the Greeks universally hold them so necessary and essential to the Sacrament that unless they are entirely and distinctly pronounced they think that it is not so much the Sacrament of Baptism which is celebrated as a ludicrous imitation or heretical and profane abuse of it They never use the same water a second time but if two or three Infants are to be baptized at the same time so often they empty and fill the Laver. But the water which has been made use of for this or the like sacred purpose is not thrown away into the street like other common water but poured into a hollow place which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Altar where it is soaked into the earth or finds a passage Soon after a Prayer or two being interposed the Priest proceeds to anoint the newly-baptized Infant lately covered with its Mantle and Swaddling-cloaths for in the Greek Church Chrismation is inseparable from Baptism and though reckoned as a distinct Mystery as indeed it is is in a manner a necessary appendage and complement of it according to the 48. Canon of the Council of Laodicea which orders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the baptized persons to be anointed with the heavenly Chrism Which Chrism as Matthaeus Blastares explains it out of Zonaras and Balsamon whose words for the most part he retains being sanctified by Prayer and the invocation of the Holy Spirit sanctifies the persons anointed with it and makes them partakers of the heavenly Kingdom of Christ unless impenitence and impiety of life afterwards alienate and render them unworthy of it Confirmation among the Greeks consists of this one single Rite and is therefore called by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnguent or Chrism or joyntly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the unguent of Chrism and peculiarly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Seal or Obsignation This being practised onely upon Infants newly baptized and that without Imposition of hands this material part of the Rite having been for several Ages neglected by the Greeks and not reiterated and repeated when they are adult and grown up some Zelots of the Roman Communion making no distinction between the mysticall Rites of the Christian Religion neither making allowances for different customs and usages which seldom keep at the same stay but alter and vary in the whole or in part at least as if every punctilio and circumstance in the Ceremonial part were essential hereupon have objected the want of it to the Greeks and maintain with great zeal and fury that they have no such thing as Confirmation among them These differences have been carried on with great animosities on both sides and have helped to make the Schism irreconcileable the Greeks upon the reproaches made them by the Latines that the Chrismation used by their Priests is unlawfull and a meer usurpation of Episcopal right and power growing more and more obstinate as may be seen from the Encyclicall Epistle of the Patriarch Photius who does as sharply reflect upon the Roman practice fomenting and keeping up the controversy which had been started long before with great heat For that he was not the first who by his wit and power introduced the present custom among his Greeks as some have imagined I could demonstrate by undeniable testimonies if it were agreeable and proper to mix controversies in this present Compendium and Narrative This Anointing and Obsignation is made upon the forehead eyes nostrills mouth ears breast hands and feet the Priest repeating these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit Amen Which form they derive from the Assessors of the Council of Constantinople held in Trullo and thus explain as if the Priest had said at large With the anointing of this holy Ointment thou art sealed and confirmed in the graces of the Holy Spirit which thou receivest for confirmation of thee in the Christian Faith The reason of which form is assigned in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Confession As the Holy Spirit formerly descended upon the Apostles in the shape of fire and poured upon them his Gifts in like manner when the Presbyter anoints the baptized person with holy Oyl the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are poured out upon him from above And to this they apply the words of S. Paul 2 Cor. 1. 21 22. Now he which establisheth us with you in Christ and hath anointed us in God who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts But as for the anointing part they quote no higher authority then the writings which bear the name of Dionysius Areopagita Though this Oyl be used by Presbyters in the performance of this Rite yet it is onely blest and sanctified and made fit for use by the Patriarch or Bishops as is expresly asserted by Gabriel Philadelphiensis and in the Catecheticall Confession and in the Bethleemitick Synod This is done on Thursday in the Holy week They are wonderfull curious in the composition of it it being made up of Storax Balsam Cassia Myrrh and the decoction of twenty several Drugs Seeds and Plants added to and mixed with Wine and Oyl a Catalogue of all which Ingredients you may find in the Euchologion This is afterward distributed and put into round bottles or vialls either glass or glazed over called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but often 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Alabasters in allusion to the Alabaster box of ointment which S. Mary Magdalen brake and poured upon our Saviour's head When they deny the reiteration of this Rite it is with an exception of one particular case for when Hereticks or Apostates sensible of their errours and impieties are re-admitted after just proofs of a hearty and sincere repentance into the bosome of the Church they are confirmed again after the same manner as when they were first Christned by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the holy Faith which they now profess And herein they follow the 7. Canon of the Council above-mentioned But this is scarce ever practised of late it being death for a Renegado to renounce Turcism and embrace Christianity Before I mention the Rites and Ceremonies used at the celebration of the holy and august Sacrament of the Body and Bloud of our Lord it will be necessary to premise somewhat concerning their Liturgick Books The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though in the general it is used of Prayer or any part or office of the sacred ministery of Religion is restrained to this great and tremendous Mystery called sometime for distinction-sake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the holy sacred and divine Liturgy or Ministration and the Priest from this principal and eminent prerogative of his Function being set apart to offer up this commemorative Sacrifice is peculiarly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Liturgist as well as
in general and that the Elements by their being blest and separated from common use are already sanctified and dedicated to God and so are in a readiness and disposition to be consecrated and made the Body and Bloud of Christ and that they are fit matter prepared and determined to this Sacramental end and purpose Therefore say they this Adoration is justly due to them Whereas after the Consecration when the Symbols are exposed and shewn to the people the Reverence is not half so great onely a little bowing of the body which is soon over But the miscarriage seem'd to me when I was present so gross and scandalous as that it needs no other confutation then the bare relating When the Priest consecrates the Door of the Bema or Chancell is shut up or at least the Veil or Curtain drawn before it the people being wholly debarred from the sight of the Priest's consecrating the holy Elements and no person of what quality soever suffered to be present but such as belong to and attend upon the holy service After the recital of several Prayers and Antiphons and the Constantinopolitan Creed the same with that which is commonly through a mistake called the Nicene Creed unless in the Article of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Son which is inserted by the Latine Church the Priest proceeds to the consecration of the Elements the Deacon having fanned with a little Fan called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saying softly to himself after the Quire has sung the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or triumphant Song Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabaoth Heaven and Earth are full of thy glory Hosanna in the highest Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest With these blessed Powers O mercifull Lord we cry aloud and say Thou art holy altogether holy and great is thy glory so is thy onely-begotten Son and thy Spirit Thou art holy altogether holy and great is thy glory who so lovest the world that thou gavest thy onely-begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life who when He had come and fulfilled the Dispensation which He undertook for us in the night in which He was betrayed or rather in which He delivered up himself for the life of the World took Bread into his holy pure and spotless hands and when He had given thanks and blessed it and sanctified it and brake it He gave it to his holy Disciples and Apostles saying here he inclines his head and laying his hand upon the Bread says with a loud voice Take eat this is my Body which is broken for you for the remission of sins likewise also after supper He took the Cup which taking up in his hand he says aloud Drink you all of this this is my Bloud of the New Testament which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins Afterwards he says secretly Mindfull therefore of thy saving command and of all things done for us of thy Cross Resurrection the third day Ascension into Heaven Session at the right hand of God and of thy second and glorious Coming again then with a loud voice we offer to thee thine of thine own in all things and through all things the Quire singing We praise thee we bless thee we give thanks to thee O Lord and we make our