orders in what manner they are to be disposed of, which is generally for his own use.

The grand official takes care of every thing relating to benefices, and the impediments which obstruct marriages, and he introduces all such priests as come to receive the sacrament on solemn festivals. He is keeper of all the charters and records, and when the patriarch officiates at consecrations, whether of bishops or priests, he stands by his side. Next to him is the high or grand chancellor, and he has the custody of the patriarch's signet, with which he seals all his letters. The grand referendary dispatches all the patriarch's orders, acts as his deputy to persons of distinction, and is one of the ecclesiastical judges. In the time of the Greek emperors, he was distinguished by the people of Palatine, but that is no longer in use.

The grand prothonotary sits directly opposite the patriarch, to transcribe and deliver out all his briefs, mandamuses, orders, and decrees. It is his province likewise, twice every week, to examine all the professors of the civil law, and under his inspection are all contracts of marriages, and last wills and testaments. He attends the patriarch in the sanctuary, and brings him water to wash his hands after divine service. These are his highest officers, who still maintain their original dignity, and when he is visited by bishops from Russia, or any where else, where the Greek religion is professed, they stand at his right hand, pointing out by that ceremony, that they are superior to the visitors.

Next to these are a lower sort of officers, not unlike some of those we meet with in the churches of Roman catholics,

The first of these is the incense-bearer, who, besides discharging the duty implied in his title, covers the consecrated vessels, and other sacred utensils, with a veil, during the time the choir is singing the anthem to the sacred trinity, and he asists the bishops or priests, who says mass, to put on their robes. The next officer to him is employed in writing down the votes of bishops on elections, or when any councils are held, and receiving petitions and remonstrances. This officer is called the advocate, and holds on certain days, a court in the church porch, and decides in smaller matters relating to ecclesiastial affairs. Under him is an officer, who takes care of the rituals, and in the absence of the bishop he can consecrate a new church, ordain readers, and such inferior officers as do not administer the sacraments. During divine service, all these officers sit on the right hand of the bishop's throne, but in the ecclesiastical court, each has a seat according to the nature of his office.

On the left hand of the patriarch, sit several other officers, particularly the high priest, the visitor, the prefect of churches, the secular judges, two deans, the chanter, the grand arch deacon, and the deacons. The prefect has the care of the sacred oil, and he erects the cross upon the spot of ground marked out for a new church, when the patriarch cannot perform the ceremony himself. There is an officer or deputy, under the arch-deacon, to assemble the clergy together, and he has a deputy, who begins singing in the choir. The same deputy introduces strangers into the presence of the patriarch, and clears the way to and from his audience. He may properly be stiled the master of the ceremonies, for most of his business comes under such a character.

The other officers on the patriarch's left hand, are the catechist, who instructs adult persons for the sacrament of baptism, and these are commonly such as have renounced Heresy, and desire to be admitted. into the church. This officer has an apartment adjoining to the church, where his disciples come to receive instructions; but if any of them should happen to admit a turk to the sacrament of baptism, it would be attended with very serious consequences, For in such cases, both the catechist and the catechumen would be impaled alive. This is such a dreadful punishment, that we shall here describe it to the reader.

Near the out parts of the city, at the common place of execution, a gibbet is erected in the form of a cross, and the person condemned by the cadi, or judge, is brought out and stripped naked. A small piece of wood, almost in the shape of a lance, is thrust in at his fundament, till the other end comes at his shoulder, and in this manner he is hung up on the gibbet, and left to expire. When Mr. Thompson was at Smyrna, he saw a man suffer in this manner, for changing his religion, and he continued in tortures upwards of six hours before he expired, but the catechist who had converted him, made his escape.

Besides the catechist, there is another under him, who is called the providente, and goes from place to place to instruct such persons in the country as desire to be baptized; and it is necessary to observe, that they may make converts of Heathens, Jews, Roman catholics, or Protestants, but they must not meddle with Mahometans. There is also another officer, whose business it is to carry the pastoral staff before the bishop, besides several door keepers; but these officers are not fixed, it being in the power of every new bishop to change them as often as he pleases. Besides these there is another officer, not yet mentioned, who attends the patriarch, and is

his confessor. He has appartments in the house of the patriarch, and properly speaking, he is both his temporal and spiritual director, there being nothing of importance undertaken without consulting him, nor any thing concluded, unless he gives his consent and approbation.

The Greeks have their synods, but these are not properly of a fixed nature. Every bishop may convene a synod of the clergy, within his diocese, and so may an archbishop within his province; but little of any importance is transacted in them. Whether these synods are convened by bishops or archbishops yet before they issue out their orders for the clergy to attend, they are obliged to obtain the consent of the governor of the province, to whom they pay a certain fee. It is much more so with the patriarch of Constantinople, who dares not call a synod till he has obtained permission from the grand seignior, for which he pays a considerable sum to the grand vizier.

