Lazarus, as in two different places, and a great gulph fixed between them. All the primitive Fathers, who lived before the reign of the emperor Constantine, believed the same sentiments, acknowledging that the parable of the rich man and Lazarus was, in all respects, consistant with what we have here advanced.

The Greeks believe that there are two sorts of souls that descend into hell, first, those who dying in a state of impenitence, are at once plunged into eternal misery; the second are such as 'remain in hell without feeling any pain, and they believe that these continue in hell for a certain time, longing for heaven. This is the reason why the Greeks pray for the dead, not that they may be delivered from pain, but that their happiness may be made complete. That this is the real state of the case, will appear from a perusal of the following short prayer used by them: "Grant, O Lord, that his soul may be at rest in those mansions of light; give him consolation, and restore him from sorrow of all sorts, and make him everlastingly in the full enjoyment of them." All their punishment according to their tenets, consists in being banished for some time from the presence of God, but not in being consigned over to torments.

They are of opinion, that the soul cannot of herself procure any consolation after death, and that she has no other refuge, but in the prayers of the faithful; but they deny that their patriarchs, .or their bishops, can do any thing by their public or private acts, to grant the soul its request. However, altho' the above may be considered as the general opinion, yet there are many of the Greeks who hold a contrary one, and that is the same as was believed by the Jews of old, and after them by the primitive Christians. That opinion is, that both the righteous and wicked will remain confined in an intermediate state, till the resurrection day, the righteous longing for it with earnest expectation, the wicked in fear of its coming too soon. This difference, however, must be at tended to, as it is in itself absolutely necessary to form the distinction between the Jews and the Greeks.

The Jews believed, that on the first day of the Messiah's coming, all the departed souls were to be raised from hell, or the state of the dead; whereas the Greeks believe, that Christ has already come in the flesh, and that he will come a second time, when an end will be put to all material existance, and that the bodies of the deceased will rise from the grave, and be joined to their souls, in order to receive their final doom. The meaning is, that neither the souls of the wicked, nor those of the righteous, will be

either completely happy or miserable, till the day of the resurrection. It is certain, that there are many persons of the same opinion, in all protestant countries; but in disputed points of that nature, nothing is more becoming in a christian, than to be humble before God, and wait for the event of things, knowing as he ought, that the judge of all the earth will do every thing that is right, consistent with the nature of his ataibates.

The next thing to be considered is, what respect do the Greeks pay to the consecrated elements, in their celebration of the Lord's supper? and this is the more necessary to be considered, because a right understan ling of it will serve to shew, whether in, their sentiments they incline more to the Roman catholics, or the protestants. It is certain, that the Greeks pay more adoration to the consecrated elements, than is consistent with the pure simplicity of the gospel, which is contrary to our notions as protestants; but it is equally certain that they do not carry that adoration so high as the Roman catholics

have done.

Gabriel, archbishop of Philadelphia, in a treatise written against the Roman catholics, affirms, that there are two sorts of hoinage or adoration, due to the sacred symbols of bread and wine. One of those is no more than a civil respect and reverence, upon their being first blessed before consecration; but the other which is superior to the former, is an adoration of Christ's body, which the elements represent. Now this seems to be totally opposite to the popish doctrine of the real presence; for they believe, that the real body and blood of Christ are materially in the wafer, after the ceremony of consecration. Sir George Wheeler, an English gentleman of great learning and knowledge, who resided many years in the Levant, has given us the following account of the Greeks; The Greeks in general, (says he) have but an imperfect notion of the eucharist, for although they pay some sort of adoration to the consecrated elements, yet they do. not carry their notions so high as the Roman catholics. The bishop of Micona travelled with us to Constantinople, but I could not hold much conversation with him, tho' I had much discourse with one of his priests, who could speak Italian. He seemed a perfect stranger to the doctrine of transubstantiation, and although he believed that somechange takes place in the elements after consecration yer such transformation was to be considered in a mystical light only.

I had some conference likewise with the archbishop of Athens, who assured me, that he believed. the change in the elements was only to be taken in

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a mystical sense, without any change in the subject itself. I had likewise sometimes an opportunity of conversing on this subject, with the bishop of Salom, who, finding that I was an Englishman, desired to know what was the opinion our church held, concerning the consecrated elements. I gave him all the satisfaction I could, namely, that we believed them to be symbols, or representations of the body and blood of Christ: and he told me that he was of the same opinion, and that they should be only considered in that sense."

From all this we may draw the following conclusion, viz. that the Greeks do not believe in the real presence of Christ in the sacrament, but that they pay some sort of adoration to the elements, though not in the manner of Roman catholics, who actually worship them as the real body and blood of Christ, the wafer being changed in the act of consecra

tion.

Of the Discipline of the Greck Church.

