inserted in French in his last Tome of the Perpetuity We have besides two Editions of the Book of Agapius a Greek Monk of Mount Athos the first Printed in the Year 1641 and the second in 1664. both at Venice with the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Salvation of Sinners Though that Authour still retains the ancient words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the like yet in formal Terms he asserts Transubstantiation and acknowledges that Jesus Christ (1) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Agap Monach. Graecus hath hid as under a Veil the Divine Substance under the Accidents of Bread and Wine I omit the many Miracles that the same Agapius mentions to prove the Truth of Transubstantiation because these Miracles whether they be true or false make nothing to our purpose To the Monk Agapius we may join Michael Cortacius of Crete in the Sermon which he preached and dedicated to the Patriarch of Alexandria That Sermon was Printed at Venice in the Year 1642. with the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Discourse concerning the Dignity of Priesthood In that Discourse Cortacus compares the Priest with God and amongst other things says that as (2) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mich. Cortac Serm. de ign Sacerd God hath changed the Water into Wine so the Priest changes or to use his word transubstantiats the Wine into the Bloud of Christ Besides he declames against those that believe not the truth of that Mystery and the better to distinguish them he calls (3) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luther a wicked and abominable Heresiarch and Apostate who by his Doctrine had seduced an infinite Number of People After all we ought not to be surprised to see a Greek inveigh so bitterly against Protestants nor infer from thence that that Sermon hath been suggested to him by some Latin Monk an Enemy of theirs They who know what happened at Constantinople under the Patriarchate of Cyrill a great Favourer of Protestants and who engaged a great many Bishops in that Party will not at all be astonished at the Invectives of Cortacius which at that time were seasonable After this I think Mr. Smith dare hardly affirm that there are no Authours who have made use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in imitation of Gabriel of Philadelphia It may be said with better reason that there are but very few that have not made use of it since that time And had I been so happy as to have travelled into the Levant as well as Mr. Smith I could have furnished the Publick with a great many more But the two Synods held at Constantinople against Cyrillus Lucaris make no mention says Mr. Smith of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence he infers that they purposely forbore it that they might not countenance a Novelty there cannot be a worse grounded Objection The business of these two Synods was to condemn some Propositions published by Cyrill in name of the Eastern Church And so these Synods thought it enough to mention the Propositions of Cyrill in his own Terms and to Anathematise them If Cyrill in his pretended Confession of Faith had made use of the Term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishops of these two Councils would not have failed to have made use of it These are the Terms of the first Synod held under Cyrill of Borrhea in the Year 1638. (1) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anathema to Cyrill who teaches and believes that the Bread and the Wine which are upon the Altar of Proposition are not changed into the real Bloud and Body of Christ by the Benediction of the Priest and the Descent of the Holy Ghost That alone is a convincing argument that among the Greeks the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same as the new word 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which answers to the Latin transubstantiari seeing Cyrillus Lucaris makes use of it to deny the Transubstantiation of the Church of Rome Moreover the Bishops of that Synod plainly shew what their Belief is concerning that Mystery when in the same place they Anathematize these words of Cyrill taken out of the 17th Article of his Confession (2) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is seen with the Eyes and received in the Sacrament is not the Body of our Lord. Can there be a clearer Argument to probe Transubstantiation than that Anathema The second Council held at Constantinople in the Year 1642. under Parthenius confirmed the Belief of the Latin Church with the same evidence as the former They do no more but relate the words of the Confession of Cyrill and condemn them as Heretical These words are taken out of the 17 th Article where Cyrill asserts (3) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Divine Eucharist was no more but a pure and simple Figure The Bishops assembled in that Synod object against that (4) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Jesus Christ said not this is the Figure of my Body but this is my Body to wit that which is seen received broken and which hath been already sanctified and Blessed To these two Synods I might add a third held at Jerusalem in the year 1672 printed at Paris in 1676. with a Latin Translation done by a Benedictine Monk who hardly could read the Greek so full of faults is that Translation but seeing that Synod was called on purpose against Mr. Claude who in the Preface is called (1) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Minister of the Calvinists of Charenton the Protestants I fear will hold it for suspected though nothing past in it but according to the Ordinary course These Bishops were at that time at Jerusalem for the Dedication of a Church and they were entreated to pronounce their Judgment upon Articles that were presented to them wherein the Protestants of France attributed their own Errours to the Greek Church They seem to have been very well informed of the matters in Question Judiciously making use of the Authority of several Books written by those of their Communion wherein these Errours were condemned Amongst other Books they alledge the answers of the Patriarch Jeremy to the Divines of Wittemberg a Book of John Nathanael Priest and Oeconomus of the Church of Constantinople which contains (2) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Explication of the Liturgy