From what we have said concerning the discipline in the Greek church, and the splendid titles bestowed upon those who attend the patriarch of Constantinople, some may imagine that this pontiff is held in the same rank as the popes at Rome. The case, however, is quite otherwise; for the pope is rather a temporal prince than a spiritual bishop, and we have an instance so late as the year 1748, of Benedict XIV. pope of Rome, and one of the greatest canonists that ever lived, sending an embassador to the treaty held at Aix-la-chapelle, in order to insist that he should be secured in the peaceable possessions of his dominions. Nay, in former times, this was common with the popes, and on different occasions they became mediators between contending princes, of which many instances might be given.

At Constantinople, the patriarch is such a poor dependant creature, that no motives that we can form any notion of, would induce him to court the enjoyment or rather the fatigues of the office, except principle or ambition. That his motives do not flow from a principle of doing good, must appear evident to every one who has heard how he acquires the title. The means made use of, are a scandal even to a heathen country, but much more so to those who assume the sacred name of Christian. He enters upon it by a simonical bargain, he rewards his oppressors with what emoluments, or rather what fees of an illegal nature he can extort from his suffragans, and by so doing lays a foundation for a continual succession of hypocrisy, perjury, and every thing that can dishonour religion, and disgrace man. But we must look for it in ambition, that principle No. 14.

implanted in every human breast, and always beneficial to ourselves and to others, when exerted in a proper manner. But there are two sorts of ambition, one which leads us in the road, and conducts us to the temple of fame: there is another which render us despicable, even in the eyes of the meanest of our follow-creatures.

An honest ambition stimulates a man to act in such a manner as to leave a good name behind, and if he should even miss that, as many have done, he will still enjoy a good conscience. When Sir Tho

mas More was lord-high chancellor of England, his sons, whom he had put into places, complained one day to their father, that by his lenity to the suitors in chancery, they could not make so much in their offices, as those who went before them; "I will do justice (said he) to every man for your sake, and I will leave you a blessing." Here was an instance of untainted moral ambition, and it is from such sentiments, that many great and good men have learned to be useful to their fellow creatures. Sir Thomas More, altho' a christian, and a zealous Roman catholic, for which he lost his life, spoke here as a moral philosopher, as an unright judge, and an honest man; but let us carry the idea into Christianity.

When Ignatius, the aged bishop of Antioch, in the reign of the emperor Trajan, was told that he was to be devoured by wild beast, he exultingly replied, "That is my highest honour, for then I shall be grinded by their teeth, so as to be bread for my Divine Lord and Redeemer." But the second sort of ambition is, that which is mean, selfish, and groveling. groveling. Such are those wretches, who sell honour and conscience, not for a temporary emolument, but merely for an empty name. Mr.Knowles, in his history of the Turks, tells us of a rich tradesman at Constantinople, who gave all his fortune for leave to wear the imperial crown one hour, and thus, says the historian, in one hour, he became a conceited emperor and a real beggar.

This case, in every respect, applies to those men who aspire at being patriarchs of Constantinople. They are mean enough to solicit the interest of the clerks in office, and these being well paid, intercede with the grand vizier, who obtains permission from the grand seignior; and the patriarch, in order to reimburse himself of the expences he has paid, flceces the bishops under his care, and they, in their turn, are permitted to oppress the people. It often happens, that all the patriarch can procure, does not answer the demand of the,grand vizier, who is for the most part implacable, and will shew him no mercy. He is ordered into banishment, and ano40

ther

Every bishop in the first ages, was at liberty to order the form of divine service in his own church; and accordingly, each particular church or diocese, had its proper liturgy. This privilege the bishops retained for several ages; but in after times, they agreed by consent to conform their liturgy to the model of the metropolitical church to which they belonged. And then it was enacted into a law by several councils, that the same order and uniformity should be observed in all churches. The rudiments of this discipline were first laid in the French churches; but soon after, the same rule was concerted and agreed upon, in the Spanish churches. In length of time, when the Roman empire began to be divided into different kingdoms, then came in the use of national liturgies, or such whose use was commensurate to the bounds and limits of their respective nations and kingdoms.

