Page:Orthodox Eastern Church (Fortescue).djvu/390

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352
THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH

been the cause of much discussion. The Chorepiscopus is a person who takes rank between the town bishop (that is the bishop who has his see in some city) and the priest. The first time they are mentioned is at the Synod of Ancyra in 314. It is much discussed whether they had bishops' orders, so as to be auxiliary bishops, or whether they were priests with delegate authority over other priests, like rural deans. There seems evidence for both statements. It is possible that the office of Chorepiscopus was one that could and generally was held by a priest, although some of them may have been also ordained bishop, just as the provost of a chapter or rector of a church with us may be a bishop.[1] Chorepiscopi still exist in all the Eastern Churches. Among the Uniates I believe they never have bishops' orders. The Orthodox Chorepiscopus is generally bishop of a titular see, and then Chorepiscopus of some place within the real diocese. Thus Germanos Karavangelis, before he became Metropolitan of Kastoria, was bishop of some titular place (I forget what it was called) and Chorepiscopus of Pera. The secular clergy are educated at various seminaries and at the theological faculties of universities. The great seminary of the Byzantine Patriarchate is at Chalki, one of the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmora. It was founded in 1844, and last summer had eighty-three students.[2] There are other seminaries at Cæsarea in Cappadocia, Janina, and Patmos. Alexandria has no seminary. Meletios of Antioch has just founded one at Balamand (near Tripolis in Syria), Jerusalem has two—the Holy Cross College for Greeks, just outside the city, and the college of the three Hierarchs[3] inside, for Arabs. Russia has a famous "Spiritual Academy" at Petersburg,[4] besides many other seminaries. The Rizarion at Athens is a large college of the same kind, and there were others at Syros,

  1. Cf. F. Gillmann: Das Institut der Chorbischofe im Orient, Munich, 1903.
  2. For a description of this seminary see E. d'Or. viii. pp. 353–361, and Gelzer, Geistl. u. Weltl. pp. 46–48.
  3. The three Hierarchs are SS. Basil, Gregory of Nazianz, and John Chrysostom.
  4. W. Palmer visited it in 1840. See his Visit to the Russian Church, pp. 299–305.