QUARTERLY OBSERVER. No. IV. APRIL, 1834. ARTICLE I. DR. CORAY, AND THE GREEK CHURCH. DURING the days of the Roman Greek emperors, the state and church were in strange confusion. Emperors wore the sable mitre, and patriarchs glittered with the royal purple: State officers wrote commentaries, and monks practised the art of war. The temporal and spiritual power of the empire had been blended together. A union of such conflicting elements could not exist for any length of time without annihilating itself by the very friction of its heterogeneous materials, and nothing but the Turkish crescent prevented its total dissolution. The fatal blow which fell upon the eastern empire, decomposed the temporal and spiritual power of the state; and by the utter annihilation of the former, preserved the latter. Had the conqueror of Constantinople refused to recognize and throw around the Greek church the shield of protection, or had the Greeks been free from superstition, the same tempest which levelled the liberties of Greece to the ground, would have also swept from the face of the earth. the Greek nation itself. The interest of the one, and the ignorance of the other, prevented this calamity. The Turk found it his interest to preserve the spiritual power of the nation in the most unspiritual condition imaginable. The common people were too ignorant to perceive that the church had lost its primitive beauty and simplicity, and the more enlightened-for there were such in process of time-of this community, though sensible of the many errors and absurdities which from time to time had crept into the system of their religion, were fully aware that the venerable institution of the church, with all its defects, was the only palladium of their national existence; they knew that under the existing circumstances, the mere attempt to reform, would have a direct tendency to break the only link which held the Greek nation together. Conscious, therefore, of the beneficial effects of superstition, in this respect, upon the minds of the ignorant, and anxious to strengthen the national ties, they paid a due deference to all the ceremonies of the Greek church. But ignorance and superstition, like learning and refinement, have their aim. The ignorance and superstition of the Greeks had arrived at its zenith on the capture of Constantinople; and, like the Ottoman power, held its high throne for more than a century after this historical event. As soon as the Turkish power began to wane, that instant the Greek nation began to rise from the depths of ignorance. The common schools rose to academies, academies to colleges, and colleges to universities. Commerce began to flourish and pour its wealth upon the shores of Greece. The universities of Europe began to be visited by some of the best sons of Greece, and a great part of the population were so far educated that there was little danger of their being dazzled by the divine light of truth. At this interesting epoch, which was the precursor of the memorable revolution of 1821, a number of literary characters set themselves to work, and, with the powerful weapons of reason and ridicule, commenced a brisk attack upon the abuses of the Greek church. These efforts though partially silenced by the sound of war, have not been altogether discontinued, and though some of the champions of this religious warfare have suffered by circumstances, the illustrious Coray has been constantly gathering strength. This enlightened son of Greece is a native of Scio. After he had finished his preparatory studies in the college of Smyrna, he went to Europe, and received the degree of M. D. in the university of Montpellier. Soon after the completion of his professional studies, he passed to Paris, and while there, he offered to enlightened Europe a French translation of the works of Theophrastus and Hippocrates. These first attempts of Coray, though highly appreciated by the scholars of western Europe, were not calculated to make his name known in the land which gave him birth. To these, however, followed a pamphlet, written in the French language, and entitled "De l'Etat actuel de la Civilization en Grece." This little essay, which was written with a view of correcting the erroneous opinions of Europeans respecting the actual condition of Greece, was translated into modern Greek, and was the means of introducing the author to his countrymen. Coray's modern Greek translation of Beccaria made him known to them as a man of letters and a patriot. The good success with which this able work met in Greece, encouraged the translator in his career; he edited the Ethiopics of Heliodorus, and commenced under the liberal patronage of the benevolent Zosimades his "Bibliotheca," or "Hellenic Library." To every volume of this Library, Coray added not only copious annotations, but prefixed learned and able prolegomena. These prefaces bespeak him to be a man of extensive reading and a scholar of powerful and profound mind. Every page of his prolegomena seems to be animated with the spirit of a patriot and the soul of a philosopher. Through these, he succeeded in settling and establishing the long fluctuating and disturbed element of the modern Greek language; and he has fanned the dying embers of the Grecian intellect, and has fostered the political independence and regeneration of Greece. Coray, imbued with the spirit and high morality of the gospel, and conscious of the great and salutary influence which religion exerts upon the moral and intellectual condition of nations, has never lost sight of the Greek church. His literary efforts against the abuses of this venerable institution, have been as constant as they have been well directed. It is true that they have wrought, as yet, no apparent change in the external appearance of things; but his eloquent appeals and powerful arguments, his great name and authority, and more than all, his ingenuity in treating the subject, have already awakened inquiry in the minds of the most enlightened Greeks; and one needs no light of inspiration to foresee that Greece will soon undergo a religious