The political census of 1895 was destroyed in the war of 1897. The former one of 1889 counted 2,172,-148 Orthodox Greeks out of a total population of 2,217,000. Though this number is certainly very much exaggerated (the Catholics alone claim more than the difference between the two figures), the Orthodox are the overwhelming majority. Their Church does much, according to its own ideas, for the better instruction and moral improvement of the laity. In 1875, the professors of the theological faculty at Athens formed a society called the "Brotherhood of the Friends of Christ" ((
Greek characters)) for this purpose. Other societies of the same kind are the "Society of St. Paul", "The Holy Union" ((Greek characters)) and "The Reform" ((Greek characters)). They publish popular works of religious instruction, prayerbooks, and cheap editions of the Liturgy in great numbers, books of controversy, religious newspapers; and they hold meetings with free lectures and instructions. Almost every publisher in Greece (where every bookseller is a publisher) produces such little books of religious knowledge, accounts of Church History, anti-Roman controversy, and so on. And every Greek has read some little pamphlet of 32 pages against the pope or the Bulgars, so as to garnish his conversation with very loose references to the Byzantine Empire, Photius, and Pope Joan. One of the best popular compendiums is Nicholas Ch. Ambrazes: (Greek characters) (constantly reprinted, e. g., Athens, 1906, etc.). Demetrios S. Balanos ((Greek characters)), (Greek characters); (Athens. 1907), in the series "Useful Books", gives a good popular account of the Liturgy and Church Service generally.
Among the almost infinite number of Greek newspapers a great number are religious periodicals. The "Reform" society publishes a monthly with the same title: (Greek characters) (edited by M. Galanos). Some of the best known are the (Greek characters), etc.
For the more prominent theologians and writers of the Greek Church since its foundation see Kyriakos, op. cit., III, §§$51, 52. The most important are the conservative Oikonomos (d. 1857) and the Liberal Theoklitos Pharmakides (d. 1860).
V. The Catholic Church in Greece.—With the exception of a very few scattered Uniat congregations, all Catholics in Greece are Latins. This is explained partly historically and also by the strictly legal position. After the Great Schism the first restoration of the Catholic Faith was made by the crusaders, the Frankish princes who ruled as their successors, and Venice. None of these authorities cared at all about the Byzantine Church or its rights. Wherever their power extended they set up Latin bishops, just as at home, and tried to persuade the people to turn Latin by harassing disabilities that often became real persecution. Whatever native Catholic communities now exist are the successors of those set up by the Franks and Venetians. They are strengthened by foreigners (French and Italian merchants, etc.) who are naturally Latins too. The legal justification of what seems an anomalous situation is that Greece is part of Illyricum, and Illyricum, according to the ancient right never abandoned by the popes, belongs to the Roman patriarchate. According to the general (but by no means quite universal) principle, that rite follows patriarchate, all Greeks should be not only Catholics but also Latins. On the other hand, there is no doubt that this circumstance is a great hindrance to the conversion of Greece. It would be much easier to persuade Greeks simply to return to the old allegiance of the first see, as Uniats have done elsewhere, than to make them go through so radical an upsetting of their lives as is involved in turning Latin. Throughout the East people are abnormally attached to their rites, the obvious visible things that they see mean more to them than remote questions of jurisdiction and the actual names that may occur (whether pope, or patriarch, or synod) in the intercessory prayers. The foreign character of all Catholic missions in Greece is the great difficulty always; the authorities of these missions are nearly always not only Latins but foreigners—Italians. Undoubtedly the institution of a native Uniat hierarchy using the Byzantine Rite would be the first step towards converting Greece. Nor is the technical objection a really serious one. The Italo-Greeks show that people can use the Byzantine Rite in the Roman patriarchate. Or why not waive the whole question of Illyricum, as Rome eventually waived her objection to the rank of Constantinople, and set up a Uniat Byzantine Patriarch of Constantinople with jurisdiction all over the Balkans and Asia Minor? It was said that Leo XIII contemplated such a step before he died. The first great revival of Catholicity in the Levant was after the Fourth Crusade (1204). It is well known that the crusaders established not only a Latin emperor but a Latin patriarch and Latin bishops all over their empire. When the legitimate line of emperors took the city back (1261) the Latin patriarch fled. But the Latin bishops went on under the protection of the Frankish States that lasted till the Turkish conquest. A complete and most satisfactory history of these Frankish States has now been written by Mr. William Miller (The Latins in the Levant, London, 1908). A mere glance at the maps of this volume will show the fluctuations of the various little principalities. In 1214 (p. 81) there were a principality of Achaia, a lordship of Athens, three baronies of Euboea, a duchy of the Archipelago and a county palatinate of Cephalonia. Venice held Modon in the Peloponnesus, and Chalcis in Euboea. By 1278 the Greeks have got back Euboea, Venice has Crete. In 1383 part of the Peloponnesus has returned to the emperor Venice has taken part of Euboea. In 1462 the Turks have nearly all the mainland, the pope holds Monembasia, Venice keeps Crete, all Eubœa (as a vassal state), and some islands of the Archipelago. In all these lands, then, there were Latin bishops; and parts of the population (notably in Syros and the Ionian Isles) had become Latin. Innocent III (1198-1216) established a Latin Archbishopric of Athens with eleven suffragan sees. Of these, three—Andros, Chios and Syros—remained, the others soon become titular sees. Till 1834 Catholics in the Peloponnesus were subject to the Bishop of Zante, all others to the patriarchal vicar at Constantinople. Gregory XVI, in 1834, established Aloysius M. Blancis, Bishop of Syros, as "Apostolic Delegate for the Kingdom of Greece". He had jurisdiction over all the kingdom, including the parts of Thessaly added in 1882. The Turks gave the same toleration to the "Latin Nation" as to the "Roman [Orthodox] Nation". Since the independence of Greece Latin missionaries, especially Jesuits and Sisters of Charity, have opened schools all over the kingdom. Corfu forms a kind of basis, since here the population is very considerably Italianized and Catholic. Other schools are at Athens, Syros, Tenos, Naxos, etc. In 1890 the Latin Bishop of Athens opened a secondary school for boys that has had a great influence. The Italian Government has also founded schools in many of the chief towns. In 1869 and 1870 there were violent debates in the Greek Parliament about these schools. Many members wanted to close them and forbid all Catholic schools in the kingdom. Eventually the Government insisted that an Orthodox catechist should be appointed in all schools where there are any Orthodox children.
There are a number of laws in Greece made to hamper the work of Catholic missionaries. In 1830 the Parliament declared that the toleration granted to all religions does not involve allowing any damage to the state Church—a vague statement that opens the way
