LORDS SPIRITUAL IN JERUSALEM

BY THOMAS E. GREEN

Author of “The Green Flag of the Prophet,” etc.

WITH PHOTOGRAPHS, COPYRIGHT, BY THE AUTHOR

THEY were changing the guard at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the sacred place for which the Crusaders marched and fought, the shrine toward which the feet of pious pilgrims have turned for nearly twenty centuries. It was done quietly, and with no feature to attract attention, or emphasize the shame that made a guard necessary. In a moment the old guard of six soldiers and the young Turkish officer had gone, and on a raised platform, just within the door, the new guard were making themselves comfortable, lighting their cigarettes, and chatting in low, soft voices.

I had asked the officer before the relief arrived if the guard was actually needed. “Not often,” he replied. “But one can never tell. In the last disturbance a monk was killed. I tell you true! I saw him lying there at the foot of the steps.”

He flicked the ash from his cigarette, and shrugged a very square pair of shoulders significantly.

“Killed!” I said, “why and how?”

“Monsieur wonders, but he does not know these people. Observe, Monsieur, that the stair beyond the door has eighteen steps. All but the lowest one belong to the Latins; the bottom one and the pavement belong to the Greeks. Each morning the steps must be swept. The Latins sweep down to the last one, and there they must leave the dirt, until the Greeks sweep it off and bear it away. Generally the two come together, and so the work is done. But on that fatal day, when the Latin had swept the dirt upon the lowest step, no Greek was there. So lest the dirt should blow back again where he had cleaned, he, little thinking, swept it off, and was bearing it away. Then came the Greek, and, seeing him, snatched both broom and basket from him, with upbraiding words. Their loud voices soon reached their fellows, and in a moment a score or more were pushing and wrestling across the pavement. Nor were good solid blows lacking. Somehow in the tumult a Greek monk was pushed over, and, falling against the edge of a stone step, broke his neck, and so died, while they all knelt and prayed for his soul. Since then there has been no actual trouble, but we keep a constant guard posted here at the door. I am of Islam, effendi—the faith of my fathers. We garrison the Tower of David.”

Multitudes of people were passing in and out of the venerable portal, singly and in groups, sometimes in companies. They surely must have come from the ends of the earth, young and old, rich and poor, pilgrim and tourist, to stand or kneel beside the holiest tomb in Christendom.

Just within the entrance is the Stone of Anointing, the ancient one covered by a more modern stone, worn smooth with the touch of countless lips. Above it hangs a row of lamps, of various shapes and colors, but always burning. These lamps offer a key to the strange conditions within this ancient fane, for part of them belong to the Armenians, part to the Latins, the rest to the Greeks and the Copts.

Wherever you go, you find the same confusing conflict over jealously guarded rights, for every sect of Oriental Christendom is represented and claims some part in the ownership of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Not the church alone, but the whole city, and its environs, including Bethlehem, Bethany, Gethsemane, and every real or fabled spot of sanctity, are in the guardianship of one or the other of the many creeds.

Jerusalem is the “City of Peace,” but no city on earth has such a tumult of devotion, such a confusion of worship. In many ways it is essential that there should be all of the great substantial hospices, capable of sheltering and caring for the multitude of pilgrims who still, as in the ancient days, come from afar to worshipin Jerusalem. They come from every nation in Europe, mostly in comparative poverty, making their toilsome way by personal exertion and sacrifice. The roads leading from seaports are thronged with pilgrims, trudging their dusty way, sleeping beside the highway or in rude shelters erected for them, all with their faces set steadfastly toward Jerusalem. For these there must be rest and shelter and food, for which reason in the Holy City, and at neighboring shrines huge caravansaries are sustained by the various national churches. More elaborate buildings, like modern hotels, exist for those who come upon a pious pilgrimage with ample means.