Gabriel Severus Archbishop of Philadelphia whom they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Archbishop of their Brethren who reside at Venice which the Translatour hath render'd Archbishop of our Brethren of Crete They cite besides the Orthodox Confession of the Eastern Church which was published six or seven Years before since Corrected and Explained by Meletius Syrigus by order of a Synod of Moldavia and afterward printed by the care of Signor Panagioti From all these Acts they conclude that it is rather impudence than ignorance in the Protestants of France to impose upon the Simple People by attributing their Errours to the Eastern Church In fine the same Bishops endeavour to justifie the Memory of Cyrillus Lucaris by opposing other Works of his to his pretended Confession which shew him to be of a contrary Judgment There are many other things in the same Synod for Authorising Transubstantiation especially the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not left out but seeeing there is a second and more Correct Edition come forth I shall insist no longer on that Synod Onely I must subjoin somewhat by way of a Character of Cyrill who hath been so variously talked of according to the different interests that Men have defended which will not a little serve to prove the belief of Transubstantiation in the Greek Church Cyrillus Lucaris who is become so famous amongst the Greeks and Latins was born in Crete and entred very young into the service of Meletius Patriarch of Alexandria who was also of Crete and who having found him to be a Man of Parts and Studious ordained him Priest After that he went to Padua to prosecute his Studies from whence returning to Alexandria Meletius made him Head of a Monastery and sent him into Walachia which gave him occasion in passing through Germany to have Conferences with the Protestants of that Countrey understanding the Latin Tongue and School Divinity excellently well Being come back from his Commission he made use of the Money that he had gathered for the Necessary occasions of the Patriarch to get himself chosen Patriarch and being raised to that Dignity he entertained his Correspondence with the Protestants employing for that purpose Metrophanes Critopulus who has writton a Book concerning the belief of his Church Printed at Helmstadt This Metrophanes went in Name of his Patriarch into England and over a good part of Germany where he informed himself as exactly as he could of the State of the Protestants whereof he made a report to Cyrill whom he found at Constantinople where he was casting about how he might get into the Patriarchate of that Church This made him contract a Friendship with the Ambassadours of England and Holland then at the Port especially with the latter who proved afterward usefull to him for advancing his Affairs Cyrill being as yet but a Monk had got a particular acquaintance with the Heer Cornelius Haga who then travelled in the Levant and who being afterward come back to Constantinople in Quality of Envoy from the States General renewed his Ancient Acquaintance with Cyrill who at that time was Patriarch of Alexandria and who entreated him to send for some Books of the Protestant Divines professing to have some liking of their Opinions This being a desire which the Heer Haga could not refuse gave advice of it to his Masters who failed not presently to send as many Books to Constantinople as were sufficient to have corrupted all Greece had they been written in the Language of the Countrey It was impossible but that the affairs of Cyrill must make a Noise especially having the Jesuits of Constantinople for Enemies who in every thing opposed his designs publishing aloud that he was a Heretick and gave advice of it to the Jesuits of Paris that the King might be informed of the same The matter was represented to the Ambassador of the States at Paris who wrote about it to Constantinople From that time forward Cyrill observed no such measures with the Jesuits as he had done before He made no Scruple to give the Heer Haga a Confession of Faith written in Latin with his own Hand which some time after he turned into Greek It is the same Confession which was Printed at Geneva in Greek and Latin and which made the French Protestants say that the Greek Church agreed with them in the chief points of their belief especially as to the matter of the Eucharist Cyrill in the mean time who had a strong Party in
Constantinople against the Jesuits and Court of Rome was chosen Patriarch and for the space of five or six Months after made nothing appear in his Actions that might give any sign of Defection from the Religion of his fore-Fathers But seeing he had the Jesuits for Enemies he thought himself obliged to declare for the Hollanders that he might be seconded by them he engaged also in his party a considerable Number of Bishops and Churchmen who relished his opinions and were in the same Disposition as he was to introduce Novelties into the Greek Church But they were not the Stronger because the Jesuits who have a College at Constantinople where they teach the Youth Gratis easily gained the People who made an Insurrection against Cyrill The Greeks held an Assembly in the year 1622. wherein he was deposed from his Patriarchate and banished to the Isle of Rhodes Another Patriarch was chosen in his Place who by Letters submitted himself to the court of Rome that had forwarded his Election But seeing Cyrill still entertained a Party in Constantinople and that the Dutch supplied him with great Summs of Money it was not long before he was restored to his Patriarchate Then it was that he revenged himself on the Jesuits and those who had espoused the Interests of the Court of Rome and that Calvinism reigned at Constantinople This brought great Disorders into that Church for Cyrill set every thing to sale that he might pay the Money which he had borrowed of the Dutch The Jesuits and Court of Rome finding that Cyrill had absolutely got the better on 't endeavoured to gain him by proposing terms of accommodation and representing to him the danger of his Church if he continued those Intrigues with the Calvinists He seemed to be very willing to embrace an accommodation but seeing he still continued his Practices with the Dutch the Court of Rome made a fresh attempt to turn him out of his Chair which succeeded but for a very short time because the