III. Conx'itution and Statistics. — The constitution of the Greek Church is, in many respects, similar to that of the Roman Catholic Church. They reject the claims of the pope to a supremacy over the whole Church, and are only willing to recognise him as the patriarch of one great section of the Church. The higher clergy j (Archiereis) are the patriarchs, archbishops, and l)isli- ops, who have to live in celibacy ; the lower clergy are divided into the regular clergy (monks ; also called, from the color of their dress, the black clergy') and the secular clergy (also called, in opposition to the regu- lars, the while clergy, although their dress is, in fact, often of a brown, violet, or other color).
In point of ecclesiastical organization, the Greek Church consisted in 1869 of eleven groups, which were more or less independent of each other, namely, 1. The patriarchate of Jerusalem, which has 13 sees (metropo- litan and 1 archiepiscopal). 2. The patriarchate of Antioch, with 6 metropolitan sees. 8. The patriar- chate of Alexandria : it has 4 metropolitan sees. 4. The patriarchate of Constantinople, which has 135 sees (90 metropolitan and 4 archiepiscopal). 5. The jia- triarchate of Russia, which has 65 sees (5 metropoli- tan, 25 archiepiscopal). 6. Cyprus, 4 sees (of which 1 is archiepiscopal). 7. Austria, 11 sees (2 metropoli- tan). 8. Mount Sinai, 1 see. 9. Montenegro, 1 metro- politan see. 10. Greece, 31 sees (the archbishop of Athens is ex officio president of the Holy Synod). 11. Rumania, 4 bishops in Wallachia and 3 in Moldavia. The people of Servia and those of Bulgaria desire for their bishops a similar independence of Constantinople.
The statistics of the Greek Church, reported in 18G7, were as follows :
Russia (in Europe, 51,000,000 ; Siberia, 2,000,000 ; Caucasus [total population, 4,257,000] not report- ed); total about 55,000,000
Turkey (inclusive of the dependencies in Europe
and Egypt), about 11,500,000
A ustria 2,021,000
Greece (inclusive of Ionian Islands) 1,220,000
United St(ite.t of Aiiierica (chietiy In the territory
purchased in 1S6T from Kussia) 50,00f>
Prnssia .- I,5'i0
Chitia 200
Total 6y,GU2,700
For fuller information on the several branches of the Church, see tha articles Russia ; Turkey ; Greece ; Austria.
See Herzog, Real-Encylclopadie, v, 368 ; Le Quien, Oriens Christianus (Paris, 1740, 3 vols.); Heineccius
GREEK CHURCH, UNITED 986
GREEK LANGUAGE
Abhildung der (iltcn nnd neven (/riech. Kirche (Loipsic, 1711) ; Kicaut, Hid. dc I'ltul present de I'eglise grecnue et de Vegllse arnieidenne (Mittelli. 1()1>2) ; Schmitt, Ge- schichle der nengrieck. uiul der russiMhin Kirche (Meiitz, 1840) ; Strahl, Geschlchte d. russ. Kirche (Halle, 18^0) ; Wiiiuiier, Die griech. Kirche in Biissland {Lcips. 18-18) ; Pichler, Gcschichte der kirchl. Trennung zicischen deni Orient unddein Occident vim den <rsten Anfdngen bis zur jiliigsten Gegenwart (Munich, 18G1-8, 2 vols.), and Die oriental. KircJuvfrage (^lunich, 18C2) ; Stanley, The Eastern Church (Lond. 1867); King, The Rites of the Greek Church in Russia (Lond. 1722) ; Stoiirdza, Con- siderati'ms mr la doctrine et V esprit de I'egHse orthodoxe (Weimar, 181 6) ; IMouraviet, Briefe iiher denGottesdienst der Morgenldnd Kirche (Germ, transl. by Muralt, Lpz. 1838) ; Dolgorukof, La verite siir la Russie (Par. 1860) ; The Black and the White Clergy in Russia (in the Rus- sian language, Lpz. 1867 ; extracts in Preitssische Jahr- bi'tcher, Sept. and Oct. 1867); Ffoulkes, Christendom's Divisions (London, 1867, 2 vols.) ; U Kglise Orthodoxe d' Orient (Athens, 1853) ; Neale, Hist, of the Holy Eastern Church (London, 1857 sq.) ; Stud. u. Krit. 1864, i. ; Am. Presb. Rev. Oct. 1868, and Jan. 1869; Wesleyan M. Mag. July, 1855 ; Christ. Rememb. 1861 ; Princeton Rep. Oct. 1866; 3fetk. Quart. Rev. July, 1867; Journal Sacred Lit. xxi; Z?z6/. .5</ora, Oct. 1864 ; ^chem, American Eccles. Almanac for 1869 (N. Y. 1869). (A. J. S.)
Greek Church, United. This is the name of those Christians who, while following the Greek rite, observing the general discipline of the Greek Church, and making use of the Greek liturg}', are yet united with the Church of Rome, admitting the double pro- cession of the Spirit and the supremacy of the Roman pontiff, and accepting all the doctrinal decisions subse- quent to the Greek schism which have force as articles of faith in the Eoman Church. Thej^ have been al- lowed I)}- the popo the same law of celibacy as among the other Greeks: They are also permitted to admin- ister communion under both kinds. The United Greeks are found cliiefly in Southern Italy, in the Austrian do- minion, in Poland, in the Russian empire, and in Tur- key'. In Italy they are computed at 80,000; in Aus- tria at about 4,000,000 ; and in Poland about 250,000. In Russia it is difficult to ascertain what their number is. As regards nationalities in Austria, the}' are di- vided into Rumanians and Ruthenians — the former being settled in Wallachia, Transylvania, and Eastern Hungary, the latter in Little Russia, Galicia, and North-eastern Hungary. The union of the Greek Christians of Wallachia and Transylvania dates from th3 end of the r2th centurj'. The union of the Gali- cian Greeks or Ruthenians is of much later date, aljout the close of the 17th century. The United Greeks, in 1868, had in Austria two archbishops, one for the Ru- manian rite at Fogaras (with suffragan bishops at Sza- mos-Ujvar, Gran AVardein, and Lagos), and one for the Ruthenian rite at Lemberg (with bishops at Premizl, Kreuz, Eperies, and Mankacz). In Russia there is one bishop at Chelm. In European Turkey there is one bishop in Bulgaria ; a patriarch in Antioch ; three archbishops at Damascus, Emesa, and T3're, and bish- ops at Aleppo, Beyroot, Bosra, Balbeck, Farzul, Jeru- salem, Hauran, and Sidon. See Annuario Podifido for 1869. (A. J. S.)