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still farther, to the " oriental Church," by Leo XIII. in the bull OrienWium dignitm of Nov., 1894. In 1755 Benedict XIV. confirmed formally the correctness of certain " rites." Pius IX. also has significance here because of his two briefs of 1862, Romani pontifices and Amantissimus, creating a central institution to deal with the churches of the oriental rite, viz., the Congregatio de propaganda fide pro negotiis ritus orientalis. He thought it time to go farther into the matter of introducing " reforms " and organic changes in the hierarchical relations of the oriental churches; hence there issued the bull Reversurus in 1867 referring to the Armenians and the Cum ecclesiastics of 1869 to the " Chaldeans." But of all the popes Leo XIII. was most earnest in his efforts for union. He wooed the orientals incessantly, and employed to the full measures of organization in order to strengthen the Uniate churches and to enlarge them by accessions (cf. L. K. Goetz, Leo X111., pp. 221 sqq., Goths, 1899). He followed the example of certain of his predecessors in establishing colleges for the education of the priesthood to serve among the Uniates, carrying this movement out not only in Rome but also in Constantinople and Athens. Among the subjects which appeared in the encyclical Prceclara gratulationis, issued at his episcopal jubilee in 1894, which he said lay near to his heart, appeared that of union. He promised the orientals both for himself and his successors that there should be no deduction from the rights, patriarchal privileges, or the ritual customs of each church, and this was in legal form confirmed by the bull Orientalium dignita8 already mentioned. He listened with patience to the complaints of the orientals concerning the persecutions which they had suffered, notwithstanding the consideration due them because of their long-established freedom. He was clever enough and great enough to censure the attempts at Latinization which were made; while he did not recall the Latin patriarchates of the orient, he limited the zeal which was being exercised in making " Latins " of the orientals.

Were these intentions carried out fully in papal policy, the essential aspect of the Uniates would by no means be that of Roman Catholicism. It is well remarked by Loofs (Symbolik, vol. i., Tiibingen, 1902) that the non-use of Latin is not the only privilege left to the Uniates. They have their own liturgies and a series of festivals peculiar to themselves; while they must recognize the saints of the Roman Church they do not celebrate the days sacred to these saints, and of the celebrations of the Western Church they have actually taken in only Corpus Christi; their monasticism has not the great diversity of that of the West, there being in most regions only the Basilian and the Antonian orders, to which may be added that of the Mekhitarists (q.v.) in Venice and Vienna; and above all they retain in slightly modified form their own ecclesiastical law and church discipline. Indeed, it may be said that the Western-Roman type of piety could not in any case be made to grow in these churches; for eastern piety is dependent upon other factors than sheer dogma and external connection with Rome.

2. The Individual Uniate Churches: The entire number of Uniates may amount to five and a half millions. Varied groupings may be made according to the principle employed. One method has already been given above (1, § 1), depending upon the " rite." Another is based upon the method of organization, resulting in three groups: (1) those which have their own " rite " only in a subordinate sense, and have not a separate hierarchy, being under Latin bishops, of whom are the Greeks in Italy, the few Bulgarians and Abyssinians, a part of the Armenians, and the so-called Thomas Christians (see NEBTORIANS); (2) those which have their own bishops and sometimes a metropolitan, especially in Austria-Hungary; (3) the patriarchates of the East. It must always be borne in mind that there is a difference in the conception of ecclesiastical law in the Roman Church as applied to " provinces of the apostolic see " and " mission lands," making it necessary to have in mind the organization in force in the latter. The details regarding the Uniate churches are under the Congregation de propaganda fide. A practical method which will be followed in this article is to consider the churches in their geographical order.

In Europe the Uniate churches are oldest in their connection with the Roman Catholic Church and have attained the closest union. The Italo-Greeks (cf. KL, vi. 1133-41) consist of isolated

1. In groups scattered throughout the kingEurope; Ru-dom. There are more compact groups

Armenians. is about 50,000. A source of Armenians. knowledge is the bull Etai pastoralis, referred to above. Though these Greeks are under Latin bishops as ordinaries, yet there are special bishops who administer consecration to the priests. The Uniate churches of Austria-Hungary include Rutuenians, Rumanians, and Armenians. The first two belong to the Greek rite. Of the Ruthenians there are now only remnants, comparatively speaking, though they are still the most numerous of all the Uniates, three millions in Galicia and half a million in Hungary. The churches which use the Old Slavic have a complete independent organization in Galicia with archbishopric (established 1807), with Halicz as see city, and two suffragan bishoprics, PrzemysI and Stanislau. In Hungary there are two bishoprics, Munkacs and Eperies, these being under the Latin primate, the archbishop of Gran. There is also an affiliated Servian bishopric in Hungary, that of Kreutz in Croatia under the Latin archbishop of Agram, representing about 25,000. This was an independent eparchy under Maria Theresa. It may be classed under the Ruthenians, since all the Slavic churches use the same ecclesiastical language, and the Uniates use this written in the same alphabet, the Glagolitic; the " Orthodox," or, as the Roman Catholics express it, the non-Catholic or " schismatic " churches use this language, but written with a different alphabet called the Cyriliian. The Ruthenians are among the peoples who have not yet come into their rights in history. They first bore the name " Russian," and in Kief possessed the first metropolis of the East Slavs; even yet in Russia they are known as