Locusts in those infinite numbers as have darkened the Sun at Noon and over-spread the Vallies but even now green proud and luxuriant in the Plenty and Fruit they bore Just so the Turk from an inconsiderable beginning contemned and scorned by his petty Neighbours much more by the Puissance and Power of the Grecian Emperours came on a suddain like a Whirl-wind from the East and like Locusts over-spread the Face of Asia and now feeds and triumphs in the most pleasant and opulent parts of Europe But because Providence in this World doth not ordinarily dispose of things without rational Causes and previous Dispositions not to dispute here that which some affirm concerning a certain period prefixed by the secret Counsel of God's decree to the Continuance and Being of all Governments no more rational Causes can be assigned to have concurred towards the destruction of the Grecian Dominion and Liberty than their own luxurious Security Avarice and Faction Their delight in ease begot in them negligence and security in their Affairs blindly permitting the Turks to pass over the Bosphorus and build a Castle on the European side under the notion of a Sheep-pen or Inclosure for their Cattel and on the other side of the Hellespont took little notice when their Armies were transported and had taken a Fort Which the Greeks called by the name of A Stye of Hogs they laughed at the Turks for contending for a Stye and so continued in this careless way of living and drollery until the Enemy from the Kennel of unclean Beasts had penetrated into the Palaces of their Emperour and violated all the Sanctuaries of Divine and Humane Rites Covetousness in like manner which is the root of all Evils robbed the Treasury of their Princes and the Officers with Detestable Corruption preyed on what was levied for the maintenance of War and having enriched their own Coffers starved the Publick by which means all Warlike Preparations ceasing the Souldiery became mutinous and unruly and the People faint and discouraged The Factions also in the Civil Government were not less dangerous caused by Emulations Jealousies and Treachery Evils incident even at this day unto the Nature of this People for their Hatred and Dissensions were heightened with such inveterate Malice each towards other as could more easily submit to an Enemy than condescend to a Citizen Externo potius applicet quam Civi cedat With this quarrelsome temper of the Greeks Q. Flaminius was anciently so well acquainted that fearing their Dissensions amongst themselves after he had withdrawn his Army from Greece might expose them to the Sword of Philip of Macedon and Nabis the Tyrant exhorted all the States of Greece to Unity and Agreement which like the Bundle of Arrows could hardly be broken by the greatest Force The foregoing disorders and this factious temper were Preludes to the destruction of the Grecian Empire which first being made Christian and equally glorious to any Church of Christ both for Multitude and for the Zeal of Professors was through the Grace of God more excellently prepared with Passive Vertues to sustain the Yoke of the Grand Oppressor which was imposed on them for not better observing the Law of Christ's Kingdom In this condition we are now to consider of this lost and undone Empire whose Crown and Diadem being fallen to the Ground and not farther to be accounted amongst the great Potentates who sway and govern the Earth we are to treat of it as of a number of People professing the Gospel of Christ and in Spiritual Matters submitting with all obedience to the Government and Rule prescribed them by such Pastors and Ministers as have by succession of Ages been instituted and set over them by Christ and his Apostles And being here to speak of a Church-Christian we are not to treat of it as of a single Province as of Hellas or as confined to Attica alone Ab Isthmi Angustiis Hellas incipit nor as afterwards by enlargement of the Macedonian Dominion over the lesser Commonwealths the Achivi Danai Myrmidones Pelasgi and Argivi were nominated with the common appellation of Grecians But we are here to consider them both as Hellenes properly of the Greek Nation as denoted in Scripture 1 Cor. 1. v. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Greeks seek Wisdom and as such a number of Christians who in any part of the World submit to the Government of one of the four Patriarchs The Greek Church is ancient and had the Blessing and Honour to be taught by the Apostles themselves for St. Paul himself was their great Doctor by whom the Gospel was first preached at Philippi in Macedonia next at Thessalonica the chief City in Mygdonia then at Athens in Attica and Corinth in Peloponesus Apollos also came from Ephesus being instructed by Aquila and Priscilla and preached the Gospel in Achaia Acts 18. 24. And so gloriously was the Doctrine of Christianity received and propagated by the vast numbers of Christians who crouded into the Church that for the better Government thereof it was thought fit and necessary to dispose them under several Jurisdictions so St. Paul constituted Dionysius at Athens Aristarchus at Thessalonica Epaphroditus at Philippi Silas at Corinth Timothy at Ephesus and Titus in the Isle of Crete now called Candia and so generally were the Greeks in those days converted to the Christian Faith that a Grecian and a Christian were almost convertible Terms comprehending as it were the whole Body of the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Jew first and then to the Gentile or Greek Rom. 2. v. 9 10. But how ancient this Church was with what Zeal it begun with what Glory and Magnificence it shined under the protection and succour of its nursing Fathers the Grecian Emperours is not our Theme in this following Treatise But our Subject here is more Tragical the subversion of the Sanctuaries of Religion the Royal Priesthood expelled their Churches and those converted into Moschs the Mysteries of the Altar conceal'd in secret and dark places for such I have seen in Cities and Villages where I have travelled rather like Vaults or Sepulchres than Churches having their Roofs almost levelled with the Superficies of the Earth lest the most ordinary exsurgency of structure should be accused for triumph of Religion and to stand in competition with the lofty Spires of the Mahometan Moschs But so it became Christ to suffer and in imitation of that Grand Exemplar his Church as Members of his Mystical Body conforms to his admirable Humility and Patience whereby the promise of our Saviour is verified That the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against his Church and that Tyranny and Oppression shall never subdue the Constancy or abate the loud Profession of the Christian Religion And as the increase and prevalency of the Christian Faith against the violence of Kings and Emperours and all the Terrours of Death is a demonstration of its verity so the stable perseverance in these our days of the Greek Church therein notwithstanding the Oppression and Contempt put upon it by the Turk and the Allurements and Pleasures of this World is
taking the Bread and the Wine together in a Spoon from the hand of the Priest The Bread is made of the finest Wheaten Flower with Leaven from whence arises a sharp Dispute between them and the Latines the latter of which argues That it ought to be without Leaven in regard that it is more than probably presumed that the Institution of this Sacrament being ordained at the time of the Passeover it was administred with unleavened Bread which was only lawful on that occasion The Wine in the Sacrament before Consecration they mix with Water in representation of the Blood and Water which issued out of the side of our blessed Saviour opened by the Spear of the Roman Souldier The mixing of Wine with Water in this Holy Sacrament is no question of great Antiquity in the Church being acknowledged by most of the ancient Writers Fathers and Councils and particularly by Cyprian who believes it to have been so practised by Christ himself Others judge it an Ordinance of the Church only but all agree and assent unto it as to a Custom derived from a long Antiquity The Modern Writers of the Reformed Religion such as Vossius and othersâ— do not deny but that the Primitive Church mixed Waterâ— with their Wine in this Sacrament because drinking the same Wine at the Agapae or Love-Feasts as they did at the Lords Supper they might give occasion to the World to censure their Intemperance were their Wines which in the Eastern parts of the World are generous and strong not tempered and their force abated with Water This probably may be the Reason hereof rather than any Inference that can be made from the Example of our Saviour declared in the Holy Evangelists or the practice of the Church specified by the Apostles But because this Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is an essential part of the Christian Worship and greatly controverted between the Reformed and Roman Churches it will not be impertinent to set down distinctly the form and manner how it is celebrated in the Greek Church In the next place the Priest cuts off a second part from the Loaf before mentioned and forms it in the fashion of a Triangle Δ saying In honour and memory of our blessed Lady Mother of God and perpetual Virgin Mary through whose Prayers O Lord accept this Sacrifice to thy Celestial Altar and this Triangular is placed on the left hand of the formen with these words the Queen stood by in a Vesture of Gold c. Then the Priest takes the third part of the Loaf from which with his Lance in like manner he cuts out a small piece and places it under the first which he designed for himself and says of the honoured and glorious prophet the fore-runner of Christ John the Baptist then takes out a second and places it under the former saying of the holy glorious Prophets Moses Aaron Elias and all the other holy Prophets then taking out a third places it under the second and says of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul and of all the twelve Apostles and so is finished the first Order Next the Priest cuts another small piece from the remaining parts of the Bread and places it near the first part and says of our Holy Fathers and Prelates of Basil the great of Gregory the Divine of John Chrysostom Athanasius Cyril and of all the Holy Doctors then he takes another piece and places it under that immediately before going and says of the Apostle first Martyr and Arch-Deacon Stephen and of the holy Martyrs Demetrius Gregory and all the other Martyrs then he takes a third and places it under the second saying of the holy Confessors Antonius Euthymius Sabba and Onuphrius Then is taken out another particle and placed under the left