For the Contribution Box at Greek Church

1910

A Convenient Arrangement for Giving Early and Often in Use in a Greek Church.

A custom among attendants of the Greek church at Trebizond explains the use of certain tokens which have been presented to the American Numismatic society.

According to the Journal of the society sometimes several collections are made during the service in these churches. Even should there be but one, the visitor may desire to make a special contribution at the shrine or picture of some of the saints whose intercession he desires to secure, or he may wish to purchase a candle for use in some of the ceremonials in public or private devotions.

On entering the church, therefore, he exchanges a certain sum of money with the deacon at the gate for an equivalent amount of these tokens. He is thus able to respond to the calls for the various offerings during the service or to deposit his gift at the shrine of the saint by using one or more of these tokens as he may be disposed, yet without any heavy demand on his purse. These church tokens are sometimes of brass and sometimes of paper.