Superior about this Patriarch: "Far from opposing the conversion of the Greek schismatics, his flock, he favoured, as much as he could, their return to the Roman Church. He admitted that he was displeased with the Greeks of Constantinople for having separated themselves from her."[1] Still, for a time, he had not the courage to proclaim union with Rome. The Patriarch of Alexandria had done so (p. 196): Cyril would have liked, had he dared, to follow this example.[2] Yet he was so well known as a favourer of the Latins, that the Turks, always afraid of relations with the West, put him in prison in 1707. As soon as he came out he received a most cordial letter from Pope Clement XI (1700-1721), encouraging him to proclaim his Catholic sentiments aloud. He received this letter with all respect, summoned a synod, and proclaimed the decrees of Florence. With him several other bishops made their submission to Rome, notably the Metropolitan of Beirut and Euthymios of Tyre.[3] Cyril V wrote a book in favour of reunion. He died in 1720, and was succeeded by his old rival Athanasius IV (Dabbās, 1720-1724). Athanasius, too, had already taken steps in favour of reunion. The movement seems at this time to have gained nearly the whole Patriarchate. But his opposition to Cyril drove him into the other camp.[4] For a time, at least, he persecuted the Catholic party, and imprisoned its leaders, including Euthymios of Tyre. It is disputed whether he died a Catholic or not. His successor, Cyril VI, finally and definitely brought this line back to union with the Pope; then the schismatical party set up a rival one.
In Egypt we see the same state of things. The Alexandrine Patriarchate was never excommunicated by the Pope. At first the quarrel of Cerularius was no affair of the Egyptians. Then, certainly, the Orthodox of Egypt slipped into schism, through the fact that they maintained communion with Constantinople. But here, too, it seems to have been a gradual and almost unconscious process. Then in Egypt, as in Syria, there are an astonishing number of cases of Patriarchs in union with Rome since the eleventh century. In Egypt, too, Catholics
- ↑ P. Nacchi, S.J., "Lettres édifiantes et curieuses; Mémoires du Levant" (in Bousquet, "Les actes des Apôtres modernes," Paris, 1852, tom. i, 182-183).
- ↑ Bousquet, i, 183.
- ↑ Antoine Nacchi, S.J., to M. A. Tamburini, General, S.J. (Bousquet, op. cit., i, 183-184).
- ↑ Athanasius IV was present at a synod at Constantinople against the Catholic movement, in 1722.