The next thing to be considered after giving an account of the doctrines of the Greeks, is to point out the manner of their discipline, or, in other words, the plan of ecclesiastical policy by which their church is governed; and this ought to be the more attended to, because it is well known, that in their present state they labour under many hardships, and are constantly oppressed by their cruel masters the Turks. It is otherwise with those who live in Russia; but vast and extensive as that empire is, yet the Greek Christians are few in comparison with those who reside about the Levant, in the Lesser Asia, and throughout all Syria, besides many other parts of Asia.

In their discipline, they do not strictly adhere to the positive injunctions laid down in their canons, As for instance? they are no way scrupulous about the age when priests should be ordained, nor do they attend to the interval of time between the ordination of one class or another, but sometimes ordain all at once, to the different offices. The election of their patriarch is not always canonical: for he who pays the grand seignior the largest sum of money, is sure to be the successful candidate. Where the Greeks to refuse electing him after he has been nominated by the grand seignior, or even by the grand vizier, they would stand a fair chance of being massacred, and their children sold for slaves.

The Greeks, in their natural tempers, are a vain, proud, ambitious set of people; for although they

labour under much oppression, yet they still keep up their spirits; and it is owing to this that many of the priests enter into cabals to obtain the dignity of patriarch. One would naturally imagine, that this would take off all that influence which their ministration ought to have upon the manners and consciences of the people; but then it must be remembered, that the latter are so ignorant, that they never look into those things, and if they were to do so, they would obtain no manner of redress.

Besides the money the new elected patriarch pays to the grand seignior, they are likewise obliged to buy the votes of all those bishops by whom they are elected, so that in one single election, there are two acts of simony committed. On the other hand, the patriarch knows very well how to reimburse himself, when his turn comes to constitute a bishop: the bishops again take the advantage of the priests, of whom they demand exorbitant fees for their admission into orders; and, at last, the whole weight falls upon the people; for they must pay extravagantly dear for the priviledge of the sacraments, which is the reason they seldom partake of them. Strange! that people in a state of the severest oppression, should in this manner oppress each other; and yet the fact cannot be denied. The Turks, among whom they live, are no strangers to this part of the conduct of the Greeks, and they often upbraid them with it, calling them usurers, Christian dogs, and such other names; and possibly it is owing to this part of their conduct, that they never make any converts, but continue just as they were above six hundred years ago.

The patriarch of Constantinople, in consequence of his having purchased his dignity from the grand seignior, assumes, like the pope, the title of universal bishop; and as he procures his place by simony, so he makes a simonical use of it. The patriarchs and bishops are always single men, but the priests are married efore ordination; and this custom, which is general all over the Levant, is very ancient. This, however, is not an apostolical injunction, but an invention of their own; for according to it, no mn can be a bishop, or a patriarch, unless he is a widower. For should a priest happen to marry a second wife, (and he must be married before he is ordained) he must no longer officiate. A clergyman who marries after ordination, is considered as a layman, and consequently if he is poor, obliged to follow some secular employment.

The Greek clergy in the Levant are so miserably poor, that they are obliged to sell their doctrine and Sacraments in order to procure a subsistence, and it

is

is often no better than a wretched one. There is no one therefore can procure absolution, be admitted to a confession, have his children baptized, be married, or divorced, or obtain an excommunication against his adversary, or the communion in time of sickness, without paying some money. The priests make the best market they can, and fix a price on their spiritual commodities, in proportion to the abilities and devotion of the people. Nay, they are so rigid and avaricious with their people, that they will scarce part with a drop of holy water without being paid for it before hand.

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As those who have fixed parishes from which they must not depart, they would absolutely starve, was it not for the benevolence of the people; but we may here add what Mr. Sandys and Mr. Thomson say, many of the Greek priests cultivate small gardens, which procure them some part of a subsistence." The Turks oblige every parish to maintain its own priest, lest he should become burthensome to the state, and this must be paid either in money or in the fruits of the earth. Each diocese is likewise taxed for the supart of the bishop; and as the collectors purchase their places from the Turks, so they generally make the people pay more than they ought. As for the charity of the people, it cannot be very fervent, when we consider what hardships they suffer, and how cruelly they are oppressed by the Turks.

The monastic life is held in great veneration among the Greeks; but the recluses are poor monks indeed. Many of them pretend that they never eat flesh, which is not at all improbable, because they cannot procure it; for they are not restrained from it by any particular vow. Many of them allow themselves only four hours sleep in the twenty-four, and some only two. They attend divine service three times in the day, and such as do not love reading and study, spend their time in dressing their gardens, and small pieces of ground adjoining to the convents. Many of them work at different trades, such as making shoes, cloaths, and knitting of stockings, so that few of them are idle; and in this, from motives of necessity rather than choice, they imitate, in some measure, the hermits in the primitive times.

