A. Enough to write my name.
"I was then directed to subscribe my name to the examination, which
I did, and went away."
In October, intelligence came of the "excommunication" of the book and its author by the "Great Church" at Constantinople. They assigned the publicity which the "Defense" had obtained in Turkey as the reason for this act; and this was doubtless the reason why the synodical accusation was sent extensively to be read in the Greek churches of the East.
The case went to trial, and was decided against Dr. King in three successive courts, the last of which was the Areopagus, or highest court of appeal. This was in April, 1846. In this latter court, he was well defended by two Greek lawyers, and permission was granted him, at his request, to address the court. But after about twenty minutes and repeated interruptions by the President, he was silenced altogether; not having the freedom which the Pagan Areopagus of ancient times gave to the first missionary to Greece. The effect of these decisions was to declare the offenses charged against Dr. King to be criminal in law, and to refer the case, for trial as to the truth of the charges and the infliction of punishment, to the criminal court. If condemned, he must suffer imprisonment. The trial was to take place at Syra in July. An inflammatory pamphlet was secretly printed by a priest, named Callistratus, for distribution at the place of trial among judges, jurors, and the populace. It was industriously circulated among the lowest class, with the avowed sanction of the high priest of the Cyclades. Dr. King soon ascertained that a conspiracy was formed there against his life, similar to the one which endangered the life of the great Apostle on his last visit to Jerusalem. Three Greek lawyers were engaged for his defense at Syra, of whom one was Mr. Stephen Galatti, who had been educated by the Board in America, and two of these accompanied him in the steamer. At least a thousand people awaited his landing. Such was the excitement, that even the lawyers dreaded to go among them, and the governor of the island confessed his inability to give effectual protection. The king's attorney decided, that he could not be legally compelled to submit to a trial on that day. His lawyers therefore advised him to return in the steamer to Athens, which he did. Learning, soon after his arrival, through his wife, of a combination there to take his life, he acquainted Sir Edmund Lyons, the British Ambassador, with the fact, and that gentleman kindly offered him British protection in case of need.
It would be charitable to suppose, that the government had not entered into this prosecution willingly, but were urged on by the hierarchy. Certain it is, that the whole subject was allowed to rest for nearly a year. But on the 4th of June, 1847, the missionary received a citation from the officers of government to appear in person for trial before the criminal court at Syra. As a similar court was at that moment holding a session in Athens, he could regard the motive of the citation as not very different from that which led the Jews to demand the transfer of St. Paul's trial from Cæsarea to Jerusalem. It was subsequently affirmed, that this proceeding had been without the knowledge of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice; and the King's attorney soon after recalled the citation. The British Ambassador again proffered his kind offices, and there were friends among the Greeks themselves. But the great body of the people were hostile, and Dr. King concludes one of his letters thus: "I feel that my Lord and Master has called me to this combat, and though it seems to be waxing hotter and hotter, so long as my Captain and Leader lives, I have nothing to fear." He was somewhat cheered by the assurance of a Greek of standing, that his book, though the cause of much suffering to the author, had given a turn to public opinion.
After this Dr. King ventured out into the city with considerable freedom, and conversed with such as he met on the subject of religion. Many, even some of the priests, saluted him in the streets, though contrary to the commands of the Holy Synod. A member of the Synod, who had subscribed the excommunication, on meeting him returned his salutation.
There was only a lull in the storm. In July of the same year, a series of articles appeared in a leading newspaper of Athens called the "Age," designed to excite the prejudices of the Greeks against our missionary, and to urge them to put a stop to the scandal of his preaching. The last and most extraordinary of these was avowedly from Simonides, and was fitted to produce an excitement in the Greek community. Its statements were improbable in the highest degree, and there could not have been a more affecting proof of the superstition and bigotry of the people of Athens, than the general credence given to this gross fabrication.
The article was called "The Orgies," and was under the headings of "Mystery of Marriage," and "Mystery of Baptism;" and a translation of it may be found in the "Missionary Herald" for 1847.1
1 See Missionary Herald for 1847, pp. 366-368.
It was subsequently ascertained, that Simonides was materially aided by two priests; who were elevated, not long after, one to an archdeaconry, the other to an archbishopric, under the "Great Church" at Constantinople. What immediately followed, will be described by Dr. King himself.