about five-and-a-half million Orthodox in the kingdom. The first quarrel with the Patriarch of Constantinople was about the monasteries. In 1864, Cusa secularized and confiscated all the monastic property in Roumania;[1] part of this property belonged to the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, Mount Athos and Mount Sinai, who had metochia in Moldavia and Vallachia. As an indemnity, the Roumanian Government offered twenty-seven million francs to the proprietors. But they refused to accept any compensation, indignantly denying the right of the State to touch their property at all. They appealed to the Porte and to the Great Powers, but in vain, and at last, in 1867, King Charles of Roumania declared the matter settled since the monasteries had refused the money. So now the offer of the twenty-seven millions is withdrawn. What makes the case harder for the Greeks is, that the Roumanian Government is using the money they have taken from these monasteries for their national propaganda in Macedonia, so one can understand the indignation that every Greek feels on the subject of "Cusa's robbery." But this is not the only cause of estrangement. In 1870, the Patriarch (Gregory VI) made a belated attempt to reclaim some jurisdiction over the autocephalous Church. He demanded that all metropolitans and bishops should have their election confirmed by him before their consecration, and that his name should be mentioned in the Holy Liturgy throughout Roumania. But in 1873, after a long dispute, his successor, Anthimos VI, was obliged to withdraw these demands and to acknowledge the complete independence of the Roumanian Church. As in all the Churches that have a Holy Synod, that body is named in the Roumanian service instead of the Patriarch. There was also a great quarrel about the Vlach Skite on Mount Athos, whose monks claimed independence of any laura. Joachim II (1860–1863, 1873–1878) had granted this, and Joachim III (1878–1884) withdrew the concession. The troubles in Macedonia also caused very angry feelings between the Phanar and the Roumanian Synod; and, lastly, reports were circulated that the Church of Roumania was about to introduce certain radical and
- ↑ A third of the landed property in Roumania belonged to the Church before Cusa's confiscation.
