Orthodox. Arianism was for a long time the religion of various barbarous races (the Goths, for instance), but it died out many centuries ago. There is now no Arian Church. The Pelagian heresy never formed an organized Church. Manichæism made communities which afterwards disappeared. It is one side of a very great movement that produced all manner of curious sects in East and West till far into the Middle Ages—Bogomils, Paulicians, Albigensians, Bonshommes, and so on. All these too have practically disappeared, though in the West (Bohemia) the last remnant of this movement may have had something to do with the beginning of the Reformation. In the East, the Paulicians and Bogomils had a rather important history. But they too disappeared.[1] Monotheletism formed a Church which has long returned to the Catholic faith, and is now the one example of an entirely Uniate body, having no schismatical counterpart.
So all existing separated Eastern Churches, other than the Orthodox, are either Nestorian or Monophysite. So far the situation is simple. Now enters another factor of enormous importance, at any rate to Catholics. At various times certain members, sometimes bishops and Patriarchs, of these three main classes of Eastern Churches (Orthodox, Nestorians, Monophysites) have repented of their state of schism from the Roman See and have come back to reunion. These are the Uniates, who will be discussed in a future volume.
All the people of this volume are heretics[2] and schismatics. These are harsh words, which one uses unwillingly of pious and God-fearing Christians. But we must be clear on this point. It is, of course, true inevitably from the Catholic point of view. And they too, equally logically from their point of view, say that we are heretics and schismatics. Indeed, we are a very bad kind of heretic. We are Creed-tamperers, Papolaters, gross disturbers of the peace by our shameless way of sending missionaries who compass the land and the sea to make one proselyte. We understand all that, and like them the better for being consistent. But