supplications to thee O God Then the Priest prays again We also offer to thee this rational and unbloudy worship and service and we beseech thee and pray thee and make our supplications to thee send forth thy Holy Spirit upon us and upon these Gifts that lie before us After some Adorations and short private Prayers as O Lord who sentest thy most Holy Spirit upon the Apostles at the third hour do not O mercifull God take this thy Spirit from us and Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me which he repeats thrice to himself the Priest standing upright signing the holy Elements with the sign of the Cross three times says privately Make this Bread the precious Body of thy Christ and then Make that which is in this Cup the precious Bloud of thy Christ laying both his hands upon them changing them by thy Holy Spirit and soon after that this Sacrament may be to those who partake of them for the health and sobriety of the Soul the remission of Sins the fulness of the Kingdom of heaven and assurance in thee and not for our sin and condemnation Then it follows We offer also this rational service for those who rest in Faith for our Ancestours Forefathers Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Preachers Evangelists Martyrs Confessours Virgins and for every Soul made perfect by Faith and especially for the glorious and spotless ever-Virgin Mary S. John Baptist all the holy Apostles the Saint whose memory we now celebrate and all thy Saints c. Here he names several of the living and dead For the dead he says for the rest and ease of the Soul of thy Servant in the bright place whence all grief and sighing are banish'd and make it to rest where the light of thy Countenance shines Then he prays God to remember all the Orthodox Clergy and then We offer also this rational service for the whole world for the holy Catholick and Apostolick Church for all Christian Princes their Courts and Armies that God would grant them a peaceable reign that we may live a peaceable and quiet life in all godliness and honesty c. Several other Prayers and Responses follow together with the Lord's Prayer The Priest comes to the middle door of the Chancell and elevates the Bread which he afterwards breaks and divides into four parts and lays them down in the figure of a Cross one of which he puts into the Chalice wherein is poured again some warm water after which he himself communicates At the reception of the Cup he drinks thrice saying at the first sip In the name of the Father at the second and of the Son at the third and of the Holy Ghost The Priests and Deacons receive the Elements apart and distinctly in this form At the delivery of the Bread The precious holy and undefiled Body of the Lord God our Saviour Jesus Christ is given to thee for the remission of sins and everlasting life and at the delivery of the Cup The precious and holy Bloud of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is given to thee for the remission of sins and everlasting life This tenour of words is not always retained but admits of a variation the Priest saying sometimes I give unto thee the precious and holy Body of our Lord c. sometimes Thou receivest the precious and holy Body of our Lord c. After they within the Sanctuary or Holy place have been partakers of the Divine and tremendous Mysteries the Deacon standing at the
middle door with the Chalice lifted up in his hands invites the Communicants to approach Come hither in the fear of God with Faith and Charity He then dips a spoon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the Chalice and taking out a bit or bits which are usually very small of the consecrated Bread called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or pearls soaked in and floating upon the Wine he puts it to their mouths saying to each The precious and holy Body and Bloud of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ are given to thee for the remission of thy sins and eternal life or with a little alteration Thou receivest the precious and holy Body and Bloud of c. Thus the people communicate in both kinds which is the express doctrine and constant practice of the Greek Church which they ground on the words of our B. Saviour S. John chap. 6. v. 53. Verily verily I say unto you Except you that is all of you for no particular order of men being mentioned they understand this declaration universally eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his bloud you have no life in you and on the example of the Apostles and on the history of the Institution explained by S. Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians 11. Chapter It is an usual custom with them and certainly in it self highly commendable and which argues a great sense of the dignity of these Holy Mysteries that before they receive the Sacrament they ask Forgiveness one of another The Deacon begs it of the consecrating Priest who always takes care to be reconciled to any one who has a matter against him before he approaches the Altar The Priests who assist turn their heads to the right hand and to the left signifying by this gesture their desire of Forgiveness if they have offended any there present And the people who communicate every one for himself says aloud in the hearing of all before the act of receiving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Forgive O Christians which the rest with one voice answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God forgive you When the Communion is over the Priest distributes promiscuously to such as are present the blessed Bread unconsecrated For onely the upper part of the Loaf circumscribed within the Seal hence called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used for the Sacrament This is called by several names as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or divine bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from its being sanctified and blessed and most commonly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being given in stead of the consecrated holy Gifts or Elements to those who do not communicate to which the people ascribe great efficacy and virtue and which they oftentimes carry home and bestow upon their sick Friends thinking it as effectual if not more effectual then any Physick The sacred Solemnity is soon after concluded the Priest dismissing the people with a Blessing Thus much in the general I shall now proceed to mention several things relating to this Argument which if I had inserted in the precedent Paragraphs might have interrupted the series and order of this most solemn Administration which now lies close as to all the material parts of it and falls under one easy view As to the moment of Consecration in which the Symbols become and are made the Body and Bloud of Christ 't is certain that the Greeks herein following the authority of several ancient Writers of their Church do not hold this Divine Mystery to be perfected and consummated by or after the pronunciation of those words Take eat this is my Body the Change what-ever it be not being made according to S. John Damascen but by the descent and illapse of the Holy Spirit upon the Gifts or Elements placed upon the Altar Therefore in order to the completion of this Sacrament they adde Benediction and Prayers in which they do explicitely implore the Divine grace of the Holy Spirit of God the Priest after he has recited the words of our B. Saviour in the Institution invoking God in these words Send thy Holy Spirit upon us and upon these holy Gifts lying before us and after a little pause having three times made the sign of the Cross adding which I purposely repeat Make this Bread the precious Body of thy Christ and that which is in this Cup the precious Bloud of thy Christ then with his hand lift up and held over them changing them by the Holy Spirit These are the formall words of the Liturgies of S. Chrysostome and S. Basil now in use It is of no great moment what some object that the last words of all changing them by thy Holy Spirit are omitted in several ancient Manuscript Exemplars for the same thing that is that the Elements become sacramental by the intervention and descent of the Holy Spirit is said expresly in the short prayers which precede which are confessedly ancient and free from any interpolation Thus in their Confession of Faith 't is positively asserted that the Change is made by the operation of the Holy Spirit of God whom the Priest invokes at that time consummating this Mystery and praying Send thy Holy Spirit upon us and c. For after these words there presently follows a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of this change I am next to speak 'T is most certain that the doctrine of Transubstantiation by virtue of which according to the fancies of the Romanists the natural substance of the Elements is supposed to be annihilated and wholly destroyed the Species or Accidents onely remaining was not admitted in the Greek Church till of late years there being nothing in their Liturgies tending that way onely that a Change is made and that the Elements after consecration become the Body and Bloud of Christ which no Christian of what Communion soever does doubt of in the least And this they thought fit to express by the names of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without determining the manner of the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament For that these words do not infer such a substantial Change that is that the Elements notwithstanding their Consecration retain their essence and nature though they are as they are justly said to be the Body and Bloud of Christ is clear not onely because at the same time they are acknowledged in the Liturgy of S. Basil to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 antitypes and representations of his holy Body and Bloud but because the person baptized is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to be changed and so of the Water which cannot be understood of a natural change and in the Office of Baptism they pray that the water may be sanctified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the power and operation and access of the Holy Spirit And so the like they say of the Oyl used at that time Which very manner and form of words being used of the