Schools exist for the young, taught by monks and nuns. There are communities of pious widows, whose wealth has erected for them pleasant homes in the Holy City. There are colonies—Protestant, Jewish, Catholic—actuated by some idea, often chimerical, sometimes simple and tinged with pure devotion. The members live as a religious family, each doing some share of labor, and enjoying some share of the result. There are also modern churches, magnificent ones, built within a decade or two, either as memorials, or for some missionary purpose. The Jewish community is constantly increasing, many of them looking for the speedy coming of their Messiah, and most of them brought hither by benevolent schemes for the colonization of Palestine by its ancient people. Over all this jumble of things ancient and modern floats the crescent flag; and above, on the height of Mt. Moriah, stands the marvelous mosque, where the Moslem, bows himself toward Mecca, and worships his God.

During my stay in Jerusalem it occurred to me that it would be interesting to seek out the various heads of all these various creeds. Fortune was kind, for sooner or later I found them all, and bore away photographs showing the faces of a unique set of Lords Spiritual, probably the most varied in belief and personality to be found in the world. Together they stand for the Christian history of twenty centuries; and in a city of probably sixty thousand souls, they all have a following, and play a part in its life.

Eldest in occupancy, and claiming priority from the fact that they are the descendants of those who listened to the teaching of the Apostles themselves, are the Syrians, the ancient stock of Palestine. They are few in number, but possess the ancient Convent of St. Mark, and the tombs of Nicodemus and of Joseph of Arimathea. They are ruled by His Beatitude Abighatios II, the Syrian Patriarch of Jerusalem.

The Greek Church rests its claim to authority upon the fact that Constantine, the first Christian emperor, gave Rome the go-by when his victory over Licinius made him master of the empire, and built his capital on the Bosphorus, calling it Constantinople. The later Greek (in which the New Testament was written) was the language of the Eastern Empire. During the early centuries the language and the learning of the Christian Church was Greek, and the great fathers and teachers of the early centuries were theirs. St. Helena, Constantine’s mother, discovered, so tradition says, the true cross, and the cavity from which it was taken is reverently shown to-day, hard by the sepulcher. Most of the sacred places owe their preservation and their defense to the Greeks, who are far in advance of all other Christian sects in their Holy Land possessions and influence.

The Greek Patriarch, His Beatitude Damianos, is a grave, dignified man of great learning. Fourteen bishops are subject to him, and they control twenty-one monasteries within and about Jerusalem. The superior of the Holy Sepulcher, Monseigneur Optimus Patlafeki, ranks next to the Patriarch. He is Lord Chancellor to the Greek Patriarch, and administrator of the vast wealth (both that which daily comes from gifts and fees, and the collection of rentals), invested in real estate and buildings. A shrewd and careful diplomat, he stands close to the powers that be in the rule of the Holy City. He and the venerable Patriarch alone know what treasure the Greek Church possesses.

It is a peculiar fact that the Greeks form but a small part of the Greek Church, or, more properly, of the Holy Orthodox Church. Counting all the Slavonic peoples who belong to the orthodox, still a full four fifths are Russian. The conversion of the mighty empire of the north came as late asA.D.989, when Vladimir married the sister of the Emperor Basil,and chose the Greek in preference to the Roman form of religion. The people were baptized almost as a nation, and no other nation has remained more loyal to the faith. To-day more pilgrims come to Jerusalem from the land of the Czar than from any other nation. Literally by shiploads, in caravans of hundreds, they come to worship at the holy places. There are many large and spacious establishments where the pilgrims are sheltered, and their management and operations require the oversight of a capable man. The Holy Synod therefore maintains an Archimandrite, who, without interfering in the least with the Patriarch, looks after the detail of things Russian, and a capable man is His Excellency Monseigneur Leonidouff.

MUSA EFFENDI SHABIK, MOSLEM GRAND CADI OF JERUSALEM

The Latins, whose Hospice is one of the most imposing, and who have built churches, monasteries, convents, schools, and a magnificent modern hospital, number about three thousand, and have for their patriarch, His Excellency Monseigneur Philippe Camassei, one of the most learned of all the throng of dignitaries. The Latins are the natural opponents of the Greeks, and since the anathemas exchanged in the year 1054, each sect has claimed independent authority and priority. Nowhere else is the great schism between the East and the West so evident as in Jerusalem.

