Richard Simon (1638-1712) was a French priest and Oratorian, who was an influential biblical critic and orientalist. Born in Dieppe, he received education at the Oratorian College and studied oriental languages and theology in Paris. In 1670, he was ordained as a priest. Influenced by Benedict Spinoza, he devoted his life to textual criticism of the Scriptures, publishing several major books. He had also written a study on the Eastern Churches which was translated into English and published under the title "The Critical History of the Religious and Customs of the Eastern Nations" in London in 1685. In this book, Simon devoted Chapters V and VI to "the Belief and Customs of the Georgians or Iberians, and of those of Colchis of Mangrelia"
In the History which Galanus has caused to be printed at Rome [in 1650], concerning the reconciliation of the Armenian Church with Roman, there are some curious Pieces relating to the Present state of the Iberians, and other neighbouring People.
Pope Urban VIII sent Emissaries to these People, of which Father Avitabolis, a Regular Priest, was the chief; And this Monk wrote from that Countrey a Letter to the Pope, wherein he marks the Errours of the Iberians exactly enough, which are the same that are attributed to the Greeks; to wit, they acknowledge, indeed, a Purgatory, but not in the manner the Latins do, because they only believe that the Souls are in a place of Obscurity and Sadness, without being tormented by Fire: they deny the Judgment of Souls, being [convinced] that when one dies, his Soul is by his Guardian Angel carried into the Presence of Christ; and if it be the Soul of a just Man that is without Sin, it is immediately sent into a Place of Light and joy; if it be the Soul of a wicked Man, it is put into an obscure Place; if that Person dye in the Act of Repentance, it is sent for a time into the Place of Horrour and Obscurity, whence it is afterwards conveyed into the Place of Joy; and all expect the day of Genera! Judgment, because they absolutely deny that the Souls see God before that time.
The Iberians, according to the same Authour, believe that Infidels are only judged in a particular Judgment, and not at the General judgment. They ground themselves upon these words of the Gospel, “He that believeth not is condemned already” [John 3:18]. Nor do they believe that the Pains of the Damned are Eternal; but they say, that if a Christian dye stems in Mortal Sin, without Repentance, he may be relieved out of Hell before the Universal judgment, by praying to God for him. However, I think that that Belief which comes near to that of Origen, and which seems to have been followed by some new Greeks, is not the real Belief of the Iberians, who exactly conform to the Faith of the Greek Church; but that which [has] given occasion of imputing it to them, is because they own but one Place after Death where they put the Souls of the Damned, and those who are thought to be in Purgatory. Now seeing they pray indifferently for all the Souls which are shut up in that Place which they call Hell, that God would deliver them from the Pains of Hell and that he would remove them from that obscure Prison to the Place of Light and Joy which is Paradise; it [has] easily been inferred from thence, that they believed not Hell to be Everlasting, which is to be understood with Limitation, and in regard of some Souls only who endure their Purgatory in that Place.
The Iberians agree also with the Greeks as to their Opinion of Confession, and speak of it after the same manner. They work on the most solemn Holidays, even on Christmas day: but that is not contrary to the Practice of the first Ages. This is their way of baptizing: In the first Place the Priest reads a great many Prayers over the Child; and when he comes to the words wherein we make the Form of Baptism to consist, he does not stop, but reads on, without Baptizing the Child at that time: then so soon as he [has] done reading, the Child is [stripped], and is at length baptized by the Godfather, and not by the Priest; which is done without pronouncing other words, than those that were pronounced some time before. They are not very pressing to receive Baptism; and they rebaptize those who return again to the Faith after Apostasy. The Priest alone, amongst them, is the true Minister of Baptism. So that for want of a Priest the Child must die without Baptism; and some of their Doctors are of opinion, that in that case the Baptism of the Mother is sufficient to save the Child. With Baptism they administer to Children Confirmation and the Eucharist. They confess for the first time, when they marry; which they do also when they are at the Point of Death but their Confession is made in three or four words.
If a Priest fall into any uncleanness which he confesses, the Confessor deprives him of the Power of celebrating Mass. And therefore the Priests have a care not to confess those Kinds of Sins. They give the Communion to Children when they are a dying, and those that are come to Age receive it but seldom. The Prince forces the Churchmen, and even the Bishops to go to the Wars; and when they return home again, they celebrate Mass without any Dispensation for their irregularity. They are of the Opinion that no more than one Mass should be said in one Day upon one Altar and in one Church.