Angle of that part which the Priest is to receive who proceeds and says of the holy and miraculous Anargyri Cosma †Damianus Cyrus and John the merciful under which is also placed another particle of the holy Progenitors of the blessed Virgin Joachim and Anna and last of all is taken out a ninth particle in honour of S. Chrysostom whose Liturgy is that day read naming with him the Saint whose Festival is that day celebrated which nine particles of Bread represent the nine Hierarchies of Angels and are adjoyned to this Office in honour and commemoration of the Saints and Martyrs departed Then follows the Offertory for the living The Priest taking another small piece from the Bread says Remember O Lord who art a Lover of Mankind every Christian Prelate naming particularly the Bishop of the Diocess and of him who ordained him unto Ecclesiastical Orders and places it on his right hand names all those living which are recommended to their Prayers especially those who paid for that Mass. Then last of all is taken out another small piece of Bread which is laid on the left haâ—â— in commemoration of the Founders of the Church and of the Parents and Friends of those who are departed which paid for the Mass the meaning and nature of which Commemoration we shall declare more particularly in the Chapter wherein we treat of the Office for the Dead Things thus prepared in order for the Sacrament the Priest raises the form of a Star in Silver and holds it over that Bread which is ordained for Consecration in the Eucharist saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Star stood over the place where the young Child was and repeating some short Prayers and Ejaculations that God would purifie him and make him worthy to offer this glorious Sacrifice he goes forth from the place of the Offertory and reads the Epistle and Gospel for the day in representation of the Apostles going forth into the world to preach and propagate the Christian Faith Then the Priest returning takes the Bread and Wine covers it and before the Consecration is completed and as they say themselves not yet transubstantiated sets it on his head and goes in Procession with it through all the Church at which time the people bow worship and make the Sign of the Cross casting the sick and infirm in the way that the Priest striding over them they may receive some miraculous benefit and remedy by the direct beams and influx of the Sacrament which when I have objected to some Priests as a thing strange to see the Elements adored before Consecration till which time they could not pretend them to be transubstantiated They knew not well how to answer otherwise than that they adored the Elements as being in immediate capacity and disposition to be converted into the true Body and Blood of Christ. The Creed or Symbolum Apostolicum is next repeated and then the Cover or Vail is taken off called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then over the Bread the air is moved with a Fan signifying the wind and breath of the Spirit which illuminated and inspired the Apostles when they composed the Articles of this holy Faith Then are
do penance for the same and to live by a more strict Rule oblige themselves to live according to a strict observance of the Order and Injunction of S. Basil but the Regimen or Rule of these Female Votaries is not commonly so strict and regular as that of the Kaloirs of which we might give for instance the Nuns at Scio and other places CHAP. XI In which is treated of Mount Athos called now by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the holy Mountain and of the Monasteries thereon THERE is no place where the Greek Religion is professed so famous for Monasteries as that of Mount Athos and indeed if we consider the number of them and of the Religious belonging thereunto it is not to be parallel'd in all the world which because it is a place not usually frequented or known and is the grand Conservatory of the Christian Religion in Greece and ancient austerity of living and therefore not unaptly stiled by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Holy Mountain I shall discourse thereof at large and satisfie therein the curiosity of our times with all the Remarks observable in that place In the relation of these particulars I must confess my self to have been much beholding to that worthy and ingenious person Mr. John Covell late Chaplain to the Ambassador of his Majesty at Constantinople for many things related in this subsequent discourse and being assisted also by many Informations received from the Kaloirs belonging to that place I do not doubt but perfectly to satisfie the most curious Reader in all points relating to this Treatise The Mountain Athos anciently so called hath its situation on a Peninsula or Isthmus of Land annexed to Macedon being about a mile and a half broad and three miles long it is low land arising something towards the foot of the Mountain And therefore the story of Xerxes cutting this Mountain from the Main seems a Fable occasioned perhaps by opening and enlarging that Ditch or Channel which to this day appears from Sea to Sea and might once being cleansed be rendred capable to carry a small Galley or Brigantine The whole compass of this Mountain is esteemed to be about 160 miles The high Pique or Peer thereof is properly called Athos and now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Inhabitants and is uneven craggy and as horrid as Caueasus but somewhat beneath it is covered with Trees Shrubs and Boscage and produces many Plants and Herbs of admirable Vertue It is a place full of little Springs Rills and Rivulets that there can be no part so barren and unfruitful in the whole circumference of the lower parts of this Mountain which may not be capable of great and singular improvement and in every corner thereof there are so many Cells and little Recesses partly framed by Art and partly by Nature that it seems a place of such stupendious solitude as if the situation thereof had been designed for the retirement of Monks or the Cells of Anchorites When this place began first to be inhabited by Monks and Religious men it is hard to determine For though S. Basil was the first Author and Founder of the Order of Greek Monks so that before his time there could be none who professed this strict way of living in Convents and Religious Societies I mean in Greece yet certainly before this time the convenience of the place and the situation thereof might invite Hermites and persons delighted in solitary devotions of which the world in the first and second Century did abound being men who lived under severe Rules of Fasting and Self-denyal and therefore at that time as well as to this day are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But when the world was generally converted and gave it self up to the practice of the Evangelical Doctrine the life of Hermites became of less reputation and the lives of the Religious in Societies to be esteemed more secure and more tending to Edification So that Monasteries increasing in all parts of the Christian World some took their Foundation in this Mountain in the time of Constantine the Great and by degrees increased to the number of twenty besides a little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 belonging to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein are about 30 or 40 Kaloirs or Greek Monks whose chief Employment consists in making of Spoons Crosses Boxes Cups c. Of the rest I shall set their Names in order with the dedication to their respective Saints and because they pay a Rent to the G. Signors of a thousand Dollars a Month which is more in my opinion than it could have been let out for to Turkish Farmers on a rack Rent and is the best improvement that the Turk could make of it I shall with the name of the Monasteries set down also the several sums at which they are taxed and obliged to pay under severe Penalties 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Laura taxed 110 Dollars dedicated to S. Athanasius but at first to the blessed Virgin whom they report did appear and resign the Dedication to him 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caracal taxed 25 Dollars dedicated to S. Peter and Paulâ—â— 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philotheus is Kesâ—im dedicated to the Annâ—nciation Kesim signifies free from Taxes by reason of poverty which is a Turkish word 4. Ibero taxed 85 Dollars dedicated to the Assumption of the blessed Virgin 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stauronichetas taxed 18 Dollars dedicated to S. Nicholas 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pantochratora taxed 57 Dollars dedicated to the Transfiguration 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Contlomouses taxed 55 Dollars dedicated to the Transfiguration of Christ. 8. Batopedi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taxed 100 Dollars dedicated to the Annunciation of the blessed Virgin 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Simeno taxed 25 Dollars dedicated to the Ascension of Christ. 10. Chiliadar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taxed 100 Dollars dedicated to the Presentation of Christ in the Temple the Feast is on November 21. called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vide Synaxarion 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zograph taxed 35 Dollars dedicated to S. George 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kesim dedicated to S. Stephen 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Docharios taxed 30 Dollars dedicated to S. Michael Arch-Angel 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zenoph taxed 30 Dollars dedicated to S. George 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kesim dedicated to S. Pantaleemones 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Xeropotame taxed 56 Dollars dedicated to the 40 Martyrs called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gregorius taxed 25 Dollars dedicated to S. Nicholas 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Simopetra taxed 54 Dollars dedicated to the birth of Christ. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dionysius taxed 60 Dollars dedicated to S. John Baptist 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Paul taxed 35 Dollars dedicated to S. George All which several sums making together not more than 900 Dollars