Spain in the year of our Lord 381 Canon the third that any should presume to carry any of the Holy Bread away with him Upon the same reason several pieces of the consecrated Bread were reserved and kept by the Priests to distribute among Sick people and especially to Laps'd persons who through humane frailty had been guilty of some sinfull compliance in the times of Persecution and ipso facto were deprived in the way of penance and humiliation of the Sacrament till the hour of death who possibly otherwise could not have gone out of the world with peace and comfort A famous instance of this we have in a Letter of Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria to Fabius Bishop of Antioch concerning Serapion who had miscarried under Decius He being in these circumstances and at the point of death in the night-time was in great disorder and trouble of mind for want of a Priest to absolve him and give him the Communion whereupon a Messenger was sent immediately to fetch the Priest to administer comfort to the dying Penitent But the Priest happened to be sick himself He following the orders and direction of his Bishop the Relater of this story in such like cases that the dying persons might not despair but depart with good hope of their Salvation gave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a little piece of the Sacramentall bread to the youth commanding him to dip it in water and convey it into the mouth of the poor old man who was just upon the point of yielding up his Soul into the hands of God This shews us that they had such an high esteem and reverence of the Sacrament in ancient times as to judge it almost absolutely necessary in articulo mortis which was the effect of their great Piety which deserves the highest commendation and encouragement I cannot here forbear my wonder at the odde fancies of a late learned Writer concerning the Blessed Sacrament in which as in many other arguments of Religion he chose to be singular presuming too much upon the strength and nimbleness of his wit to make out plausibly any Paradox he to run counter to the Times unluckily pitcht upon And I think the Publisher of these Posthumous Remains was not aware of the ill effects that such Notions whereby the Blessed Sacrament is so horribly slighted may produce to the cooling those ardours of Devotion and zeal which all truly devout persons have to this Holy Institution of our Saviour No person certainly whatever can receive the Symbols of our Blessed Saviour's Passion and Death too often so he come with that due preparation of mind which these pure and tremendous Mysteries require and the time of one's last Sickness especially is very proper Our Church indeed has declared that a frequent and consciencious use of the Sacrament in the time of Health is sufficient and that such devout and religious persons in case of sudden Sickness have less cause to be disquieted for the lack of the same Our Salvation does not necessarily depend upon nor is restrained to an externall and oral Communion whether there be or be not an opportunity God accepts the will and desire of a contrite and devout heart in stead of this commemorative Sacrifice Nor do we attribute so much efficacy to the Sacramentall Sign as to the internal Grace for fear we should detract from the perfection of the Sacrifice of the real and natural Body of our Saviour once offered upon the Cross of which this is a Type and a Representation though not onely so I urge it no farther but that it is very convenient for sick persons when they foresee that their Sickness may prove mortal to receive and undoubtedly they would find the great benefit of it I put an end to this Digression with reference to the present practice of the Greek and Roman Churches as to the Reservation of the Blessed Sacrament that the reason which held formerly has ceas'd long since For there are Priests enough at hand even in Greece it self to consecrate the Sacrament in the presence of the sick man if he desires to communicate and this may be done I mean as to what is onely necessary and essential the Ceremonies being omitted which are used at the publick Communion in the Church where a greater regard is had to splendour and decorum with less trouble and sooner then taking the Sacramental Bread out of the Ciborium and carrying it in Procession to the houses of dying persons The ten Particles which are placed in the Patin with the Holy Bread become sanctified relatively and in a way of participation as Gabriel Philadelphiensis speaks because they are blessed at the same time with the Holy Bread that is to be consecrated just after the great Offertory The Priest is to take care that he does not give one of these Particles through a mistake to any of the Communicants in stead of a consecrated one as the same Authour does advise Whence it follows that those who assert so many Hosts to be offered up as there are Particles are mistaken for they are onely close joyned to the Body and Bloud of our Lord and are not consecrated but are reckoned to be of the same nature with the unconsecrated blessed Bread After the celebration of the Sacrament upon great Festivals there is usually an entertainment for the people then present in the Church which is called by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the oblation of the Colyba that is a heap of boiled Wheat and Pulse Raisins Nuts Almonds and the like For the Priest having a Charger full of this confused mass goes about the Church and distributes more or less of it to the men women and children that are in his way which they receive very readily and gratefully kissing either his hand or vest By this Ceremony they pretend to make out their belief of the general Resurrection of the dead at the last day of which they suppose this to be a symbol deriving the occasion of it from the words of our B. Saviour S. John 12. 24. Verily verily I say unto you Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone but if it dies it bringeth forth much fruit and of S. Paul 1 Cor. 15. 36 37 38. Thou fool that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die and that which thou sowest thou sowest not that body which shall be but bare grain it may chance of wheat or of some other grain But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him and to every seed his own body Nothing indeed does represent more clearly to the eye or render more probable to our belief the great mystery of the Resurrection of the body then the stupendous raising and growth of seeds of Corn hid and buried in the furrows into â—ull ears Gabriel Philadelphiensis finds a Mystery in the addition and mixture of the other things without
repeat twelve times together This Hymn is sung every day from Easter-day to the Feast of the Holy Ascension The second solemn Fast is of forty days beginning on the fifteenth day of November and serves to usher in the Solemnity of Christmas The reason that some give for the determinate number of days appropriated to this Fast is no better then this That as Moses remained forty days upon mount Sinai fasting in the way of an holy initiation before he received the two Tables of the Law so it becomes Christians by the like Abstinence as much as humane infirmity will permit to prepare themselves to receive Christ the true and great Law-giver This Fast is very mild and easy in comparison of the great Lenten Fast before Easter for though they are obliged to abstain from Flesh Butter Eggs c. yet there is a free use of Oyl Wine and all sorts of Fish as at other times The third solemn Fast is in honour of the B. Virgin and called by her name It lasts fourteen days that is from the first of August to the fifteenth day of that month the Festival of her Obit or Dormition or as they sometimes explain it more largely of her Translation from Earth to Heaven which the Roman Church chuses rather to call the Assumption of the Virgin Onely there is some little relaxation indulged upon the Festival of our B. Saviour's Transfiguration that falls within this time The fourth solemn Fast is the Fast of the holy Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul The duration of this Fast is not fixed and certain as the rest are for it is longer or shorter as Easter falls higher or lower in the year It begins on the Monday after All Saints day which is with them the Sunday after Whitsunday and is continued to the Festival day of those two great Saints which is on the 29. day of June They find out the length of this Fast by this easy Method and Rule Look how many days there are from Easter to the second of May so many make up the intervall or number of days allotted to this Fast As for instance when this Canon or Rule was first told me at Constantinople in the year 1669 by a Greek Priest Papas Jeremias Germanus who had travelled into England where he met with considerable relief and particularly here at Oxon being a man of more refined parts and learning then the Kaloirs usually are Easter happened to fall on the 11. of April from which day to the second of May inclusively are two and twenty days which was the number of the days they fasted that year in memory and honour of the Apostles For All Saints day falling consequently on the sixth of June if we reckon from the day following to the Festival in reference to which the Fast is instituted we shall find the same number But whether this Rule holds in all other cases and is infallible as he pretended I am not at leisure to examine or enquire nor is it worth my study or time if I were Thus much for the Annual Fasts The Weekly Fasting-days are Wednesday and Friday which are strictly still retained in compliance with the ancient Custome and Practice of the Catholick Churches in the first Ages of Christianity The reason and original of which may be ascribed to the Zeal and Piety of the Christians of those times either that they might not be behind-hand with the more religious sort of Jews who according to the prescription and tradition of their Elders fasted twice a week S. Luke