been for centuries the grand points of contention among the divided Churches, and the questions which these disgraceful disputes suggested to our countryman, Maundrell, a century and a half ago, force themselves upon the mind at this day. "Who can expect ever to see these holy places rescued from the hands of the infidels ? Or if they should be recovered, what deplorable contests might be expected to follow about them? seeing even in the present state of captivity they are made the occasion of such unchristian rage and animosity." Nay, I would even go further, and avow a conviction, forced upon me by such facts as these, and only confirmed by time, that the Turks are, for the present, the best and safest guardians of the holy places; and that until the Christians have laid aside their animosities, the control of an infidel, and therefore indifferent arbiter, will be necessary to restrain within some bounds those vindictive feuds which, even though kept in check, break out occasionally into acts of open and even fatal violence. It were frightful to contemplate the consequences of power being given into the hands of any one of the Christian bodies which now divide the Sacred City.

Of these it will be well to furnish some particulars more in detail, commencing with the Eastern Churches, among whom the Greeks will claim the first notice.

THE Holy Orthodox Church of the East still reckons four Patriarchs, who exercise spiritual jurisdiction over the scattered ruins of those ancient Churches in which

the light of the Gospel shone with unclouded brightness, while the western world was shrouded in heathen darkness. Of these Patriarchates, the last erected was that of Jerusalem. During the first ages of Christianity, the prelates of that city had enjoyed no peculiar privileges or prerogatives'. Cæsarea of Palestine was then the capital of the province, and the seat of the government; its bishop exercised metropolitan jurisdiction in the diocese of Jerusalem, a dignity expressly reserved to him by the first Nicene Council2. But the recovery of the sacred localities, and the erection of the Church of the Resurrection, which could not fail to attract the religious devotions of the Christians of that period, served by degrees to raise the importance of the see; and in the fourth General Council the assembled Fathers consented to erect "the mother of all churches into a fifth Patriarchate3.

In order to effect this, the Metropolitan Sees of Cæsarea and Scythopolis were detached from the jurisdiction of Antioch on the North, while Rabbath Moab and Petra of Arabia, were ceded by the Patriarchate of Alexandria on the South. Besides this, several suffragans were attached to the patriarchal chair as peculiars, from the several dioceses of the various metropolitans, and others newly erected; by which means the chief

1 "Hierosolymitana ecclesia usque ad tempora Justiniani sanctæ recordationis Augusti, episcopum habuit nulla vel modica dignitatis prærogativa gaudentem." Will. Tyr. Lib. XXIII. p. 1045. What argument Dr Keith can find in this against episcopal government, I am at a loss to imagine, (Land of Israel, p. 189). Surely, worldly state

and dignity (mere accidents) are not necessary to the order: the essence is contained in the words "episcopum habuit." Presbyterians will do well not to look to Jerusalem for precedents for their novelties.

2 Cited in Vol. 1. p. 252, note 2. 3 See Vol. 1. p. 273, and the references in the notes.

pastor of the church of Jerusalem was invested with so much dignity as was considered suitable to the high title which had been conferred upon him, and reckoned in his subjection four metropolitan sees subdivided into sixty-eight bishoprics, besides twenty-five suffragan bishops, independent of any authority, save only that of the Patriarch1.

If we consider the various vicissitudes of this ancient Church, the depopulation of the country, and the long domination of the infidels, it will be rather matter of surprize that so much of the wreck has escaped complete annihilation, than that the frame-work of the vessel has not been transmitted entire. The present Patriarchate3, extending North and South from the mountains of Lebanon to the Red Sea, and from the Mediterranean on the West to the great desert on the East, embraces all the country described by the ancient names of Phoenicia, Palestine, Galilee, Samaria, Judea, Idumæa, and Arabia Petræa. It is divided into fourteen sees, but the vacancies are not regularly filled up, as the present circumstances of several of the dioceses can, unhappily, too well dispense with the residence of a bishop. Even in the case of those appointments which do take place, it is in most cases little better than a titular dignity, the holders of which reside in the great monastery of Constantine, at Jerusalem, only visiting their sees occasionally, as the exigences of their flocks require. The bishops of Ptolemais (Acre) and Bethlehem are the only two permanently resident; the former of whom at

I William of Tyre, 1. c. gives the catalogue. See also Reland's Palestine, Lib. 1. capp. xxxiv. and xxxv.

pp. 207, &c.

2 For the present condition of the Patriarchate, see Appendix.

present exercises spiritual functions in the neighbouring diocese of Nazareth, which has been vacant since the translation of the latter to the See which he now holds.

Until very lately the Patriarch himself had been non-resident for many years3. It was judged that he could better serve the interests of the Church at the seat of the supreme government, and on this account he remained at Constantinople. He was there assisted by an ecclesiastic of his own appointment-subject to the approval of the Synod-who eventually succeeded to the patriarchal dignity': but should he die without having nominated his successor, the election was made by the Synod of "the brethren of the Holy Sepulchre." This religious college, whose chief seat was at Constantinople, consisted of bishops, priests, and lay monks, who were attached to the person of the Patriarch, and acted as his messengers in the affairs of the Church. Their whole number is about 150. All have a voice in the election of the Patriarch, and their decision is independent of any other authority, the Ecumenical Patriarch himself having no voice in it.

The Patriarch, as indeed all the bishops, are invariably Greeks, mostly from the islands; it is centuries. since the natives were considered eligible to the higher

3 The Patriarch Theophanes, A. D. 1608-1641, first purchased a house with a church and gardens, which had formerly belonged to the princes Cantacuzene, situated in the part of Constantinople called the Phanar. It was burnt down in 1649, restored by the merchants of Constantinople, enlarged and adorned by later Patriarchs. It is still their usual residence, and they

seldom visit Palestine. Mouravieff, cap. xl. ad fin.

This practice was introduced by Germanus, the founder of the present Greek dynasty of bishops, to ensure the exclusion of native Syrians. Mouravieff, cap. xxxix.

5 I learnt this in a conversation with the archimandrite Joel, at Jerusalem, August 19, 1842.

offices of the Church. But the apparent inconvenience of this arrangement is much obviated by the fact, that the pastors of the congregations are invariably natives. The charge of injustice which might be urged against their exclusion from the episcopal rank is not so easily answered, but the following may serve as an explanation. It is a rule of all the Oriental Churches to elect their bishops from the regular clergy; and it is reasonable to suppose that a practice so universally adopted was the result of experience of its advantages. The disorderly conduct of the native monks led to their exclusion from the principal monasteries about three centuries ago, and the natural result of this was their exclusion from the episcopal office, for which it is further alleged they had frequently proved themselves incompetent1.

This general sketch of the former constitution of the Patriarchate may be illustrated by its condition during my residence at Jerusalem. "The Most Blessed" Athanasius, who then occupied the patriarchal throne, the hundred and thirty-first in succession from S. James, upwards of ninety years old, being incapacitated for the more active duties of his office by his advanced age, lived in literary retirement in one of the Prince's Islands in the Sea of Marmora, having delegated the cares of his office to his appointed successor. This was the very excellent and learned Hierotheus, Archbishop of Mount Tabor, for several years legate of the

Germanus, a native of the Morea, but so great a proficient in the Arabic language as to pass for a Syrian, was elected to the patriarchal chair in 1554, by the synod of native bishops. He presided until 1579, and contrived,

during his incumbency, so to fill up the vacant sees as to secure a majority of Greeks in the synod, whom he easily persuaded to pass enactments for the perpetual exclusion of the natives. Mouravieff, cap. xxxix.