Moravian Brethren sect, again opened negotiations with the Patriarch Neophytos VI (1734–1740, and again, 1743–1744) in 1737. But Zinzendorf practically wanted to make Neophytos a Moravian, and Neophytos quite openly wanted to make Zinzendorf Orthodox, and, of course, neither succeeded. However, so far the Easterns had not been ill-disposed towards Protestants; in spite of the most radical disagreements, their common opposition to the Pope was a great tie of sympathy. What crushed all friendly feeling was the Protestant missionizing in the East. The Orthodox hate any attempt at proselytizing among their people above measure. In the first place, like Catholics, they hold their communion to be the whole and only true Church. So to be an apostate from it is to them, as to us in our case, an infinitely greater calamity than the loss of members to the Protestant bodies, who all claim to be only a branch of the Church, although, of course, always the best and purest branch. And then, to the Easterns their communion is not only the true Church, it is their nation as well. We have seen how the only national organizations they have under the Turk are the religious bodies. The Orthodox Church is the Roman nation, and every true son of Hellas must belong to that nation. It is their one bond; it has kept alive the sacred fire of Greek patriotism during the centuries of bondage; it has been the rallying point of the "Love of Hellas" under the barbarian. The metropolitans and priests have been leaders, patrons, protectors of the Rayahs when there was no one else to care for them; and when the first whisper of liberty went abroad, it was from the bishops' houses, the monasteries, the poor cottages of the Papades, that the people heard the summons to try once more and to strike for Christ and Hellas.[1] The Orthodox Church is the heir of all the Greek traditions.
- ↑ These two causes always went together:—
Γιὰ τῆς πατρίδος τὴν ἐλευθερίαν,
Γιὰ τοῦ χριστοῦ τὴν πίστιν τὴν ἁγιαν,
Γὶ αὐτὰ τὰ δύο πολεμῶ,
Μ’ αὐτὰ νὰ ζήσω ἐπιθυμῶ,
Κί ἂν δὲν τὰ ἀποκτήσω
Τί μ’ ὠφελεῖ νὰ ζήσω;