None of the ancient liturgies are now remaining, as they were at first composed for the use of particular churches, and several reasons may be assigned for this. 1. They being designed only for the use of particular churches, there was no great reason to be very solicitous, either to communicate the knowledge of them to other churches, or to preserve them entire to posterity. 2. It is not improbable, as a learned French writer has observed, that the ancient liturgies were for some ages only certain forms of worship committed to memory, and known by practice rather than by writing. This seems the more probable, because, in the persecution under Dioclesian, when strict search was made after every thing belonging to the church, we never read of any ritual books, or books of divine service, discovered among them. This is an argument that they did not so generally draw up their liturgies, or forms

of worship, in books and writings, as in after ages; which is the reason why none of those ancient liturgies are come to our hands perfect and entire, but only in scattered fragments, as the fathers had occasion to mention them incidentally in their writings. 3. The last reason is, the interpolations and additions made to the ancient liturgies, in after ages. For, though these ancient liturgies, which go under the name of St. Chrysostom and St. Basil, might originally have something of their composition in them, yet so many additions and alterations have been made in them by the Greek church in following ages, that it is not easy to discern what are the genuine compositions of the first authors. But, though none of the ancient liturgies, are come down to us perfect and entire, yet are there several fragments and scattered remains of them in the genuine writings of the fathers; to which may be added such forms as we find in the ancient book called, The Apostolical Constitutions. This, though perhaps not so old as the title imports, nor of so venerable authority as Mr. Whiston contends for, who will have it to to be truly diabolical, is allowed however to be a good collection of the liturgies and rituals of the church, in the fourth and fifth centuries.

The Greeks have several liturgies for particular holy days, but the one generally used is that commonly known by the name of St. Chrysostom's; and although this book be of considerable antiquity, yet it was not written by that father, but by some other person since his time. St. Chrysostom lived in the latter end of the fourth, and beginning of the fifth century, for he was ordained bishop of Constantinople 1395, and deposed and banished for opposing Arianism 1405. In his time, some forms of prayer were used, but these were few, plain, and easy: and of these we have some specimens in the works of this celebrated father, quite different from those which bear his name in the Greek liturgy.

During their prayers in public, the Greeks for the most part stand uncovered, with their faces towards the east, but they may lean, or even sit down if it is more convenient for them. The laity sit while the priest reads his exhortation to them; for preaching is so far abolished among them, that Tournefort assures us, there is scarce a pulpit to be seen: and when it happens that a priest attempts to preach, he makes a very aukward figure. His discourse consists of a tedious train of empty words, without the least order or coherence, and which the teacher knows just as little of as the people.

As soon as the people get into their pews, they uncover their heads, and make the sign of the cross, by joining the three first fingers of their right hand;

by

by which is implied, that there are three persons in the sacred godhead, and then they draw them down from their foreheads, below their breasts, and then from the right shoulder; by all which is meant, that the three persons in the godhead reside in heaven; when brought to the breast, Christ's incarnation, crucifixion, burial, and descent into hell; when laid on the right shoulder, they denote that Christ is risen, and sits at the right hand of God. As the wicked are said to be placed at the left hand of Christ, and as in all cases, the right hand is reckoned more noble than the left, so the Greeks, who are very superstitious, prefer this way of making the cross to that used by the Roman catholics. But there are many other mysteries supposed to be held forth by these ceremonies; for in all churches where primitive simplicity is forsaken or neglected, allegories, drawn from visible representation, are placed in its room.

When the Greeks celebrate mass, the priest enters the church, attended by a deacon, and they bow to the east, and make three profound bows before the images of our Saviour and the blessed virgin, which are accompanied with a short prayer, and after that, three more low bows to the east. The deacon then advances and dresses the priest in the outward robe or stole, after which he puts on his own. The whole of this ceremony is conducted with the repetition of several short prayers, both by the priest and the deacon, while the people are at their devotions in private. The priest then walks from one end of the altar to the other, touches ali the sacred vessels, marks them with the sign of the cross, and repeats several prayers in concert with the deacon.

| ter," and when the knife is entered into the mark, he adds, "And as the lamb before his shearer was dumb." When he cuts the upper part of the mark, he says, "His judgment was made manifest in his humility." And on cutting the lower part, he continues: Aud who shall declare his generation ?" At every distinct act of the priest, the deacon says, "Let us pray to the Lord," and taking the lap of his stole in his right hand, he addresses himself thus to the priest: "Elevate my Lord." The priest then cuts the bread a second time, saying, "He was elevated for us." Then he puts the bread into the patin, and when the deacon says to him, "Offer the sacrifice, my lord," he offers it cross-ways, in imitation of the sacrifice of our blessed Lord upon the cross, and says, "I here offer up for the spiritual benefit and salvation of mankind, the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world.” In like manner, when the deacon says, "Pierce it," he cuts the remainder of the bread with his knife, on the right side, applying the following text to the action: "One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and there issued forth blood and water." Then the deacon pours the wine and water into the chalice, and mixes them, as a representation of Christ's sufferings, both in his soul and in his body.

deemer.'