They consecrate in Chalices of Wood, and they carry the Sacrament to the Sick with great irreverence, without light or attendance. On some Holidays the Priests together assist at the Mass of the Bishop, who gives them the Sacrament in their hands, and they themselves carry it to their Mouths.
The Churchmen do not daily fay their Breviary; but one or two only say it, and the rest listen. He that recites the Office is commonly a Priest, and they who are present for most part do not hear. Most of the Iberians hardly know the Principles of Religion. If they have no Children by their Wives they divorce from them with the Permission of the Priests, and marry others; which they do also in case of Adultery and Quarreling. They allege that there are no more Miracles wrought in the Church of Rome, and that the Pope can give no Dispensations but in matters of positive Right nor in these neither if they be of great consequence.
Father Avitabolis in the same Letter to Pope Urban VIII describes the Politick State of the Iberians; and amongst other things observes the great Authority of the Princes and Nobles: for the Princes without any regard to that which is called Ecclesiastical Liberty or Immunity, use Priests as Servants. They slight the Bishops and punish them. They obey not the Patriarch, who takes the Title of Catholick or Universal; and yet it is not he who is the chief in Spiritual Affairs but the Prince who is Supreme both in Spirituals and Temporals. The Nobles do the same within their own Lands in regard of the Bishops and Priests. The Prince has his Voice with the Bishops in the Election of the Patriarch, and all chose him whom he desires. The Will of the Prince and of the several Lords within their Territories stands for Law, and they have no Judges for examining the Justice of Causes; neither have they any particular Statutes to walk by, not so much as admitting Witnesses. The Princes dispose at their Pleasure of the Estates of their Subjects, as well as of their Persons. In fine, the Patriarch of Constantinople sends Caloyers often into that Country to entertain them in their Enmity against the Pope.
That Letter was written in the Year 1631 by Father Avitabolis to Pope Urban VIII from Goris [Gori] in Georgia or Iberia; and in the same Book of Galanus are inserted the Letters of the Prince of the Georgians to Pope Urban VIII which are kept amongst the Records of the Congregation depropaganda fide. That Prince amongst other things affirms that the Faith [has] been preserved pure in his Dominions since Constantine the Great to his time, and he allows a Chapel to the Missionaries of Rome, that they . may pray to God for him.
This Letter is dated in the Year 1629. Pope Urban wrote back to that Prince, and sent a Letter also to the Metropolitan named Zachary.
[…]
Galanus [joins] to the Iberians those of Colchis or Mengrelia, saying, that as they are Neighbors, so they have the same Belief, only with this difference, that the Mengrelians, living on the Mountains, and in the Woods, are a wickeder sort of People than the Georgians; that they are so ignorant in Religion that they know not so much as the words necessary for Baptism, which they administer after the manner of the Georgians, and to render it the more solemn, they sometimes Baptize with Wine without Water; but we have said enough of the Georgians. The exposition that [has] been made of their Faith, confirms the Belief of the Greeks: And it would not be difficult to prove it to be very Ancient, and that the manner also of their administering Baptism, Marriage and other Sacraments is lawful though it differ from the Practice of the Church of Rome. What we at present call Matter and Form of Sacraments amongst us, ought not to be a Rule to other Christian Nations who are ignorant of these Names. It is certain the Orientals acknowledge no other Form of these Sacraments, but the Prayers which they make in administering them. I shall say nothing in this Place of the Religion of the Muscovites because in all things they follow the Belief of the Greeks…
Supplement concerning the Belief and Customs of the Georgians and Mengrelians
I have lately read a manuscript relation attributed to Father Zampi, a Theatin wherein are described at large the ignorance and Errors of these people, and especially of the Mengrelians, most of whose priests, if we will credit that Author, cannot be certain that they have really received Priesthood because it many times happens that they who ordain them have not been baptized.
