POLAND
342 POLAND, JEWISH MISSION IN
I ibe restrict lone
I . • were ol short con tin n-
iven from hi* throne by Peter,
: :; at i. nod Augustus ll ngaiu r» Btored to his
■ mo — . which were ouly
i by the mediatl f Peter th
,•. In lTir,, Intowbicb the Romau-
il influence to g i ted to the
: 'Thai all the Protestant churches which
li id been bnill Bii I m ilished, nod that
should hot be permitted, except in places
n churches prei lonely t" the obove-men-
me, t" have any pnblic or private meetings for
preaching or Binging. A breach of tble
i u.i- i.i be punished, for the rir-t time by a
i -• .n.l by Imprison i it, for the third by
1 ireign ministers were allowed t.> have
n iiuir dwelling?, bnl the natives who
were to be subjected to the ubove-meu-
n .1 penalties.'
•■ The terms of this treaty excited feelings of disconti nl and alarm, not only in the minds of 1 1 « « - Protestants, but iti ned portion of the Roman Catb- P In from all quarters against the
. Hui all remonstrance was vaiu; the Roman- ia jute the Protestants with invet- r. in gome cases even to blood. The Protes- tant powers of Europe from lime to lime made represen- tations in favor of the Polish Protestants; bnt, instead of alleviating their persecutions, these remoustri i their severity. In 1783 an acl was p them from the general diet, and from all pnblic
i lug at the same time their pe
ml their property inviolable, and that they might
bold military rank and occupy the crown-lands.
" 1 > 1 1 r i i > l_' ill*- reign of Augustus 111, which lasted from
:.|. the condition <>f the Polish Protestants was
ing of relief from
ley threw themselves under the
in of foreign powers, by whose interference they
Imitted, in 1787, t mal tights with the Roman
This was followed by tie' abolition of the
Order of Jesuits in 1 77::. Augustus had throughont his
nd in a Btate ..!' Bubserviency to Russia,
and that power p ced bis bo i ss »i I'oni itowski on the
... lis Ine ii. emp essof Russia, obtained
-i ■•: ;ii.' Polish l.' issiaii p o\ -. part nl' the
ml s ol the United < Ireek Church,
and part j.ii 1 the Russian Church. Even the most
! n\ er in course of time,
he 8 I ol P ilotsk, In IS39, the higher clergy
of Lithuania and Whin- Russia declared the readiness
of their , Rnsso-Greek Church, and, ac-
Grei k», to the uumber
! I. ii i. into the M nscoi ite branch
stern Church on their solemn disavowal of the
I . and declaration of their belief in the
ll. idshlp ..r Chris: ,,vci- his Church."
The nnfortnnnte determination of pope Pins IX" to force
the infallibility dogma on the Church of Rome has had
insequences to papal Christianity iii Kus-
tl of 1^7-t the czar's government
'■■ the uuion with the Russian
of all Polish Christians imt Protectant. Several
id confirmed to the United Greeks the privileges
of the use of the vernacular tongue and the marriage of
Ritualistic
me of ill ergy, tending to assimilation
to Rome, and the dispntes engendered bj the changes had
frequently been referred to the Vatican. When the ency-
ne to the laity, only two waj - seemed to lie open
to ii newi ir lers or openly defy them.
i the decision was prompt, and one sixth of the
ipul itlon of the government deti [■mined to ask
ii..- •• \\ bite Czar" to admil them into his Church. Though
'i priests in no i the movement
b ' ' ikeu ......t v joined their Murks
rnmenl t...>k no notice of the first petition Bent : that the movement was pcrfi nr ttnthorized the govi
the Ritf ii Church; I, the public ceremonj
• d in the town of Sedletz The flrsl . to which the archbishop • i'Ii all the convert pi ■ I i
s 1 idon T », under
lovement is hortly lead
Suvalki.nnd ralthofthe ii at only the move-
■
in,- to tie i; • from this wholi
i religions community, half Roman Catholic and half Greek, caunot well be overrated. Not only are ts ol Russian blood brought within the national Church, bill a iiumbei "f Pole!
: u the sweeping change of creed, a way iprehensivc con- quest in I In Wii the Ku->ian irovern- in.-!,:, reeling that the Papists were intriguing against the union movement, occasionally interfered by force for the transition of whole congregations from Koine. In con- ilof the Bishops and priests were brought into rebellious conditions to the czar's government.
utly a concordat has I n signed between the
./.rand the 'pope, whi.b re-ton- full diocesan authority to the bishops, together with the righl to direct corre- spondence with Koine Th.- ukase of 1868 is abolished, and appeal- of the bishops will henceforth be transmitted to Rome through the metropolitan of Warsaw, instead of being sent to the synod at St. Petersburg. »>n the other hand, the pope acknowledges the legal status of the St. I g Synod, which i- to form the council of a Cath- olic primate residing in the Rnssian capital.