Show LEO LOOKING EASTWARD for years the emissaries of the roman catholic church located in syria bud and other eastern countries have been laboring among the dissenting churches of the orient with a view to uniting them with the great western branch of the church and placing them under the supervision of the pope it seems that the endeavors have been so far successful that the present ecclesiastical head of the roman boman world has con eluded to call a conference of the representatives of the religious bodies concerned with a view of more fully discussing their differences abd the conditions on which unity may be effected should also succeed in this undertaking his name is likely to go down through history as one of the great popes of the church there are several denominations in the he east all remnants of the primitive church they all had a common starting starling point but as now new doctrines and practices were invented and the bishops of the western cities notably bonus claimed authority over all the rest men rose up who opposed such claims and the doctrines supported by them each of them gained followers thus while awhile rome borne rolled onward ever adding to her system of theology new ideas new dogmas and new rules religious bodies were dropped by the wayside all along alone unable to follow the development they were one with rome borne till the time of the schism when the separation came they simply stopped growing and the main difference between these bodies and the mother church to is that the latter has constantly added innovations to her system while the former are principally the roman boman church as an she was at the point of 01 separation A union therefore oan can not be impossible one of the more important of eastern churches church is the armenian this separated itself from the main body in the sixth century the members of this body believe in the seven sacraments of rome home although they practice baptism by immersion immersi oo they believe in the mediation of saints and the he adora tion of images to in transubstantiation but they administer the emblems of the sacrament in both kinds to the laymen the copts coats constitute another sect they are found principally in the valley of the nile they adhere to views condemned as heresy in the fifth century but they believe in transubstantiation and have seven sacraments although with them faith and prayer are sacraments instead of the matrimony and extreme unction of the catholics they acknowledge the authority of three general councils of the church but stigmatize the following as assemblies ot of rank heretics there are numerous other small groups of christians to be brought back to the fold of ef rome but the most important of them all is the greek church which after many quarrels with rome borne asserted its independence in the eleventh century it is more than likely that some sort of a reunion of this great family of religious bodies can at present be effected many of the leading prelates pr elates of the orient are anxious to obtain the pecuniary support which the wealth of rome alone can supply and they are known to be not too scrupulous as to doctrine if by a little yielding an advantage can be gained on the other hand the roman church knows how bow to modify certain points when necessary for success through earlier efforts many of the greeks were led to form a united greek church which acknowledged the supremacy of the pope while it was allowed to abide with its own peculiar usages and doctrines except on so called fundamental points with allowances of thip kind it to is highly probable that the patriarchs of the he various eastern churches will not refuse to accept the supremacy of rome and the desired union may be accomplished the numerical strength of the church may not by this move be considerably sider ably augmented but she will gain a greater prestige in the east where the traditional sacred places are lo 10 bated and where the interests of millions of catholics is centered she will obtain a power likely to tobe be felt feltin in the future that may perhaps be a factor in the polities politics of the world the movement is certainly one of great importance |