but the very Sacraments and to expose the most reverend and mysterious Offices of Religion unto sale for maintenance and support of the Priesthood The taking off Excommunications after death hath been usual but the Excommunicating after death may seem a strange kind of severity for so we read that Theodosius Bishop of Alexandria excommunicated Origen two hundred years after his decease On the same Authority of Excommunication depends the power of re-admission again into the Church which according to the Greek Canon is not to be obtained easily or at every cold request of the Penitent but after proof or tryal first made of a hearty and serious conversion evidenced by the constant and repeated actions of a holy life and the patient and obedient performance of Penance imposed and enjoined by the Church Such as have aposâ—â—â—tized from the Faith by becomiâ—â—â— Turks under the age of 14 years upon their repentance and desire of return to the Church sought earnestly with tears signified and attested by 40 days fasting with bread and water accompanied with continual Prayer day and night are afterwards received solemnly into the Church in presence of the Congregation the Priest making a Cross on the Forehead of the Penitent with the Oyl of Chrism or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 usually administred to such who return from the ways of darkness and mortal sins But of such who in riper years fall away from the Faith as many Greeks do for the sake of Women or escape of punishment their re-admission or reception again into the Church is more difficult for to some of them there is enjoined a Penance of six or seven years humbling themselves with extraordinary Fasts and continual Prayer during which time they remain in the nature of Catechumeni without the use or comfort of the Eucharist or Absolution unless at the hour of death in which the Church is so rigorous that the Patriarch himself is not able to release a Penance of this nature imposed only by a simple Priest and for receiving Penitents of this nature there is a set Form or Office in the Greek Liturgy But now we have few Examples of those Apostates who return from the Mahometan to the Christian faith for none dares own such a Conversion but he who dares to dye for it so that that practice and admirable part of Discipline is become obsolete and disused Yet some there have been even in my time both of the Greek and Armenian Churches who have afforded more Heroick Examples of Repentance than any of those who have tryed themselves by the Rules and Canons prescribed for after that they denyed the Faith and for some years have carried on their heads the Badge or distinction of a Mahometan feeling some remorses of Conscience they have so improved the same by the sparks of some little grace remaining that nothing could appease or allay the present torment of their minds but a return to that Faith from whence they were fallen In this manner having communicated their anguish and desires to some Bishop or grave person of the Clergy and signifying withal their Courage and Zeal to dye for that faith which they have denyed they have been exhorted as the most ready expiation of their sin to confess Christ at that place where they have renounced him and this they have resolutely performed by leaving off their Tulbants and boldly presenting themselves in publick Assemblies and at the time of publick prayers in the Church and when the Turks have challenged them for having revolted or relapsed again from them they have owned their Conversion and boldly declared their resolution to dye in that old Faith wherein they were baptized and as a Token or Demonstration hereof being carried before the Justice of the City or Province they have not only by words owned the Christian Doctrine but also trampled their Turkish Tulbants or Sashes under their Feet and withstood three times the demand whether they would still continue to be Mahometans according as is required in the Mahometan Law For which being condemned to dye they have suffered death with the same chearfulness and courage that we read of the Primitive Martyrs who daily Sacrificed themselves for the Christian Verity Considering which I have with some astonishment beheld in what manner some poor English men who have fondly and vilely denyed the faith of Christ in Barbary and the parts of Turky and become as we term them Renegados have afterwards growing weary of the Customes of Turks to which they were strangers found means of escape and returned again into England and there entered the Churches and frequented the Assembly of Gods people as boldly as if they had been the most constant and faithful of the Sheepfold At which confidence of ignorant and illiterate men I do not so much admire as I do at the negligence of our Ministers who acquaint not the Bishops herewith to take their Counsel and Order herein But perhaps they have either not learned or so far forgot the ancient Discipline of ours and all other Christian Churches as to permit men after so abominable a Lapse and Apostasie boldly to intrude into the Sanctuary of God with the same unhallowed hands and blasphemous mouths with which they denyed their Saviour and their Country But what can we say hereunto Alas Many are dissenters from our Church which by our divisions in Religion hath lost much of its Power Discipline and esteem amongst us and men being grown careless and cold in Religion little dream or consider of such methods of Repentance for whilst men contemn the Authority and censures of the Church and disown the power of the Keys they seem to deprive themselves of the ordinary means of Salvation unless God by some extraordinary light and eviction supplies that in a sublimer manner which was anciently effected by a rigorous observation of the Laws and Canons of the Church It is a strange Vulgar Errour that we maintain in England that the Greek Church doth yearly excommunicate the Roman which is nothing so and common reason will tell us That a Church cannot excommunicate another or any particular Member thereof over which it pretends no Jurisdiction or Authority and that the Greek Church hath no such Claim of Dominion or Superiority over the Roman no more than it owns a subjection to it is plainly evinced in the third Chapter of this Book and this I attest to be so upon enquiry made into the truth thereof and on Testimony of Greek Priests eminent and knowing in the Canons and Constitutions of their Church Though we cannot deny but that anciently one Patriarch might renounce the Communion of another over whom he had no Jurisdiction for his notorious Heresie as S. Cyril did to Nestorius before the Assembly of the Council of Ephesus CHAP. XIV Of the treatment the Greeks use towards their dead and the Opinion they have of Purgatory or the middle state of Souls THE Greeks in the time of sickness and
by not painting Pictures to the life or not using engraven Images or by not drawing them farther than to the Waste with an ill-favoured sort of flat painting as if they would thereby excuse the inconvenience which may be objected Yet certainly the use of them is so scandalous amongst Turks who have scarce any thing good in their Religion but that they profess one God and are Enemies to Idolatry that though Pictures and Images may be allowed indifferently in other Churches yet being no essential part of Gods Worship they ought wholly to be rejected and wiped out in Turkey and all the Eastern parts of the World CHAP. XVIII Of Prayers to Saints and Adoration of Angels THE Greek Church in their Prayers to Saints in Heaven and Angels which enjoy the Beatifical Vision of God Almighty differ little or nothing in Doctrine from the Roman which we shall best understand by that which they call The Orthodox Confession of the Anatolian Church in which we have these words We crave the intercession of Saints with God that they should pray for us and we invoke them not as Gods but as his friends who serve him and praise him and adore him and we crave their assistance not as if they were able to assist us by their own Power but that they should procure for us the Grace of God by means of their administrations They say farther But some will say that they do not know nor understand our Prayers To whom we answer that they of themselves do not know nor hear our Prayers but only by Revelation and the Divine Grace which God hath richly bestowed on them they both understand and hear us In like manner we invoke Angels that they would mediate for us by their Ministry with God wherefore they offer to the Majesty of God the Prayers Alms and good works of men And farther they say That as God commanded the Friends of Job that they should bring their Sacrifices and offer them for themselves and that Job should pray for them for that him God would accept so we bringing our Sacrifices of Prayer to the Footstool of the Throne of Grace have them there tendered to the Majesty of God by the Saints and Angels his accepted and beloved Ministers Who sees not here that the Greeks have learned the distinction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of the Roman Schools of whose Doctrine as we have said before they have extracted the Principles by their studies and Conversation in Italy which is the sole Gymnasion and Library of their knowledge and learning for in most points of Controversie where the Patriarchal Autority is not concerned they exactly concur with the sense of the Roman Schools But yet I do not find that their Prayers to Saints and Angels are so frequently enjoyned as they are in the Roman Offices and Rosaries but scattered here and there in their Breviaries of which for satisfaction of the Reader I have made some Collections Forms of Prayers to Saintsused in the Greek Church Holy Martyrs who have stoutly fought and are Crowned pray to the Lord to have mercy on our souls Holy Apostles beseech the merciful God to grant remission of sins to our souls These following are short Prayers appointed to be learned by Children and are commonly the Morning and Evening Devotions of private persons All holy Lady ' Mother of God pray for us Sinners All Celestial Powers of Angels and Arch-Angels pray for us Sinners Holy John Prophet and Fore-runner and Baptist of our Lord Jesus Christ pray for us Sinners Holy Orthodox Apostles Prophets and Martyrs and all Saints pray for us Sinners O sacred Ministers of God our Fathers Shepheards and Teachers of the World pray for us Sinners O invincible indissolvable and Divine Power of the Reverend and life-giving Cross forsake us not Sinners These particulars shall serve for instances that in the Greek Church Prayers are made to Saints in the same manner as in the Roman CHAP. XIX Of the Greek Islands in the AEgean Sea now called the Arche-Pelago and the devision there of Religion between the Greek and Latin Churches AMongst the many Isles in the Arche-pelago since the Conquest of Candia by the Turks none remains subjected to Christian Government but only Tino which belongs to the Venetians Tenedos Myteline Scio Negropont