veil hanging down behind), with a light blue cross in front.[1] He also enjoys the right of riding a horse (which until quite lately no other Rayah in Turkey might do), of being accompanied by his followers in the street, of having a cross and two candles borne before him. Every bishop and priest in the patriarchate must say his name in the Holy Liturgy.[2] The recent history of the Œcumenical Patriarchs is neither dignified nor edifying. We can, however, first mention a story that is entirely glorious. In 1822, while the War of Greek Independence was at its height and the Turks had suffered some bad defeats, Gregory V (1797-1798, 1806-1808, 1818-1822) was Patriarch of Constantinople. He had taken no sort of part in the war,[3] but he was the responsible head of the Rum millet that was then revolting against the Sultan (Mahmud II, 1808-1839), and as the Porte could not defeat the insurgents it revenged itself upon the old Patriarch. On Easter Sunday morning (April 22, 1822), immediately after the Holy Liturgy, a messenger arrived from the palace and ordered the metropolitans present to depose Gregory and to choose a successor. Tremblingly the wretched bishops obeyed. They hurriedly elected Eugene II (1821-1822), and while they were robing him inside the patriarchal palace, Gregory was led forth and hanged over his own gate, still in his sacred vestments. The body was left hanging for two days as a warning; it was then cut down and given to the Jews to be dragged through the streets and thrown into the sea. In the night the Greeks recovered his relics and took them in a ship to Odessa, where
- ↑ The Patriarch's liturgical vestments are the same as those of other bishops (p. 405).
- ↑ Silbernagl, pp. 18-19. The Porte pays the Patriarch of Constantinople 500,000 piastres a year, the metropolitans' fees come to 370,000 piastres, the faithful contribute 130,000 piastres, Austria pays 58,000 piastres for Hercegovina and Bosnia. So he has an income of 1,058,000 piastres (£9,522) a year. Really he receives much more than this, as he has all the property of bishops, priests, and monks who die without legal heirs, and very many stole-fees and presents. He has to pay the Porte 20,000 piastres, and 10,000 piastres to the Sultan's guard a year, as well as the bribe for his hcrat (Silbernagl, pp. 19-20).
- ↑ In 1821, forced by the Sultan, he had even excommunicated the patriot Greeks.
