The Religions Of Modern Syria And Palestine

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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II THE CONSTITUTION OF THE EASTERN CHURCHES Introductory Note From the point of view of their origin, the Eastern churches fall under four categories. In the first is the Holy Orthodox or Greek Church, whose claim to be the most lineal representative of the primitive church may be conceded. In the second are the national churches, which arose during the fifth and sixth centuries in protest to the decisions of the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, and which are more or less tainted with the so-called heresies condemned by those councils. These are the Nestorian, Gregorian or Armenian, Coptic or Egyptian, Abyssinian, and Old Syrian or Jacobite Churches.1 In the third category are such portions of all the above-mentioned churches as have submitted to the authority of Rome, and are thus known as the Uniate, Uniat, orUnited bodies. These are governed by a local hierarchy under the control of the Papal See, but preserve almost intact the ritual, discipline, and customs of the churches from which they have severally seceded. These churches are the Greek Catholic Melchite Church, the Chaldean or United Nestorian Church, the Armenian Catholic, Coptic Catholic, Abyssinian Catholic, and Syrian Catholic Churches. In the fourth category the Maronite or the ancient national church of the Lebanon stands alone. Resembling the Uniate bodies in the terms of its submission to Rome, it differs from these in being the only example of a heretical national church that has thus submitted in its entirety. There are Gregorian Armenians and United Armenians, Copts and Coptic Catholics, and so forth through the list; there are no non- united Maronites.1 1 The Nestorian heresy of the two persons in Christ was condemned at the Council of Ephesus, 431 A. I). Its followers constituted the N...

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