Greeks in America - eBooks4Greeks.gr

60 THE GREEKS IN AMERICAgan in Germany (1517) the Greek Church had beenplunged into its era of slavery.Cyril Lucaris.—^Attempts were made in the 16tlicentury to bring about an understanding betweenthe Greek church or patriarchate at Constantinople,and the reformers. Cyril Lucaris, Patriarch of Constantinople,is the leading personage in this matter.He studied in Switzerland and was taught CalvinisticTheology and was in sympathy with the Reformation.He presented the Alexandrian manuscriptof the New Testament to Charles I of England, andit is now in the British Museum and is known asM.S. A. He was elected to the patriarchate eighttimes between 1612 and 1638. He was not allowed,however, to carry out any comprehensive reformmovement, as through the machinations of theJesuits, he was strangled and his body was draggedthrough the streets by the Jews. There is a creedwith the name of Cyril, although some without sufficientground doubted its genuineness. His attitudeto all the Reformation doctrines was sympathetic.The attitude of the Greek Church towards the reformor Protestant positions was discussed andformulated in a Council of the Patriarchs at Jerusalem,1672 A.D., and was given summarily in its decisions.The same can be seen in the Confessionof Faith by Dositheos, Patriarch of Jerusalem. SeeSchaff's Creeds and Confessions of Christendom.Greek and Anglican Churches.—The AnglicanChurch has approached, more than once, the patriarchateat Constantinople for the union of the twochurches. The Greeks have always been friendlyand sympathetic to the Anglicans, but they wouldnot make any doctrinal concessions for the sake ofunion. They would simply welcome the Anglicans,if they wanted to unite with the Greek Church. Theutmost cordiality and a feeling of mutual appreciationprevails between the Church of England and