into Italy, the capitulations contained clauses about religion. They were to keep their rite unchanged; but they were to be Uniates. They must accept a profession of faith and of union with the Holy See, on the same terms as the Albanians in Italy. When their bishop, priests, and monks were dead, the successors were to be ordained by the Pope or his delegate. They were to be subject to the Latin bishop in whose diocese they should be. It would seem as if the Republic meant that Parthenios was to have successors, ordaining bishops for these Greeks. As a matter of fact, he had none. They had many priests, deacons, and monks with them. In March, 1676, they sailed off on a ship of the Republic to Paomia in Corsica. The Government treated them exceedingly well; it gave them grain to sow, cattle, and all things necessary for colonists. Meanwhile other ships brought their relations from Boitylos, till gradually there was a large number of them. I find the names of seven churches and a monastery that they built at Paomia. There seems to have been no difficulty about their ecclesiastical position. No doubt they accepted it without either dislike or enthusiasm. The bishop at least must have understood from the first that it would be impossible to secure the favour and protection of the Genoese Government unless they were Catholics. Probably the simple peasants hardly noticed the difference, as long as their rites were untouched. Modern Orthodox writers are extremely indignant at the force used to bring them under Roman domination.[1] It was inevitable, according to the ideas of the time. So, quietly, the Mainotai in Corsica all began to believe that the Holy Ghost proceeds from God the Father and from the Son, and they blessed God who had brought them to this peaceful asylum.
However, in time they got into difficulties with their neighbours. Corsicans are not naturally peace-loving people: nor are the fond of strangers. So in the eighteenth century feuds begin between them and the Greeks. The Greeks asked and obtained protection from the Government; but at last things got so bad that they complained that they could not go out for a walk without being stuck by a knife. Of course, if you lived in Corsica in the eighteenth century, you must expect that sort of thing; but the Mainotai do not seem to have understood the Corsican character, and they did not like it. Then, in 1728, the whole island rebelled against the Genoese. The Mainotai, remembering the kindness of the Government, refused to join in the rebellion; so things got worse. Paomia
- ↑ E.g., Vlasto in his article (p. 173, n. 2), p. 223.