chap. 18. vers 12. or that they might with a due and becoming sorrow reflect and meditate upon our Blessed Saviour's being betrayed and crucified as upon these days and afflict and humble themselves under a sense of their guilt the meritorious cause of his Sufferings and Death Out of this number they exempt the Wednesdays and Fridays of the three great and famous Festivals that is of Christmas comprehending the whole twelve days of Easter and Pentecost that there be no interruption of that innocent and sober Joy which deservedly attends these Solemnities by the interposition of Fasts usual at other times as also of Septuagesima and Sexagesima that they may not seem to agree in the least with the Armenian Christians fasting most rigorously at these times whom they look upon as Hereticks and hate mortally The reason of which possibly I may account for hereafter at large They are obliged also to fast on the Vigils of some peculiar Festivals such as are the Vigil Of the Epiphany that being purged and cleansed from sin by fasting they may drink with greater success and benefit of the Waters which upon the following Festival are blessed and consecrated and this they doe very heartily attributing great virtue to them The antiquity of this custom of Blessing the waters upon this day may appear from the Homily of S. John Chrysostome Patriarch of Constantinople upon this very argument Of Pentecost and the Monday following to prepare them the better to receive the influences of the Holy Spirit Of the Transfiguration Of the Exaltation of the Cross the figure of which they kiss fasting Of the Beheading of S. John the Baptist They hold it utterly unlawfull to fast on any Saturday throughout the year excepting that of the Holy week following herein the ancient custome it being prohibited under the grievous penalty of Deposition to an Ecclesiastical person and of Excommunication to a Lay-man by the 66. Apostolical Canon which was renewed and confirmed by the sixth general Council as they reckon held in Trullo Canon the 55. By which says Zonaras they endeavoured to correct the Errour of the Latines The alteration of one of the days of the weekly Fasts being among others a great occasion of the breach and disunion of the Eastern from the Western Church But to put an end to this discourse about their Fasts reserving the consideration of the severities and restraints inflicted and imposed by the Kaloirs upon themselves to a fitter place I shall onely adde thus much that whatever the present opinion or abuse be about these Fasts the design of the Catholick Church in the institution of them and especially of the Lenten Fast before Easter was truly pious and Christian that a publick check being thus given to the corrupt inclinations of nature and the Body kept under by mortification and abstinence the Mind might be more at liberty to reflect upon it self and be taken up with thoughts of God and Religion and that all after such exercises of Penitence may be the better prepared to partake of the great Mysteries of the Body and Bloud of our Lord especially at Easter In so great Confusion which has long since overwhelmed the outward glory and splendour of the Greek Empire 't is not to be expected that their Churches should be rich and stately The Churches
Eye struck out and hamstring'd in his left Leg and condemned to work in the Mines afterwards present at the Council of Nice XX. S. Ignatius to whom they give the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the third Bishop of Antioch from S. Peter thrown to the wild Beasts in the Amphitheatre at Rome under Trajan XXV The Nativity of our most Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ XXVII S. Stephen first Martyr JANVARY I. The Circumcision of Christ as also the Festival of S. Basil VI. Epiphany or Baptism of our Saviour Upon this day after they have celebrated the Holy Sacrament they consecrate and bless the Waters and especially for the uses of Holy Baptism XVII S. Anthony one of the first Founders of the Monastick Order in Aegypt under Decius XVIII S. Athanasius and S. Cyril Bishops of Alexandria XXV S. Gregory Nazianzene whom they style 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Divine XXX S. Basil S. Gregory and S. Chrysostome the memory of which three great and famous Bishops they celebrate together FEBRVARY II. The Presentation of Christ in the Temple by the Blessed Virgin after the forty days of her Purification when Simeon met them there therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 XI S. Blasius Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia who having confest Christ there obtained the glory of Martyrdom under Diocletian MARCH IX The forty Souldiers Martyrs who being exposed naked in a Lake or Ditch near Sebaste in the lesser Armenia were frozen to death under Licinius XXV The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin S. Mary APRIL XXIII S. George of Cappadocia crown'd with Martyrdom under Diocletian styled peculiarly by the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 XXV S. Mark the Evangelist MAY. VIII S. John the Divine XXI Constantine the Great and his Mother Helena whom they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or equal to the Apostles JVNE XI S. Bartholomew and S. Barnabas Apostles XIX S. Jude Apostle and Brother of our Lord. XXIV The Nativity of S. John Baptist the forerunner of Christ XXIX S. Peter and S. Paul Apostles JVLY XVII S. Marina Virgin and Martyr of Antioch in Pisidia the Daughter of Aedesius an Idol-Priest I suppose him between whom and Julian the Apostate Emperour there was a great intimacy and familiarity The Latines call this martyred Saint Margaret XV. Elias the Prophet XXVI S. Parasceve Virgin and Martyr had her Head struck off somewhat about the times of Antoninus XXVII S. Panteleemenon Physician and Martyr who suffer'd at Nicomedia in Bithynia under Maximian The Latines call him Pantaleon AVGVST VI. The Transfiguration of our Blessed Saviour XV. The Death of the Blessed Virgin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dormitio This the Latines call the Assumption in the relation of whose triumphal carriage into Heaven by the Angels the Greeks are very idle and fancifull even to a great height and degree of credulity and folly The institution of this solemnity Nicephorus attributes to the Emperour Mauritius some little time before the year 600. XXIX The beheading of S. John the Baptist Almost every day has a peculiar Saint and Martyr at whose commemoration the Religious in their Convents use a proper office as in the Roman Breviary which makes their Church-books swell to a great bulk These are the entertainments of their devotion in their retirements from the world performed indeed without that great solemnity as the above-mentioned Festivals are at which the people are usually present and are obliged to keep sacred by their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or abstaining from the servile works of their callings according to the practice and direction of their Church in the Rubrick of their Menology Their offices are long and tedious The Priests and Deacons and other devout persons observe the Vigils preceding the great Festivals spending the whole night in prayer and reading the History of the Gospels or the proper Lessons for the Solemnity without any interruption taking their turns and relieving one another when tyred and so keeping up the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or sacred ministration I have been present for seven hours together at their service upon a Festival day from between four and five of the clock in the morning till toward twelve When there is a full Congregation the ordinary prayers appointed for the Solemnity begin and the life of the Saint is read to them in the vulgar Greek translated out of Simeon Metaphrastes or the Synaxaria which are collections briefly containing the most remarkable passages and accidents of the Saints lives and the particularities of their sufferings and martyrdom to which the people are very attentive For this purpose among others they make use of the translation of Maximus Bishop of Cerigo a Book called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Treasure composed by Damascen of Thessalonica Venice 1618. Quarto which contains Moral discourâ—es intermixed with the Historical and indeed are in the nature of Sermons and a third Book which they call by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the new Treasure At such solemnities the holy and august Sacrament is always celebrated and that with great pomp and ceremony and indeed is not onely a necessary but the principal part of the Festival Every one strives to bring his present or gift as he is able according to the Primitive custom as Bread Wine Oyl for the Lamps Wax-candles Frankincense and such like to be mae use of in the following sacred rites or any other way as the service of the Church may require At such times also they are very charitable and liberal to the poor the meaner sort giving away what they can scarce spare from themselves it being usual for such as are faln into any extraordinary distress to get Letters from the Patriarch I speak of the places in and about Constantinople especially to recommend their case and to stir them up to compassion And I have observed several Turks to bring their Christian slaves with a bolt or chain about their leg to the Church-doors of the Greeks to beg their alms in order to their relief and maintenance but this being the usual artifice of their covetous Patrons there is little notice taken of them They go to Church always betimes in the morning and in the Winter time an hour or two before day which was the practice of the first Christians in the times of Trajan according to the relation which Pliny the younger then Pro-Praetor in the lesser Asia made to that Emperour and this they doe that the people may be present at the entire service and dismist in good time to attend and look after their concerns but chiefly that they may perform their devotions more securely and be less disturbed and molested by the Turks If I may judge of others by my self I am perswaded that no Christian of what Communion soever can be present at their religious worship but he will melt into tears and sighs and find
