THE GREEK CHURCH.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 652, 1 November 1909, Page 11

THE GREEK CHURCH.

VISIT OF A RUSSIAN PRIEST. Now Zealand is becoming moro cosmopolitan as tho years roll on. It is inevitable in tho growth of a young country.. A few months ago many woro surprised to learn that tho Chinese in New Zealand were a sufficiently numerous 'comiiunity to warrant the establishment hero of a Chinese Consul. Now wo learn that there are in the Dominion a considerable number of-Russians, Greeks, and Syrians, who naturally, want a-spiritual .-'guide,"-and, in response to tho desire the Rev. Nicholas Manowitch, a Russian priest of tho Greet Orthodox Church, is at present in Wellington: He belongs to tho American section of the Church, wliich recognises tho Patriarch of Jerusalem as its head. : \Tho Grook Orthodox Church is the national Church of. Russia, but there, says Mr. ManoWitch,'it js under the thumb of'the Government, and is 1 to a large extent part and -parcol.6f the political system. But the Church works in entirely independent Patriarchates (16 in'number), and those of one seotion do not necessarily subscribe to .the-external -policy of another.

-'"What induced you to .come to this part of the world?" the visitor was.asked., ■' -"I had.a caU.v-Sonie thVi'o'.or four years ago nine Russiiih families settled in' the north of Auckland.' They now number GO, and ; they ■ wanted the; ministrations ,of Vone of ..their own priests, so I came/' he explained. ■ . "Aro there many adherents of your' Church in New Zealand t" " ' f I ilooked oyer the .last census and ffiiind ■thore wora. 140 in Auckland. There aro about : 300 altogether, who give thoir religion as that of the Greek Orthodox Church in the last religious census—Greeks, Russians, Syrians—but there;might bo 'many more not accounted for in tho cinsus." '-- • . "And are you. going to settle in New Zqa- . land?"; -- 'V'., ■ : "Ye 3, perhaps in Auckland; visiting other . places ■ as '.' I .. am wanted. , I . Want'- to establish -- myself first—l - want to • let my people know-that I am, not like some -alleged Greek priests who'have come to Now; Zealand,, collected money from tho people, and left again. .I am here to'tio the best for my people. They-wanted me to stay in Sydney, but-I said/the call "had. come from New Zealand, and I must go'th?ve." : - : The Rev. A.. W;>'Compton (of • the Hadfield Hostel) informed reporter that Mr. llanowitch had brought credentials which were completely satisfactory. -' Questioned as -to the connection; befivpen ' tlie Greek Orthodox and the English Church, Ifr.'Compton stated that •wherever tho two bodies ! met they had always respected, . and . .helped ,- ono another.: -There had beonTcases.in'Turkey, for instance, whore the Greok priests had been persecuted and expelled from the country, and the Anglican Church had stopped in, and by attending to tho spiritual wants :of the 1 Greek Church people had,' as it were, kept tho place warm for thereturn of tho priests. The two Churches had evor worked harmoniously together. Mr. Manowitch mentioned that ono troublo tho priests always had to face when they wentto a now:place was the distrust of tho people, who imngincd that they were spies or agents of tho Russian Government; : That was the case in Sydney; with himself, but he made a point .of. : stating iih firrt sera'ons: he'Vpreached that ho had nothing to dd.,with the Govern-; ment, and was -merely a humble priest who had left-Russia because of the .undue influences the Government exerted over tho Chnrch, .and whose ambition was to minister to its scattered ■floek-ill-this part of-the;-world. v ■ >..--, . The following letter from, tho Chaplain of tho British Seamen's Institute, Libau, Russia, written under dftto August 10 to 23, 1909, gives some indication -of the friendly relations existing between - tho > Anglican and Greek Churches:—''On the occasion: of- the visit of : H.M.S. Cornwall to this port, the authorities gavei permission for an English service to be conducted in the Port Cathedral on Snnday evening. The service was taken by the Rov. T. Wood Robinson, chaplain 'to H. 11.5. Cornwall, and the Rev.-'J. D. Crab Wee, resident ohaplain, the captain reading tho lessons. Instead of the /appointed Psalms, the Russian choir. sang ■ the 101 st Psalm, and in place of tho 'Magnificat' it .the list . after the Benodictiph- the .withedral- dßpif 'saiig' the 'To Beum. J ; > The cathedraUwas crowded, and it is''difEcult. ito: give-/, an' -'adequate s'idea----of.. the-,j interest .evinced by 'the Russians 'on the ''on« • hand, and the heartiness with which the/English' joined' ih'the :serviM-;-,on--the--other.--'5 l -li»Precentor "and " - did .' time and tunc, and, with ;tho English bffi*. cers, ■ cadets,, and- erow joining- in;-'flogded ithe vast ftymnio. I Jhmk if! is ~'pjrobablo' that "jio EriglishT battlesliip; has -visited jai Russian War, and a Eussian cathedral,^K'Xt-'is.-affiKerestf,6'' note tliat our fellow-worshippers /oonsistcd-'df tho high .priest,.the priests and ; l'office».6f "the cathedral, tho adriiiral, doctors, and oiheors of the port with their families,, the. officers,: cadets,- bluelackets/ and marines' of H.M.S'. .Cornwall, tha , English., and-other residents, Letts, Russians, ajid' Germans from Libau. The whole r service was most impressive, and has evoked ■' much enthusiasm and good feeling.-",- . , ; '