a

2 Jew was the father of Abulpharagius 130 primate of the CHAP. East, so truly eminent both in his life and death. In his life, XLVII. he was an elegant writer of the Syriac and Arabic tongues, a poet, physician, and historian, a subtle philosopher, and a moderate divine. In his death, his funeral was attended by his rival the Nestorian patriarch, with a train of Greeks and Armenians, who forgot their disputes, and mingled their tears over the grave of an enemy. The sect which was honoured by the virtues of Abulpharagius appears, however, to sink below the level of their Nestorian brethren. The superstition of the Jacobites is more abject, their fasts more rigid, 131 their intestine divisions are more numerous, and their doctors (as far as I can measure the degrees of nonsense) are more remote from the precincts of reason. Something may possibly be allowed for the rigour of the Monephysite theology; much more for the superior influence of the monastic order. In Syria, in Egypt, in Æthiopia, the Jacobite monks have ever been distinguished by the austerity of their penance and the absurdity of their legends. Alive or dead they are worshipped as the favourites of the Deity; the crosier of bishop and patriarch is reserved for their venerable hands; and they assume the government of men, while

; they are yet reeking with the habits and prejudices of the cloyster. 132 III. In the style of the Oriental Christians, the Mono- III. THE

Maro. thelites of every age are described under the appellation of Maronites,133 a name which has been insensibly transferred from an hermit to a monastery, from a monastery to a nation. Maron, a saint or savage of the fisth century, display

CHAP. cal his religious madness in Syria; the rival cities of ApaXLVII.

mea and Emesa disputed his relics, a stately church was erected on his tomb, and six hundred of his disciples united their solitary cells on the banks of the Orontes. In the controversies of the incarnation, they nicely threaded the orthodox line between the sects of Nestorius and Eutyches; but the unfortunate question of one will or operation in the two natures of Christ, was generated by their curious leisure. Their proselyte, the emperor Heraclius, was rejected as a Maronite from the walls of Emesa; he found a refuge in the monastery of his brethren; and their theological lessons were repaid with the gift of a spacious and wealthy domain. The name and doctrine of this venerable school were propagated among the Greeks and Syrians, and their zeal is expressed by Macarius patriarch of Antioch, who declared before the synod of Constantinople, that sooner than subscribe the two wills of Christ, he would submit to be hewn piece-meal and cast into the sea.134 A similar or a less cruel mode of persecution soon converted the unresisting subjects of the plain, while the glorious title of Mardaites,135 or rebels, was bravely maintained by the hardy natives of mount Libanus. John Maron, one of the most learned and popular of the monks, assumed the character of patriarch of Antioch; his nephew Abraham, at the head of the Maronites, defended their civil and religious freedom against the tyrants of the East. The son of the orthodox Constantine pursued, with pious hatred, a people of soldiers, who might have stood the bulwark of his empire against the common foes of Christ and of Rome. An army of Greeks invaded Syria; the monastery of St. Maron was destroyed with fire; the bravest chieftains were betrayed and murdered, and twelve thousand of their followers were transplanted to the distant frontiers of Armenia and Thrace. Yet the humble nation of the Maronites has survived the empire of Constantinople, and they still enjoy, under their CHAP. Turkish masters, a free religion and a mitigated servitude. XLVII. Their domestic governors are chosen among the ancient nobility; the patriarch in his monastery of Canobin, still fancies himself on the throne of Antioch; nine bishops compose his synod, and one hundred and fifty priests, who retain the liberty of marriage, are entrusted with the care of one hundred thousand souls. Their country extends from the ridge of mount Libanus to the shores of Tripoli; and the gradual descent affords, in a 'narrow space, each variety of soil and climate, from the Holy Cedars, erect under the weight of snow, 136 to the vine, the mulberry, and the olive trees of the fruitful valley. In the twelfth century, the Maronites, abjuring the Monothelite error, were reconciled to the Latin churches of Antioch and Rome,'37 and the same alliance has been frequently renewed by the ambition of the popes and the distress of the Syrians. But it may reasonably be questioned, whether their union has ever been perfect or sincere; and the learned Maronites of the college of Rome have vainly laboured to absolve their ancestors from the guilt of heresy and schism.138 IV. Since the age of Constantine, the ARMENIANS 139 had IV. THE

ARMENI.

ANS.

:

a

136 In the last century twenty large cedars still remained (Voyage de la Roque, tom. i. p. 68...76); at present they are reduced to four or five (Volney, tom.i.p. 264). These trees, so famous in scripture, were guarded by excom. manicazion: the wood was sparingły borrowed for small crosses, &c.; an an. nual mass was chaunted under their shade; and they were endowed by the Syrians with a sensitive power of erecting their branches to repel the snow, to which mount Libanus is less faithful than it is painted by Tacitus: inter ardores opacum fidumque nivibus...a daring metaphor (Hist. v. 6).