and some others are thought worthy of the Fortresses and defence of the Ottoman Sword The others lye open and ungarded and are the possession and prize of every Pyrate and Rover but yet according to the last Peace concluded between Venice and the G. Signor they are all annexed to the Dominions of the Turk to whom they pay a yearly Harach or Poll-money which is four Dollars per head whereas in the time of the War they paid the same both to the Venetians and the Turk The Turk looking on the Inhabitants of those Isles like out-lying Deer lodged without pale or defence and rather such who afford harbour and succour to Pyrates and Enemies than strength or Riches to the Borders of his Empire hath of late entered into consultation for dispeopling those Islands and transporting the Inhabitants into more secure Enclosures where they may render greater benefit and improvement to their Grand Landlord than they do at present but as yet no resolution hath been taken therein The Greeks are greatly divided in their Religion and consequently alienated each from other in their humour and inclinations some acknowledging the Patriarchal See at Constantinople some at Rome It is not to be doubted but that the Romanists possessing most of Wit and Money are always too hard for the Ignorance and Poverty of the Greeks by which and the convenient shortness of the Latin Mass they draw many of the Greeks from attendance on their own tedious Services to better ordered and more easie Devotions though as yet they cannot perswade them to renounce their obedience to their Church and Patriarch Moreover whilest the Venetians exercised an Authority over many of these Islands which was before they were constrained to render them to the Turk the Church of Rome enjoyed an opportunity of fixing a deep Foundation for that Religion and thereby so far encroached into the possessions of the Greeks that their Religion remained under great discouragements their Rites being suppressed in all the Isles of that Sea for want of protection and redress of their aggrievances until the Greek Bishop or Metropolite of Scio called Ignatius Neochori in the year 1664 being a person of an active Spirit and reported by his Adversaries to be of a proud and haughty disposition inclined to Covetousness and versed in crafty and subtle Arts endeavoured to buckle with the Power and Jurisdiction of the Latines To effect which he at first cunningly suggested to the Turks the danger of that people by reason of their nearness and affinity with the Venetians and constant correspondence with the Enemies
this day is maintained so faithfully that a Turk cannot strike or abuse a Christian without severe Correction Here the Men wear Hats and Cloaths almost after the Spanish Mode carry the Crucifix in procession through the Streets and exercise their Religion with all freedom This Island produces the most excellent Mastick in the World and I think there is no place where it is so good and so great abundance and herein they pay their Tribute to the G. Signor In this place both the Greek and Roman Religions are professed the chief Families of the latter sort are two and those of considerable esteem viz. the Monew alias Giustiniani and Borghesi these latter are noble but the first have been Princes who having in the year 1345 been sent thither from Liguria or parts of Genoua as Governours became afterwards Supreme Lords of that Island which they ruled with absolute Authority until the Turk approaching as near to them as Magnasia and having possessed himself of that Capital City they judged their small City uncapable to resist and therefore like the remoter parts of Ragusi they addressed themselves with all humility and subjection to demand Peace In honour of John Justiniani the last Prince of that Island I find a large Elogium wrote by an Abbot of that name in Italian who with several Sciotical Expressions celebrates the fame of the quondam petty Prince of that Island which in our times hath not gain'd the reputation of many wise men whence comes that Proverb comon amongst the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is That a wise man is as rare amongst them as a green Horse Howsoever this place hath stoutly engaged amongst the other Cities and Islands in the contention of Homer's Birth and this Giustiniani though derived originally from a Genoese Family was yet born at Scio and was a person of more than ordinary Parts and Abilities if we believe that Author who writes in Favour of Scio and most excellently of Giustiniani whom he praises in this manner John Giustiniani a noble Genoese was that sacred Anchor on whose strength and force the whole East laid the stress of her Fortune at that time when that horrible Tempest of Arms raised by the ambition and treachery of impious Mahomet conspired to its Shipwrack he was that shield who whilst he had life covered the head and heart of this Empire from a shower of Asian Arrows which rained from a Cloud of most cruel war At the first rumour of whose most terrible preparations by which Mahomet threatned to throw down the Eastern Diadem from the Christian Head and thereon plant the Turkish Tulbant this Gustiniani prepared himself to sacrifice his life in defence of the Grand Metropolis to which end he departed from Scio with a Squadron of Vessels his ancient Dominion and Inheritance and as if the Reins of fortune had remained in his hands he conducted his own Fleet securely amidst 300 Sail of the Mahometans which pillaged the Propontis and brought them safe to Constantine Paleologus to whom he offered himself an Adventurer for glory The hopes of Paleologus being revived with this succour and finding none to whom he might commit the defence of the Royal City but to Giustiniani he entirely recommended all unto his faith courage and conduct And this Author afterwards proceeds That the Turks being astonished at so many repulses at length discovered that this manly defence proceeded not from the valour of effeminate Greeks but that Giustiniani was the Achilles of those Walls and the living Palladium of that City but in the heat of this storm as this Author saith our Giustiniani was slain which turned the fortune of the day and with the fall of this eminent person fell the Courage of the Defendants and this Imperial City into the hands of a new Tyrant And so much one of this Country a natural born Sciote writes in honour of his ancient Prince and Compatriot In this manner those many Isles in the Arche-Pelago are divided between the Greek and the Latine Churches though more follow the Rites of the Greek than of the other and as we have said lying open and unguarded are subject to the rapine and violence of the strongest having no power over the fruits of their labours if found out and seized by some unconscionable Pyrate by which it appears how happy those Isles are which are governed by good Laws and defended by their own force under the auspicious conduct of a valiant and watchful Prince It hath been the project of several ingenious and active persons of Quality who were Enemies to the Turk to unite all those Isles in a Confederacy or League together obliging themselves to be assistant each to other in the repulse of any Robbers or Forreign Enemies which might undertake any thing to the prejudice of their publick and common wellfare And this as I am informed was principally designed by the Marquess Fleuri a Savoyard who crused and traversed over all the Greek Islands in a Ship of 60 piece of Ordnance and armed with 500 men in which progress he made singular Observations of the nature situation Harbours commodities natural strength and people of every Island Of the latter of which having made an exact enquiry it was brought to my hands by a person who had a familiar acquaintance with this Marquess which I judging to be a Curiosity worthy observation I have inserted here for better understanding the present state and condition of these Isles The Number of the Inhabâ—â—ants of the several Islands in the Arche-Pelago which pay Tribute or Harach to the Turks hath souls in all San Torino 8000 Policandro 1500 Nio 1000 Sichino 2000 Nanfi 1000 Estoupalia 1500 Nixoro 1500 Pattino or Patmos 6000 Andro 15000 Zia 4000 Termia 3000 Serfou 2000 Sifanto 3000 Argentiera 1500 Milo 7000 Especii 1000 Idra 1000 Egena 2000 Scopolo 5000 Sciladroi 600 SanGeorgio Deschiro 3000 Psara 800  71400 hath souls Naxia 7000 Nicaria 1000 Xamos 10000 Parisi 10000 Antiparisi 800 Micono 2000 Sira 3000 Aijo Strati 2000 Samatrachi 800 Schiaro 1500 Simo 2000 Zaora 3000 Tasso 3000 Cazo 5000 Scarpanto 4000 Scarpantoni 2000 Nissero 3000 Piscopi 4000 Morgo 4000 Lero 3500 Lindo 2000  73600 All which Islands make together 145000 Men Women and Children which though I do not account for so exact a computation as if the people had been polled head by head yet it is such an estimate as hath been made on the places respectively by the people themselves In many of these Islands the G. Signor did formerly put in a Kadi or an Aga to be their Rulers who administred Justice to them in the best manner he could but in regard these Turks were oftentimes surprised and carried away by the Corsaires few or none would accept of the Employment in which case the people of the Islands respectively make choice of three or four of the richest and wisest Sages amongst them to be their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they
