13 JULY 1901, Page 23

GREEK MANUALS OF CHURCH DOCTRINE.

Greek Manuals of Church Doctrine. By the Rev. H. F. F. Duckworth. (Rivingtons. 1s. 61) —This little volume is pub- lished for the "Eastern Church Association." It contains an account of four Catechisms (all published at Athens) between the years 1889 and 1899. The secretary to this body supplies a preface, in which he urges the importance of a better mutual knowledge between the Anglican and the Greek Communion. We heartily agree; as long as friendship, not corporate union, is sought, these efforts at a better understanding are worthy of all sympathy. We do not see, however, that the "word for transubstantiation is never employed." In the Catechisms it hardly would be. but in the "Orthodox Confession of Faith" it occurs. After the invocation by the priest of the Holy Ghost, Aerouchecris waptabs yiverae We wonder whether the ex- perience of those who are practically acquainted with the sub- ject is that "the Greek layman must know a great deal more about his Church than the average English layman." It is true that there is the important proviso, "if the system which is described in these pages is carried out." It is a very potent "if" indeed. Let it be noted that all the books quoted are published in Athens. How about the average layman in Arcadia, in Cyprus, in the remote islands of the Xgean, in the Christian communities of Anatolia? The "average Greek layman" is the most uninstructed Christian in the world, the Abyssinian possibly excepted.