Sermons of the Rev. Francis A. Baker, Priest of the Congregation of St. Paul: With a Memoir of His Life — John Shaqi
Sermons of the Rev. Francis A. Baker, Priest of the Congregation of St. Paul: With a Memoir of His LifeBaker, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius)
Religion
Sermons of the Rev. Francis A. Baker, Priest of the Congregation of St. Paul: With a Memoir of His Life
Baker, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius)
Baker, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius), 1820-1865; Catholic Church -- Sermons; Sermons, American -- 19th century
At the recent visit of a Russian squadron to New York, the
Protestant Bishop of New York invited the chaplains of the
squadron to make use of one of his churches for the service of
the Greek Church, although the offer was declined. Subsequently,
Cossack priest, called Father Agapius, said to have letters from
the Archbishop of Athens, came to New York as a missionary to the
Greeks and Russians, and was accommodated with the use of two
Episcopal churches. It came out subsequently that he was in bad
standing in the Russian Church, and the members of the Greek
Church in New York disowned him, when he threw off the mask, and
published a letter where he avowed doctrines far from orthodox
according to the standards of the Greek Church. Nevertheless, it
was ostensibly as a regular priest of that Church that he was
invited to make use of the Episcopal churches; as such the
members of that church received him, and whatever changes or
omissions he may have made in his public services, they were
understood to be celebrated according to the Sclavonic and Greek
Liturgies. Thus, there is no escaping from the fact, that High
Mass according to the same rite used by Oriental Catholics as
well as schismatics, was authorized in the Episcopal Church in
New York, a great number of the clergy assisting.
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The English Church bishops, beginning with the old English
Nonjurors, have been always anxious for the recognition of the
Greek prelates, and have made several attempts to gain it.
Soon after my ordination as deacon in the Episcopal Church, I was
invited by Bishop Southgate to accompany him to Constantinople on
a mission of this kind. The plan was to have a little
ecclesiastical establishment in Constantinople, consisting of a
bishop and a few priests and deacons. Although the bishop, who
had been for some years a travelling missionary in the East, was
married, he wished his clergy to be unmarried men, and selected
only such as his associates. There was to be a chapel, where all
the rites and ceremonies permitted by Anglican law were to be
celebrated with as much pomp as possible. Sermons in the Oriental
languages designed to attract the clergy and make a good
impression of our orthodoxy, were to be preached regularly. A
college and seminary for the instruction of young Oriental
ecclesiastics were to be opened, with a strict understanding that
they were not to be induced to leave their own communion.
Extracts from the works of the Greek Fathers, and translations
from Anglican divines, were to be published, with a view to bring
about mutual understanding and agreement between the different
Churches. Every thing was to be done to propitiate the Oriental
prelates and clergy, and to bring about their recognition of our
ecclesiastical legitimacy, and intercommunion between themselves
and us. The Missionary Committee, who were hostile to this plan,
would not confirm my appointment, regarding me as having too
strong a Catholic bias to be trusted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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