No religious schools then existed: the ecclesiastics received their elementary education in the Ottoman establishments, and were subsequently sent to the colleges of Germany or Italy to complete their studies. It was only about the year 1843 that the first school for the teaching of theology was founded in the island of Chalcis, so that most of the present archbishops in the Empire studied there; but many priests still go to Athens to complete their education. Schools were also established for the lower clergy, but the teaching in them was so deficient that most of the priests were sent to study only in the national schools, where they learn next to nothing.
The higher ranks of the clergy are entirely recruited from the monastic order: hence they are always unmarried, and hence the too often vicious character of their lives. An attempt, partly successful, was made to put some check upon their conduct by the law that no bishop or archbishop can hold more than three sees during his lifetime. If, therefore, he scandalizes the population of two dioceses, he is at least bound to be prudent in the third.
No distinction exists between the priests of the cities and those of the country villages. All are equal; nominated and elected in the same manner; remunerated for their services after the mode already explained. Nearly all of them are married; but those who are not stand on the same footing as those who are. Historically, these parish priests have done some service to the Greek nation: they helped to remind it of its national existence, and by their simple, hard-working lives taught their flocks that the Greeks had still a church that was not wholly given over to cringing to the Turks, that had not altogether bowed the knee to Baal. But that is all that can be said for them. It is impossible to conceive a clergy more ignorant than these parish priests; they are not only absolutely without training in their own profession, knowing nought of theology, but they have not a common elementary education. If, on the one hand, this ignorance puts them more on a sympathetic level with their parishioners, it must not be forgotten that it renders them incapable of raising their flocks one jot above the stage of rustic barbarism in which they found them. There is no ambition (unlike the rest of the Greek race) in these homely priests; for they cannot attain any high position in the Church. Their association seldom benefits the people with much religious instruction, for their studies are restricted to the external formalities of their services. Many of the abuses attributed to them for exactions are exaggerated: their condition of poverty and modest way of living, in no way superior to the common people, is the best proof of this fact. They are accused of bargaining for the price of performing certain rites, but any abuse of the kind can be prevented by consulting the established table of fees for all such matters; so that this infringement cannot be carried on to any great extent.
There is no manner of doubt that the only hope for the Orthodox Church lies in its separation from Moslem government. So long as its high dignitaries have to purchase their appointments from Turkish ministers and Sultans, so long will it retain its character for truckling and corruption, so long will it lack the one thing needful in a church—moral force. Not less are the lower clergy affected by this unhappy connection between church and state. The government puts every obstacle in the way of the establishment of schools for priests: it is aware that its influence over the mass of the clergy can last only so long as that clergy is ignorant and knows not the energy for freedom which education must bring. Let the Church be severed from the control of the Porte, let it be assured of the integrity of the Greek nation, and the end of the necessity for conciliating the Turks, and then we may hope for reforms—for the regeneration of the priesthood and the destruction of the web of deadly superstition which it has so long found profitable to weave round the hearts of the people.
Any account, however brief, of the Greek church would be very incomplete without some notice of the monasteries which the traveller sees scattered over the country in the most beautiful and commanding positions, perched on the summit of precipitous rocks, on the steep slopes of hills, or nestled in the shady seclusion of the glens. The most renowned are the twenty monasteries of Mount Athos, called Ἅγιος Ὄρος, or Monte Santo. The population of this peninsula is quite unique of its kind. The community of monks is divided into five classes. The first comprises those who are as it were independent, and are subjected to no severe rules. It is impossible for a man without fortune to live in these monasteries, because the common fund provides only the rations of bread, wine, oil, etc. Every other outlay in the way of dress or the choice of better food is at his own expense. Each prepares his meals in his cell and need not fast unless he chooses, but cannot indulge in meat, as its use is strictly prohibited.
Eight monasteries are called independent (Idiorrhythmic), on account of the manner in which their occupants live. The greatest of these and the first founded is Μεγίστη Λαὺρα, or Great Lavra: and the others are Xeropotamu, Docheiareiu, Pantokratoros, Stavroniketa, Philotheu, Iveron, and Vatopedi. But these monasteries occasionally change their régime from the stricter to the laxer discipline, or again from the Idiorrhythmic to the Cenobite.
The second category comprises the monasteries in which the recluses live in common. This life, which is one of great austerity, was founded by the organizers of the religious orders of the Orthodox Church, and represents, as nearly as possible, the rule of the ascetics of ancient times. Community of goods is the regulation in these convents: all is equal, frugal, and simple. There is but one treasury, one uniform, one table, one class of food, and the discipline is very rigid. Whoever wishes to enter one of these monastic establishments must give all that he possesses in the way of money or raiment to the Father Superior or chief elected by the members of the institution. The neophyte is submitted to a year’s noviciate; and if, during this time, he can bear the life, he is admitted into the order and consecrated a monk. If, on the contrary, the rigid and austere life disheartens him, he is allowed to retire. Each monk possesses a camp-bed in his cell, besides a jug of water and his clothing; but he is strictly forbidden, under pain of severe ecclesiastical punishment, to have money or any kind of food, or even the utensils necessary for making coffee.
Should a monk find some object on his path, he is obliged to deliver it to the Father Superior, to whom he ought to carry all his sufferings, physical and moral, in order to receive consolation and relief. Every monk belonging to this order must, without shrinking, execute the commands of the Father Superior concerning the exterior and interior affairs of the monastery. One third of the night is consecrated to prayer in the principal church, where all the brotherhood are expected to attend, with the exception of the sick and infirm. The ritual of prayers is the same as in all the monasteries of Mount Athos, except those of the communal ascetics. Vigils are very frequent, the prayers commencing at sunset and continuing till sunrise.
The following may be mentioned as belonging to this class: St. Paul, St. Dionysius, St. Gregory, St. Simopetra, and St. Panteleemon, called the Russian monasteries on account of their being principally inhabited by Russian and Greek monks. Xenophu, Konstamonitu, and Zographu, are inhabited by Bulgarian monks, and Chilandari by Bulgarians and Servians. The other monasteries are Sphigmenu, Karakallu, and Kutlumusi.
The third category is composed of monks who live in solitude. Their rules resemble those already described, but they may be considered to lead a life of still greater austerity. Their groups of small houses, which contain two or three little rooms and a chapel, are called sketés (σκητή); they are surrounded by gardens of about an acre in extent. In the midst of these groups of, buildings is a church called Κυριακόν, where mass is celebrated on Sundays and feast-days, at which service all the monks are expected to be present; on other days they perform their devotions in their own chapels. In each of these habitations two or three monks lead a very frugal life; their food consists of fresh or dry vegetables, which can only be prepared with oil on Saturday and Sunday, when they are allowed to eat fish, but very seldom eggs or cheese. The inhabitants of the σκητή support themselves entirely by their manual labor; each monk is required to follow some trade by which he can earn sufficient for his food and clothing. This consists mostly in the manufacture of cowls, stockings, and other articles of dress, which are sold in the neighborhood; with the addition of carvings in wood in the shape of crosses, spoons, etc., with which a small commerce is carried on with the pilgrims that visit the peninsula. Each σκητή ought to go to Karias once a year, where a fair is held, to sell his wares, and with the proceeds buy his supply of food. There are a great many monks who, with the exception of this annual journey, go nowhere, and possess not the remotest idea of what is passing in the world outside the restricted limits of their mountain. On the whole, their life is a time of continual toil in order to procure what is strictly necessary for their support, and of endless prayer for the eternal welfare of their souls.