Haifa, April 2.—The population of Haifa, which amounts to about six
thousand souls, consists, so far as religious distinctions are
concerned, of Moslems, Roman Catholics—here called “Latins”—orthodox
Greeks, and Greek Catholics, or Melchites. Of these the latter are the
most numerous. This town may be considered the stronghold of the
Melchite schismatics. They are more influential here than in any other
town in Syria. They compose two thirds of its entire population.
Originally orthodox Greek, they owe their origin to the missionary
efforts of Romish priests and Jesuits during the last two centuries. As
the object has been to gain partisans, more pains have been taken to
obtain nominal submission to the authority of the pope than any real
change of doctrine or ritual. To this day, Lazarists, Franciscans,
Carmelites, and Jesuits are active in their efforts to make proselytes
to this sect from the orthodox Greek Church. They allow them to retain
their independence of Rome in many particulars. Thus it is governed by a
patriarch at Damascus who owes allegiance to the pope. Mass is
celebrated in Arabic, they administer the sacrament in both kinds, they
retain their Oriental calendar, and their priests may be married men,
though they may not marry after ordination. They differ from the
orthodox Greek Church in this, that they take the Romanist view of the
procession of the Holy Spirit. They believe in Purgatory, they eat fish
in Lent, and acknowledge the papal supremacy. Otherwise they have made
no change in passing from one jurisdiction to the other. As perverts
they are naturally intensely hated by the orthodox Greeks, and when
disturbances take place between Moslems and Christians, the Greek
orthodox are generally to be found siding with the Moslems against Roman
Catholics and Melchites.
To this sect belong some of the wealthiest and most aristocratic
families in Syria. As the ordinary traveller is not often brought into
contact with them, I was not sorry for the opportunity which my
residence furnished me of witnessing their Easter observances. At
midnight on the Saturday preceding Easter Sunday the festival is
announced by a great consumption of gunpowder. An uproar which would do
credit to a prolonged skirmish lasts till the early mass. The Melchite
church is the largest and most imposing in Haifa. It is enclosed in a
courtyard, round one side of which runs a balcony. At an early hour on
Sunday morning the whole population turns out in its grandest attire.
The men wear short embroidered jackets, with long sleeves slashed to the
elbow, waistcoats of brilliant colours and innumerable buttons,
bright-coloured sashes, and baggy trousers. The women are in flowing
white robes, which, drawn over their heads, are held under their chins,
only partially concealing their gay head-dresses sparkling with coins,
and their low-cut vests, gaudy with gold or silver embroidery. The
children are especially subjects of decoration in costume, and strut
about in the brightest of garments, plentifully ornamented with gold
lace and flowers.
The narrow street leading to the church is tolerably crowded as we force
our way along until we suddenly meet a loud-voiced procession, the
priests, accompanied by choristers, keeping up a discordant nasal chant
as they march round the church with the image of the Saviour on a
crucifix, with red and green banners, and with swinging censers,
followed by a miscellaneous crowd, all carrying tapers. This occurs
three times. Afterwards the church square fills with a noisy crowd of
men. The windows and housetops which command a view of it are filled
with female spectators, who are not allowed to mingle freely with the
men. On the stairs leading to the housetops are clustered the tawdrily
dressed little girls, upon whom no such restriction is imposed, and
then, if I may be pardoned the expression, the religious fun may be said
to begin. It consists in letting off squibs, crackers, pistols, and guns
till the spectator is almost deafened. The men form themselves in a
circle so large that it fills the whole courtyard, each man throwing his
arms right and left round his neighbour's neck, and, lifting up his
voice in a discordant scream, which is supposed to have some musical
connection with the screams of all his neighbours. It is a dull dance,
although noisy. Everybody makes ungainly steps in time, yelling and
leering at each other in an idiotic manner, and letting off their guns
when impelled to do so by excitement. As far as I could make out, their
songs were rather of an amorous than a religious character.