Imprimatur Hic Liber cui Titulus The Present State c. Car. Trumball Rev. in Christo Pat. ac Dom. Dom. Gul. Archiep. Cant. a Sac. Dom. THE PRESENT STATE OF THE GREEK AND ARMENIAN Churches Anno Christi 1678. Written at the Command of his Majesty By PAUL RICAUT Esquire Late Consul at Smyrna and Fellow of the Royal Society LONDON Printed for John Starkey at the Mitre in Fleet-street near Temple-Bar 1679. THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY TO THE KING'S Most Excellent MAJESTY DREAD SOVERAIGN THESE following Treatises which contain the Articles of Faith and Customs of the Greek and Armenian Churches are a Task which some Years past Your Royal Self was pleased to impose upon me which though it be a Work more proper and fit to be undertaken by some Learned Divine rather than by a Person of my Profession yet being moved thereunto by Command of Your Majesty I esteemed the Incumbence thereof to be a Duty as obligatory as any other Act of Obedience which I owe unto your Majesty from which nothing but Death or Sickness or some other violent disappointment could absolve me But that I have been thus tardy in the Execution of Your Royal Command was occasioned by my Attendance on Your Majesties Affairs in Turky which being protracted beyond my expectation I deferred the payment of this Debt until I could make tender of it with my own hands and personally on my Knees at the same time beg a remission for the defect Being now therefore by God's Providence returned to my own Country behold me Great Sir at the Foot-stool of Your Throne to pay this my Vow which I always esteemed both Sacred and Religious and therefore tender it with a fear and trembling agreeable to that vast distance and disproportion which is between Your Sublime Majesty and the humblest of your Servants For Your Majesty who transcends in Wisdom is able to penetrate into the deepest Points of these Discourses and make more judicious Reflections thereon than the ablest Clerks and Criticks of the Schools to which when I add that admirable Spirit which God often-times bestowes on Kings illuminating them like Prophets and bestowing on them supereminent Graces I cannot but with profound reverence and awe expose this little Work to the judicious and perspicatious Eye of Your Majesty and with the same care and caution offer nothing but what is sincere and approved by the Confession of the Oriental Faith and allowed by the ablest Divines of the Greek Church to be consentaneous to their Doctrine having therein offered nothing out of partiallity to the Cause of the Reformed Churches or prejudice to the Papal Interest If this Treatise may find acceptance with Your Majesty I shall account my self extremely happy and be encouraged to dedicate all my vacant hours and recesses from more necessary and publick Services to Studies grateful to Your Majesty and useful to my Country For being the Son of that Father who by his Services and Sufferings hath set a fair Example to his Posterity of Loyalty and Obedience to Your Majesty and of Conformity to the Church of England I have in the largest Characters Copied out that Lesson and thereby delight my self in nothing so much as when I am performing my Duty and Services towards God and Your Majesty who am with all Allacrity and Devotion Your Majesty's Most obedient most loyal most humble Subject and meanest of your Servants PAUL RICAUT THE PREFACE THESE following Treatises of the Greek and Armenian Churches contain a perfect Compendium as I may report of those Principles which they call the Articles of an Orthodox Faith deduced as they profess from the purer times of Christianity and conserved uncorrupt from the Tainture and Contagion of Heresie in all succeeding Ages I have not pretended in these ensuing Discourses to discover which are Ancient and which are Modern Positions but clearly to lay down the matter of Fact how they are held and how maintained Not have I undertaken to confute those Tenents which I find to oppugne the Articles of the Reformed Religion being of a temper naturally averse to all Disputations and rather inclinable to reconcile Differences than to widen them that so by a favourable interpretation of all that is not plain Heresie or open Blasphemy I might as it were throw a Covering over the smaller Blots or Blemishes of Humane Errours whereby all the Christian World if possible might agree in Charity to bear each others Infirmities and entertain no other Emulations and Contests than those which tend to out-vy one the other in excesses of Piety and a vertuous Religion For besides the uneasiness I find in my self on all occasions of Wranglings and Debates as well as an unsufficiency for Polemick Learning I have observed That very few have yielded the Fort of their Understanding to the force or violence of Disputations or Arguments though Marshaled in all the Warlike Exercitations of the Schools For the Defendants as Pride Interest Zeal and the Troops of other Passions which are the common Souldiers of Reason are so well fortified and obstinate within that they fear no storm or assault from without nor can they be constrained to surrender by a long Siege and Famine for their nourishments consisting only of Notions and Air are never to be reduced until that Pabulum be intercepted and our Appetites breath their last and then when Death comes and we enter into the Regions of Light and our Intellects become free and manumised from the slavery and usurpations of our Passions we shall then and not till then discover the sophistry of our Reasons whereby those Clouds and Mists will vanish which vain jangling about Words Interest Pride and the rest have exhaled and therewith obscured and almost extinguished the true Lamp of the Soul Witness those Volumes and Folios of Disputation between the Reformed and Roman Churches what Kingdoms or Provinces have they convertted or what Universities by plain demonstration of Argument have they confuted and caused to recant their Errour Nay what single person almost hath yielded to the conviction of a Syllogism without having first been prepossessed by an affection to a side or Party on score of some Relation or something of Example which they fancy admire and would imitate It is very easie as an ingenuous Country-man of ours saith without growing to the extream impudence of palpable lying by leaving out the bad on one side and good on the other by enforcing and flourishing all Circumstances and Accidents which are in our favour and by elevating and disgracing the contrary by sprinkling the terms of Honour wholly on the one side and of Hatred and Ignominy on the other to make the Tale turn which way it shall please the Teller And herein too many Protestants as well as the Papists seem to blame who being both over-passionate towards their Party and Interest have for the most part in the Relation of their Stories done injury to Truth abused the present Age and injured
Institutions of the Universal and of their own Church or weighs the private Instructions of a Priest who is the Monitor of his Soul Nay even those who profess Obedience to the Church of England and attribute an efficacy to the power of the Keys and would not for the world be under an Excommunication and hold themselves obliged to celebrate the Feasts with devotion and rejoycing and account the non-observance thereof the Characteristical point of a Phanatick yet when the Anniversary Fasts take their turn which impose the same injunction on them of keeping holy as do the Feasts they find excuses to evade the obligation and dispute against all Penance Mortification and Severities of life as grounded on the Doctrine of Merits and Works of Supererogation And in this manner elude that admirable duty enjoyned by Christ himself where he saith That when the Bridegroom is taken from them then they should fast and would abolish that signal mark of Christianity which by its rigour and frequency distinguishes it from all other Religions in the World Some I know will be apt to attribute this abridgment of the Clergies power to their supereminent knowledge and more clear light of Scripture that they are better instructed than to be guided by their Priests or to stand in awe of the condemnation of a supercilious Prelate but such Learning as this derived from the Principles of Pride and Licentiousness is far worse than ignorance and that Person who is humble and submissive apt and willing to be instructed is a better Christian and in a more secure path and way to Godliness and Heaven than he that having heard and read much stands dangerously towring on the presumptuous Pinnacle of his own Reason And indeed this adherence to the Doctrine of their Church is the proper Basis and Pillar of their Faith For those ancient janglings and controversies which possessed the Greek Spirits in former days and through the acrimony of their malice and hatred opened a breach in divers pales of the Eastern Church whereby the whole surface of things was over-whelmed with the vast inundation of the Mahometan Enemie are Tragedies so sadly recorded that the present Age seems by the memory of those Examples so far to dread the danger of divisions and innovations that they refuse to amend even that which by their own confession is an Errour either in doctrine or practice but it is no wonder that those from whom God hath removed the ancient glory of his Candlestick brightly shining amongst them should delight to dwell in the twilight of Batts and groap in an Egyptian darkness but it is strange that those to whom his mercies and patience indulge the clearer Rayes of the Gospel should forsake the Sun-shine of divine Illumination to follow fantastick and wandring lights mistaking them for that great Pillar of Fire which conducted the Israelites Another great help to support and maintain the Eastern Church is their Confession to a Priest for by nothing more doth the Power and Authority of the Greek Church and Clergy seem to be maintained and asserted who account it the sole Axel on which the Globe of Ecclesiastical Politie turns and that without it they can neither have Influence on Mens Consciences nor under the power of Infidels and Aliens govern the least Circumstance of their lives and manners I know not how far the Roman Clergy may have abused this Excellent evidence of repentance this Ordinance of the Gospel this admirable means to inflame our devotion and to guide and instruct us in the rules of holy Living It is more than probable that their use of it in an ordinary and familiar manner rather in form than substance without regard to feigned or real Penitentiaries and as an encouragment to annimate men to sin when they can so easily be pardoned hath afforded just occasion to those who desired a Reformation to exclaim against it and to take it wholly from the Church as an Institution so entirely corrupted as never more to be reformed or recovered but by a total abolishment The Church of England as I am perswaded apprehended it under this notion when its Wisdom and perhaps I may say the Spirit of God thought fit to dispence for a time with this Discipline of Penance but with intention to restore it again when the time should become more seasonable and we our selves more worthy to receive so profitable an Institution as our Rubrick seems to intimate in the Office appointed for the first day of Lent And this Doctrine is maintained in the Sermons and Writings of our Divines and given as Counsel in that Exhortation preceding the Communion Service that we should confess our sins not only to God and our Brethren whom we have offended but in Cases of scandal and a troubled Conscience or other need of Ghostly Counsel and Advice to consult God's Ministers the Priests in which Case also our Church hath provided a Form of Absolution Considering which Premises it will not be difficult to conjecture under what Notion the Eastern apprehends the Western Reformed Churches for they taking notice that the English neither keep Fasts nor practise Confession nor ordinarily make the Sign of the Cross and that the Dutch Nation at Smyrna rehearse no Prayers at the Burial