the Greek Church is just as Erastian as the Church of Russia, with, however, this exception, that, instead of being at the mercy of an autocrat, it has to submit to the even worse rule of a Balkan Parliament.[1] In spite of this, however, the little Greek Church is as orderly and well organized as any of the Orthodox Communion. Its bishops and clergy are reasonably well paid by the State, so they have not the disadvantage of grinding poverty, and the University of Athens has a theological faculty quite well equipped for their education. The two most important theologians of this Church have been Theoklitos Pharmakides († 1860), who was the leader of the Liberal school, friendly to Protestants, anxious for practical reforms in the Church, for free discussion and higher Bible criticism, advocating more education and fewer monks,[2] and his opponent Oikonomos († 1857), who had been educated in Russia and the East and was a rigid Conservative, valuing the Septuagint above new translations from the Hebrew, more diligent in the study of the Fathers of the Church than curious about the Tübingen theories, rather fearful of losing the old Orthodox faith than anxious for new reforms. He was also a famous orator and preached the sermon over the body of the martyr-Patriarch Gregory V at Odessa (p. 341), that is by far the finest piece of modern Greek oratory. But he thought that the Septuagint is inspired, and believed in Pseudo-Dionysius. The Greek Church has vindicated its right as a living Christian body by producing a fair proportion of heretics. Theophilos Kaires (Καῒρης), a priest, left the Orthodox Church and founded a new religion which he called "God-worship" (Θεοσεβαομός), and which is a sort of Deism on the lines of the Encyclopædists, varied by the fact that its prayers are said in Doric Greek. He was excommunicated, of course, and considerably persecuted till he died in prison in 1853. Laskaratos founded a form of
- ↑ Diomedes Kyriakos is very much concerned to deny the Erastian character of his Church (iii, pp. 155–156; he is professor of Church History at the University of Athens). The laws under which the Greek Holy Synod acts show how hopeless his defence is; see, for instance, Silbernagl, pp. 67–71.
- ↑ Pharmakides was one of the many Greeks who studied at the German universities and brought back many German ideas to Greece with them. And of such is M. Kyriakos himself.