When this entertainment came to an end a seedy-looking character entered
the arena with an open Bible in his hand. He proceeded up the stairs to
the open balcony, whither he was followed by the armed crowd who had
been dancing. These ranged themselves right and left beside him, and he
commenced in Arabic to read in a loud voice a chapter from the Gospel of
St. John. When he had read a certain number of verses he paused, and
about a hundred guns went off in a sort of _feu de joie_. Then he read
on, while his audience loaded their guns. Then he paused again. They
fired again, and so on all through the chapter, thus emphasizing as it
were the most striking passages by periodical explosions of gunpowder.
When this was over the church bell rang, and some priests with round,
high-crowned hats and locks flowing over their shoulders made their
appearance. I was told by a Melchite friend that there was no use in
going to church now, as everybody intended to go and get drunk and pay
visits, and indulge in more dancing of a less restrained character, but
that there would be a better mass on the following day, because the
French consul was going to attend in full uniform, and everybody would
be there.
This Easter festival lasts three days. The merriment increases and
culminates on the last day, at the expiration of which everybody has
given proof of his religious devotion by arriving at a blind state of
intoxication. When in this sanctified condition disturbances not
unfrequently occur between these Christian worshippers and the Moslems,
in whose mind Christian religious ceremonial is inseparably connected
with drunken riots and wild orgies. The Caimakam or Turkish governor of
the town, fearing that the strict observance of Easter according to
their custom on the part of the Melchites might lead to these results,
issued an order that on Easter Monday and the day following no firing
was to be allowed, but the Melchites replied to the police officer
charged with enforcing this order, that they had no intention of obeying
it. A serious difficulty might have occurred were it not for the
intervention of the English and French vice-consuls, who gave the
Melchites to understand that the Turkish authority must be respected. It
was a curious illustration of the state of Turkish administration here
that a Turkish governor should have to appeal to foreign consuls in
order to secure compliance on the part of Turkish subjects with his own
orders. When I attended mass on the following day there was no firing.
With the exception of the French consul, my friends, and myself, the
whole congregation stood. Three priests officiated at an altar unusually
tawdry, and a group of men and boys kept up a stentorian nasal chant
from first to last. They were accompanied by an orchestra of two men,
each of whom had a pair of common steel table knives, with which they
kept up a most ear-splitting clatter on the rim of a copper bowl, that
might on ordinary occasions have been used for salad. The
incense-swingers puffed fumes of incense into the faces of the French
consul and myself as being honoured guests, and a priest brought him an
open Bible to kiss, but abstained from offering it to me—on religious
grounds best known to himself. Then he painted a good many people with
holy water, using a piece of cotton put on the end of a wire. Then there
was the usual procession and elevation of the Host, and the more devout
members prostrated themselves and kissed the flagstones of the church.
The sacrament was administered, the bread and wine being mixed together
in a silver cup, which was held over an embroidered napkin stretched
between two boys, so that none of the contents fell to the ground as the
priest put the teaspoonful into the mouths of those who knelt before
him. The women did not seem to need it, as they were all bottled up in a
gallery, and could only see or be seen through a lattice-work.
The service came to an end, and the people divided to allow the French
consul, who, with his cocked hat and gold lace, had been the figurehead
of the ceremony, to march out in state. These French consuls are all
very pious men in Syria. The French government, which has been ejecting
monks and nuns and closing religious establishments, and making laws
against religious instruction in France, is very particular about the
religious principles of their representatives in Syria; as a member of
the French government recently remarked, “Religion is only useful as an
article of export.” Thus, the French consul-general at Beyrout goes to
mass on Easter Sunday with the Roman Catholics. On Easter Monday he
attends mass with the Maronites, and on Tuesday he worships with the
Melchites, thus dividing his favours equally, and patronizing with great
impartiality any heresies he may happen to come across.
As the correct thing among the Melchites after being at church is to go
and “have something to drink,” I followed the usual custom and paid a
visit to my Melchite friend's family. The ladies of his establishment,
in gorgeous attire, pressed beer and wine and raki, and sweetmeats and
cakes and coffee, upon our enfeebled digestion. We smoked narghilès, and
enlightened our minds upon Melchite manners and customs. As I passed
through the outskirts of the town on my return home, I came upon the
male Melchite population indulging in their circular dance and their
discordant chants. They continued on the following day, stimulated by a
plentiful indulgence in intoxicating liquors, thus to glorify God, and
to celebrate the resurrection of the Saviour among men.