of the dead are not only scandalised thereat but also Jews and Turks take offence at the silence of Prayers when the dead are buried wondering what sort of Heresie or Sect is sprung up in the World so different from the Religion of all the Prophets at which undecent practice the Roman Clergy taking advantage to disparage the Protestants represent them to the Greeks under the notion of Calvinists whom they characterise to be such as contemn all Order in the Church the authority of Priesthood abolish Fasts abhor the Cross contemn the Saints besides a thousand other Heresies and Schisms in which they report we are at odds amongst our selves And in reallity were it not that the English Nation by the orderly use of their Liturgy and Discipline of their Church observing the Lords day and the Grand Festivals did vindicate themselves of these Aspersions it were impossible to perswade the Oriental Countries that those which we call Reformed were Christians or at least to retain any thing of Ancient and Apostolical Institution Upon which score the Greeks detest that Confession of Faith supposed to be wrote by Cyrillus their Patriarch of Constantinople in the year 1629 and Printed and Confuted in the year 1631 by Mattheus Caryonhilus Arch-Bishop of Iconium for that Confession agreeing wholly with the Doctrine of Calvin in every particular is believed in a great measure to have been fathered on him by the Jesuits who to justifie their inhumane Persecutions of that worthy Prelate by making Turks and Infidels the Instruments of their rage formed and vented any thing which might procure the Curses and Anathemas of the Old and New Rome I am perswaded that this Cyrillus having spent some time in
a Confirmation no less convincing than the Miracles and Power which attended its first beginnings For indeed it is admirable to see and consider with what Constancy Resolution and Simplicity ignorant and poor men keep their Faith and that the proffer of Worldly Preferments and the priviledge which they enjoy by becoming Turks the Mode and Fashion of that Country which they inhabit should not decoy or debauch such silly Souls who can offer little more of Argument in defence of their perswasion than the Doctrine of their Forefathers and the common profession of those who in many places especially in the Morea and all Romagnia use the same Customs and speak the same Language of Greek with them Nor can I attribute this Constancy to the meer force of Education for Turks intermingle with them inhabit in the same Street and sometimes under the same Roof their Children play and are bred up together and have almost the same Manners and Customs with them and have little different besides their Religion and something of Briskness and Spirit in the Children of Turks which seems naturally to usurp an Authority over their Greek Play-Fellows So that if Education were the sole motive and principle Turcism might sooner take root than Christianity having the opportunity equal and in the easiness of things naturally to be believed and other specious and fair offers the advantage before the mysterious Doctrine of our Faith and the exact severity of our lives which is neither revealed nor performed by the meer motion of flesh and blood But certainly much is to be attributed herein to the Grace of God and the Promises of the Gospel and if any Art or Polity can be said to have place over the affection of the People none seems more efficacious than the strict observation of the Fasts and Feasts of their Church by which the people are taught as in a visible Catechism the History of Christianity more I dare say than by their ill-composed Sermons or repetition of the Scripture in the Vulgar Tongue for being severely imposed and observed with much solemnity they affect the Vulgar with an awe of something divine and extraordinary in them The fear also and apprehension of some Authority in the Church as the power of the Keys Excommunications and other Ecclesiastical Censures work a reverence in the people towards their Clergy which is indeed the main Pillar and Basis which supports a Church For as Tacitus speaks of the Jewish Nation when under the Roman Power That Honâ—â— Sacerdotii firmamentum Potentiae eorum the Honour which they gave to their Priesthood was the foundation of their Regimen for that which commands the conscience reduces the body will and affections to obedience so more particularly in Ecclesiastical Polity it is the Fence and Hedge of the Sheepfold This being broken down the Sheep stray and Satan enters with his seed of Heresie and Schism for what can hinder men from running into Prodigies of Fansie and wild Opinions where every man is his own Pastor and his own Bishop This apprehension of Power which attends the Keys is available in a double capacity for besides the energy it hath in Spiritual Matters it supplies amongst the Greeks the defect of a Temporal Authority in regard that they though Subjects of the Turk do yet oftentimes in Controversies about matters of Right follow the advice of the Apostle by referring the determination of their Cause to the arbitrement of spiritual men and chief of their Saints who are their Bishop or Patriarch and other Chiefs of their Clergy rather than to stand to the Judicature of Infidels But this the Church presumes not to bind on mens Consciences left it should seem to usurp that Right which others hold by the Sword and contradict that saying of our Saviour My Kingdom is not of this world Howsoever such as are religious and devout amongst them esteem it a Crime highly scandalous and savouring of a bad intention to have recourse rather to a Mahometan Divan than a Christian Sentence as if those who can judge of the inward Conscience were not yet sufficient to Umpire in a Temporal Cause Secondly This Reverence to the Church produces a firm belief and strict adherence to the Articles of it and to all the Ceremonies and matters the most minute and indifferent not suffering the least change or alteration in them which in this conjuncture and state of things seems very convenient if not necessary in the Greek Church For though they are sensible as many of their Priests have confessed to me of the inconvenient length of their Liturgies concerning which we shall speak in another Chapter and of many superstitious Customs and Ceremonies derived to them from the times of Gentilism which are now ingrafted into and as it were grown up with their Religion and many other Rites of which the wiser men are ashamed and wish they were amended yet they fear to correct and alter them Nay as they have assured me the very alteration of the Old to the New Stile would be highly hazardous lest the People observing their Guides to vary in the least point from their ancient and as they imagine their Canonical Profession should begin to suspect the truth of all and from a doubt dispute themselves into an indifference and thence into an entire desertion of the Faith Though the Christian Religion profess'd in the Ottoman Dominions lies under a Cloud and a sad discouragement yet thanks be to God there is a free and publick exercise thereof allowed in most parts and something of respect given to the Clergy even by the Mahometans themselves who esteem honour due to all persons of what Profession soever who are set apart and consecrated to Gods service For it is evident that the Turks entertain something of a good opinion of the sanctity of the Christian Religion and a belief that God hears their Prayers because that in the time of common Pestilence or Calamity both the Greek and Armenian Patriarchs are enjoined by the Turks to assemble their People and pray against it This permission of the Christian Religion indulged by the Turks is both agreeable to Mahomet's Doctrine and the Priviledges granted by the Sultans who in their Conquests of the Grecian Empire judged that a toleration of Religion would much facilitate the entire subjection of that People The greatest burden that is laid upon them by the Turk is their Haratch or Poll-money for which every man who is arrived to 20 years of age pays Four Lyon Dollars per Annum and Youths between 15 to 20 pay half so much but Women are exempt from this burden Also Greeks who have Lands and Houses are taxed pro rato for extraordinary Expences for entertaining a Pasha or some great Person whose charges they are obliged to defray in his
passage through their Country and this Tax is as well common to Turks as Greeks But this is a matter inconsiderable in respect of that Custom of Decimation which was a taking away of the Tythe or every Tenth of Male-children from the Greeks according to the number of them in the respective Parishes out of which proceeded the best and stoutest of the Turkish Janisaries but this Custom is now wholy out of use not having been practised for many years either because the Turks are willing to lay an easie Yoke on the Greeks or because so many of them turn Mahometans and of other parts and Nations such numbers flock daily to the Profession of Turcism that there is no need of this unnatural addition to increase the Power and Kingdoms of the Turk But with what freedom soever Christianity is licensed amongst the Turks in Europe it lies under a Cloud and a greater abhorrency in Asia unless in the Maritime Towns and Places where Traffick and Commerce have taught them Civility For Mahometanisme having had its first Original in Asia is most precisely observed in those Eastern parts where Christian Priests are forced to live with caution and officiate in obscurity and privacy fearing the superstitious temper of the Asian Zealots who are of a Pharisaical humour high esteemers of their own sanctity in comparison of which they account the European Turks loose and negligent Professors defiled by the use of Wine and unhallowed by their conversation with the Christians to whom they commonly bear so horrible a detestation that some of them judge it unlawful to be in their company or receive presents from them or to give them the salutation of peace and esteem their Cloaths if touched by Christians to be polluted Garments profaning their prayers It is generally observed that Pharisaical Professors in all Religions are the worst people in the world and the greatest disturbers of Humane Conversation and the peace and quiet of a Commonwealth I knew once at Smyrna a Reverend Preacher amongst the Turks or as you may call him a Doctor or Schoolmaster who had many Pupils under him whom he instructed in the Mahometan Law who was so great a lover of his own Sect that he hated the rest of Mankind his Sermons were always stuffed with Invectives against Christians charging Smyrna with unpardonable sins for indulging priviledges unto them and for admitting them into their