GREECE
741
GREECE
by the Government as members from the hierarchy, in
turn, according to the dates of their consecrations.
They sit for one year, from the 1st of September, then
return to their dioceses. But the Government may
keep not more than two as members for a longer time.
If the president is prevented from attendmg, the
bishop next in seniority is to talce his place. All mem-
bers of the Synod must take an oath of fidelity to the
king at their appointment. Besides these five bishops,
the Synod is attended by a royal commissioner (a lay-
man appointed by Government). He has no vote, but
no act is valid unless he is present and signs the docu-
ment. The Synod has two secretaries, two writers,
and a servant, all appointed by Government. The
secretaries and writers are clerks in Holy Orders. All
affairs of the Synod with foreign Churches are con-
trolled by the Government's Minister for Foreign
Affairs. In questions that are not purely religious
(ecclesiastical seminaries, marriage, divorce, etc.) the
consent of the Government is required. The Presi-
dent of the Synod receives 3600 drachmai ($720), the
other bishops 2400 drachmai ($-180) yearly, besides
their episcopal salaries. The first secretary has 4800
ilrachniai, the second 2880 drachmai a year, the first
writer 120 drachmai a month, the second 90 tlrachniai
a month. The royal commissioner receives 6000
ilrachmai a year. The acts of the Synod are sealed
with its official seal bearing a cross (practically the
arms of the kingdom: Azure a cross couped argent)
and the inscription: ' Ay ta Si/toSos ttjs iKK\ricrlas'E\\a.dos.
Its jurisdiction is described as extending over ques-
tions of faith (only, of course, in the sense of preserv-
ing the Orthodox Faith of the Seven Councils), rites
and canon law, religious instruction, duties of clerks
in Holy orders, ecclesiastical discipline, examinations
for ordination, consecration of churches, celebration
of feasts and services. The Synod can appeal to the
Government to put down heretics and refractory
clergy (there have been cases of imprisonment for
heresy among the Orthodox clergy), and dangerous
books against faith or morals. Other matters, such as
public processions, building of seminaries, extraordi-
nary feasts on weekdays (involving public holidays),
and all the points mentioned above that are described
as "mixed" ^ecclesiastical and political), must be ar-
ranged by the united action of the Synod and Govern-
ment. In all services in the kingdom the Holy Synod
is prayed for after the king and queen (instead of the
patriarch). But when the Metropolitan of Athens
celebrates in Synod, all the patriarchs are prayed for.
The royal commissioner is of course an imitation of the
Russian " Procurator of the Holy Synod ' '. The man-
ner of appointing members to the Synod, the need of
the Commissioner's signature for its acts, its depend-
ence on the Government generally, as well as the way
of appointing bishops and deciding all really import-
ant matters, show that, in spite of Diomedes Kyriakos's
indignant protest ('EkkX. ItrTopla, III, 155-15G), the
Greek Church is quite hopelessly Erastian.
Bishops are appointed by the king (advised, of course, by his ministers). The Synod presents three names, of which he chooses one. A bishop must be thirty-five years old, a doctor of theology, and must have taught theology or preached for some time. Before consecration he takes an oath of obedience (and of his episcopal duties) to the Synod, after it an oath of allegiance to the king. He can only be de- posed by the Synod with the royal consent. The Metropolitan of Athens receives an income of 6000 drachmai ($1200), all other bishops 4000 drachmai. Besides this there are various stole-fees (see sub-title Altarage, Vol. I, p. 359). Each bishop has a curia of eight members, namely, his oikonomos (who is re- sponsible for property and financial questions), sakell- arios (who looks after the monasteries), chartophi/lax (to take care of archives), protekdikos (lawyer), skeuo- phylax (Sacristan), sakellion (responsible for the man-
ners of the clergy), hypomnemalographos (sccretaiy),
and hkrnmcmtwn (master of ceremonies). These
persons, who are all priests, form an advising council.
All are paid by Government. Wlien a see is vacant
the Holy Synod recommends, and the State appoints,
one of them to administer the diocese (vicar capitular;
till the successor is appointed. A bishop who has
resigned from old age or infirmity receives a pension
of 200 drachmai a month. Parishes are divided of-
ficially into those of cities, small towns, and villages.
Each group of from 25 to 70 families makes up a vil-
lage parish, towns of 151 to 200 families form a parish
of the second class, and those of 301 to 1000 families
one of the first class. Parishes of the first and second
class have at least one deacon and one parish priest.
Larger areas are subdivided. The people elect, and
the bishops appoint, the clergy. 'Die priests have
only their stole-fees as income, so th;il in tli< villages
they nearly always have a trade or krr\i an inn as well.
The last religious census, made in IS'JT, is jiublished by
Kophiniotos ('H 'E/tKXjjfffa ^i- 'EXXdSi, Athens, 1897).
At that time there were 4025 parishes, with 5423 mar-
ried and 242 unmarried priests. For their education
there are four elementary seminaries: at Athens, Tri-
polis, Corfu, and Larissa. These satisfy the not very
high demands of the village clergy, and 4116 priests
had received only this amount of education, according
to the census of 1897. A smattering of classical Greek,
a little general education, knowledge of the catechism
(it can hardly be called theology), and enough litur-
gical knowletlge to perform their functions is all that
any one expects of the village priests. They have no
books except their service-books and perhaps a New
Testament. What they read is one of the endless
number of newspapers, and what they care about is
the change of ministry and the wretched local politics
that excite the passionate interest of all Greeks.
In 1856 the Government estaljlished higher schools for the clergy at Syros, Chalcis and Tripolis, in 1875 a fourth was begun at Corfu. It appears that all these institutions came to an end for want of students (Kyriakos, op. cit.. Ill, §50). Still higher in the scale is the Athenian seminary called the Rhizarion (founded by the brothers Rhizares in 1S43) whose stu- dents attend lectures at the university besides those of their own institution. This is the only seminary that in any way comes up to our standard. Its stu- dents form the aristocracy of the clergy and become archimandrites, professors, and bishops.
There are a great many monasteries in Greece. In spite of the suppression, in 1833, of the small ones, SO remained. There are now 250, with 1322 choir monks and 545 lay brothers, also 9 convents, with 152 nuns and 68 novices (census of 1897). The head of each monastery is the archimandrite, or hcgumenos (ab- bot), elected by the monks and confirmed by the bishop of the diocese. He must be a priest-monk (Upoiibvaxos) . He is assisted by two counsellors, also elected by the community from among the monks who made their religious profession not less than six years ago. There is a new election of counsellors every five years. Over each convent an oikonomos is placed, a priest not less than si.xty years old, chosen by the Synod; he is the real superior of the convent, keeps its keys, and is responsible for its state. Under his presidency the nuns elect an abliess (rtyoviximaaa). .\\\ monasteries and convents have endowments con- trolled and administered by consent of the Synod and Government. Monasteries whose revenvies exceed 5000 drachmai a year have to spend part of it on the support of schools and preachers. Some monasteries are very rich. The first, the hiura of the Falling .\sleep of the Mother of God, at Pentelis, in the Diocese of Athens, has an income of 166,085 drachmai. A full list of monasteries and convents is given by Silber- nagl, "Verfassung u. gegenw. Bestand," 2nd ed., pp. 78-85.
