UNIATES 87

Of the Uniat bodies represented in Syria, the Syrian
Catholics,, the Greek Catholic Melchites, and the Maronites^
the two last are practically local churches, with centres in
Syria itself. The head of the Syrian Catholics, however,
though styled Patriarch of Antloch, has his residence at
Mardin. The present line of patriarchs began in 1783, as
a result of the Roman propaganda which had been going
on among the Jacobites for some time.1 The Syrian Catho-
lic patriarch is elected by the bishops alone. Before he can
be enthroned he must be confirmed first by the Porte and
then by Rome. How the Syrian Uniat community over-
shadows the Jacobite, both at Damascus and Aleppo, has
been already indicated. In the heart of the Maronite dis-
trict, Kesrouan, in the Lebanon, is the Syrian Catholic mon-
astery of Deir-esh-Sherfi, the seat of a theological training-
school. A similar school for the instruction of candidates
for the Syrian Catholic priesthood is under the charge of the
Benedictine monastery, situated on the so-called Mount of
Offence, east of Jerusalem.

The split in the Orthodox communion which gave rise to
two contemporary lines of patriarchs of Antioch, each fol-
lowing the Greek rite, the one called Greek Orthodox, the
other Greek Catholic Melchite, dates from 1724. This
definite schism was but the culmination of a Roman Catholic
propaganda which began as early as 1583, when the pope,
Sixtus V, sent a delegate to the East to seek for terms
of union which might be more successful than those pro-
posed almost a century and a half before at the Council of
Florence. This embassy was a failure. But what direct
diplomacy could not effect was brought about, at least
partially, by the quiet and persistent work of Roman
Catholic missionaries, thoroughly organized, by the middle
of the seventeenth century. Jesuit and Capuchin fathers,
highly trained for the work, were domiciled among the
simple Syrians, whom they gradually acquainted with the
ideas and principles of the Roman Church. By force of a

1A sketch of the papal propaganda among the Syrians may be found
in "Six Months in a Syrian Monastery," by O. H. Parry, pp. 301 jf.
Compare with page 75 of this present work.