Although there are monks of different orders among the Greeks, yet all of them owe their origin to Basil, who first instituted the monastic life among them. All the monks in general, look upon him as their founder and common father, and esteem it a crime of the most enormous nature, to deviate in the least from his rules. In some parts of Greece, we meet with very beautful convents as well as No. 14.

churches, but the generality of them are extremely mean; and notwithstanding their pretensions to be all followers of St. Basil, yet there are many of them who differ from each other, so that it is not an easy matter to find out who are in the right.

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There is one order among them cou.posed of persons of great distinction and worth, who pretend to live more piously than the others, and these are called Angelical. They are very numerous, and most of them live at their own expence. The next order to this, are called those of the lesser habit, and are much inferior to those already mentioned, nor do they pretend to lead such sanctified lives. fore they take up the habit, they agree to live according as their own discretion shall dictate, and as they give a small sum according to their abilities to the convent, they are served with what provisions they chuse, so as it shall not exceed what they have given. If they are in possession of any thing when they die, and leave no will, it is given to the convent, but if otherwise, they dispose of it to a young novice, whom they call pupil. There are some monks, however, amongst this order, who are so exceeding poor, miserable and indigent, that they are incapable of purchasing the least spot or parcel of ground for their own private use, an are obliged to spend their whole time in the service of the convent, and submit to the meanest and most servile employments. In consequence of which the convent supplies them with all convenient neces saries, and if they have any time to spare, after their work is over, they spend it in prayer and other acts of devotion.

There is a third order of these monks, distinguished by the name of Anchorets, and although they chuse not to work, or go through the other necessary duties of the convent, they are still very desirous of spending their time in solitude and retirement. For this reason, each of them purchases a cell or hut without the convent, with about half an acre of ground adjoining to it, which he cultivates in order to procure a subsistence. On Sundays and holy-days they attend divine service in the church of the convent, and when devotions are over, they return to their cells, and spend their time in pursuit of their necessary avocations, without being bound down by any rules whatever. There are some of these Anchorets, however, who withdraw themselves from their convents; but for this they must have leave from the abbot or superior. This they generally do, in order to give themselves up more closely to prayer, meditation, and the contemplation of divine things.

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In such cases the convent sends them, once at least,

least, and sometimes twice in a month, a stated allowance of provisions, but there are others, who though they retire from their convents with the consent of the abbot, yet they still continue to cultivate a small piece of ground in the same manner as they did before. Some live on figs, cherries, apples, and other fruits; while a third sort procure a subsistence, by transcribing books and manuscripts.

Besides these monks, there are likewise nuns who form themselves into communities, are confined to convents, and live according to the order of St. Basil. They are no way inferior to the monks with respect to their abstemious course of life, their penances, fasts, prayers, and other acts of devotion. They make choice of one of the most ancient sisters, who is conspicuous for her exemplary life and conversation, to be their principal or lady abbess. The same duties are incumbent on these superiors, with respect to the nuns, as are required and expected from the abbots in relation to the monks. But still these nuns are under the government of an abbot, who takes care to send them, from time to time, some old monks to be their fathers confessors, and to administer the sacraments to them in their proper seasons. One of these confessors resides near the convent, to be always ready at hand to assist them on any emergent occasion. He likeHe like wise says mass to them, and regulates all their devotions.

There are many of these nuns in Greece, and in general they wear the same habit, which is black with a woollen gown of the same colour, the sleeves of which cover their arms down to the fingers ends. Their heads are all shaved close; each of them has a separate apartment, with a commodious room both above and below. Such as are in affluent circumstances, are allowed to keep a servant; nay, sometimes they entertain young ladies in their society, and train them up in the practice of piety. When the hours of devotion are over, they spend the remainder of the day in teaching all sorts of needle work as are consistent with the fashions and dresses of the country. The Turks often come to these convents, in order to purchase girdles from the nuns, but they never attempt to commit any indecencies; for however arbitrary the Turkish government may appear to those who are not acquainted with it, yet this much is certain, that they content themselves with receiving the common tribute from the Greeks, without giving them any farther trouble.

The Greeks not only abstain from eating the flesh of animals and their produce, such as butter and cheese, but they eat no manner of fish, and content themselves with fruits and herbs, to which they put a small quantity of oil, and they allow themselves only one glass of wine during the whole day. The monks are still more rigorous than the laity, for they never so much as taste one drop of wine or oil, except on Saturdays and Sundays. The Muscovites, however, or Russians, as they have neither wine nor oil, are indulge to eat fish.

As for their Lents, the Greeks censure the Latins for fasting on Saturdays, because that Sunday as well as Saturday is a festival; and this they prove from the practice of the primitive church, which is certainly true, for the primitive Christians never did fast on Saturdays.