Dutch Money soon recalled him again to his Patriarchate The Court of Rome doubling their efforts against Cyrill sent one to Constantinople in Quality of Vicar of the Patriarch for maintaining the Orthodox Faith in that Church which seemed to be upon the brink of Ruine Cyrill's Party failed not to lay hold on that occasion to render the Jesuits and their Party odious to the Turks who were jealous of that Envoy of Rome Insomuch that he was very ill used by the Turks and Cyrill cruelly revenged himself on all the Greeks whom he thought to be his Enemies Nevertheless he rendered himself so odious by his great vexations and had so powerfull a Party as the Jesuits of Constantinople seconded by the Court of Rome to deal with that he at length fell and was strangled by express Orders from the Grand Signior This is the History of the Patriarch Cyrillus Lucaris in whose Name the Huguenots Printed a Confession of Faith boasting that they agreed in Opinions with the Greek Church But with the glance of an Eye one may judge what kind of a Confession of Faith it is It is true it was written by a Patriarch of Constantinople with the Title of The Belief of the Eastern Church but it was not written in name of that Church nor hath it any publick approbation Cyrill gave it privately to the Dutch Ambassadour whose assistance he needed to defend him against the Jesuits of Constantinople That work of Cyrill's is much like the Book that is said to have been made by William Postel for a Nun whom he perswaded that he might squeeze a little Money from her that the Messiah came into the world onely for Men and that she Lady Jean was to be the Messiess of the Women There is as much likelyhood of truth in that Confession of Cyrill's that went under the name of the Greek Church as there is in the Impostures of that famous Normand William Postel and I wonder that Protestants should still dare to object to Catholicks that pretended Confession Grotius gave a better Judgment of it in a Book that he published some time after that Confession came abroad in the word wherein he frankly says (1) Nuper Constantinopoli Cyrillus sine Patriarchis sine Metropolitis sine Episcopis novum nobis propinavit Symbolum Grot. de Antichrist that Cyrill forged a new Symbol without the assistance of any Patriarchs Archbishops or Bishops Now after all I have related the History of this Cyrill with all the exactness I could without any regard to what the Dutch have written of him nor to what Leo Allatius hath said who also exceeds the bounds of moderation I have scarcely mentioned any thing but what is agreed upon by both the opposite Parties Besides Cyrill there are other Greeks of less note who have written in favour of the Protestants and amongst others one Gergan a Bishop who hath published a Catechism wherein he openly denies Transubstantiation but with this difference from Cyrill that he follows not the Confession of Geneva but that of Ausbourg If we compare the Doctrine of this Catechism with that of the Greek Church we shall find it almost different in every Point that it may be accommodated to the Sentiments of Protestants as when it saith that Scripture alone is sufficient without the help of Tradition to prove the Articles of our Creed That the Scripture is plain and clear as to the Points of Faith and that Scripture ought to be interpreted by Scripture In a word Gergan is a Protestant and onely a Greek in Language and that too a base Vulgar Greek Nevertheless he dares boast that he is none of those false Brethren (2) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who have been poisoned at Rome But it is generally known that the Greeks themselves who have no Commerce with Rome confirm neither the Confession of Ausbourg nor of Geneva in their Books Protestants may also reckon amongst the Greeks of their Communion Nathanael of Crete who promised some time agoe to the Dutch that he would translate Calvin's Institutions into Greek and teach his Countrey-men Calvinism provided they gave him the Summ of Money which he demanded Mr. Claude adds to all these Greek Calvinists the Testimony of one Meletius Metropolitan of Ephesus in an answer he made about thirty Years agoe to the Divines of Leyden as to several Questions that had been put to him Father Simon made answer to Mr. Claude that he doubted not but that that was the Act of some Greek gained by the Dutch Divines who answered their Questions as they themselves would have him and that to judge of that answer it would be proper to publish it in the Authours Language I procured by means of one of Mr. Claude's Friends whom he could not deny a Copy of that answer and having read it I found that Father Simon 's conjecture was a real truth For Meletius who in that Letter takes the Title of Archbishop of Ephesus not onely
the Sacrament of the Eucharist which they keep not as the Latins do in precious Vessels but in a little bag of Leather or Cloath which they always tye to their Girdle carrying it about with them wheresoever they goe to be made use of upon occasions when they are to give the Viaticum to the sick Nor doe they make any Difficulty to give it to be carried by others whether it be Man or Woman and seeing the Consecrated Bread is hard they break it into little Pieces to be moistened without much regard to the small Crums of that Consecrated Bread that fall upon the ground or that sick to their Hands * * I confess these People pay not Veneration enough to that August Sacrament but on the other hand it is not reasonable to exact from them all the External Worship that is rendered to it in the Western Church seeing they have not the same reasons to doe it having no Berengarians amongst them that might oblige them to give those Exteriour Marks of their Belief We can expect no more from them than what was practised in the first Ages of the Church And it is not peculiar to the Mengrelians alone to keep in a leathern Bag the Sacrament which is to serve for a Viaticum the same is also observed in some Greek Churches who in that manner keep it fastened to the Wall in their Churches CHAP. VII Of the Belief and Customs of the Nestorians THere are many Sects of Christians in the East who bear the Name of Chaldeans or Syrians but the most considerable of these Chaldeans are those whom we call Nestorians who in effect reverence Nestorius as their Patriarch and invocate him in their Prayers That Nation