on the right side of the Holy Bread Then he takes another piece and so to the ninth which are placed on the left side all which he offers up in honour of S. John Baptist the Apostles S. Basil Gregory the Divine Chrysostome Athanastus Cyrillus Nicolas and all holy Bishops S. Stephen George Demetrius Theodorus and all holy Martyrs S. Antony Euthymius Saba Onuphrius Athanasius of Mount Athos and all holy Monks holy Physicians who cured gratis Cosmus and Damianus Cyrus John Panteleemenon Hermolaus Sampson Diomedes Thallaleus Tryphon and the rest S. Joachim and Anna and of the Saint of the day and all Saints for the sake of whose prayers and supplications O God protect us and in behalf of the Bishop of the place and of the whole Hierarchy of Benefactors and Friends and Relations living and dead here he names the persons whom he is desired particularly to commemorate that the mercifull God would indulge them pardon Then he puts a little silver instrument upon them that the Coverings may not touch the Particles which are put in three rows and so disorder them it being made of two short arches crossing each other in the figure of a star hence called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 repeating these words And the star came and stood over where the young child was And then they cover the Patin and the Chalice distinctly with linen or silk saying at the first The Lord is King and hath put on glorious apparel c. and at the second Thy power O Christ hath obscured the heavens and the earth is full of thy glory now and for ever and afterward both together with a larger covering or veil which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saying O our God hide us under the shadow of thy wings now and for ever Amen All which that is both Bread and Wine making the Oblation are blessed soon after by this solemn Prayer which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O God our God who hast sent our Lord and God Jesus Christ our Saviour and Redeemer who does bless us and sanctifie us to be the heavenly Bread and nourishment of all the world do thou bless this Oblation and receive it upon thy supercelestial Altar Remember O gracious and mercifull God those who offer it and those for whom it is offered and preserve us blameless in the celebration of thy Divine Mysteries this being said by the Priest in a soft and still voice as it were to himself he afterwards says aloud For thy most venerable and glorious Name of Father Son and Holy Ghost is sanctified and glorified now and for ever Amen This Prayer of Benediction being pronounced the Elements though barely blest and yet unconsecrated become venerable and divine Gifts or Oblations as they speak The Deacon having received the book of the Gospell from the hands of the Priest holding it on high that the people may the better see it goes out at the North-door of the Chancell the inferiour Officers carrying Tapers before him and is followed by the Priest and so having made a short Procession in the Body of the Church they enter into the Chancell at the middle door and deposit the Gospell upon the middle Altar where the Consecration is always made This they call the first and lesser Introitus or Entrance Then the Priest says this Prayer secretly O Omnipotent Lord God who onely art holy who receivest the sacrifice of praise from those who call upon thee with their whole heart receive our Prayer who are Sinners and bring us to thy holy Altar and make us fit to offer up to thee Gifts and spiritual Sacrifices for our Sins and the Trespasses of the people and grant that we may find favour before thee and that our Sacrifice may be acceptable unto thee and that the good Spirit of thy grace may dwell in us and in these Gifts thus offered and in all thy People Next the Quire sings the Hymn which begins Come let us adore and fall down before Christ save us thou Son of God c. and the other short Hymn which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holy God holy and powerfull holy and immortall have mercy upon us Glory be to the Father and to the Son and c. Which being ended the Deacons reade the Epistle and Gospell appointed for the day So far in ancient times when the Discipline of the Church flourished and was kept up in its perfection and vigour the Catechumeni were admitted to be present in their proper place this being the Missa Catechumenorum and then were dismissed with a peculiar Prayer the Deacon crying aloud and making proclamation Whosoever of you are Catechumeni depart and this was repeated thrice let none of the Catechumeni stay you who are of the number of the faithfull or compleat Christians stay Let us more and more call upon God in peace Then the Priest says several private Prayers to himself after which he advancing towards the Altar of Prothesis takes off the Chalice which he holds in his hand covered and is attended by the Deacon carrying the Patin in which is the holy Bread that is to be consecrated upon his head and that covered too with a piece of silk that it may not be seen and by the other inferiour Ministers going before in order with the Launce the Sponge wherewith they wipe the Dish and the Chalice gilt Crosses Incense Pots Tapers and little Bells and the like They all pass out at the little North-door and proceed slowly into the Nave or Area of the Church about which they take a compass the Quire in the mean while singing the Hymn which they call Cherubicus The people during this Procession shew all imaginable reverence bowing their heads bending their knees and sometimes prostrating themselves upon the pavement and kissing the hem of the Priest's Stole as he passes by besides crossing themselves continually during this pomp and repeating these words Remember me O Lord in thy Kingdome the Priests and Deacons interceding for themselves and the people in this form The Lord God be mindfull of us all in his Kingdom now and for ever Then they enter in at the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or middle Door and place the Elements upon the Altar directly opposite to it in order to their consecration This Procession they call the second or great Introitus or Entrance or access to the Altar This seems to be and really is as they order the matter the most solemn part of the Grecian Worship and at which they express the greatest devotion if we may judge of it by these outward and visible signs A practice that really gives great offence and is wholly unjustifiable notwithstanding all the little and trifling excuses and pretensions made by Symeon Thessalonicensis and Gabriel Severus in favour of it as that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies any Adoration and Respect
heat and contest arising hence several Centuries of years before the overthrow of the Greek Empire grew wider and wider and at last became irreconcilable being fomented in the following Ages by the ambition of the great Ecclesiasticks of both parties who upbraided each other with prevaricating and departing from the mind and will of Christ herein The Sacramental Bread is to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clean or pure which purity does not so much refer to the fineness of the corn as to the manner of its being kneaded and baked either by Men legally pure or else by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Old women professed or the Wives of married Priests not otherwise unqualified the former being supposed upon the account of their Vow the other of their relation to be of more then ordinary Sanctity They celebrate the Holy Sacrament on the same day but once upon the same Altar which is always the middlemost of the three or where there are onely two on that which is opposite to the middle Door and never upon the Prothesis Anciently there was onely a single Altar in each Church as one High Priest and Mediatour the Lord Jesus Christ who by his own bloud entered in once into the Holy place as appears not onely from the order and disposition of their Fabrick Antiquity being wholly unacquainted with Side-Altars wherewith the Churches under the Papacy are crowded for the sake of that great number of Masses daily sung as they pretend for the relief of poor Souls in Purgatory but from the sacred use to which it was appropriated for for some hundreds of years the Sacrament was not celebrated twice the same day as is evident from the eloquent Panegyrick of Paulinus Bishop of Tyre concerning the structure of Churches preserved by Eusebius in the tenth book and fourth chapter of his Ecclesiasticall History In the great Churches the Priest celebrates the Sacrament upon the solemn Festivals and upon Sundays and at other times upon occasion when he is hired either to pray for the Soul of any dead person or for success in a journey or the like Sometimes they go to ruined places without their Towns or in the Fields where formerly were Churches or near a holy Fountain A Table there placed in stead of an Altar is covered with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or consecrated cloaths without which they cannot consecrate in unhallowed places At these times I have observed persons troubled with Agues and other feverish distempers laid at some distance from the Altar with their faces toward it hoping by the merit of the Blessed Sacrament and the prayers of the Priest officiating to be restored to their health The Laicks are obliged to receive the Blessed Sacrament four times a year With which law of their Church they most readily comply none omitting it especially at Christmas or Easter unless hindred by a real and urgent necessity In order to their better Preparation the preceding Fasts are appointed and observed It is not allowed that the Priest begin the service of Consecration till after morning the usual time being about the third hour of the day which is not without a design the Priest using this short form of Prayer O Lord who sentest thy most Holy Spirit upon the Apostles at the third hour O mercifull God take not thy Holy Spirit from us But at the