The Greeks were eminent for their appreciation of beauty in all its varieties ; indeed, their religious creed owed its shape mainlj' to this peculiaritj' of their mind, for their logical acuteness was not exercised on such subjects until quite a later period. The puerile or in- decent fables of the old mythology may seem to a mod- ern reader to have been the very soul of their religion ; but to the Greek himself these were a mere accident, or a vehicle for some embodiment of beauty. What- ever the other varieties of Greek religious ceremonies, no violent or frenzied exhibitions arose out of the na- tional mind ; but all such orgies (as they were called) were imported from the East, and had much difficulty in establishing themselves on Greek soil. At quite a late period tlie managers of orgies were evidently re- garded as mere jugglers of not a very reputable kind (see Demosthenes, De Corona, § 79, p. 313) ; nor do the Greek states, as such, appear to have patronized them. On the contrary, the solemn religious processions, the sacred games and dances, formed a serious item in the public expenditure ; and to be permanentl}' exiled from such spectacles would have been a moral death to the Greeks, Wherever they settled they introduced their
GREECE, KINGDOM OF
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GREEK
native institutions, and reared temples, gymnasia, baths, porticoes, sepulchres, of characteristic simple elegance. The morality and the religion of such a people naturally were alike suiicrlicial ; nor did the two stand in any close union. Bloody and cruel rites could find no place in their creed, because faith was not earnest enough to endure much self-abandonment, lleligion was with them a sentiment and a taste ratiier than a deep-seated conviction. On the loss of beloved relatives they felt a tender and natural sorrow, but imcloutled with a shade of anxiety concerning a future life. Through the whole of their later history, during Christian times, it is evident that thej' had little power of remorse, and little natural firmness of conscientious principle ; and, in fact, at an earlier and critical time, wlien tiie intellect of the nation was ripening, an atro- cious civil war, that lasted for twenty-seven years, in- riicted a political and social demoralization, from the effects of which they could never recover. Besides this, their very admiration of beauty, coupled with the degraded state of the female intellect, proved a fright- ful source of corruption, such as no philosophj' could have adequately checlied. — Kitto, s. v. (Works ex- pressl}' on Grecian mytholog}' have been written by Le Clerc, 1787; Kaniie, 1S05 ; Limmer, 1806; Hug, 1812; Volcker, 1824; Buttmann, 1828 ; Studer, 1830; Krische, 1810 ; Stuhr, 1838 ; Limburg-Brouwer, 1833.) See Greek.
Greece, Kingdom of, a country in south-east- ern Europe, established in 1832 by a successful rising of the people against the rule of the Turks, to whicli they had been subject since the fall of the Byzantine empire. The kingdom was enlarged in 1863 bj' the annexation of the Ionian Islands, which until then had been subject to the sovereignt}' of Great Britain. The total area in 1869 amounted to l!},:i53 square miles, the total population in 1861 to 1,318,412, and in 1864 to about 1,400,000.
The great majority of the people of Greece belong to the Greek Church (q. v.), which is in Greece (since 1833) independent of the patriarch of Constantinople, and constitutes a national Church, which the patriarch recognised in 1850 by the so-called Tomos. The su- preme management of ecclesiastical affairs is in the hands of a Hoh' Sj'nod, consisting of five bishops and an officer of the government. At the beginning of the revolution the higher clergj' consisted of 20 me- tropolitans, 2 arcldjishops, and 19 bishops; in 1869 there were 11 archliishops, 4 metropolitans, and 16 bishops. The numlier of male monasteries was, on the advent of the regency which was estaldished after the expulsion of the Turks, about 400, and the numlier of nunneries from 30 to 40, together with about 800 inmates ; in 1869 there were 128 monasteries of monks and 4 nun- neries, the former with 1500, the latter with 150 inhab- itants. Tliere are al)out 2905 parish churches, with 3200 priests. The secular clergy and the monks are generally but little educated, but enjoy, nevertheless, great respect among the people, the majorit}' of whom are firmly attached to their Church. For the ortho- dox Greek Church there are 4 archbishops in Liva- dia (Chalcis and Eubcea, JEtoVia. and Acarnania, Phthi- otis, the metropolitan see of Athens, Megara and jEgi- na), with 4 bishops ; in the ]Morea, 6 archbishops (Argo- lis, Corinth, Patras and Elis, IMantinea and Cynuria, Messenia, Sparta and Monembasin) and 6 l)ishops; in the Archipelago, 1 archl)ishop (Syros and Tynos) and 3 liishops ; in the Ionian Islands, 4 metropolitans and 3 bishops. The Roman Catholics, who are mostly the descendants of families which immigrated at the time of the Crusades and during tlie rule of the Venetians, numl)er about 25,000, chiefly in the islands, and have two archbishops — at Naxos and Corfu — and 4 bishops. There are a few thousand IVIohammedans in Euf)Oea, and a few hundred Protestants ^and Jews in the com- mercial towns.
The labors of Protestant missionaries began in 1828,
and have ever since been carried on without intermis- sion. The American Board of Missions, the Episcopal Board, and Baptist Board were all concerned in the work. Tlie Episcopal Board began its operations in 1829, when it sent out Messrs. Kobertson and Hill. These gentlemen, in the outset, started out upon the conciliatory course, under the impression tliat the Greek Church would be freed from its evils by liberal education. On this account tiiey devoted tliemselves entirely to education, allowing a priest in their schools to teach the Greek Catechism. The American Board of Missions sent out the Rev. Dr. King in 1828, and he, too, opened schools for boys and girls at Athens, and also paid great attention to education, but only used it as a means to the preaching of the Gospel. In 1835 the representative of the American Board assisted in the esUiblishment of the first college in Greece which was started under government assistance. Soon after this three other missionaries arrived in Greece, who opened schools in the mountains. In 1841, suddenly, and without any apparent provocation, the Church party made war against missionarj' operations, and at- tempted to extinguish the Gospel light. These perse- cutions ended in the banishment of Dr. King from the country. This action became the means of introduc- ing tlie native element into the work. Dr. Kalopo- thakes, who had become acquainted with Protestant- ism in one of the schools of Dr. King, and who had subsequently spent four j^ears in the United States to prepare for missionarj' work in his country, started in Athens a religious newspaper, the Sta?- of the East. In 1864, when Dr. King (who had helped Dr. Kalopo- thakes in all his troubles) returned to America, the paper passed entireh' into the hands of Dr. Kalopo- thakes and his companion, a Mr. Constantine ; and when, in 1868, Dr. King again went to Greece, he found the paper prospering, and two regular Church serv- ices carried on cverj' Sabbath in Athens. In 1869, Dr. Kalopothakes and IMr. Constantine published a daily paper, a weekly paper, and a children's paper, and also a number of cheap religious books. One of the chief results of the Protestant mission has been the increased circulation of the Bible, which is proved by the fact that in 1859, when Dr. Kalopothakes first open- ed the Bil>le depot at Athens; he did not sell 100 copies of the Kew Testament, whereas in 1868 he disposed of 3000.