ve bishops were found in Old
Greece competent or compliant enough to sit on this tribunal; the other
seven came from Macedonia, Crete, and Mytilene, though those dioceses
were under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople, whose
sanction was neither asked nor given. With the exception of six, five
of whom belonged to the disciplinary court, all the prelates of the
Kingdom were struck by it: some were degraded and turned out to subsist
as they might, on charity or by the sale of their holy vestments;
others were sentenced to humiliating punishments; and {209} where no
plausible excuse for a trial could be discovered, exile or confinement
was inflicted arbitrarily. On the other hand, as many as repented
received plenary absolution. For instance, the Bishops of Demetrias
and Gytheion were deprived for having cursed M. Venizelos; but on
promising in future to preach the gospel according to him, they were
not only pardoned, but nominated members of the second disciplinary
court created to continue the purification of the Church. Even more
instructive was the case of the Metropolitan of Castoria who was tried,
convicted, and confined in a monastery, but after recanting his
political heresies was retried, unanimously acquitted, and reinstated.
All this, in the words of the Speech from the Throne, "to restore the
prestige of the Church."

Side by side went on the reform of every branch of the Administration.
All the Prefects, and many lesser functionaries, were discharged.
Schoolmasters and schoolmistresses were dismissed by the hundred. The
National University, the National Library, the National Museum, the
National Bank, underwent a careful disinfection. In every Department
the worst traditions of the spoils system prevalent before 1909 were
revived and reinvigorated. Other measures marked an improvement on
tradition. Some two thousand Army and Navy officers, from generals and
admirals downwards, were put on the retired list or under arrest. And
an almost hysterical desire manifested itself to strike terror into
every civilian whom his opinions rendered objectionable and his
position dangerous to the new order: tactics the full brutality of
which was revealed in the treatment of M. Venizelos's principal
adversaries.

M. Rufos, a former Cabinet Minister, languished in the Averoff gaol
from 1917 until the spring of 1920, when the Athenian newspapers
announced his release. About the same time M. Esslin, a