137 The evidence of William of Tyre (Hist. in Gestis Dei per Francos, l. xx.c. 8. p. 1022.) is copied or confirmed by Jacques de Vitra (Hist. Hieroso. lym. I. ii. c. 77. p. 1093, 1094). But this unnatural league expired with the power of the Franks; and Abulpharagius (who died in 1286) considers the Maronites as a sect of Monothelites (Bibliot. Orient. tom. ii. p. 292).

138 I find a description and history of the Maronites in the Voyage de la Syrie et du Mont Liban, par la Roque (2 vols. in 12mo, Amsterdam, 1723; particularly tom. i. p. 42...47. p. 174...184. tom. i. p. 10...120). In the ancient part he copies the prejudices of Nairon and the other Maronites of Rome, which Assemannus is afraid to renounce, and ashamed to support. Jablonski (Institut. Hist. Christ. tom. iii. p. 186), Niebuhr (Voyage de l'Arabie, &c. tom. ii. p. 346. 370...381), and, above all, the judicious Volney (Voyage en Egypte et en Syrie, tom. ü. p. 8...31. Paris, 1787), may be consulted.

139 The religion of the Armenians is briefly described by La Croze (Hist. do Christ. de l'Ethiope & de l’Armenie, p. 269...402). He refers to the great

P. Armenian History of Galanas (3 vols. in fol. Rome, 1650... 1661.) and com. mends the state of Armenia in the third volume of the Nouveaux Meinoires des Missions du Levant. The work of a Jesuit must have sterling merit when it is praised by La Croze. VOL. VI.

K

XLVII.

CHAP: signalised their attachment to the religion and empire of the

Christians. The disorders of their country, and their ignorance of the Greek tongue, prevented their clergy from assisting at the synod of Chalcedon, and they floated eightyfour years '40 in a state of indifference or suspense till their vacant faith was finally occupied by the missionaries of Julian of Halicarnassus,'4 who in Egypt, their common exile, had been vanquished by the arguments or the influence of his rival Severus, the Monophysite patriarch of Antioch. The Armenians alone are the pure disciples of Eutyches, an unfortunate parent, who has been renounced by the greater part of his spiritual progeny. They alone persevere in the opinion, that the manhood of Christ was created, or existed without creation, of a divine and incorruptible substance. Their adversaries reproach them with the adoration of a phantom; and they retort the accusation, by deriding or execrating the blasphemy of the Jacobites, who impute to the Godhead the vile infirmities of the flesh, even the natural effects of nutrition and digestion. The religion of Armenia could not derive much glory from the learning or the power of its inhabitants. The royalty expired with the ori. gin of their schism, and their Christian kings, who arose and fell in the thirteenth century on the confines of Cilicia, were the clients of the Latins and the vassals of the Turkish sultan of Iconium. The helpless nation has seldom been permitted to enjoy the tranquillity of servitude. From the earliest period to the present hour, Armenia has been the theatre of perpetual war; the lands between Tauris and Erivan were dispeopled by the cruel policy of the Sophies; and myriads of Christian families were transplanted, to perish or to propagate in the distant provinces of Persia. Under the rod of oppression, the zeal of the Armenians is fervent and intrepid: they have often preferred the crown of martyrdom to the white turban of Mahomet; they devoutly hate the error and idolatry of the Greeks; and their transient union

XLVII.

with the Latins is not less devoid of truth, than the thousand CHAP. bishops whom their patriarch offered at the feet of the Roman pontiff.142 The catholic or patriarch of the Armenians resides in the monastery of Ekmiasin, three leagues from Erivan. Forty-seven archbishops, each of whom may claim the obedience of four or five suffragans, are consecrated by his hand; but the far greater part are only titular prelates, who dignify with their presence and service the simplicity of his court. As soon as they have performed the liturgy, they cultivate the garden; and our bishops will hear with surprise, that the austerity of their life increases in just proportion to the elevation of their rank. In the fourscore thousand towns or villages of his spiritual empire, the patriarch receives a small and voluntary tax from each person above the age of fifteen; but the annual amount of six hundred thousand crowns is insufficient to supply the incessant demands of charity and tribute. Since the beginning of the last century, the Armenians have obtained a large and lucrative share of the commerce of the East: in their return from Europe, the caravan usually halts in the neighbourhood of Erivan, the altars are enriched with the fruits of their patient industry; and the faith of Eutyches is preached in their recent congregations of Barbary and Poland.143 V. In the rest of the Roman empire, the despotism of v. The

COPTS OR the prince might eradicate or silence the sectaries of an Eorps

EGYP. obnoxious creed. But the stubborn temper of the Egyp- Tians. tians maintained their opposition to the synod of Chalcedon, and the policy of Justinian condescended to expect and to seize the opportunity of discord. The Monophysite church of Alexandria 144 was torn by the disputes of the corruptibles and incorruptibles, and on the death of the patriarch, the two

142 See a remarkable fact of the twelfth centurv in the History of Nicetas Choinates (p. 258). Yet three hundred years before, Photius (Epistol. ii. p. 49. edit. Mon acıl) had gloried in the conversion of the Armenians... dat GEVEG σημερον ορθοδοξως.