aswell as the other Orientals have several times desired to be reunited to the Church of Rome which happened under the Pontificate of Julius III. to whom the (1) Ep. Nestor ad Jul. III. ex Syro in Latin conversa per Andr. Mas Nestorians wrote demanding of him the Confirmation of the Election which they had then made of a Patriarch and praying him at the same time to protect him against a Family which for a long time had kept Possession of the Patriarchate This is to be observed because the Orientals commonly have no recourse to the Pope unless for some particular Interest which is also the reason that these kinds of Unions are not very lasting The Reunion of the same Chaldean Nestorians with the Church of Rome under the Pontificate of Paul V. is more considerable than the former and seeing the Acts of these Reunions have been Printed at Rome we shall here extract out of them what may conduce to the Discovery of the Belief of those People and add some Reflexions thereupon (2) Pet. Stroza de Dogm Chald. Edit Roma 1617. Stroza who hath caused these Acts to be Printed affirms that the Sect of the Nestorians is so great that their Patriarch has Jurisdiction over more than three hundred thousand Families most of which have submitted themselves to the Pope by means of the Jesuits Pope Clement VIII gave them a Jesuit to govern them in Quality of Metropolitan Untill the time of Julius III. the Nestorians acknowledged but one Patriarch who took the Title of Patriarch of Babylon but Division happening amongst them because they could not endure that the Patriarch should always continue in one Family as it had for the space of above an hundred years which appears by the Letters (1) Epist Nestor ad Jul. III. they wrote to Julius III. for having Confirmation of their new Election the Patriarchate was also divided for the Pope gave them for Patriarch Simon Jubacha a Monk of the Order of St. Pachome who held his Residence at Caremit in Mesopotamia where in that Quality he ordained several Bishops and Archbishops After the Death of Simon Jubacha Abdjesu or Hebedjesu to pronounce it after the manner of the Chaldeans was made Patriarch in his Place Abraham Ecchellensis Abrah Ecchel who hath published a little Syriack Treatise of Abdjesu gives him the Title of Metropolitan of Soba in the Preface which he presixes to that Book He takes notice of several Books composed by the same Hebedjesu in favour of the Religion of the Nestorians but that being come to Rome under Julius III. he made an Abjuration of Nestorianism It is of him that mention is made in the Life of Pius IV. In whose Pontificate he made a second Voyage to Rome for obtaining the Confirmation of his Patriarchship and was present at the Council of Trent Being a Man of Parts he had so much Address as to draw over many Nestorians to the Church of Rome But they who succeeded him could not retain them having neither his Parts nor Address Abathalla who was also a Monk of St. Pachome succeeded to Hebedjesu and having lived but a very short time Denha Simon was his Successour who before was Archbishop of Gelu but he was forced to leave Caremit and to retire to the Province of Zeinalbech in the utmost Bounds of Persia having been obliged to yield to the Power of the Patriarch of Babylon His Successour whose Name also was Simon resided in the same place which lessenned much the Authority of that second Patriarch And this was the State of the Affairs of the Nestorians from the time of Julius III. untill Paul V. in whose Pontificate Elias Patriarch of Babylon made a solemn Reconciliation with the Church of Rome (1) Stroza in proleg This Elias having received Presents from Paul V. and a Formulary of Faith sent some in his Name to thank his Holiness and to submit himself wholly to him acknowledging the Church of Rome as the Chief of all other Churches He made a Profession of Faith in the (2) Ep. Patriarch Babyl ad Paul V. Letter which he wrote to the Pope wherein he Anathematises even those who believe not that the Church of Rome is the Mother of all Churches Then he adds that his Church of Babylon differs from other Churches of Hereticks which have multiplied Patriarchs without any Title and without the Participation of the Church of Rome whereas the Patriarchate of Babylon hath been established by the Authority of the See of Rome as is to be found in their Annals where it is mentioned that the Patriarchs of the Eastern Church were ordained at Rome whither they sent afterwards for obtaining the Confirmation of their Election But seeing it happened often that those who were sent were killed by the way it was at length after a long time concluded by the Pope in Council that he would ordain them a Patriarch and give them Liberty of Election for the future And this says the Patriarch Elias is the Original of the Patriarchal See of Babylon which we have not usurped having received that Dignity from the Church of Rome It is easie to perceive that all this History concerning the Original of the Patriarchate of the Nestorians hath been made
XII They committed Symony in the Administration of Baptism and the Eucharist setting rates of the Price they were to receive for them For their Marriages they made use of the first Priest that they found especially those who lived in the Countrey XIII They had an extraordinary respect for their Patriarch of Babylon a Schismatick and Head of the Nestorian Sect on the contrary they could not endure that the Pope should be named in their Churches where most commonly they had neither Curate nor Vicar but the ancientest presided in them XIV Though on Sundays they went to Mass yet they did not think themselves obliged to it in Conscience so that they were at Liberty not to goe nay there were some Places where Mass was said but once a Year and others where none was said in 6 7. and 10. Years XV. The Priests discharged Secular Employments The Bishops were Babylonians sent by their Patriarch and lived onely by sordid Gain and Symony selling Publickly Holy things as the Collation of Orders and the Administration of other Sacraments XVI They are flesh on Saturdays and were in this Errour in regard of the Fasts of Lent and the Advent that if they had failed to Fast one day they fasted no more thinking themselves not obliged to it because they had already broken their Fast These are the greatest Part of the Errours which Archbishop Meneses pretends