Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1870-01-12
THE GREEK PATRIARCH.
His Manner of LivIng-What i
Thinks of the Roman Council ar

| His Manner of Lfvin g-Wnat He
the Pope.
A correspondent of the n. Y. Herald,
writing from Constantinople, under date
of the 9Th inst, gives this account of a
visit to the Patriarch of the Greek Church:
After having made application through
he proper authorities I received note
tstating that the Patriarch would be glad to
see me at two o'clock in the afternoon
Starting from mJ hotel in Pera, the Euro
pean quarter of the city, I followed my
guide through one of the most character
istics parts of Constantinople. From the
heights of Pera are to be seen Stamboul.
or the ancient city, built, like Rome, on
seven hills, with the land locked and un-
rivaied harbor of the Golden Horn on the
one side and the broad and swiftly flowing
waters of the Bosphorus on the other. On
| the slope of the hill is the old Turkish
cemetery, with its thousands of tomb
stones-some erect and well preserved,
others broken and inclined, and many "
ing on the ground. Passing through the
narrow, crooked and filthy streets below
the cemetery, soon arrived at the waters
edge, and, stepping into caique, was
| rowed quickly across the Golden Horn -
The Patriarchial residence is in part OF
Stamboul called Phanar-[ [Phanaris inhab-
tied mostly by Greeks. From this name
/ is derived the term Phanariote, often ap-
piled to the Greeks of Constantinople1 i
and is not more than couple of minutes
walk from the landing place.
Upon my arrival found servant await
ing me, by whom I was conducted to the
room of the vicar, Kleobulos. After ex-
changing a few words with the reverend
gentleman was informed that His Holi-
ness the Patriach was ready to receive me-
After passing through two outer rooms,
very modestly furnished, was ushered in
to the presence of Gregory, Patriarch Of
! Constantinople.
AS I entered the room the Patriarch
arose from the sofa on which he was sitting
and when the formality of introduction was
over invited me to take a seat near him.
! The room in which we were was similar to
| the preceding ones in the modesty of its
appointments. A table, few chairs, q
stove, a sofa, occupying one end and the
greater portion of two sides of the room,
completed the furniture. The Patriarch
occupied one corner of the sofa;. sat on
his right and the vicar on his left.
Knowing already that came from Amer
lea the Patriarch says he was always graft
fed to see my countrymen, and inquired
What part of the United States came from.
When [ informed him that I came from the
State of Wisconsin be remarked, "Y0ur
| State forms portion of the Great West,
the heart of America, the country of the fu-
| ture."
| Servants now appeared bringing jellies,
preserves and Turkish coffee.
| While partaking of these refreshments
the conversation turned on religion in
America, a subject with which he seemed
very fami lar. He spoke of the letter re-
Gently addressed to the Pope by Right
Rev. DR.. Cox, Bishop Of Buffalo. With
| this letter he expressed himself satisfied,
and said the position taken by the writer
was entirely in accordance with that main
tanned by the Churches of Greece; Russia,
and other orthodox sees of the Orient.
now asked what the Eastern Church
thought of the position claimed by the
Pope.
The answer I received was substantially
as follows:-"The Pope is by right only
Bishop of the Diocese of Rome. Prece-
dence was accorded to this see by the early
Church, but for centuries neither the Ro-
man bishop nor any of his brother bishops
imagined tkat he had any jurisdiction be-
yond the limits of his own diocese"
''Unity of the Church, as now under
stood at Rome; therefore did not exist in
L
No." was the reply. The unity of the
Church up to the time Of the Latin schism
was everywhere maintained by communion
between the sees, or, as they were then
called, churches, and the universalor Cath
olic Church, the Church in its entirety,
was governed by councils, formed Of dele
| gates, meeting as equals, and sent from all
parts of the Christian world. All bishops
were equal. No one dared to dictate to
another or to arrOgate to himself authority
not granted by council of the Universal
| Church. The Bishop of Rome was simply
| 'pnanlus inter pGres the firstamong equals
This constitutional form OF government is
| still preserved in all the orthodox Church
| es of the Orient. The contrary has taken
| place IN the West. The Bishop of Rome
having usurped power over all the other
sees, succeeded in reducing his brother
| bishops to the position of Lieutenants, tul-
| ing IN snbject provinces and obliged to
look to Rome for countenance and support.
''The early Christian Churches and the
| Churches of Russia, Greece and other
| countries in communion with them may
| be looked upon, then, Iasked, ''as form
ing, in certain sense, a confederation or
| United States of Christianity?"
| ''That gives, said the Patriarch. 1.-THE
idea to great degree. Each church had,
during the first centuries, autonomy in adj
ministration and in affairs having purely
a local significance each country was al
| lowed to retain its own language in the
ritual, as well as to have all sacred books
in the vernacular tongue. In everything
relating to the doctrine and discipline of
| the whole Church q council alone had
authority"
My next question was about the infalli-
| bility of the Pope. This is a subject upon
which the Patriarch has very decided
| opinions. They are as follows: For any
man to affirm that he is the vicegerant of
God and infallible is nothing less than
blasphemy. Infallibiity was promised to
! the Church, and not to few men or one
man. Even if the primacy had been
| granted by our Saviour to Peter it could
| by no means make him the successor. of
| Christ; he was merely one of the twelve
! Apostles. Christ is the Head of the
| Church, and has promised that his spirit
shall never depart from it; therefore no
visible and mortal head is necessary.
When asked how the Eastern patriarchs
locked upon the invitation to attend the
| Council his Holiness answered eva
augured no good of it. We knew that
home has never made a move which has
not tended to the further ensavement of
tuc CHuIC1, dul we Ulu not think that this
would be an exception"
Here the conversation ended another
audience was promised to me two davs Ia
ter. | have given the views of the Patri.
arch without comment or addition of nv
own. They will tend, [ think, to show that
the great difference between Rome. Con.
stantInOple and the other Eastern sees is
one that relates to the whole structure o1
the Church as well as to doctrines The
main dispute in ecclesiastical government
relates to the temporal and spiritual power
Of the Pope, which is held in almost great
er aversion in the East than in Protestant
countries.
4 Nor THE WFE's FAULT.-An Irishmar
who had just landed went to see his sister
who was married to Yankee. The couple
lived very happily together. and when PA
came, the gentleman took him over his
place to show it to him. Pat at the evi-
dence of PROSPERITY said to his brOtbnr.in