New-York tribune., 1922-01-08

~ IN one OF the worlds fou,
4 ~ great religious divisions-ths
Greek Church. Involving the
whole Greek Church, it principally af-
fects Europe and the Near East a,-
though it has been accomplished in
America, and into it has been drawn
the Protestant Episcopal Church Of the
United States. The interview with
Bishop Germanos Trojanos, Exarchs Of
the Holy Synod of Greece and now its
special envoy in the United States. is
the first detailed record of this amaz.
ing episode to be printed anywhere.
Conceivably it may have vast influ.
ence upon humanity, for it affects Ger.
fsiniy almost as many and perhaps
more people than would be touched hx
quarrel in the Roman Catholic
Church as to the authenticity, author
ity and honesty OF an election of a
Pope.
1t will be vital to one great Amer-
can religious body, the Protestant Epis-
copal Church, for that immense organ
i2ation, drawn, Bishop Hrojanos says,
by clever strategy, into recognition Of
the rebel faction of the Greek Church,
thus has become party to a vast &C.
clesiastical quarrel in which America
need not have been involved. 1t is
worthy of notation that the Pope, as
soon as this great strategy was worked
out in America, aligned himself upon
the other side, thus achieving an ad-
vantage for Catholicism over Protest
antism.
The Greek Church has direct impor-
tance in America, because many hum
dred thousands Of its communicates
have come here tthey include all Rus
SLAMS, all Serbs, all Rumanians, all
Greeks and many others), and also be-
cause q serious split in the Church
will be sure to have a most unfortu-
mate effect on certain foreign govern
ments and even civilizations.
For instance, it has been only the
fidelity of the people to the Greek
Church in Russia which has preserved
what still exists in that unhappy
country of law, order and morale.
Irony Of Fate Brings
Flight to United States
The amazing story, as briefly told
me by the Bishop, is as follows:
"lt is an irony of fate that the bat
tie royal between the Greek Church
factions, which should have ended
abroad where it began, is now being
fought principally in the United States.
"The claimant to the throne in Con-
Istantinople came here after his exile
from his native country; why do not
know.
Here, and again I do not know the
reason, he was accepted at his own
valuation, and has complicated matters
very seriously by securing the official
recognition Of the Protestant Episcopal
Church, thus involving an immense
body Of American churchmen in
quarrel which, whatever be it's rights
and wrongs, cannot tend to dignity
religion.
"The Patriarch of the Greek Church
at Constantinople, whose position is
like that Of the Pope, so far as his own
territory goes, died in faint while in
London pleading for his country be-
fore the King at Buckingham Palace
In 1920.
mo more dramatic incident has oc-
eurred in history, ancient or modern,
Tor he was crying, tense with an i'm
pass'oned pleading, to King George,
sire, save my country!' when, stricken,
he fell at the monarch's feet.
This tremendous episode, not Of
dumas story or melodrama, occurred
upon the first occasion in the Church's
A'story when patriarch Of the Greek
Church had left his throne to 60 upon
mission to foreign land. 1t began
The existing complication.
The locum tenens, Nicholas, who
At once took charge in Constantinople,
could not call new election promptly
because conditions at the time made
procedure in accordance with Church
law impossible.
Only the holy synod has power to
eject, and not less than seventy-two Of
us members must be present. Only
I'VE could be gathered.
Aets1akis Is Elected by
Four Members Of Synod
When it was decided to defy the
rules and proceed, one of the five, pro-
testing and alarmed, fed from the
foor1-an episode which by a novelist
or playwright might be made almost as
dramatic as the quick death Of the
"'eek patriarch at the British Kings
feet.
The remaining four, defiant of all
'u'e'. voted. 1t is upon this vote that
'ne Greek churchman Metaxakis, now
IN the United States, bases his claim
- 's'e been elected-that claim which
0ss been recognized bv onlv a minority