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upon the clearest evidence, and supported by testimonies of every kind, many of the Greeks deny, with obstinacy, this inglorious charge, and exalt the learning of their countrymen since the revival of letters. One eminent historian* has not only composed a list of the learned men that adorned Greece in the seventeenth century, but also makes mention of an academy founded at Constantinople by a certain Greek whose name was Manolax, in which all the branches of philosophy, as well as the liberal arts and sciences, are taught with success and applause. But all this does not demonstrate that modern Greece is enriched with science either sacred or profane; but serves only to prove that the populous nation of the Greeks, in which there are many ancient, noble, and opulent families, is not entirely destitute of men of learning and genius. In the midst of that ignorance which surrounds them, some such have arisen, we readily admit, and have shone like meteors in a gloomy firmament. And of these, perhaps the most eminent was Cyrillus Lucar, patriarch of Constantinople, in the seventeenth century; a man whose name and memory will long be held in honour by every orthodox member of the Greek church; and one who, from his learning and character, and the firm opposition which he made to the encroachments of the Romanists, deserved a much better fate. The Jesuits, whom this opposition had rendered his bitter enemy, seconded by the credit and

* See Demet. Cantemir's Histoire de l' Empire Ottoman, tom. ii. p. 38.

influence of the French ambassador at Constantinople, and assisted by the treacherous stratagems of some perfidious Greeks, perplexed and persecuted him, and, at length, accomplished his ruin; for, by the help of false witnesses, they obtained an accusation of treason against him, in consequence of which he was put to death in the year 1638, by the order of the emperor.*

* For an account of the authors, who have recorded his life, transactions, and deplorable fate, see Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. vol. v. p. 249. Edit. 1806.

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376

THE

RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH.

RISE, HISTORY, AND CHANGES INTRODUCED BY PETER THE GREAT. Of those independent Greek Churches which are governed by their own laws, and are in communion with the patriarch of Constantinople, but are not subject to his jurisdiction, there is none but the church established in Russia that is of any note in the Christian world; the rest, i. e. the Georgians and Mingrelians, "are sunk in the most deplorable ignorance and barbarity that can possibly be imagined.”*

The accounts which have been given of the introduction of Christianity into Russia, are so fabulous and ridiculous, that they are sufficiently refuted by their own absurdity. Some have pre

*Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. vol. v. p. 253.

tended, that the country was converted by the apostle St. Andrew. Another tradition, equally groundless, and still more absurd, reports, that St. Anthony of Padua, converted them to the Christian faith; and adds, that the saint swam over the Levant upon a great mill-stone, and then rode to Novogorod upon it! Another account says, that Wladimir was convinced of the truth of the Christian religion, by seeing the book of the New Testament thrown into a large fire, and from thence taken out unburnt and unhurt. What we learn with most appearance of probability is, that the Grand Duchess Olga, or, as her name is pronounced, Olha, grandmother to Wladimir, was the first person of distinction converted to Christianity in Russia, about the year 955, and that she assumed the name of Helena at her .conversion; under which name she still stands as a saint in the Russian kalendar.-Methodius, and Cyril the philosopher, travelled from Greece into Moravia, about the year 900, to plant the gospel; where they translated the service of the church, or some parts of it, from the Greek into the Sclavonian language, the common language, at that time, of Moravia and Russia; and thus it is thought that this princess imbibed the first principles of Christianity. And, being herself fully persuaded of its truth, she was very earnest with her son, the Grand Duke Sviatoslav, to embrace it also; but this, from political motives, he declined to do. In the course, however, of a few years, Christianity is said to have 3 B

VOL. I.

made considerable progress in that nation; for when, after the accession of Wladimir to the throne, and his marriage with Anna, a Christian princess, daughter of the Greek Emperor Romanus II., and sister of the Greek Emperors Basilius and Constantinus, he, in the year 988, was baptised, (when he took the name of Basilius;) it is said that 20,000 of his subjects were baptised the same day.

But whether it was Olga or Anna that had the honour of converting Wladimir, it is fully ascertained that, about the end of the tenth century, the Christian religion was introduced into Russia, chiefly through their connexion with Greece; and coming from this quarter, it was very natural that the doctrine and discipline of the church of Constantinople should become at first the pattern of the church of Russia, which it still continues to follow in the greatest part of its offices. Hence likewise the patriarch of Constantinople formerly enjoyed the privilege of a spiritual supremacy over the Russians, to whom he sent a Metropolitan* whenever a vacancy happened.—Michael was the first Metropolitan consecrated at Constantinople, and he was brought to Keif by Wladimir himself. After

* Metropolitans had the government of a province, and Suffragan bishops under them, and were so called from their usually being the bishops of the capital city of the province. Mosheim tells us, that in the fourth century, they had likewise the archbishops under them; but Metropolitan and Archbishop have long been almost synonymous, and their offices also much the same.

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