39. Some have used this Greek and Oriental rite of concelebration as an argument for questioning whether there is any place in their church for private Masses said by an individual priest, since there is only a single altar in Greek churches and only one Mass is offered at it and priests concelebrate with the bishop or a chief celebrant. The Lutherans were careful to send the Augsburg Confession, which abolished private Masses, to Jeremiah, Patriarch of Constantinople, for his approval and acceptance. But since the traditional practice of private Mass in the Oriental Church is derived from Trullan Canon 31, and defended by this canon and the commentary on it written by Theodore Balsamon, both the rite of frequent concelebration and the practice of private Masses have remained unharmed in the Oriental Church. So the efforts of the Lutherans came to nothing. They were told that the East as well as the West condemned the evil practice of men who approached the altar with a wicked desire of obtaining offerings, but not the actions of men who with religious piety celebrated private Masses in order to offer to God an acceptable sacrifice. This is evident from Schelestratus, ex Actis Ecclesiae Orientalis contra Lutheranos, chap. 1: on private Masses in the Greek Church, towards the end. For the convenience of priests who want to offer a private Mass, while preserving the custom of offering only one Mass at the one altar in the church, the Greeks began to set up Paracclesias. These are mentioned by Leo Alla ius in his letter to Joannes Morinus. Paracclesiae are oratories beside the church in which there is an altar for the celebration of Masses which cannot be said in the church because Mass has aleady been said there on that day.