against the valid and free election of Cyril as Patriarch of Antioch."[1] This was after his enemies (for he had some among the Catholics too[2]) had presented every argument against him. In any case, the appointment of his rival was utterly invalid. Silvester of Cyprus was simply nominated by the Synod of Constantinople. Now there is nothing that the Orthodox of Syria, Egypt, and all parts outside Constantinople hold more firmly than that the Œcumenical Patriarch has no jurisdiction beyond his own Patriarchate. The modern Orthodox, who trace the line of their Patriarchs of Antioch through Silvester, cannot object to the proceeding of Cyril's election; because equally irregular elections have been the commonest thing in all their sees. Their real reason for rejecting him is not that, but the fact that he came into communion with the Pope. But, if that is an impediment, what becomes of all the Antiochene Patriarchs of the first centuries? They have also in their favour the shameful protection that Silvester sought and obtained from the Turkish Government. It is indeed surprising that Christian bishops should seek such an argument; but it has been the constant recourse of the Orthodox, ever since the Turk first held their lands. Silvester of Cyprus at Antioch is only one out of countless Orthodox bishops who have rested their claim to rule in the name of Christ on the approval of Mohammed.
Unless we admit such arguments as these, it seems impossible to deny that the present Orthodox line of Patriarchs of Antioch, coming through Silvester, is not historically the old line, but a new schism therefrom beginning with him. The old line of Antioch is in union with Rome since Cyril VI.
Fortified then by the protection of the Turks, by the recognition of Constantinople and Jerusalem, Silvester carried on a fierce persecution of the Uniates, to restore the Orthodoxy — that is, schism from Rome — which had been so endangered in the Patriarchate for the last century. Meanwhile Cyril VI sought refuge from him in the famous monastery of St Saviour (Dair al Mukhallis) in the Lebanon.[3] The Turks imprisoned Germanos, Metropolitan of Aleppo, a partizan of Cyril, also Euthymios Saifi of Tyre, and many Uniates at Damascus, Aleppo,[4] Tripoli, Sidon. The greater part of the clergy then
- ↑ Coll. Lacensis (Freiburg, 1876), tom. iv, col. 442 seq.
- ↑ See pp. 201-202.
- ↑ For this monastery, see pp. 205-206.
- ↑ Aleppo has always been so great a centre of Melkites that, to this day, among the Greek-speaking Orthodox (for instance, at Constantinople), all Melkites are commonly called Χαλεπίδες.