to have found amongst the Christians of St. Thomas and which the Compiler of that History exaggerates to shew that extraordinary Labour was needfull for gaining these People But if that Archbishop and other Emissaries into the East had been well acquainted with the Ancient Theology they would not have so multiplied Errours In effect seeing they measured all things by the Rule of the Theology which is taught in the Schools of Europe it is not to be thought strange that they would needs reform the Oriental nations according to that Standard I confess there were abuses there that needed amendment but they ought not to have been rectified according to our Customs The Course that was to have been taken on these Occasions was to have turned back unto their Ancient Books and to have reformed them according to the Contents thereof and that might have been easily done as will appear in the Sequel of this Discourse But we must first relate the rest of that History that we may be able to make the better Judgment on the Conduct of Meneses and of the pretended Errours of the Nestorians Archbishop Meneses called a Synod the 20th of June 1599. where the Deputies of the Nestorians were present to deliberate jointly with the Archbishop about Matters of Religion And that it might appear that the Nestorians had all the Liberty that is necessary upon such Occasions and that on the other Hand they might give their Consent to all that should be decreed there the Archbishop gained Eight of the most Famous Churchmen and fully informed them of his Design and of the ways that were to be taken for succeeding in it giving them the particulars of all the Decrees that were to be made there and asking their Opinion upon every distinct Point as if nothing had as yet been resolved upon to the end that being present in the Synod they might doe the same and thereby oblige the rest to follow their Example He took many other measures for succeeding in his Designs which it would be to no purpose to relate and all that hath been hitherto alledged is onely to shew the manner how the Roman Religion hath been established in the East and that it is not to be thought strange that all the Reconciliations that have been made with those People whom we call Schismaticks have been of no long Duration It was then decreed in that Synod that the Priests Deacons Subdeacons and besides all the Deputies of Towns that were present should sign the Confession of Faith that the Archbishop had privately made by himself which was done and all solemnly swore obedience to be Pope whom they acknowledged to be Head of the Church swearing also that they would entertain no more Commerce with the Patriarch of Babylon Moreover they Anathematized the Person of Nestorius and all his Errours owning Cyrill Patriarch of Alexandria for a Saint Besides a great many particular Statutes were made in that Synod for reforming the Errours that Archbishop Meneses pretended to be in the Administration of their Sacraments and in their Books And therefore he caused their Liturgies and other Offices to be rectified He regulated the matter of Marriage according to the Decrees of the Council of Trent The Sacraments of Penance Confirmation and Extreme Unction were likewise reformed according to the Practice of the Church of Rome Priests were for the future prohibited to marry and regulations were made for those who were already married In a word the Archbishop introduced the Religion of the Latins amongst the Chaldeans as well in that synod as in the Visitations which he made of several Churches But let us now consider if he had reason to introduce so many Novelties amongst the Christians of St. Thomas which will serve to discover the Religion of those People I. As to what concerns the Errours which Archbishop Meneses imputes to them we have in the foregoing Chapter reconciled the Sentiments of the Nestorians with those of the Church of Rome and that was the way that the Archbishop should have proceeded with them if he intended to have established a lasting Reformation for he ought to have heard them before he condemned them for being called Nestorians When it had been made clear to them that all the Disputes which they had with the Church of Rome consisted onely in the Ambiguity of Terms they would have become a great deal more tractable and docile II. As to Images the Chaldeans reverence them not so much as the Greeks do because that great Veneration of Images was not so firmly established in the Greek Church but since the second Council of Nice which was posteriour to all the Sects of the Chaldeans who commonly are satisfied with a Cross in their Hand and that Cross wherewith the Priest blesseth the People is of plain Metal without any figure The Archbishop might very well have let the Christians of St. Thomas alone in that Ancient simplicity because all that hath been since that time decreed concerning Images is but barely matter of Discipline III. It is very true they administer not Baptism after the manner of the Latins but it is not therefore to be thought that the form of their Baptism is invalid and it was far less necessary to rebaptize those who had been baptized according to the Chaldean rite That which deceives the Emissaries when they treat about Affairs of Religion with the Orientals is the prejudices which they have learned in the Schools concerning the Matter and Form of Sacraments When for instance they see that the Child is not baptized at the same time
