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61 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Eastern Church twenty articles, and the latter a confession in twenty-three chapters (given in full by Michal cescu). A. H. N.]
The doctrinal system of the Eastern Church is, upon the whole, more simple and less developed than that of the Roman, though in some respects m2-s~b .~ and metanhvaical. The onl '
The Eastern theology remains rigidly in the fragmentary state of the old councils. ThP
to tthe a ±Wn fil2lied _ p rptee4t further progress both m lid and 'tg'es`5if" it' agba't7on, ~ well as fait the venerable ' he (''~r_reek theolo" is in on t e anetrinP ·nf f' and of Shriat, but very de ec~ive on the doctrine of man and the order of s ThP Fad van t ;n+.. all .._*° ^f t ~eo O ,r.al ,s-~nd C; ria?nln®ira.ltbtleties,, especially ~nn~the~lo ip~,.~?$- e w~ic found little or no response in the eat; bn~_,t it ,innnrr?d .thr· ~,~p~py~pies, the deve gLent o the A ustinian and latervan li .stet .hPnln , It took the most intense w°t m +h, =i+FP,.pnnP Iwtwt~·n m" anrl hU&nstasis the hO~Ttt~o0~i
a er,'£he eternal ggWAt a eternal ~~or~~! !.i +1,uGtniri +ho T vi_ rilhoxvc_ t a ,nla+,.,.. ni_thA two natllre9 in C
the a ~'~.M2^aad~suotw~ but W88 g~, ~Tinnalv tmnhlorl
ues~ about predestination, vicarious M .-Man and imputation, conver sion and regeneration, faith and good works, merit and demerit, vital union with Christ, and cognate doctrines, which absorbed the attention a..,- Christ~_ndom. The use for this difference must a sought in the re~v-aa'ling~gt~a ph sical, rhet "cal and o~b e i ~ of the ·ch,-m rited p partly from Asia, party from Greece-as distinct from the practical, logical, and subjective tendency of the Western Churches, which 6 derived from the Roman and the Teutonic nationalities. The difference is,~,y~r~y~Gal te~+.~n" as G~mnare~w`ltl~th~. i~.,°..~T ~QiL~ W~at~1P°.:~. which origi_ hated in the West, and is very little used in the East.
The Greek Church is a patriarchal oligarchy, in distinction from the papal monarchy. The epie-
Rome, but has no authority in matters of doctrine, and can make no organic changes. The Eastern hierarchy resembles the Jewish type. The Greek priest within the veil of the sanctuary is concealed from the eyes of the people; but in social respects he is nearer the people than the Roman priest. He is allowed, and even compelled, to marry once, but forbidden to marry twice. Celibacy is confined to bishops and monks. Absolution is given only in the form of a prayer, " May the Lord absolve thee," instead of the positive form, " I absolve thee." The confessional exists, but in a milder form, with less influence and abuse, than in Romanism. The laity are more independent; and the Russian czar, like the Byzantine emperor of old, is the head of the Church in his dominion. The unction of confirmation is made to symbolize the royal priesthood of every believer. The monastic orders, though including many clergy, are not clerical institutions as the Latin orders have been since the thirteenth century. The community of Mhos (q.v.) is a lay corporation with chaplains.
The administration of the churches as developed in the Byzantine Empire is most complicated, and involves, besides the regular clergy, an army of higher and lower ecclesiastical officers, from the first administrator of the church property (d ,afyas oixov6#os), the superintendent of the sacristy (d oKev*Aag), the chancellor or keeper of ecclesiastical archives (d xapro~'vXag), down to the cleaners of the lamps (oi Aaairadbpeoi), and the bearer of the images of saints (d ,Qaaray6pios). These half-clerical officers are divided into two groups, -one on the right, the other on the left: each is subdivided into three classes, and each class has again five persons. Leo Allatius and Heineccius enumerate fifteen officials of the right group, and even more of the left. But many of these offices have either ceased altogether, or retain only a nominal existence.
In worship and ritual the Eastern Church is much like the Roman Catholic, with the celebration of the sacrifice of the mass as its center, with an equal and even greater neglect of the sermon, 4. Worship and is addressed more to the senses and
and imagination than to the intellect and the heart. It is strongly Oriental, unintelligibly symbolical and mystical, and excessively ritualistic. The Greeks reject organs, musical instruments, and sculpture, and make less use of the fine arts in 'their churches than the Roman Catholics; but they have even a more complicated system of ceremonies, with gorgeous display, semibarbaric pomp, and endless changes of sacerdotal dress, crossings, gestures, genuflexions, proetrations, washings, processions, which so absorb the attention of the senses, that there is little room left for the intellectual and spiritual worship. They use the liturgy of St. Chrysostom, which is an abridgment of that of St. Basil, yet very lengthy, and contains, with many old and venerable prayers (one of the finest is incorporated in the Anglican liturgy under the name of Chrysostom), later additions from different sources to an excess of liturgical refinement.
The most characteristic features of Greek wor