Festival of Easter their piety is early this Service being usually performed before the Sun-rise after the example of S. Mary Magdalen and the other devout women who came with their ointment to the Sepulchre where Christ had been entombed as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week S. Matth. chap. 28. v. 1. or as S. Luke expresses it chap. 24. v. 1. on the first day of the week very early in the morning In the time of the Great Lent except on Saturdays Sundays and the Feast of the Annunciation the Sacrament is not celebrated till in the middle of the afternoon But of this more at large hereafter The Greeks communicate fasting looking upon it as a thing very unlawfull and scandalous to tast a drop of wine or eat the least bit of bread for several hours before they receive so that 't is oftentimes to be admired with what great courage and obstinacy they doe as it were violence to themselves and get the mastery over their natural passions and inclinations When they receive the Sacrament they do not kneel but onely incline their body at which moment they are taught to exercise an act of Faith after this manner I confess and acknowledge that thou art Jesus Christ the Son of the living God who camest into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief Which form were it as ancient as the times of S. Chrysostome which will never be proved cannot justly be urged by the Patrons and Asserters of Transubstantiation in favour of their opinion because the words are most probably referred not to the Elements which they are just about to receive but to our B. Saviour God and Man in Heaven whom the sacred Elements not onely truly and really represent but also exhibit The People are obliged by the law of the Church to confess to a Priest rightfully and lawfully constituted before they communicate But the Confessours whom they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or spiritual men do not require and exact of their Penitents a rigid anxious or particular confession of their Sins but have regard to modesty and an ill memory that may not retain every circumstance of fact and are not over-difficult in granting their Absolutions What remains to be farther said about Confession may be seen in its proper place The Priest too is obliged by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Order prefixed to the Liturgy which bears the name of S. Chrysostome to confess before he goes to consecrate But I am apt to fear that this piece of Church-discipline is not kept up among them and that Priests and people notwithstanding the obligation are not very strict and zealous in the practice of it unless in the case of hainous Crimes which wast the Conscience it being oftentimes intermitted This is the fault of the Persons and as to the practice it self the Church of England does no way disallow it but rather recommend it to those of her Communion in the Office of the Holy Sacrament provided it be done after a due manner and that the Consciences of the people be not burthened with unjust scruples as if the whole benefit of the Sacrament would be lost and the Confession it self rendred ineffectual except they disburthen and lay open the secretest thoughts of their heart and reveal the minutest punctilio and circumstance of their guilt They give the Eucharist in both kinds to little Children of one or two years of age sometimes to new-born Infants that is after they have been Christened in case
runs thus Thou O Lord remit pardon and forgive the Sins committed by thy Servants again Be pleased to absolve thy Servants according to thy word again Do thou pardon as being our good and gracious God again Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ pardon all these Sins which thou hast confest before him to my Meanness and those which thou hast forgotten again Thou O Lord pardon this thy Servant all those Sins which he hath committed by me thy poor unworthy Servant and be reconciled to him and unite him to thy Holy Church again God pardon thee by me who am a Sinner that is by my Ministery and sometimes very briefly in the vulgar language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be thou pardoned or absolved Out of this great variety it is most clear and evident that the sentence of Absolution is not pronounced by the Priest who is the onely Minister of this sacred Rite in his own proper person much less judicially but onely in the way of supplication or deprecation So that we may here justly conclude this form My Meanness absolves thee or the other which is more plain and express I absolve thee from all the Sins which thou hast confest before God and before my Vnworthiness or the third I pardon all thy Sins to be upstart and novell and borrowed from the Latines whom they love to imitate in most things This authority of the Church in inflicting and relaxing Censures is generally esteemed sacred venerable and divine and consequently of great efficacy and does very much conduce as I have intimated before to the preservation of the Christian Religion among them For fear of these Censures they are not onely affrighted from the commission of those Sins which would bring a scandal upon their holy Profession this argument prevailing more with slavish and degenerous minds then considerations of modesty or the loveliness and agreeableness of Vertue to humane nature but from running to the Turkish Judges for justice For they look upon the person to be in a most desperate condition and as undone for ever in the other world who dies unabsolved from the sentence of Excommunication that was canonically past upon him Such great power has the dread and reverence of Ecclesiasticall Authority over this querulous and contentious people If any person happen to die before the Excommunication be taken off the general belief is that his body feels the sad effects of it in the grave and quickly becomes black the bloud no way clotted or dried up notwithstanding its stagnation and all the parts remaining entire in their natural posture without the least alteration and this for ten or twelve months after or longer except that the skin hardens and swells like a drum whence the person is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that this is caused by the Devil 's entring into it Stories pass current among them of the walking of their Ghosts especially in the night-time not onely in the Church-yards but in the Streets and knocking at the doors of the houses and calling them by their names The Greeks are so timorous and superstitious herein that they will not answer any one in the dark at the first call though they know his voice never so well for fear it should be this Spirit for then they look upon themselves as dead men and fall into an irrecoverable melancholy This opinion is so rooted in their minds that there is no perswading them to the contrary They will tell you of matter of fact how several graves have been opened and the bodies found undissolved though I could not hear of the success of the experiment notwithstanding my diligent enquiry But I found the Priests equally credulous not so much out of design to keep the poor people in awe of the Church-censures as out of weakness being led away with the same popular errour The Bishops accordingly in their Briefs when they forbid any thing to be done threaten the transgressours that they shall be separated from God and cursed and deprived of the use and benefit of the Sacrament and after death their bodies shall swell and be undissolved And this latter is inserted in the sentence of Excommunication to adde to the horrour and terrour of it At the same time they will tell you that as soon as the Dead person has been absolved at Constantinople by the Patriarch or by the Bishop of the Province the body though buried in some of the Islands in the Arches or at what great distance soever immediately corrupts and dissolves and crumbles into ashes This indulgence is procured and granted to the Dead and read over his grave with several Prayers to the same purpose They have the same fearfull apprehensions of an evil Spirit called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they pretend to be let loose the twelve days of the Christmas-Solemnity and possess Children born within that space during which time also the little Boys and Girls dare not go abroad in the night-time for fear of meeting this Hobgoblin but hasten home before Sun-set The Turks seem to be infected with the like Superstition for they will scarâ—e venture to Sea till after the waters are blest by the Christians that is till after the Twelfth day the Festival of the Baptism of our Saviour when that Ceremony is performed grosly imagining that in their voyage they shall be met and sunk by a brazen Ship They usually also fright their Children with stories of Apparitions and Spectres which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word properly denotes any thing drest up in an odd ridiculous shape and habit All clandestine Espousals are severely forbidden and therefore they are never lawfully done but before witnesses and sometime to ratify and confirm them the more before a Priest At such time they go to Church and standing before the middle door of the Chancell the Priest having made the sign of the Cross upon their heads delivers lighted Tapers into their hands and descends with them into the body of the Church where after some Collects he produces two Rings the one of gold the other of silver which before had as it were been consecrated by being put upon the Altar and gives the former to the Man and the latter to the Woman repeating these words thrice The Servant of God such a one espouses the Servant of God such a one in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost now and for ever Amen Which form mutatis mutandis he turning toward the Woman uses as often Immediately after the Paranymph or Bride-man takes the Rings from off their fingers and makes an exchange the Priest then joyning their hands And this is done as well that the Woman might not too much resent the inferiority of her condition represented by the Ring of the less noble metall as to signify that she is to be admitted into an