MONSEIGNEUR JIRYES DOMAT, MARONITE SUPERIOR

The woes and persecutions of the Armenians at the hands of their Moslem rulers have been makers of history for centuries. Armenia has great prestige as a Christiannation. A little before Rome was converted to the faith, Armenia, under the teaching of Gregory “the Illuminator,” had become the first Christian kingdom. Next to the Greek Church, it is to-day the most important in the East. In Jerusalem they have a great church and monastery on Mt. Zion. Their permanent following is not large—not more than eight hundred—but thousands of pilgrims come yearly to tarry awhile in the sacred places.

HIS BEATITUDE ABIGHATIOS II, SYRIAN PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEMHIS BEATITUDE DAMIANOS, GREEK PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM

HIS BEATITUDE ABIGHATIOS II, SYRIAN PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM

HIS BEATITUDE DAMIANOS, GREEK PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM

Their patriarch is His Beatitude Izimerlian, and they keep the shrine and tomb of St. James, whom Herod slew with the sword.

The Copts are an echo of far-away Egypt, where in the early centuries they were the dominant Christian force. Alexandria was one of the first great Christian capitals, and her patriarch and bishops were potent forces in the early church councils. Chief among them was St. Athanasius, who at the first General Council battled against the “iota,” the single letter that made or unmade the definition of the divinity of Christ. In Egypt to-day the Copts are looked upon as by far the most intellectual and capable of the mixed and tangled population. The Copts have no colony in Jerusalem, except for a few men engaged in banking or other commercial pursuits. However, multitudes of Copts come from Egypt at the times of the great festivals, and shelter and oversight are necessary for their protection. They have three monasteries, one being close beside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Here lives their bishop, His Eminence Thimethos, and from his household are furnished daily two priests whose high and singular dignity it is to be shut up in the great church each night, to keep watch beside the Holy Sepulcher.

Away to the south, beyond the cataracts of the Nile, preserved through long ages by its desert sands, lies the remains of one of the oldest relics of civilization, Abyssinia (wrongly associated with the ancient Sheba, now known to have been located in southwest Arabia, and whose queen came to Jerusalem to see King Solomon’s splendor and glory). InA.D.338, St. Athanasius appointed a bishop for the Abyssinians, who had received Christianity, so the legends say, from two sailors cast upon their coasts. Through the march of fifteen centuries Christianity has enduredthere, though in a debased form, contaminated by ancient heresies, and absorbing much from Judaism. Their patriarch is always a Coptic monk appointed and consecrated by the Patriarch of Egypt. In Jerusalem they maintain a large monastery and convent, where devout men and women spend their lives. They have recently built a new chapel, which is the seat of their abbot, Monseigneur Mahsanto.

MONSEIGNEUR LEONIDOUFF, THE RUSSIAN ARCHIMANDRITE IN JERUSALEMMONSEIGNEUR OPTIMUS PATLAFEKI, SUPERIOR OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER

MONSEIGNEUR LEONIDOUFF, THE RUSSIAN ARCHIMANDRITE IN JERUSALEM

MONSEIGNEUR OPTIMUS PATLAFEKI, SUPERIOR OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER

HIS EMINENCE ZACHARIAS BEN-ABBAS

To the northward in Palestine, near the border of Turkey in Asia, under the shadow of the mountains of Lebanon, from whose sides Hiram, King of Tyre, cut cedar-trees to send to King Solomon for his temple in Jerusalem, lives a religious and political community known as Maronites. The name is merely a patronymic and perpetuates the name of their founder, John Maron, who in the seventh century set up a civil and spiritual rule. So sturdy and independent were these mountain peoplethat they withstood the victorious onslaughts of the Mohammedans, and to this day never have been subject to them. When the First Crusade had been fought and the Templar Kingdom was established in Jerusalem, the Maronites joined themselves to Rome, which accepted them as they were. To-day they are the only church in communion with Rome not governed by Rome. They maintain a small convent in Jerusalem, presided over by their superior, Monseigneur Jiryes Domat. They hold their own synods, elect their own patriarch, and manage their own affairs.