in the Church that they consecrate with Leavened bread which before the Consecration they all Baraca that is to say Benediction and Corban or Communion and Eucharist after it is consecrated that they make use of little Loaves about the Bigness of somewhat less than a Crown piece whereof they bake a great Number the Night before the Liturgy and that they distribute them at the End of Mass to those who have been present He farther says that they use not Tavern-wine because they think it profane and that in Places where no Wine is to be had they infuse Rasins in water that they never confess and communicate but in Lent that the Laicks communicate in both kinds and that they receive the Wine in a Spoon from the Hands of the Priest that they give the Communion also to Children so soon as they are baptized that all reade the Holy Scripture in the Arabick Tongue which is the Language of the Countrey that they celebrate on Saturday as well as Sunday and that in one Year they have two and thirty Festivals of the Virgin which are reckoned up by the Authour and amongst others he takes notice of the Festival of a certain Image of the Virgin which miraculously was changed into Flesh the History whereof is written in an Ethiopian Book which treats of the Miracles of the Virgin The same Father Vanslebio relates at large the Ceremonies which they observe in Baptism and are performed in this manner for that purpose they celebrate a Mass after Midnight accompanied with many Prayers and after they have sung for some time the Deacons carry the Children to the Altar who are anointed with Holy Oil and then they say that the Children are become new Spiritual Men. This being done they begin to sing and the Children are anointed a second time making upon them the sign of the Cross seven and thirty times which serves them for Exorcism Again they continue to sing and the Women who are present at the Ceremony make a loud Noise in token of Joy In the mean time water is put into the Baptismal Fonts and the Priests draw near He that baptises blesses the water pouring in Form of a Cross Holy Oil into the same then with one Hand he takes the Child by the Right Arm and Left Leg and with the other Hand by the left Arm making a kind of a Cross with the Limbs of the Child which they cloath in a little white Garment and during all this the Priests still continue to reade and sing and the Women to cry or rather to houl At length the Priest breaths three times in the Child's face to the end say they that he may receive the Holy Ghost No sooner is the Child baptized but the Priest gives it the Communion which he doth by dipping his Finger into the Chalice and putting it into the Child's Mouth All these Ceremonies being ended they light the Tapers and make a Procession singing in the Church The Deacons carry the Children in their Arms and the Priests goe before them after them follow the Men and Women who have been present at the Ceremony the Women houling after their ordinary manner They have according to the same Authour four great Fasts in the Year the first whereof begins before Christmas and lasts 24 days The second is Lent which lasts 60 days The third is called the Fast of our Lord's Disciples which begins the third Holy Day of Pentecost and lasts 31 days And the fourth which lasts fifteen days is the Fast of our Lady in August Images are held in great Veneration amongst them though they have no Statues and the most usual Images are those of Our Lord of the Virgin of St. George of Angels to wit St. Michael St. Gabriel St. Raphael and many others They kiss those Images and burn Lamps before them with the Oil of which they anoint themselves when they are sick It is probable they have no other Sacrament of Extreme Unction but that kind of anointing unless perhaps they do it with a little more Ceremony It is to be observed that Father Vanslebio in his relation speaks of the Abyssines aswell as of the true Cophties or Egyptians because in effect they are both Cophties in Religion and Subject to the same Patriarch who commonly resides in Cairo and because there are but a few Cophties in Alexandria which ought to be the Place of his Residence This Patriarch takes the Title of Patriarch of Alexandria and Jerusalem and calls himself the Successour of St. Mark He extends his Jurisdiction over both Egypts over Nubia and Abyssinia He hath besides eleven Cophty-Bishops depending on him to wit the Bishops of Jerusalem Behnese Atfih Fiur Moharrak Montfallot Sÿut Abutig Girgium Negade on Girge and lastly the Metropolitan of Abyssinia After the Bishops the Archpriests are next in degree and are very numerous amongst them next to them come in order the Priests Deacons Readers and Chanters As to their Office on Saturday in the Evening after Sun set the Priest attended by his Ministers goes to Church to sing Vespers which last about an Hour and those who are present sleep afterwards in the Church They who do not sleep smoke Tobacco and drink Coffee or otherwise discourse about what they please Two Hours after Midnight they say matins and afterwards Mass to which many do resort When they enter the Church they take off their shoes and kiss the ground near the Door of the Sanctuary then drawing near to the Archpriest they kiss his Hand bowing that they may receive his Blessing If the Patriarch be present and do not officiate he sits on a Throne raised above the Priests having a Copper Cross in his Hand and after all have made the usual Reverence before the Sanctuary they make it again before the Patriarch and kiss the ground near him afterwards they rise and kiss the Cross and Patriarch's Hand Seeing most of these Ceremonies are common to all the Orientals I shall insist no longer upon them nor upon their way of celebrating Mass which may be seen in the Relation of Father Vanslebio besides they differ but little from the Greeks from whom they have borrowed a great Part of their Ceremonies That which is observeable and which might be brought into practice in the Latin Churches is that they have a Book of Homilies taken out of the Chief Fathers of which they reade somewhat after the reading of the Gospel and that serves as an Explication or Paraphrase upon the same Gospel so that there is no need of Preachers to instruct them CHAP. XI Of the Belief and Customs of the Abyssines or Ethiopians SEEING we have treated at large of the Religion of the Cophties and that the Abyssines differ not from them therein we shall not be long on that Subject Ancient Ethiopia is at present called Abassia and the People who inhabit it Abyssines They have but one Bishop to govern them who is sent to them by the Patriarch
