The Portland daily press., 1894-12-31
Christian Unity.

west Nnab ne udu JuSs SuCooouou III
doing in the East, and, that with the
object of effecting union Of the church
es, he intends drawing together at the
Vatican number of Catholic prelates
of England and America, in order to con-
fer with them as to the best means of
realizing his plan. 1t was added in this
despatch that the Pope particularly de-
sires the advice of Cardinals Gibbons
and Taschereau.
The information that the Pope had
succeeded in the East in bringing about
church unity, or even Christian unity,
cannot have failed to astonish profoundly
everyone who has been following the
Papal endeavors in the direction. To
speak OF it as a success is unwarranted
by acts; for the truth is that these en-
deavors have completely failed. Pope
Leo's encyclicst exhorting the rulers and
nations OF the world to effect Christian
unity by submission to the See of Rom
failed to produce any impression upon
the Lutheran and the Greek. Then it
vas proposed to invite the orthodox
order to discuss the question of uniting
the Greek and the Roman creeds. This
wan had to be given up, as the, adher-
ents of the Greek Church showed very
marked dlsinclination to being absorbed
by the Roman Catholic Church. The
introduction of the old Slavic liturgy,
which was expected to give mighty
impulse to the Roman Greek propaganda
led, on the other hand, to open mutiny
and revolt on the part of Roman Catho-
lie rural communities against their cleri-
cal leaders. Consequently the Vatican
had to cut down those invitations TO the
memb bers of the dissenting churches of
the Orient, the Oriental Dissenters," "
who were to be persuaded into acknowl-
edging the authority supremacy of
the Pope. a.
But even this programme, minimiLed
as it was, proved impractical BILE. All the
opinions handed down by Eastern pro-
pagandists concurred in the assertion
that more than individual submissions
to the Roman church could not be ex-
-pected. Thus the programme had to he
cl,rtailed once more; the conference to be
held at Rome had to be limited to the
question OF more closely linking to Rome
the Oriental churches which are already
united with the Papal church. 1t is gen.
orally known that the Roman church has
supported, for centuries, very active
and expensive propaganda in Aslatic
Turkey. It is aided, financially and Mo-
matically, by France since the Turkish
sultans accorded to the Frenchme.. ,;ros
tectorate over the Catholics in the Or
lent. Even the curtailed programme,
now almost mutilated into nonentity,
turned out to be impracticable. OF the
five Oriental patriarchs, only the Mel
chitic and syriant answered the call,
whereas the Maronitic and Chaldaic
patrial chs sent substitutes, while the
Armenian patriarch stayed away; it is
said that the Turkish government pre-
vented him, by main force, from going
to Rome. The result of the conferences
was absolutely negative. The Oriental
dignitaries did not make the slightest
concessions; they asserted their full in-
dependence. nay. they even demanded
the revocation of a certain papaI decree
the outcome of what the Roman despatch
to the Figaro calls the successful"
efforts at Christian unity. 5 sM ~.
This outcome is anything but surpris-
ing. The idea of gathering the entire
Christian world into one grand body, to
bring about unity of faith and unity
of government, is su ublime, too sublime
to be horne into reality. 1t resem bles
other Utopian fancies, such as the eter-
nal peace and the general disarmament.
This opinion is corroborated by no less
a parsonage than Cardinal Gibbons,
whose advice, according to the Figaro
despatch, the Pope is so anxious to hear.
To he sure, the cardinal, in his COM
ments on the encyclical, wholly COM
mends the Pope's great scheme; but
speaking of another cry for unity that
from tne Parliament of Religions at the
Worl is Fair, he firmly expresses his
disbelief in the possibility "that such
endeavors for Christian unity can ac-
complish their purpose" Such efforts, he
says. will not indnce the Calvinist to
give up his pred sin alton or the Metho-
dist his particular doctrines. The Luther
an will not add to his two sacraments,
nor the Episcopaliap to his three. The
Anglican and the Greek will continue to
deny Roman supremacy, and the Catho-
lie cannot be separated from the see of
Rome.
The cardinal points to the difficulty of
making US "sink our individual differ
ences." and the absence of bond SO
strong that "by it's cogency it would
conceptions and private opinions, and to
accept a common universal creed or
formula of faith and uniform code of
morality" Religion consists, as Car
diuaI Gibbons asserts, not only in
cnarity, but also in doctrines and dog
mas; "doctrlne must preceOo pracG1ce,
principles must precede actions" This
point of view accepted, why should it ap-
ply only to "parliament of religion"
and lose it's argumentative strength with
a papal encycical? The authority of
the Pope in religious matters does not
extend beyond the circle of his church;
the non-Catnolics are sharply opposed
to the Roman dogmas, and the elements
who have outgrown any kind of dogmas
are quite as certain not to su limit to the
Vatican. To expect church to submit
to, and be absorbed by, "centre of
Christian truths" would be equivalent to
asking for its disruption
The idea of church unity, or. in the
parlance of the Vatican. 6 the return of
the prodigal sons to tine. paternal house,
is by no means an invention of the nine
teenth century. AS far back as the fif-
teenth century She Roman Church ne
gotiated with the Greek government and
clergy, who. scared py the Osmanic
invasion, entreated the assistance ofthe
Pope. But finally, in spite of all endeav-
ors towards unity and reconciliation
brought to bear at the Florence council,
the patriarch of Constantinople, the
urban and rural clergy, and the monks of
Mount A thos declared their preference for
the secular yoke of the Turks, over the
spiritual yoke of the Roman church.
From 1853 to 1860 numerous attempts
~