revolution. Whether we view this approaching event with the eye of a philosopher, or a statesman, with the feelings of citizens, or Christians, we find ourselves equally interested. The mere anticipation of such a momentous event, fills the mind with the most intense interest, and naturally turns our attention to those who are destined to be the authors and actors of an era calculated to produce great and important changes in the moral and spiritual condition of Greece. Much has been done in America for this nation by the friends of civil rights, and religious liberty. Their benevolent efforts, however great in extent and pure in principle, can only be regarded, in reference to the reformation of the Greek church, as secondary and auxiliary means. Coming as they do from a foreign source, they may, through the medium of education, and the judicious use of the press, operate indirectly, they may mature and accelerate the desired reformation; but it will be impossible for them to create a general revolution. Such an attempt from any other quarter but the Greeks themselves, will have the direct tendency to arouse the prejudices of the ignorant, and the pride of the learned, and thus retard, and possibly endanger the true interest of Greece and Christianity. In pointing out what seems to us to be the proper place of foreign assistance, we do not mean to depreciate its worth, but we wish to call the attention of our readers to the important truth, that the Greeks must act or nothing can be done. A revolution is a change of existing circumstances, a search of happiness. The ingredients of this happiness must be sought in their own bosom, and it will be well for the friends of Greece as well as for the Greeks themselves to recollect "That those who would be free, themselves must strike the blow, With a view of laying before the American public, the opinions of the Greeks, on the subject of the Greek church, we propose to give an historical sketch with extracts from Dr. Coray's works on this important subject. These writings of Coray which are scattered throughout his prolegomena, are of great consequence, not so much for what they have done, as for what they are destined to accomplish; for though the hand which has traced them is already laid in the cold earth, the spirit which animates them will ever continue to instruct, and direct the sons of Greece.* *The mournful news of Dr. Coray's death has recently been received. Those who are acquainted with the life and literary productions of this great patriot and illustrious philosopher, can alone feel his loss and envy his fortune. Dr. Coray died in the 85th year of his age, and in the midst of In the prolegomena, which are prefixed to the first volume. of Plutarch's Lives, and edited as early as 1804, we find Coray touching for the first time upon the subject of the Greek church. He seems to enter into it without any premeditation or design. "Every city in Greece," says Coray, "ought to have under the roof of its church two boxes of contribution; one for the support of and maintenance of its own school, and the other for the assistance of the general fund at Constantinople. Should any one, in consequence of the numerous boxes of contribution, designed for the support of different monasteries, be terrified at the appearance of new ones; the antidote is at hand. All those monasteries, which favored the cause of learning by supporting instructors, who are capable of teaching the arts and sciences, or even the Greek language only, ought to be allowed to send their boxes to his literary toils. His long life, like that of the old philosopher of Greece, has been the beginning of a lasting glory. He has only changed one immortality for another. We have been informed by a friend who visited Coray on his death-bed, that the last illness and consequent death of this scholar was occasioned by his having fallen from his chair on the floor of his room; and that he was attended in the last moments of his life by two young Greeks, both of whom are alumni of Yale college. As it is not in our power to give at present a more full obituary, we would subjoin to our remarks the following sketch which we copy from a work entitled "Course de Litterature Greque Modern." "The history of the third period can be comprised in the life of Dr. Coray. This extraordinary man, who was born in Smyrna, in 1748, of Sciot parents, having gone through a liberal course of study in the college of Smyrna, passed to Europe and has lately fixed himself in France. It will be superfluous to expatiate on the details of his life, and more so on those of his scientific works-subjects for which one can consult the biography of contemporaries. At the commencement of the present century, Greece scarcely knew that France possessed a Greek called Coray. Little did his countrymen care that he had taken his degree in the university of Montpellier, that he had published some works on medicine, and that he had offered to enlightened Europe a French translation of Theophrastus, and Hippocrates. Greece knew not Coray till he had published in modern Greek the treatise of Beccaria on crimes and punishments, which he accompanied with notes and prolegomena. This remarkable production, either on account of the epoch in which it appeared, or on account of the end which the translator had in view, made a lively impression upon the minds of the Greeks. Coray dedicated this work to the republic of the Seven Islands. This republic was created in 1800. It was the first time that the Christian powers seemed to take an interest in the affairs of enslaved Greece, and bestowed upon a small part of her territory a shadow of political existence. The Ionic republic excited high expectations among the other Greeks, who, from the bosom of darkness, viewed this pleiad which presaged a brilliant day for the whole nation; they seemed to discover in the new constitution of the Seven Islands, a benevolent disposition of the European powers towards Greece. Under such circumstances, the translation of Beccaria, which was dedicated to the Ionian republic, was widely |