PRIVATE DEVOTIONS AS ENJOINED BY THE Holy Eastern Church, FOR THE USE OF HER MEMBERS. Translated from the Original. LONDON: JOSEPH MASTERS, ALDERSGATE STREET, AND NEW BOND STREET. MDCCCLI. 138. d.198. PREFACE. A VERY few years ago, the existence of a not inconsiderable branch of the once undivided Church of CHRIST, styling herself the orthodox Church, and looking down, not in arrogance, but in sorrow, from the height of her indisputable antiquity and immutability of sound doctrine, not only on all reformed communions, but on the whole of Western Christendom, as lying in schism, was to all, except to theological students, almost unknown in this country; or if known to a few English tourists, was summarily disposed of as a “sort of Roman Catholic, but worse.” In the present time, however, of ardent investigation and anxious search after truth, wherever, and under whatever banner it is to be found, it was impossible that so startling a pretension should remain long unsifted, and consequently much information on this subject has already been given to the English reader. The history of the holy Eastern Church, her doctrines and general practice, have been ably and conscientiously treated; but it has occurred to us that so rich a treasure of devotional Christianity as her occasional services and private prayers, still maintained, without the variation of a word, as they proceeded from the pen of S. Basil or S. Chrysostom, might be successfully drawn upon, for the use of all those who may take delight in clothing their own imperfect aspirations in the pure and glowing language of the early ages. For the Greek Church has taken care to extend her guiding hand even into the homes and hearts of her children, and has provided private devotions, not only for every domestic or individual emergency, but even the daily morning and evening prayers; without which, to this day, the illiterate peasant of the East could not dare to arise and go to his work, or to lay himself down to rest. It is these latter, as well as the preparation for Holy Communion, that we have at present extracted, as a specimen, from the collection still in use in every family, entitled the Orologion; and with regard to the translation, we can only say, that it has been undertaken, not by a classical scholar, armed with an Oxford Lexicon, but by one who is intimately acquainted with these expressions as the living language of daily |