Procession and at the time when the Gospell is read and at the celebration of the Sacrament then they all stand up uncovered and shew a particular Reverence Their Singing as I said before is very mean and pitifull without figure and the relishes of art and is at best but a kind of harsh Plain-song They have no Organ or any kind of musicall Instrument in their Churches that they may not give any offence to their cruel Masters the Turks which is the reason also why they have no Bells They have no Holy water at their Church-doors nor do they use to sprinkle themselves though oftentimes they drink very greedily of it after the ceremony of its benediction is over and rub their eyes with it Upon their recovery from any grievous distemper and sickness they offer up thin broad Plates of silver which are hung up in their Churches Oftentimes they represent the figure of the Part affected in imitation of the Romanists from whom the modern Greeks have derived many of their religious Customs and Ceremonies They number their years not onely from the Birth of our B. Saviour but also from the Creation They reckon from the Creation to our Saviour's Birth 5508 years following the account of the Septuagint in their Chronology Thus they write that Constantinople was taken in the year 6961 that is of our Lord 1453. They acknowledge but seven General Councils which I shall here briefly reckon up The first held at Nice in Bithynia under Constantine the Great in the year of our Lord 325. against Arius and his Followers who denied the Divinity of our B. Saviour The second held at Constantinople under the elder Theodosius in the year 381. against Macedonius who denied the Divinity of the Holy Ghost The third at Ephesus under Theodosius Junior and Valentinian in the year 431. against Nestorius who asserted Christ born of the Virgin Mary to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or meer Man and so made the Son of God distinct from the Son of the B. Virgin and refused to give her the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Mother of God The fourth at Chalcedon a City situate over against Constantinople on the other side of the Propontis under Marcianus in the year 451. against Eutyches and Dioscorus who maintained onely one Nature in Christ The fifth at Constantinople under Justinian in the year 553. against the Disciples of Origen whose corrupt and heretical Doctrine about the Prae-existence and Transmigration of Souls the Temporariness of Hell-torments and the Salvation of Devils and the like was here condemned and anathematized The sixth at Constantinople under Constantine Pogonatus in the year 680. against Sergius Pope Honorius Macarius Bishop of Antioch and their Followers who asserted but one Will in Christ hence called Monothelites The seventh at Nice under Constantine then a minor and his Mother the Empress Irene in the year 787. against such as would not allow the Worship of Images whom they hence nick-named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the Decrees of this Council not founded upon Scripture but upon weak and uncertain Tradition and without any ground of sound or judicious reasoning were confuted soon after by a Council of Bishops of the West held by the Authority of Charlemaine at Francford in Germany There was a Council held at Constantinople under Basilius in the year 869. wherein Photius the Patriarch of Constantinople who had appeared very active against the See of Rome and had provoked the Latines especially among other things by imputing to them the guilt of Heresy for adding Filióque to the Constantinopolitan Creed was dethroned and anathematized This the Romanists honour with the title of the Eighth Oecumenical Council But that which the Greeks call so was held ten years after that is in the year 879. in which all the Acts against Photius who was restored to the Patriarchal dignity not long before were rescinded and abrogated and the Creed recited and fixt without that addition But because nothing relating to matter of Doctrine was established anew in this Council which was held chiefly in favour of Photius the Greeks content themselves with the acknowledgment of seven only Some of the Latinizing Greeks call the Council held at Florence in the year 1439. under Pope Eugenius the Fourth in which were present the Emperour Joannes Palaeologus Joseph Patriarch of Constantinople and several Metropolitans and Bishops of the Greek Church the Eighth general Council Here the Greeks out of politick ends that is to please the Emperour who urged them to a Subscription to gain the assistence of the Latines which onely was to be had upon these hard conditions against the Turks then ready to take an entire possession of the Empire were forced to comply But upon their return home there were great stirs and tumults in Constantinople and all over the Empire about this Agreement and the Subscribers were look'd upon as Betrayers of the establisht Doctrine of the Eastern Church In a Letter published by Chytraeus sent from Constantinople to the Bohemians about two years before the taking of that City by the Emperour Mahomet they very zealously renounce the Union of Florence calling it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Disunion from the Truth This was subscribed among others by Silvester Syropulus who had been present at that Assembly and wrote the History of it publish'd in the year 1660. In their Monasteries they keep up the piety and rigour of the ancient Discipline being very punctual in the performance of their daily Offices They are frequent in the reciting of the Psalms and Hymns of the Old and New Testament as consisting chiefly of Praises and Thanksgivings which they divide into twenty Sections or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 each Section into three parts which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the end of which they repeat the Gloria Patri standing all the while This Psalmody is one of the principal parts of the Monastick life and institution and they are so continually used to it that there is scarce a Kaloir but has the whole Psalter exactly by heart They observe this order They reade the Psalter twice in each of the first six weeks in Lent and but once in the Holy week ending it on Wednesday from which time to the Saturday in Easter-week according to ancient custome it is wholly intermitted Afterward to the 20. day of September two Sections are read in the morning and one in the evening but from the 20. of September they reade three Sections in the morning and in the evening the Psalms called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are the Psalms of Degrees so called from the 119. the first of them which begins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This method they continue to the Saturday before Sexagesima in which week and the week following it is but once repeated also
seven 107 N. Nicene Fathers 34 O. Oblation of bread and wine how blessed 129 Offerings of the Greeks 29 Vpon recovery from sickness 216 For the dead 209 Offices long and tedious 27 Holy Orders 93 176 Oyl onely made and blest by the Patriarch and Bishops 118 The Composition of it 119 P. Painting mean 63 Palm Sunday 39 Particles of bread pag. 127 171 205 208 Old Paschal Cycle still made use of 31 Passion-week 39 Day 42 Patriarchs four their jurisdictions limits and titles 2 Particularly prayed for 6 Inauguration 70 Judges in Civil affairs 77 Patriarchs of other Communions 7 Patriarchal Church at Constantinople 59 Penances 178 Pictures admitted in their Churches and reverenced 211 Pillar to which our B. Saviour was tied part of it remaining 60 Pope not mentioned in the publick prayers of the Greeks 6 Prayer to Saints 231 Posture and behaviour in their Churches 214 Priests 90 177 Praesanctificatorum Liturgia 123 125 175 Procession of the H. Spirit 197 Processions used in their Churches 130 133 Purgatory Whether the Greeks believe Purgatory 204 R. Readers 93 176 Renegado's 15 S. Sacraments or Mysteries seven 107 Sacrament but once celebrated the same day on the same Altar 155 Vpâ—â— Holy-days 156 Received four times a year 157 And Fasting 158 At what time of the day celebrat 157 In Lent not till the afternoon 158 Their posture at receiving 159 Reserved for the uses of sick persons 162 Sacristy 69 Salutations at Easter 32 Singing mean 216 Slaves Christian 16 Sub-deacons 93 177 Sunday how called 31 Sundays after Easter 32 Before Easter 36 Superstition of the Greeks 231 Swearing upon a Cross 236 T. Communion-Table 68 Table called Prothesis 68 Transubstantiation a novel Doctrine 146 Triangular piece of Bread in honour of the Virgin 233 Turkish Empire how supplied 16 V. Veneration of the unconsecrated Elements 134 Vestments 237 Vigils 27 Of Good Friday 42 Of other Festivals 49 Vnion of Christ Princes desired 13 W. The ceremony of Washing the Feet of twelve persons 40 War The Holy War defended 13 Water poured into the Chalice 127 140 Waters when blest 23 49 111 The same Water not used a second time in Baptism 114 No Holy Water at their Church-doors 216 Women Profest 106 FINIS A Catalogue of some Books Printed for and to be sold by Richard Davis in Oxford IN FOLIO DR Hammonds Works the 1. Vol. Containing a Collection of Discourses chiefly Practical with the Life of the author 1674. His Paraphrase and Annotations on the New Testament the fourth Edition 1675. On the Psalms His Sermons Lucian's Dialogues made English from the Original by Jasper Mayn D. D. Mereator's Atlas Englished by W. Saltonstall A Poem to the Duke of York on our late Sea-fight with the Dutch by J. M. C. C. Oxon. Five New Plays The Siege of Urbine Selindra Love Friendship Pandora Imperiale a Tragedy By Sir William Killigrew Vice-Chamberlain to Her Majesty 1666. An Elegy on the Death of the Duke of Glocester by M. Lluellin Dr. in Physick The History of the Pretended Saints by Hen. Foulis the second Edition 1674. The Works of Mr. William Pemble Songs for 1. 