The custom of mixing wine and water together, is of great antiquity, was often practised in the primitive church, and took its rise from the following circumstance. The primitive Christians, besides their using wine at the communion, had their lovefeasts where they conversed together upon divine things; and as these were held on the same days, and as they drank wine at both, it was found most prudent to mix it with water. Indeed this was the more necessary, because the Asiatic wines are very strong; and had they not contrived to weaken them, they might have gone home in a state of intoxication; nay, their churches and houses might have become scenes of riot and drunkenness, as was the practice of the heathens. But these primitive Christians never drew from this ceremony any allegorical inferences, but only used it from motives of prudence and virtue, that the heathens might see their lives were pure and blameless. But to return to the Geeek worship, where we find the liturgy proceeding in the following manner:

The priest takes a second loaf, saying, "In honour of our Blessed Lady;" and than he elevates it, aud puts it on the left side of that which was consecrated before. After this, he takes up as many loaves as are wanted, and consecrates them in the same manner as before, These are dedicated to

the

the prophets, to John the baptist, and to the apostles with other illustrious saints, particularly St. Chrysostom, whom they believe to be the author of their liturgy. These oblations amount to nine in all; and represent, as the Greek priests tells us, the nine hierarchies of angels.

After all this, the priest takes more bread, and consecrates several small pieces as before, for the archbishop, or bishop of the diocese to which he belongs, and for the priests, deacons, and all such as are of the sacerdotal order: and then, in commemoration of the founders of the church wherein the mass is celebrated, and for the remission of their sins. Here the names of the living likewise are mentioned, who desire to be remembered in their prayers; but more particularly those who have paid for saying this mass, and all such deceased persons as he is desired to commemorate and recommend to the divine favour. The priest holds one piece of bread in his right hand, and another in his left, while the deacon takes the censer, and desires his blessing, which he receives, and then incenses the silver star, with which the priest covers the consecrated bread, pronouncing, at the same time, the following words, "The star rested over the place where the child was laid."

Besides

This action is accompanied with several prayers, and afterwards the deacon incenses the veils with which he covers the chalice and patin. these veils, which are made use of as separate covers for the bread and wine, there is another in common use by the Greeks, called Aer, which the celebrant or priest spreads over them both. After this, the priest and the deacon join their hands, adore the sacred elements, and repeat a thanksgiving out of their liturgy. Then the priest reads a collect called the Trayer of Oblation: and having incensed the altar, he pronounces the absolution. Here the priest repeats a prayer, in which St. Chrysostom is named immediately after the Blessed Virgin. This being over, the deacon takes the censer from the priest, and incenses the communion table in the form of a cross; and kneeling down, repeats the following prayer: "Thy body, O Lord, was laid in the silent grave; thy soul descended into hell as God; thou entered into paradise with the holy thief; but thou hast seated thyself with the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost in thy celestial throne, where by thy immensity thou fillest all things."

As the Roman catholics pretend to discover mysteries in all their ceremonies, so do the Greeks in theirs. It was the same with the ancient Heathens, particularly the Greeks, from whom the Greek christians have borrowed the greatest part of their

ceremonies: Some few they have borrowed from the Jews, but not so many of those as we meet with in the mass book of the church of Rome, which we have already described.

Many of the Greek monks differ in some things in their ceremonies from the secular clergy, of which we shall give the following instance. The monks of Mount Athos, honour the Blessed Virgin in a way peculiar to themselves. One of the brethern standing at the lower end of the table, cuts a small loaf into four parts, and deposits one of them in a plate, or a little box, which is placed on a stand for that purpose before the image of the Blessed Virgin. This piece of bread, which they call Panagia, is delivered immediately after consecration to the abbot, who elevates it, saying, "Magnified be thy Name," The monks say, "Of the sacred trinity." Then the abbot proceeds, "O! Ever Blessed God, aid and assist us!" The inonks reply, Through her intercession, have mercy upon us and save us, Good Lord." After this, the abbot takes up a small piece of the crumb, which he puts in his mouth, and the monks eat up the remainder.

Having said thus much by way of degression concerning the manners of the Greeks in their consecration of the elements, we shall now proceed to give an account of the concluding parts of this ceremony; and here it is necessary to observe, that in the liturgy ascribed to St. Chrysostom, the offices are longer, and the ceremonies more numerous than in the Missal of the church of Rome. For in the Roman church, mass is generally concluded within an hour if sung, and in little more than half an hour if said; whereas in the Greek church it is seldom less than two hours, and on some particular festivals particularly those of St. James, St. Basil, and St. Chrysostom, it takes up, at least, three hours.

The

The deacon having incensed the priest, and the high altar as we have already described, he places himself by his side before the high altar, where having made several bows, the priest kisses the gospels, and the deacon the communion table. deacon afterwards makes his bow to the priest, and says to him, "It is time to sacrifice to the Lord, father give me your benediction." The priest gives it accordingly, and the deacon answers, "Pray for me." Then the priest repeats a short prayer, and the deacon says Amen, three different times. both at one and the same time say, "O Lord! thou shalt open my lips." The deacon after this goes out of the tabernacle, and adores the elements three different times, and again receives the priest's blessing, all the people saying Amen. Here it is they repeat a general prayer for the peace of the church

And

where