these People were never separated from the Unity of the Church and that that which gave occasion of making them to be thought Schismaticks was that the renewing of their Reconciliation to the Catholick Church hath been taken for a real Conversion to the Catholick Faith and that the Errours which have been found amongst them have been imputed to them as if they had been the Authours of the same whereas they were onely the Errours of Hereticks amongst whom they lived But though this Opinion appear at first Glance to have some probability in it yet there is no ground for it and the Testimonies of Eutychius (2) Eutych in Annal. patriarch of Alexandria of Gulielmus Tyrius Jacobus Vitricensis and many others are evident Arguments to prove that that Nation hath really been of the perswasion of the Monothelites and they who look upon Monothelism as an Heresie ought also to consider Maron as an Heretick though the Maronites honour him with the Title of Saint in all their Offices It is to be believed then as a certain truth that these People having been separated from the Church about the space of five hundred Years abjured their Heresie whether true or imaginary before Aymeric Patriarch of Antioch who lived in the time of Gulielmus Tyrius Before that time they professed that they acknowledged but one Will and one Operation in Christ though they confessed there were two Natures in him The Maronites have a Patriarch who resides in the Monastery of Cannubin on Mount Libanus and takes the Title of Patriarch of Antioch He meddles not at all in temporal Affairs but there are two Lords who take the name of Deacons or Administratours who govern the whole Countrey being under the Dominion of the Turk to whom they pay great Tributes The Election of that Patriarch is made by the Clergy and the People according to the Ancient Discipline of the Church but since they have been entirely reconciled to the Church of Rome he is obliged to take Bulls of Confirmation from the Pope He and his Suffragan Bishops never Marry and it is to be observed that there are two sorts of these Bishops for some are really Bishops having a true Title and People whom they govern the others are properly no more than Abbots of Monasteries and have no Cure of Souls These last wear not the Habit of a Bishop nor any Mark of that Dignity but they are cloathed like other Monks though they are distinguished from them by the Mitre and Crozier when they celebrate Mass The Patriarch not being able alone to visit all Mount Libanus hath always two or three Bishops about him and besides the Bishops of Mount Libanus there are others also at Damascus Aleppo and in the Isle of Cyprus As for the other Churchmen they may all Marry before their Ordination and the Patriarch himself not long since obliged the Priests to doe so before he gave them Orders unless they would become Monks for the People who are jealous are not pleased to see young Priests without Wives However since they have had a College at Rome where part of their Churchmen are bred they are allowed to live a single Life without being molested for it Before they studied at Rome they were as ignorant as the common People affecting no more but to learn to reade and write And they passed for learned Men amongst them who besides the Arabick which is the Language spoken in the Countrey had any Knowledge of the Chaldaick Tongue because their Liturgies and other Books of Offices are written in that Language The Monastick Life is no less esteemed amongst the Maronites than it is in all other places of the Levant Their Monks are of the Order of St. Anthony And it is probable they are a remnant of those Ancient Hermites who inhabited the Desarts of Syria and Palestine for they are retired into the most hidden and secret places of the Mountains remote from all Commerce Their Habit is mean and course they never eat flesh even in their greatest sickness and drink Wine but very seldom They know not what it is to make Vows but when they are received into the Monastery one of the Monks holds a Book in his hand and all he does is to reade in it somewhat that Concerns them and admonish them of their Duty for instance that they observe continence which is enough to preserve their Chastity without being ingaged to it by Vows as those of the Church of Rome are They have Goods and Money in property which they may dispose of at their Death and when they are weary of one Monastery they goe to another without asking their Superiours leave They can perform no Ecclesiastical Function such as preaching and confessing so that they are wholly their own Men having no spiritual Exercise in common for the service of their Neighbour They work with their hands and cultivate the ground according to their Institution In fine they signally practise Hospitality especially in the Monastery of Cannubin where there is an open Table kept during the whole Year We shall not here treat of their Belief because it differs not from the other Orientals except in that which caused their Schism wherein they are no more at present being entirely submitted to the Church of Rome They even consecrate with Unleavened bread but it is probable that they have taken up that Custome since their Reunion with the Church of Rome though the Modern Maronites pretend that they never consecrated with Leavened bread Their Mass differed much from that of the Latins But their Missal has been reformed at Rome and they are prohibited to make use of any other Missal but of that which is reformed They perform no Office without much censing especially at Mass wherein they neither use Maniple nor Stole as the Latins do nor so much as Chasables unless since they have been sent them from Rome but instead of Maniple they wore on each Arm a little piece of silken or woollen stuff died which is sewed to the Albe or even sometimes loose The Priests say not Mass privately as Latin Priests do but they say altogether standing round the Altar where they assist the Celebrating Priest who gives the Communion to all and to the Laicks under both Kinds but the Emissaries of Rome daily introduce the Communion in one kind They made not the Consecration to consist in these words This is my Body c. This is my Blood c. But in more words which contained the Prayer commonly called the Invocation of the Holy Ghost Nevertheless at present in that and many other things they follow the Sentiments of the Latin Divines which have been taught them at Rome As to the other Offices they say them in the Church whither they goe at Midnight to sing their Matins or rather their Nocturns They say their Laudes which may be called Prime at break of day their Tierce comes before Mass after which they say their Sixth their Nones are
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
