unite the people, as so many states have tried to do, in one religion. The Doge might have his own disagreements with the Holy See; but he would not tolerate strange religions in his state.
But, in the case of the Greek colony at Venice itself, the policy of the Government was quite different. It appreciated the advantage of having these prosperous Greek merchants at the capital;[1] it wanted others to come. So it was careful to respect their religious convictions. Even when there were laws requiring that these Greeks, too, should be Catholics, the Government studiously winked at their non-observance. So we have the curious situation that, while the Council of Ten was persecuting the Orthodox in Dalmatia for not being Catholics, it ignored the repeated demand of the Pope that it should begin at home by converting these obstinate schismatics at its very gates. All of which shows how little religion had to do with the matter either way.
When the first Greek exiles from Constantinople arrived in Venice, in 1453, it was Cardinal Isidore of Kiev, then in the city, who arranged with the Government for their reception. They were given a chapel in the Church of St Blasius[2] for their rites. Here, in 1498, they set up a confraternity,[3] with the provision that no one should be a member of it who was not in union with the Holy See. They had not yet begun their movement towards schism. At first, indeed, the Greeks made a great parade of their union with Rome.[4] The Ten allowed them to build a church for themselves in 1511, and Leo X published a brief to this effect in 1514: The church was built between 1539 and 1592, and was dedicated to St George. It was not large, but elegant and well fitted for the Byzantine rite. It was served by two chaplains.[5] The Government ordered that
- ↑ Besides merchants the Greek colony consisted of fishermen and daring sailors. The Republic was able to form from it a company of soldiers in its pay, called Estradiote (στρατιῶται).
- ↑ San Biagio di Castello, near the Arsenal.
- ↑ Confraternity of St Nicholas of the Greeks. The Government insisted that it was not to have more than 250 members.
- ↑ In 1456 the Pope (Calixtus III, 1455-1458), writing in their favour to the Patriarch of Venice, says that they live "as Catholics under the obedience of the holy Roman Church." In 1511 they assure the Government that they are "true and Catholic Christians" (Pisani in the Rev. d'hist. et de lit. relig., i, 205). They knew of course, what such language meant at Venice.
- ↑ The second chaplain was not allowed till 1534. He was to be nominated by the Latin (Venetian) Bishop of Monembasia in the Peloponnesus.