2. and 3. Voyces to the Thorow-Bass with some short Symphonies Collected out of some of the select Poems of the Incomparable Mr. Cowley and Others And Camposed by H. Bowman Philo-Musicus Engraved upon 85 Copper Plates The 2d Edition corrected and amended by the Author 1679. A Letter of all the Lay. Nobility of England to the Pope 1300. then denying his Suppremacy in things Temporal in the Kings Dominions in Latin with the same in English and all the said Nobilities Names with their Coats of Armes being 104. Engraved on a large Copper Plate to which is adjoyned a brief account of the Pope's Pretences to the Crown of England and an Answer thereunto With a Dedication of All to the present Nobility Printed on two broad sheets of Royal Paper 1679. Annalium Mundi Vniversal Origines Rerum progressus sacras juxta ac Seculares ab Orbe condito tradentium Lib. XIV Authore Hug. Robinsono olim Wintoniensi Archididascalo postea Archidiaâ—â—o Jussu Regio Recognovit emaculavit lacunosum explevit multaque nocte adopertum in lucem edidit THOMAS PEIRCE S. T. P. Decanus Sarisburiensis 1677. Jamblichi Chalcidensis de Mysteriis Aegyptor Tho. Gale Anglus Graece nunc primum eddit Latine vertit notas adjecit 1678. è Theatro Provinciale seu Constitutiones Angliae c. Auctore Guliel Lyndwood J. V. D. Cui adjiciuntur Constitutiones D. Othonis D. Othoboni Cardinalium Annotationibus Johannis de Athona Huic editioni nunc primum accesserunt Constitutiones Provinciales antedictorum Archiepiscoporum aliorum sine Glossematis in ordinem digestae Omnia ab innumeris quibus undique scatebant erroribus atque mendis purgata ac restituta 1679. IN QUARTO A Collection of severall Replies and Vindications of the Church of England by H. Hammond D. D. in 4. Vol. The hurt of Sedition or the true Subject to the rebel by Sir John Cheek with a Preface of D. Langbane's A Funerall Sermon on Phil. 1. 23. by John Millet The Vaulting Master or the Art of Vaulting illustrated with sixteen brass Figures by W. Stoaks Christ and his Church or Christianity explained in 7. Evangelical and Ecclesiastical heads by Edw. Hyde D. D. sometime Fellow of Trinity College in Cambridge late Rector of Brightwell in Berks. Cheerfull Ayres or Ballads for three Voices by J. Wilson Dr. in Musick late Professor of the same in the University of Oxford and one of the Gentlemen of His Majesties Chappel in 3. Vol. Hosanna a Thanksgiving Sermon on the Kings Return on Psal 118. v. 22 23 24 25. by Jo. Martin A Sheet of directions for Daily Examination of Sin by Bishop Vsher The Throne of David or an Exposition on the second Book of Samuel by W. Guild Howel's Vocal Forrest the First part Davenant Morton Drury c. Good Counsel for Peace Sicily and â—aples or the Fatal Union A Play Some Considerations touching the Usefulness of Experimental natural Philosophy propos'd in Familiar Discourses to a Friend by way of Invitation to the study of it by the Honorable Robert Boyle Esquire The 2d Edition Considerations of the Usefulness of Experimental Philosophy the 2d Vol. 1671. The 2d Vol. of his Experiments of Air with many Figures engraved on 8 Brass Plates Also his Treatise of the Atmospheres of consistent Bodies 1669. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Numb 6 7 8. 1666. Nehemiah or the Excellent Governour A Sermon Preached at Dublin Aug. 69. before the Right Honourable Thomas Earl of Ossery then Lord Deputy of Ireland by Jo. Parry D. D. and Dean of the holy Trinity in Dublin 1670. A Sermon Preached at a Visitation at Grantham in the Country and Diocess of Lincoln 8 Octob. 1641. on Mat. 15. 9. by the Right Reverend Father in God Robert Sanderson late Lord Bishop of that Diocess in Folio and Quarto
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Minister of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the most solemn Rites of the Christian Worship These Liturgick Books or Offices are onely three for though there be Liturgies that go under the names of S. Peter S. Mark S. Matth. and S. James c. they being confessedly spurious are rejected by the Greeks as well as by some of the sober Romanists The pretended one of S. Peter was scarce heard of for fifteen hundred years and more it is stuffed up with Intercessions and Prayers to the Virgin Mary who is there called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and other Saints Where is also the Ave Maria the Gloria Patri and other notorious and manifest proofs of its late invention the Forger having contrived it to agree in many things with the Roman Canon of the Mass S. Mark 's Liturgy is equally supposititious there being mention in it of the inferiour Ecclesiastick Orders of the Trisagion of the Nicene Creed of the title and appellation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deservedly given to the B. Virgin of the Diptychs and of the Imperial City of Constantinople 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the like signs of its noveltie If it be said that these are onely insertions and interpolations but the body and contexture of the Liturgies may be justly referred to the Apostles as to their Authours they cannot expect either wisely or civilly that this should be yielded to them meerly upon the strength of their fancy for they have not the Authority of any ancient Writer to countenance it that every Apostle made a distinct Liturgy for this does not suit with the simplicity of the celebration of it in the Apostles times and in the second and third Century according to the account we find of it in Justin Martyr More indeed may be said for the pretended Liturgy of S. James as being mentioned in the 32. Canon of the Council in Trullo and by Proclus but it was not received among them as appears from Balsamon's first answer to Marcus Patriarch of Alexandria and from Jeremias Patriarch of Constantinople who lived in the last Century in his answer to the Divines of Wittenberg Nor could I ever learn that it is at any time used by any of the Christians of the East though Allatius tells us it is one day in the year recited at Jerusalem out of respect to the memory of S. James the first Bishop of that City that is I suppose on the twenty third day of October which is the day of his Commemoration The three Liturgies I was mentioning are those of S. Basil S. Chrysostome and S. Gregory Bishop of Rome whom they distinguish from the rest of that name by the additional title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Dialogist from the Books he wrote in that form and style For he is commonly supposed to be the Author of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Liturgia Praesanctificatorum though I think it ought to be ascribed to Germanus Patriarch of Constantinople as shall be proved elsewhere his Junior by some hundreds of years All of which but especially the two first by the cunning contrivance of those who governed the Church to advance the superstitious fancies of their Times under a pretence of ancient Piety recommended by those holy men whose names they have in great veneration seem horribly altered and corrupted from what they were anciently as is demonstrable from those many and various interpolations which plainly savour of Novelty and from that great variety of manuscript copies two of which scarce agree unless in some of the most solemn Prayers For the better establishment of decency and order in the Worship and Service of God and for prevention of all confusion there is a certain and fixt rule appointed to be observed every-where in the reading of these Liturgies at set times it not being left to the liberty and humour of any Priest to make use of which he thinks fit The Liturgy of S. Basil is read onely ten times in a year that is on the five Sundays of the great Lent from Quadragesima to Palm-Sunday exclusively on Thursday and Saturday in the Holy week on the Eves of Christmas and Epiphany and on the first day of January which day is devoted to the memory of the great Saint The Liturgy of S. Chrysostome which is more contracted then that of S. Basil is recited on all other Sundays and Festivals and other days when they celebrate the Sacrament except in Lent at which time except Saturdays and Sundays and the feast of the Annunciation they use the Liturgy of the Praesanctificata But of this I shall speak more distinctly hereafter The Sacrament of the holy Eucharist is performed after this manner The Priests and Deacons having washt their hands by which Ceremony they design to shew with what Purity of Soul and Body they ought to approach these holy Mysteries carry the gifts of Bread and Wine presented by the people to the Altar of the Prothesis by this oblation which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separating them from profane and common use Which being pierced in several places is at last cut and divided from the rest into various Particles by a Knife set apart for this purpose which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the holy Launce alluding to the Launce which pierced our Saviour's side With this Launce he makes a Cross upon the Seal saying thrice in memory of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ Then he strikes his Launce upon the right side of it and cuts it saying He was led as a sheep to the slaughter afterward upon the left saying and as an innocent sheep before the shearer is dumb so He opened not his mouth then upon the upper part saying His judgment was taken away in his humiliation and upon the lower saying But who shall declare his generation After this he lifts up the Bread thus cut off saying For his life is taken from the earth and lays it in the Patin saying The Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world is offered for the life and sin of the world Then thrusting his Launce into it he says And one of the souldiers pierced his side with a launce and straitway there issued forth bloud and water upon which the Deacon pours wine and water into the Chalice This blessed Bread is onely design'd to be consecrated Afterward the Priest out of the same or another Loaf for it is indifferent several being offered by the people for these purposes takes a small piece saying In honour and memory of our most Blessed and glorious Lady the Mother of God the ever-Virgin Mary by whose intercession receive O Lord this Sacrifice upon thy supercelestial Altar Then he elevates the Particle and lays it