HIS EXCELLENCY MONSEIGNEUR PHILIPPE CAMASSEI, LATIN PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEMHIS BEATITUDE IZIMERLIAN, ARMENIAN PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM

HIS EXCELLENCY MONSEIGNEUR PHILIPPE CAMASSEI, LATIN PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM

HIS BEATITUDE IZIMERLIAN, ARMENIAN PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM

For many years the Church of England has maintained an establishment in Jerusalem. Originally it was a missionary enterprise, professedly setting out to convert all men to anglicanism. Now, however, a new philosophy is dominant. The Rt. Rev. Popham Blythe, Bishop in Jerusalem, cares for the English folk who may be resident or transient, and directs missionary effort, chiefly toward Mohammedans and Jews.

After all, Moslems and Israelites are the original stock, the descendants of Jacob and Esau. They form by far the largest factor in the population of highly diversified Jerusalem. Nor may the various Christian sects imagine for a moment that they have a monopoly of dignity and learning. Measuring certainly up to any standard, however discriminating, are the leaders of these antagonistic faiths. Chief of the Moslems is His Honor Musa Effendi Shabik, Grand Cadi of Jerusalem; and at the head of the constantly increasing multitude of Jews is His Eminence Zacharias Ben-Abbas, Grand Rabbin of the City of David.

So dwell in as much peace as possible, yet mixed with many mocking words, and much biting of thumbs, the varied sects and sorts of the population of this ancient and unique metropolis. Each sect, of course, believes itself a trifle nearer the original pattern of faith and practice than its neighbor. That this belief might at times take the form of extremely vigorous missionary endeavor, is certain, were it not firmly, but tactfully, restrained. To supply that tact and firmness requires a peculiar personality, in which patience plays an important part.

HIS EMINENCE THIMETHOS, COPTIC BISHOP OF JERUSALEMTHE RT. REV. POPHAM BLYTHE, ENGLISH BISHOP IN JERUSALEM

HIS EMINENCE THIMETHOS, COPTIC BISHOP OF JERUSALEM

THE RT. REV. POPHAM BLYTHE, ENGLISH BISHOP IN JERUSALEM

Amid all this procession of titles, regalia, rank, pomp, and ceremony, he whose position has most of care and least of comfort, is His Excellency Djoudat Bey, Governor of Jerusalem. When returning from beyond the Jordan, we found ourselves face to face with an outbreak of cholera in Jaffa, the port of Jerusalem, and observed the quick official action of this official in flinging a protecting barrier of quarantine about the city, and providing the military and civil espionage which was necessary to the crisis. Not a single case crossed the barrier, or gained a footing in Jerusalem.

Despite all the confusion and jumble of faith and creeds, Jerusalem is still a city to be desired. Much of its sanctity is merely legendary. Many, indeed most, of its holy places are incapable of identification. Still it is Jerusalem. Here are the ancient hilltops, where stood in far-gone years the sacred shrines of earth’s most wondrous nation. Here are still the hoary moss-grown stones, beside which there still resound the wailings that are the minor strains of the Iliad of a broken-hearted people. Here Abraham sacrificed, here David ruled, here Solomon spoke the wisdom of the proverbs. And, holiest of all, here are the rugged pathways trodden by the saintliest feet that ever pressed our sorrowful earth. And above us, glowing in their splendor, arch the soft and radiant skies that smiled on him.

City of tumult and confusion, to the heart of faith thou art still Jerusalem, the City of Peace!

Headpiece; Lords Spiritual in Jerusalem

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