fact which he relates it is not to be thought strange that Gulielmus Tyrius hath fallen into the same mistakes Eutychius says M. Nairon affirms that Maron the Monothelite lived in the time of the Emperour Mauritius and nevertheless Monothelism was not as yet known at that time But if the Authority of the Arabian Historians be rejected because of their not being exact in Chronology there is not one of them but must be wholly laid aside The Authority of Gulielmus Tyrius is not so much made use of in the matter in hand for what he relates out of the Annals of Eutychius as for his own Testimony speaking of a thing that happened in his own time under Aymeric Patriarch of Antioch who made the Maronites of that Countrey abjure their pretended Errours There is no likelyhood of truth in the story that M. Nairon alledges and which hath been already mentioned by (1) Quaresm in dilucid Terrae sanctae Quaresmius to wit that Maron went from Antioch to Rome with a Legat or Envoy of Pope Honorius who created the same Maron Patriarch of Antioch because of his Orthodox faith I pass over some other Acts of this nature which are not to be found but in Arabick Books written since the Reconciliation of the Maronites to the Church of Rome The least knowledge in Ecclesiastical History is enough to convince us that these Histories have no ground in Antiquity and that the Maronites and other Eastern People who are unskilfull Criticks in Historical Learning have referred to Ancient times what hath been onely in use amongst them for some latter Ages According to this Principle we must not easily give credit to the Authority of Johannes Maron whose (2) Joan. Maro Comm. in Liturg St. Jacobi Commentary upon the Liturgy of St. James is not so very Ancient as some would have it seeing it contains matters of fact that are Posteriour to it by many Ages After all the Maronites who pretend to have always preserved the Purity of their Faith cast the errours that are to he found in the works of their own undoubted Authours upon their Neighbours who were Hereticks that had sown these errours amongst them and who had even won over to their Sect some of the Maronites themselves And so though the Maronites pretend that they have always preserved the true Faith yet they cannot deny but that some of their Nation have entertained the Sentiments of the Jacobites (1) Petr. in Epist Arab. ad Card. Caraff Anno 1578. Peter Patriarch of the Maronites in a Letter which he wrote to Cardinal Carraffa says that the errours which occur in their Books ought to be imputed to their Neighbours but the (2) Steph. Petr. in Epist ad Faust Naw Ann. 1674. present Patriarch writing to M. Nairon affirms that they have preserved many Books that are free from all these errours and gives us hopes of a Volume of Oriental Liturgies which he pretends to reconcile with the Latin Mass That must needs be a very usefull Work and will clear to us a great many matters of Fact concerning that affair which lye as yet wrapt up in obscurity CHAP. XV. Of the Religion and Customs of the Mahometans THE Religion of the Mahometans being for most part but a medly of the Christian and Jewish Religions we have thought it pertinent to give an Abridgment thereof in this place to the end that they who travell into the Levant may lay aside a great many prejudices that they have conceived against that Religion and that they may consider that it is indebted to the Jews and Christians for all the good that is in it especially in relation to Morality Mahomet who was perswaded that all Religion ought to be founded on the word of God and not upon the Dictates of Men was obliged to take to himself the Title of God's Messenger and the more to impose upon Christians he feigned himself to be that Paraclet or Comforter promised in the Gospel Nay he hath borrowed part of their Maximes and acknowledg'd Our Lord to be a great Prophet inspired by the Spirit of God On the other hand being willing also to gain the Jews and of these two to make but one more perfect Religion he hath brought into his pretended Reformation a great part of Judaism and that makes the Mahometans pretend that the two Laws aswell that of Moses as that of Our Saviour are at present abolished and that so Men are obliged to embrace Mahometanism if they would be true Believers They consess that both these Laws have been grounded upon the word of God but still add that they are no longer in force since he hath empowered Mahomet to reform Religion There are even some Mahometans who affirm that neither the Jews nor Christians can have certain and infallible Principles of their Religion because their Sacred writings have been corrupted The Jews say they lost their Law and all their Holy Books during the time of the Captivity in Babylon and what they call Canonical Books are not so indeed but onely some scraps of those Ancient Books which the Jews have pieced together as well as they could after their Captivity As for the Christians they say that the Books of the New Testament have been corrupted by the different Sects that have arisen amongst the same Christians Mahomet then feigned that during the space of 23 Years God sent him by the Ministery of the Angel Gabriel a certain Number of Pieces of Writing whereof he composed the Book which is called the Alcoran and that Book is to them the Holy Scripture being the chief ground-work of their Religion But as among the Jews besides the 24 Books of Scriture there is also the Talmud which contains their Traditions so the Mahometans have their Assonna that declares to them the Traditions which they are to follow They have likewise Expositions on those Books to which they submit and besides they distinguish aswell as we that which is of Precept from that which is onely Advice The Chief Article of their Belief is founded upon the Unity of God and therefore it is their ordinary saying There is no other God but God God is one and they call those Idolaters who acknowledge any Number in the Deity thereby condemning the Trinity of Persons which the Christians acknowledge to be in God The second Fundamental Article of their Religion consists in these words Mahomet is the Messenger of God By that they pretend to exclude all other Religions because they say that Mahomet is the most excellent and last of all the Prophets whom God was to send to Mankind And as the Jewish Religion was abrogated by the coming of Jesus Christ so in their Opinion the Christian Religion was not to subsist any longer after the appearance of their Prophet Mahomet They who introduce a new Religion ought to shew some Miracles that so their words may be the better believed And therefore the Mahometans attribute some to