But we have a still more explicit account of the facts observed by the Greek monks, in the writings of several of those eminent travellers who have lately visited the Levant. They are obliged to fast three days every week, namely, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Frys. On which days they go to private prayers about two in the afternoon, and then they receive a small refreshment, which principally consists in a few beans with a little broth, without either oil or butter, only a few roots are mixed with the broth, and to the whole is added a small quantity of vinegar. In the evening they return to prayers again, and when service is over, they seat themselves in the church, and distribute to each monk a slice of bread, and a glass of water. This indulgence, however, is only shewn to the junior monks, for the senior ones have no share in the distribution. After a short interval, they return to their devotions, which generally last an hour, and as they go out of the church, they pass in rev iew before their superior, or abbot, who stands at the door. Each as he passes asks his blessing, and the abbot says, "God be propitious to thee my son." The benediction being given, each walks home to his own cell, but none of them dare speak as he goes along, that being in all respects contrary to their orders.

too

too long in bed, he is obliged, by way of penance, to go to the lower end of the table, and repeat the following words: "Have compassion, O Lord, on thy unworthy servant and people, according to thy infinite goodness and mercy." Then the penitent prostrates himself on the ground, imploring forgiveness in that humble posture, and crying out, O holy fathers, pray for me who am a sinful sluggard." Whereupon the monks reply, "God forgive you, my brother."

After this, they all depart except the poor penitent, who is obliged to remain there some time longer, and none are exempted from this penance from the highest to the lowest. Idleness is a vice against which they are obliged to guard themselves, for it is in consequence of their industry, that they are able to pay the tribute to the Turks. Most of their ceremonies are founded on oral traditions, which they believe have been conveyed down to them from the primitive ages of Christianity. They have no opportunity of enquiring whether they are true or false, for it sufficient for them that they are acknowledged by the priests, and held in esteem by the common people. To this may be added, that if ignorance reigns among the people, it is but little better with the priests, among whom are seldom any to be found, who have read more than their common breviaries; and it is well known they may, by constant practice, read these over without understanding them.

The Greek church, in the sixth century, acknowledged five distinct patriarchs, viz. that of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. But besides the above-mentioned patriarchs, the Russians have joined a sixth, whose jurisdiction extends over all that vast empire. He is supreme judge in all ecclesiastical affairs, and has an unlimited power to direct the clergy in the nature and discharge of their duty. But still the patriarch of Constantinople is generally considered as the head of the Greek church throughout every part of the world. But here it is necessary to observe, that neither the patriarch of Constantinople, nor any of the bishops under him, can exercise their authority without permission from the grand seignior, so that in this sense, even a Mahometan emperor becomes the head of the Greek church.

Sir Paul Ricaut, who visited the Levant, and wrote the history of the Turks about one hundred years ago, says, that the partiarchs of Constantinople, used to pay no more than ten thousand crowns when they were first installed, but in his time it had arisen to twenty-five thousand, and now it is not less than fifty thousand. Besides this duty, which

is very burthensome, the collectors often exact great fees from them; so that the patriarch, although he gratifies his ambition, by accepting of an empty title, yet he is for the most part incumbered with debts, which leads him to very unjustifiable means in order to pay them. If he once proves deficient in his payments, he is immediately deposed, and it is owing to such causes as these, that there are so . many revolutions and such uncertainty in the Greek

church.

The patriarch has under him, above one hundred and fifty archbishops and bishops, each of whom pays a fee at his ordination, otherwise he cannot be admitted: and when a priest dies without issue, the patriarch seizes the whole of his estate, whether real or personal. In this part of his conduct, he receives all manner of encouragement from the Turks, who are willing that the Greeks should be kept as much under as possible. It is certain, that the emperor of Russia sends an annual present to the patriarch of Constantinople, and this is done in consequence of a traditional phophesy, that the Russians are one day to deliver the Greeks from the slavery they now labour under.

Before the Turks made themselves masters of Constantinople, all those who attended the patriarch were monks, nor was any secular person admitted into office; but at present they are all seculars, four only excepted. At the right hand of the patriarch stands his high steward, whose peculiar province, it is to collect the revenues, and discharge all such debts as have been contracted, whether in purchasing the place, or in consequence of any favour granted since the election. He gives in an account twice in the year, and assists at the patriarchal tribunal, whenever that court sits. When a bishop dies, he superintends the affairs of the diocese, and in the name of his master has the first vote at the next election.

Next to him is the high master of the chapel, who assists the patriarch in the discharge of all those ceremonies and duties which are enjoined by the canons of the church, and who is to examine all the candidates for the ministry.

The high treasurer is next in order, and it is his business to take care of the sacred vessels, and pontifical ornaments belonging to the church. He has an office near the door of the vestry, where they are deposited, and not only delivers out the proper habiliments to the officiating prelate, but likewise takes care that all things are regularly placed upon the altar. When a bishop dies, he has the rents of his bishoprick committed to his care by the high steward, and these he keeps till the patriarch gives

orders

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