The Bishops who are commonly more ignorant than the Priests, never examine their Capacity, but only if they have Money to pay for their Ordination; which amounts to the Price of a Horse. These Priests may not only marry, according to the Custom of the Greek Church, before they are ordained, but they may also marry a second time, by procuring a Dispensation from their Bishop which costs a Pistol. Neither does the Patriarch ordain a Bishop, without he pay him the Sum of 500 Crowns. When any Man falls sick he presently sends for a Priest to assist him rather as a Physician, than as a Ghostly Father, who never speaks to his Patient of Confession; but by turning over the Leaves of a Book very attentively, he seems to search for the true Cause of the Distemper [disease], which he imputes to the Anger of some of their Images [Icons]; for these People have a Belief that their Images are sometimes angry with them. And therefore the Priest orders the Patient to make an Offering to appease the Wrath of the Image, that Offering consists in Cattle or Money, and all the Profit comes to the Priest alone.
It is farther observed in that Relation, that so soon as a Child is born into the World, the Priest does no more but anoint it with Oil, making the sign of the Cross on its Forehead, and that Baptism is deferred until the Child be about two years old. Then they baptize it [child] dipping it in hot-water, and anointing it all over; at length they give it Bread that hath been blessed to eat, and Wine to drink: which appears to be the Ancient way of Baptism, when they administered at the same time Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist. These People believe that Baptism, consists chiefly in the anointing with the Oil that has been consecrated by the Patriarch which does not disagree with the Doctrine of Orientals, who call that Unction the Perfection of Baptism.
Father Zampi who was no less full with the prejudices of the Theology of the Latins, than the other Emissaries we mentioned before, put many questions to them relating to that Theology. Amongst other things he asked them, whether when they administered any Sacrament, they had a real intention to administer it? And thereupon he doubts, whether they truly consecrate the Bread and wine because they know not what that means. He asked them besides, wherein they made the Form of Consecration to consist? And having put that Question to many of them, there was but one who gave him any satisfaction, and who in effect rehearsed the words of Consecration. But it is easy to judge that the Mengrelian who thereupon satisfied Father Zampi, speaks rather in the Sense of the Father, than according to the Sentiment of those of his Nation. What is strangest of all, and which some will hardly believe, a Mengrelian Priest being by the same Father asked the Question whether after the Consecration of the Bread and the Wine, the same Bread and Wine were really changed into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, the Mengrelian smiling made answer that one could not conceive how Jesus Christ could leave Heaven to come down upon Earth, and that he could not be lodged in so small a Morsel of Bread. But this does not at all agree with the Testimony, that Father Zampi gives in another Place of the Belief of that People concerning the Eucharist. And seeing such kind of Questions are impertinently made by the Emissaries to the People of the East, who are not at all acquainted with our Disputes about that Sacrament, we are not to wonder at their Answers, if they suit not always with out Principles. The Mengrelian Papas on that occasion consisted only his senses, and made an answer much like to that which the Capenaites made to our Lord, “How can this Man give us his Flesh?” Father Zampi added another Question as impertinent as the rest. He asked the same Papas, whether in Case the Priest should forget the words of Consecration, would the Mass be good? To which he answered, why not? The Priest, indeed, would sin but the Mass would still be good. It is strange an Emissary should put such Questions to People whom he knows to be in profound ignorance, and who are so far from understanding the Questions that have for some Ages only been handled in the Schools, that they have but a slight Tincture of the Principles of Christian Religion.
But that which scandalized Father Zampi the most, was the little respect that the Papas of Mingrelia have for the Sacrament of the Eucharist, which they keep not, as the Latins do in precious Vessels, but in a little bag of Leather or Cloth, which they always tie to their Girdle, carrying it about with them wheresoever they go, to be made use of upon occasions, when they are to give the Viaticum to the sick. Nor do they make any Difficulty to give it to be carried by others, whether it be Man or Woman: and seeing the Consecrated Bread is hard, they break it into little Pieces to be moistened, without much regard to the small Crumbs of that Consecrated Bread that fall upon the ground, or that stick to their Hands. I confess these People pay not Veneration enough to that August Sacrament: but, on the other hand, it is not reasonable to exact from them all the External Worship that is rendered to it in the Western Church, seeing they have not the same reasons to doe it, having no Berengarians [an 11-th century religious sect that opposed the doctrine of transubstantiation] amongst them that might oblige them to give those Exterior Marks of their Belief. We can expect no more from them, than what was practiced in the first Ages of the Church: And it is not peculiar to the Mingrelians alone to keep in a leather Bag the Sacrament which is to serve for a Viaticum; the same is also observed in some Greek Churches, who in that manner keep it fastened to the Wall in their Churches.
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