Country on consideration of that lucre and benefit which their Trade brings in which discourse he oftentimes suffered himself to be so extravagantly transported with intemperance of language that at length the Officers of the City were forced to put him in mind of the common scandal he gave to the interest and subsistence of the Inhabitants that those discourses reflected on the Grand Signor and his Government and were Declamations against the clemency of their Emperour towards his Subjects and opposed those Capitulations and Articles which the wisdom of their Government had concluded with Christian Princes which were matters of that concernment as were neither safe for him to handle nor for them to hear with which Admonition though this Pharisee grew more moderate in his language yet his pride and insolence was not in the least abated for when he mounted his Mule accompanied with his Followers on foot of the same rank and head and accidentally met with Franks riding abroad on Horses such they call all the Western Christians they would force them to alight and with great reverence attend until the sanctity of so holy a man were past For their Books as they report say and teach them not to suffer Christians to sit on their Horses whilst men of their profession pass by them But our people little concerning themselves with what is written in their Books and less supporting an insolence and affront from them there often hapned rencounters and scuffles between both parties which had proceeded to higher quarrels had not the Magistrates seasonably suppressed the insolence of that people which was afterwards confirmed by Commands from the Grand Signor But not only hath the Greek Church the Turk for an Enemy and an Oppressor but also the Latines who not being able by their Missionaries to gain them to their party and perswade them to renounce the Jurisdiction of their Patriarchs and own the Authority and Supremacy of the Roman Bishop do never omit those occasions which may bring them under the lash of the Turk and engage them in a constant and continual expence hoping that the people being oppressed and tyred and in no condition of having relief under the protection of their own Governours may at length be induced to embrace a Foreign Head who hath riches and power to defend them Moreover besides these wiles the Roman Priests frequent all places where the Greeks inhabit endeavouring to draw them unto their side both by Preaching and Writings of which one being written in the Vulgar Greek by Francis Richard a Jesuite and printed at Paris called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was dispersed in all parts where that Language was current of which the Patriarch and Presbyters of that Church taking special notice and being very jealous and sensible of the ill effects it might produce in the minds of the Ignorant caused about 18 Years past that Book to be burnt prohibiting the use and reading thereof unto all people of their Church under penalty of the most severe Excommunication But so far indeed have the Latines the advantage over the Greeks as Riches hath over Poverty or Learning over Ignorance And whereas now the ancient Structures and Colleges of Athens are become ruinous and only a fit habitation for its own Owle and all Greece poor and illiterate such Spirits and Wits amongst them who aspire unto Sciences and Knowledge are forced to seek it in Italy where sucking from the same Fountain and eating Bread made with the same Leaven of the Latines it is natural that they should conform to the same Principles and Doctrine So that it will not be strange if in Exposition of those points wherein the Church of God for some Ages hath been silent and but now controverted in these latter days the Greek Priests should with little variety follow the sense of the Latine which they take up at adventure not being of themselves capable either to prove or try the meaning of the Scriptures or examine the ancient Tenents of their own Church And thus much shall suffice to have spoken of the Greek Church in general CHAP. II. Of the seven Churches of Asia to which St. John wrote Viz. Smyrna Ephesus Laodicea Philadelphia Sardis Pergamus and Thyatira wherein also is treated of Hierapolis BEING to treat of the Present State of the Greek Church the condition in which the seven Churches of Asia now stand of which Christ himself and the Holy Spirit was pleased to take so much notice Rev. I. must not only come pertinent to our discourse but in
Heaven to receive the Crown of Martyrdom The Greeks as I said have divers Chappels dedicated to St. George amongst which at an obscure Village called by the Turks Boschioi not far from Magnasia there is one where on the 23th of April they carry his Picture in Procession accompanied by Multitudes of Turks as well as Greeks who resort thither the first for pass-time the others for mirth company and devotion This Picture which is drawn in Colours upon a Board is much of that bigness as a sign which we hang before a Shop and much of that sort of Painting This Picture they report and many believe it especially the Women being carried by a notorious sinner is endued with so much mettle and courage of that Champion as soundly to belabour his Back and Shoulders but is more civil and mild to the innocent or to the less scandalous in the wickedness of life I had once the curiosity to see this Fury in a Board of which the Greeks related such strange Stories so that arriving the Night before at the Village the next morning all things were provided for the Solemnity when one of the Papases took up the Champion on his Shoulder accompanied also with two others of the like bigness I think one was the Picture of the Virgin Mary with these all the Company proceeded in a procession with much quietness and gravity until they came under a large Chinar Tree or Platanus where remained the ruines of an old Chappel dedicated to this Saint Mass being here celebrated and ended the Priests returning in their Habiliments left the Pictures to be carried home by the Laity when one more forward than the rest with fear and reverence took the Champion on his Shoulder which at first began a little to move and turn itself but at length came to down-right blows giving the Fellow who managed the business very artificially so many knocks that it seemed to have beat him to the Ground when another immediately relieves him and takes it from him and then the other two Pictures begin the like rage buffeting and beating those that carry them with which there is so much noise and confusion that I never saw any piece of Bear-Garden-like or comparable to it This ridiculous piece of folly and superstition pleases the humour of the ignorant Greeks and scandalizes the Enemies of our Faith which when I saw I wonder'd at it and blamed the remissness of the Bishop in presence of the Priests who managed the solemnity of the day I asked one of them in private whether he really believed that the Pictures were inspired with life and motion to beat sinners to which making some pause as being unwilling to impose upon me whom he judged difficult to give credence to such matters he answered that it was a thing doubtful and hard to be believed by any other than the Vulgar sort And in other occasions discoursing with the Prelates and Bishops of this Church on the same subject I seemed to be concerned and transported with some little passion that in the sight of Turks and Infidels they should give countenance to so great a Cheat to the dishonour of our Holy Faith and Gospel which is supported on a better foundation than such idle and profane imaginations to which they gave me this answer That Custom had prevailed and that for some Ages this belief had taken so deep root in the minds of the ignorant that it was hard to undeceive them without dishonour to the Saint and danger to the whole Fabrick of the Christian Religion for this belief being equally fixed with the Doctrins of necessary Faith the confutation of this one would bring the others into question and perhaps perswade the people that they were now parting with the main Principles of the Gospel and that therefore it was thought necessary to let the Tares of false Doctrine to grow up with the Wheat of Orthodox Belief until God who knows the time shall separate them and pluck up the one without raising or extirpating the other And now that the Reader may better understand the Feasts in the Greek Church without the help of a Kalendar I shall present him with them beginning with the first Month according to their Account SEPTEMBER 8. The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin 14. The Exaltation of the Cross. 23. The Conception of St. John the Baptist. 26. The Translation of St. John the Evangelist into Heaven OCTOBER 6. St. Thomas 18. St. Luke the Evangelist 23. St. James the Brother of John 26. St. Demetrio which is a day of great Devotion noted in the Kalendar with Red Letters and esteem'd amongst the Seamen both of Greeks and Truks to be stormy and tempestuous at Sea the Turks call it Cassim Gheun and will not go to Sea either ten days before or ten days after and before this day commonly the Fleet of Gallies return into Harbour and lay themselves up for the whole Winter NOVEMBER 1. The Holy Anargyri Cosma and Damianus 8. The Congregation and Seraphical Order of the Holy Angels noted with red Letters in the Kalendar 13. St. John Chrysostom 14. S. Phillip the Apostle which we celebrate the first of May. 16. S. Matthew the Apostle which we observe on the 21. of September 21. The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin in the Temple 25. S. Katherine Virgin and Martyr and the Martyr Mercurius 30. S. Andrew the Apostle DECEMBER 4. S. Barbara and S. John Damascen 5. S. Sabba Abbate 6. S. Nicholas * 7. S. Ambrosius Medio-Lanensis * 9. The Conception of S. Anne 12. S. Spiridon 13. The Martyrs Eustratius Auxentius Eugenius Mardarius Orestes c. * 15. S. Liberal and Eleutherius 17. The Prophet Daniel and the three Holy Children Ananias Azarias and Misaliel 20. S. Ignatius 25. The Nativity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 26. St. Stephen JANUARY The first day is celebrated in remembrance of the Circumcision of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and in honour of S. Basil. 6. The Epiphany and gathering together of Disciples to the Baptist in the Wilderness The 5th of January is the Vigil preceding this Festival dedicated to the day when Christ was Baptized wherefore on that day the Priests consecrate their Waters and the people drink of the same to which they are to come pure and with fasting 11. The holy Father Theodosius Caenobiarchus 17. S. Anthony the Abbot 16. The adoration of Alysius and the Apostle S. Peter 18. S. Athanasius and Cyril the Patriarchs of Alexandria 22. Timothy and Anastasius 25. S. Gregory Nazianzen 27. The Reliques of S. John Crysostom carried in procession 30. The three holy Oecumenical Divines or Doctors of the Church viz. Basil the great Gregory the Divine and John Chrysostom FEBRUARY 2. The presentation of Christ in the Temple 16. Theodorus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 23. The invention of the head of S. John Baptist. MARCH 9. The 40 holy Martyrs starved with cold in the Vally of Sebastia 25. The
