of the authority he once had over the See of Byzantium): he seats him on the throne, and gives him his hat and staff, while the people cry out "Worthy!" (ἄξιος) three times. Then follows the Holy Liturgy, and the people are dismissed with the Patriarch's blessing.[1] Theoretically the Patriarch can be deposed only for some very grave offence against the Church or State. As a matter of fact, perhaps the greatest abuse in the modern Orthodox Church is the incredible way in which the Patriarchs of Constantinople are changed. Sometimes the Sultan deposes them, but much more often it is the Orthodox themselves (always divided into endless parties), who petition for their removal. And the Porte grants their request—it gets a new fee for every new berat. Scarcely any Patriarch reigns as long as two years before he is deposed; and there are at this moment four ex-Patriarchs waiting in angry retirement till their parties get the upper hand again and they are re-elected. The Patriarch's title is: "The most holy, the most divine, the most wise Lord, the Lord Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Œcumenical Patriarch."[2] He is addressed as "Your Most Divine Holiness" (ἡ ὑμετέρα θειοτάτη Παναγιότης = really "All-Holiness"), and it is polite to describe oneself when addressing him as "your least and the commands of your Holiness awaiting servant."[3] He uses as arms on his seal a spread-eagle imperially crowned. His extra-liturgical dress is a brown or black cassock (the usual monk's dress), and over this the Mandyas (μανδύας) a long brown cloak having at each of its four corners a square of pale blue and around the lower edge two white and one red band. He wears a violet kalemaukion (καλημαύκιον), the invariable hat of the Orthodox clergy, like a top-hat without a brim and with a
- ↑ Silbernagl, pp. 9-15; Kyriakos, iii. pp. 32-34; Miillinen, pp. 8-9.
- ↑ Ὁ παναγιώτατος, ὁ θειότατος, ὁ σοφώτατος κύριος, ὁ Ἀρχιεπίσκοπος κωνσταντινουπόλεως, νέας Ῥώμης καὶ πατριάρχης οἰκουμενικός.
- ↑ These titles and addresses are the result of modifications introduced by the modesty of the late Patriarch, Constantine V. Before his time the other Orthodox bishops had to begin their letters to him in this manner: "All-holiest Lord, glorious, God-crowned, God-uplifted, and God-favoured one! Servilely I cast myself before you and kiss your sacred hands and venerable feet" (Gelzer, Geistl. u. Weltl., p. 25).
