As to Indian
Bishops.

Definition.

Greek church.

Letter com

mendatory of Bishop of Gibraltar.

dispense, if he think fit, with the oath of due obedience to the archbishop."

Sect. 13. "Nothing contained in" 53 Geo. 3, c. 155, or in 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 85, "or in any letters patent issued as mentioned in the said acts, or either of them, shall prevent any person who shall be or shall have been bishop of any diocese in India from performing episcopal functions, not extending to the exercise of jurisdiction, in any diocese or reputed diocese at the request of the bishop thereof (»)."

Sect. 14. "In this act the word 'bishop' shall, when not inconsistent with the context, include archbishop; the words 'bishop' and archbishop,' in the matters of 'permission' and 'consent,' and of consent and licence,' shall include the lawful commissary of a bishop or an archbishop; the word 'England' shall include the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands; and the term 'church or chapel' shall mean church or chapel subject to the ecclesiastical law of the Church of England."

The relations of the church of England with the orthodox Greek Church, formerly injured by the rash conduct of the nonjurors (o), have of late years been much strengthened (p).

It has been seen, that when the bishopric of Jerusalem was founded it was carefully expressed by the authorities of the church that there was no intention of encroaching upon the rights, or injuring the position of the Greek church (9). A letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury was sent to the patriarch explanatory of the limited powers conferred on the English bishop.

In 1868, the Archbishop of Canterbury furnished the Bishop of Gibraltar with a letter commendatory or systatical, written in Greek, to the Greek patriarch, who received it and the bishop with courtesy. The letter is rightly translated as follows:

"In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy

Ghost. Amen.

"To the most holy and blessed patriarch of Constantinople, new Rome, and to the most holy metropolitans, archbishops and bishops of the Orthodox Eastern Church, and to the holy synod of Greece, Charles Thomas, by divine providence Archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England and metropolitan, sendeth greeting in the Lord:

"We make known unto you, brethren beloved in Christ, by these letters, that we have elected, confirmed and consecrated as bishop of the holy catholic and apostolic church, planted in England, Charles Amyand Harris, our honoured and wellbeloved brother, approved in orthodoxy of faith and gravity of life; whom also we have sent to the East, that he being established in the episcopal seat of the ancient Calpe, now Gibraltar,

(n) Vide supra, pp. 1794, 1797.
(o) See Lathbury, History of the
Non-Jurors; Williams, The Ortho-

dox Church in the East.

(p) Vide supra, p. 3.
(1) Vide supra, p. 1809.

an English Colony in the Mediterranean Sea, may be overseer and shepherd of the subjects of the British sceptre who are scattered throughout the regions of the East; and that he may pay to your Blessedness due respect and courtesy.

"Most willingly therefore we commend unto you, revered and beloved in the Lord, this our brother; and earnestly do we entreat you to receive him with kindness and to assist him whensoever he shall have need of you, for such are his deserts. We salute you in the Lord. Amen.

"Given in our palace at Lambeth, and sealed with an archiepiscopal seal, the 21st day of the month of July, in the year of our redemption 1868."

Tenos.

In 1870, the Archbishop of Syra and Tenos, who came to Archbishop England for the purpose of consecrating a Greek church, was of Syra and very cordially received by the authorities of the English church, and attended the consecration of some English bishops ().

Some difficulties, however, still prevent a perfect union of the

English with the Greek or Eastern church.

The position of the church of Rome, on the other hand, Church of towards the English Church was, when the first edition of this Rome. work was written, extremely hostile. Sir Robert Phillimore wrote that the revived extravagances of the Ultramontanist and Jesuit party, their present influence over the councils of the papacy, and the novel doctrines which they have promulgated, had naturally widened the distance which separates the Roman from the Greek and Anglican churches (s); and that the curia of Rome in fact still continued the disunion of Christendom which it first created. In the year 1895, however, there are hopes of a better state of things.

In connection with this subject should be mentioned the 34 & 35 Vict. statute 34 & 35 Vict. c. 53, passed in 1871, and entitled "An c. 53. Act to repeal an Act for preventing the Assumption of certain Ecclesiastical Titles in respect of Places in the United Kingdom."

The preamble, enunciating as it does a principle of constitutional law, and at the same time tempering the practical application of it by a wise and liberal policy, is very important. It recites as follows: "Whereas by an act passed in the session of parliament held in the fourteenth and fifteenth year of the reign of her Majesty, chapter sixty, intituled 'An Act to prevent the Assumption of certain Ecclesiastical Titles in respect of Places in the United Kingdom,' certain enactments were made prohibiting under penalties the assumption of the title of archbishop or bishop of a pretended province or diocese, or archbishop or bishop of a city, place, or territory, or dean of any pretended deanery in England or Ireland, not being the

(r) Phill. Intern. Law, Vol. II., Part VIII., Chap. XI. and App. XI.

(8) Vide supra, pp. 2, 3.

14 & 15 Vict. c. 60, repealed.

Admission of converts.

see, province, or diocese of an archbishop or bishop or deanery of any dean recognized by law:

"And whereas no ecclesiastical title of honour or dignity derived from any see, province, diocese, or deanery recognized by law, or from any city, town, place, or territory within this realm, can be validly created, nor can any such see, province, diocese, or deanery be validly created, nor can any pre-eminence or coercive power be conferred otherwise than under the authority and by the favour of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, and according to the laws of this realm; but it is not expedient to impose penalties upon those ministers of religion who may, as among the members of the several religious bodies to which they respectively belong, be designated by distinctions regarded as titles of office, although such designation may be connected with the name of some town or place within the realm."

After this preamble, the statute proceeds to enact that, Sect. 1. "The said act of the session of parliament held in the fourteenth and fifteenth years of the reign of her Majesty, chapter sixty, shall be and the same is hereby repealed: Provided that such repeal shall not nor shall anything in this act contained be deemed in any way to authorize or sanction the conferring or attempting to confer any rank, title, or precedence, authority, or jurisdiction on or over any subject of this realm by any person or persons in or out of this realm, other than the Sovereign thereof."

Among the documents prepared by convocation, but never formally promulgated, was a form for admitting converts from the Roman church or from "the separation" to the English church. It is a document of weight and interest. It appears to have been drawn up by Archbishop Wake in 1714 (r). It is to be found at length in Wilkins' Concilia (s).

The Irish Prayer Book (referred to at p. 467, note (y), supra), has "a form for receiving lapsed protestants or reconciling converted papists to our church" (t).

FINIS.

(r) Lathbury, History of the Convocation of the Church of England, p. 426.

(8) Wilkins, Concilia, vol. iv. pp. 660-662. The form in Wilkins is headed "A form for admitting converts from the Church of Rome; and such as shall re

nounce their errors."

(t) A form of penance and reconciliation of a renegado or apostate from the Christian church to "Turcism" (Reg. Laud. fol. 240 a) will be found in Wilkins, Concilia, vol. iv. at pp. 522–524.

INDEX.