torments afflict the soul or make the least satisfaction for sin according to the sentence of the second Council of Constantinople which condemned the Opinion of Origen herein for the soul then becomes uncapable either by its sufferings or repentance to obtain pardon in its own behalf But whatsoever is to be done in this matter is to be performed by the Soul united with the Body in this life afterwards the Bridegroom being entered the Gate is shut and no Path or way is left to repentance only the Prayers of the Saints on Earth their Almes-deeds and Offertories of frequent Sacrifices without Blood with the intercession of the Blessed Martyrs and Church triumphant open the doors of Paradise to languishing and wishing Souls but this is not done until the Judgment of the last day in which interim the Greek Church holds That neither the Sentence of the four Patriarchs nor the Decrees of the Universal Synod nor all the Bishops of the whole World assembled are able by their Autority Bolles or Indulgences to prescribe a time for release of one Soul from the confines of Hell only the Mercies of God who vouchsafes to be moved by the Prayers of the Church can sign this release and delivery at what time he shall think fit And that as the Blessed receive not their repletions of Glory in Heaven until after the day of Judgment so neither shall the Damned their fullness of Torment in everlasting flames By which it appears that the Tenents of the Greek Church are in this point First that the Repository of longing Souls is not locally different from Hell it self Secondly that they endure no other punishment than only the sence of deprivation from God and Heaven and are not purged by Fire and Flames And thirdly that no Indulgences nor Pardons of all the Patriarchs or of the Universal Bishop can by their Autority remit one moment of detention to the imprisoned Souls farther than as they are Members of the Church Militant by whose Prayers and good works only those Souls find ease and benefit and this is the true and certain meaning of the Greek Church in this point against which and their Tenent about the Pontificial Authority the Romanists make their greatest exception CHAP. XV. Of the Fifth Mystery called Marriage MArriage in the Greek Church is called a Mystery being the Union of two Bodies into one Flesh which having a Spiritual Benefit as well as a Politick the Church under all Christian Governments hath taken upon it self the power of tying the Matrimonial Knot of blessing the Parties and of giving or granting rules and limits thereunto The Greek Church retaining unto these days many of the Precepts and Laws of ancient severity and mortification used in the Primitive times of Christianity forbids and declares unlawful the fourth Marriage for though they are subject to the Turks with whom Polygamie is allowable yet they do not only disapprove it as dissentaneous to the Christian Religion but likewise as a matter undecent and savouring too much of the Flesh and sensuality of Concupiscence For a man after he hath buried his first Wife and taken a second and being deprived of that also hath proceeded to the embraces of a third the Church is so far satisfied but gives a stop here judging that where death hath three times made a separation from the Matrimonial Bed there ought a limitation to be set unto farther proceedings that so the Widower may lament and condole the unhappiness of so many deprivements and having proved the troubles and importunities of the Flesh may find time and leisure for Prayer and Repentance The reason that the Greeks give why the fourth Marriage is unlawful is because it would come under the notion of Polygamie which hath been forbidden by the Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws of Christians for they understand Polygamie to be a Conjunction of divers Copulatives in number which is not understood until a person proceeds unto a fourth Wife which makes more than one Copulative in the rule of Marriage but this allegation is so frivolous and unsatisfactory that I cannot understand the nicety and therefore rather believe that this prohibition was grounded on the ancient Customs of the Church when mortifications were more in use and all luxurious indulgence to carnality generally condemned and out of fashion as appears by the Writings of S. Augustine lib. 3. cap. 18. de doct Christ. lib. 16. contra Faustâ—â—â— against which also S. Jerom in his Epistles so much inveighs that he stiles the second Marriage little better than Fornication what censure then is it likely that he would pass on the fourth or fifth Marriages and herein hath been great variety of Opinions in former Ages as Socrates Schol. saith lib. 5. c. 21. The Novatians in Phrygia allow not of a second Marriage such as inhabit Constantinople do neither receive nor reject it again such as are in the Western parts of the World admit it wholly the Original Authors of so great diversity were Bishops who governed the Churches at divers and at several times How strict soever this Church is esteemed in admitting many degrees of Marriage that is of proceeding farther than to the fourth Marriage yet through corruption and poverty of the Clergy the dissolution of that Knot is with much more facility obtained so that it is ordinary for a man to take out a Divorce from the Patriarch and to marry another Woman and the Patriarch afterwards to alter his Sentence and enjoyn the Party to reassume his first Wife leaving the ignorant soul as well confused in his love as in his Conscience The reason hereof is rather Ignorance in Government than the Authority of any Canon whereby such a liberty is dispensed for the Metropolites as well as the Priests being miserably poor their Divorces as well as Excommunications are made vendible from whence yearly accrues a considerable benefit to the Church and perhaps also this freedom may the more easily be indulged in imitation and complyance with the Government under which they live The Ceremonies used at their Marriages are some of them serious and significant and others too light and frivolous for so considerable and important a part of Religion for though their Prayers and Collects at this Service are holy and full of apt and Divine Expressions and the use of the Ring is very decent and becoming but the changing of Garlands from the Bridegroom to the Bride the giving them Wine and sugared Confects in a Spoon and tying them with a Garter and rocking them together are Ceremonies and Toys which seem too mean and low and not aptly fitted to an Institution so serious and and important as this The Greeks being a people of a merry and sanguine complexion are wanton and unconstant in their Amours so that it is usual as amongst other Nations for them to make Addresses to one Mistress and pass to the Marriage of another for which they commonly give their Sponsalia
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Liv. li. 34. * In the Morea and parts of Greece The Esteem which the Greeks have of the power of the Keys The Greeks presume not to vary in their Doctrine or Practice The Turks have some opinion of the sanctity of the Christian Religion The pride of Pharisaical Professors The advantage of the Latine Church above the Greek Tmolus Smyrna * Besides 10 old Fountains which were dry but again repaired The Theatre The original of Smyrna Ephesus The River Cayster The Temple of Diana S. John's Church The Temple of Diana in its ruines Tac. An. lib. 3. Acts 19. 27. The seven Sleepers The Theatre The Aquaeduct Phygela Tyria not Thyatira Lib. 37. Laodicea The Meander Dingizlee Vespasian's Circus Hierapolis The Theatre The pestilential Grota Philadelphia Sardis Selimus The true Thyatira * The Greeks call their Bishops by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Cyprus 1678. The Ceremony in creating the Patriarch of Constantinople Contentions for the Office of Patriarch The late differences in the Church Copy of a Patent whereby the G. Signior makes Bishops The other three Patriarchs Revenue of the Patriarchs And of Secular Priests The Bishops of Rome and Constantinople compared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obedience due to the Orders of the Church Cosma and Damianus S. George Canonizing Saints used by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Eucharist The question of Transubstantiation how determined in the Greek Church Ep. 6.3 Offertory to the dead Offertory for the living The Consecration The Administration Distinction of Priests The severe lives of Kaloires The Reformed of this Order The Description of the Mountain The antiquity of the Monasteries on this Mountain The manner of taxing the Monasteries The Riches of the Monasteries The ancient troubles amongst the Friers 1430. In the time of the Council of Florence Laura Athanasius the Monk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caracal Ibero 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Revenue of the Monasteries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Devotion and Charity of the Greeks to these Monasteries The number of Kaloires in this Mountain Their indepen dency on the Patriarch A Turkish Aga set over them Kareis The employment of the Kaloirs The learning of their Priests Their Libraries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the holy Oyl 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Excommunications granted on every trivial occasion The manner of receiving into the Church such as have denyed the faith Or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The â—imes appointed to commemorate the dead The Opinion of the Greeks touching the state of Souls after death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Greek Church easie to grant divorces The Islanders of a different humour Greek Women making Kabin with Turks in the Morea and Romania 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ep. 70◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 42. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A difference between the Latines and Greeks at Jerusalem The disposition of the Greek Islanders Xio It proceeds from the Lentiscus which in other parts of the world produces the like Gum.