ouches its highest note, and pours forth
its most enchanting melody. "Christ is risen," and the glad response, "He
is risen indeed"--these words constitute the keynote of all that is best
and most beautiful in Greek worship. The Knowledge and the Wisdom of God
are everywhere extolled, and the attribute of Light is continually and
cordially applied to the Deity.

One cannot acquaint himself with the Church of the Apostles, with its
glowing service, and with the noble stand it has made, and still
maintains, for the truth of God and for the Kingdom of Christ in the
world, and not feel pained with the fact, so little to the credit of the
Church of the West, that, of our sympathy it has little or none. This is
largely due to our ignorance. But is ignorance in many cases not
culpable? Is it not so in our case? A little more acquaintance with the
Eastern Church would vastly alter our attitude towards it, and speedily
remove most of our prejudices.

More than once have we listened to depreciations of the Greek Church, and
the epithet "stagnant" has always been incorporated as a first-rate
misdemeanour of the Orthodox Church of the East. The assumption in the
epithet is that the Greek Church is not missionary and aggressive, and
the implication is that it has been so from earliest times. Until men
acquaint themselves with the history of this Church, and open their eyes
to facts which are readily accessible, it is useless to attempt to lift
them out of their prejudices.

How much did the Church of the East suffer by the great Roman schism of
1054! After, in the words of Dr. A. van Millingen, in his _Byzantine
Constantinople_, having in "the empire of which New Rome was the capital,
defended the higher life of mankind against the attacks of formidable
antagonists, and rendered eminent service to the cause of human welfare;"
after having elaborated the Christian doctrines and formed the creed of
Christendom for the world, she was shorn of much of her strength by the
departure of the West. The spring, and energy, and enterprise were
largely taken from her. No fault of hers that she was left with the
meditative souls who could ponder the mysteries of God, but could not
trade in the merchandise of the Kingdom. So she was left in possession of
her splendid attainment, without the aptitude to fit herself to
aggressive enterprise, while Rome, with all the qualifications which have
fitted her for an aggressive task, has made for herself