Empire, encouraged by the monks of Mount Athos, came into Greece in order to support the patriarch's claim of authority; but the Greek bishops would not yield to their persuasions.
In the year 1833 a national synod decreed that the orthodox apostolic Church of Greece, while it preserves the dogmatic unity of the Eastern orthodox Churches, is dependent on no external authority and spiritually owns no head but the Founder of the Christian faith. In external government, which belongs to the crown, it acknowledges the King of Greece as its supreme head. The Holy Synod consists of prelates appointed by the king, and a royal delegate attends its meetings and countersigns its decrees, having a veto on its proceedings. Since the patriarch ignored this decision two parties now arose, one supporting it, the other siding with Constantinople. At length, after much negotiation, in the year 1850 the patriarch and synod of Constantinople published a decretal of the Oriental Church recognising the independence of the Greek Church under certain restrictions, the terms of which were adopted two years later by the Greek Parliament. According to this decision, the rights of the Greek synod in home affairs are recognised, but the patriarch can interpose in matters that affect the whole Church. In the year 1863, Prince George, a Lutheran, having become King of Greece, it was enacted that "The orthodox Church of Greece, acknowledging for its Head the Lord Jesus Christ, is indissolubly united in doctrine with the Greek Church of Constantinople and with every other Church holding the same doctrines."
The patriarch of Constantinople is the spiritual head of the whole orthodox Church, and the secular head of the Greek Church in the Turkish dominions.[1] He has jurisdiction over the whole of European Turkey, part of Bulgaria, Rumelia, Asia Minor, the Ægean Islands, and Crete. During the years 1843 to 1845 there was a great
- ↑ See Silbernagl, Verfassung und gegenwärtiger Bestand sämtlicher Kirchen des Orients, p. 9.
