Paphos, and he has no vote in the Cypriote Synod.[1] One need not tell of all the endless ramifications of this quarrel, how the Parliament of Cyprus is divided into Kitiacks and Kyrenians, how Damianos of Jerusalem is vainly trying to make these two Cyrils agree to elect some third person, how Meletios of Antioch put in his oar—of course, against the Phanar—how politicians and canonists, ministers and deputies, are travelling about seeking to strengthen their sides. Meanwhile the See of Cyprus is still vacant, and one of the endless questions that divide the Orthodox all over the East is that of whether they are Kitiacks or Kyrenians.
These five Churches—the four patriarchates and Cyprus—are the old elements of Eastern Christendom, and so, although they are neither in size nor power the most important branches, they take precedence in the above order. We now come to the Churches that have been formed by separation from the Byzantine Patriarchate. They have no established order of dignity among themselves, so the obvious arrangement will be according to the dates of their independence.
6. The Church of Russia (autocephalous since 1589).
There is only space here for the merest outline of the story of the Church that is really the infinitely preponderating partner of all this Communion. The Russians date their conversion since the year 988. In the 9th century a Norman dynasty of rulers set up the first monarchy over Russians. Novgorod was their original capital. Soon after they made Kiev "the mother of all Russian cities." One of these Norman kings, Vladimir, the son of Svyatoslav, after having defeated his brothers and made himself the only king (984–1015), became a Christian and forced all his people to be converted too.[2] He is said to have hesitated between various religions—Judaism, Mohammedanism
- ↑ I cannot understand why he does not go to Russia; he would easily find consecrators there, or even in Serbia or Roumania. Has he, perhaps, a feeling that that would be too disloyal to the great cause of Hellas, which every born Greek must fight for, even if he hates the Phanar?
- ↑ There had been Christians in Russia before, of whom Vladimir's grandmother St. Olga was one.
