OTHER ORIENTAL CHURCHES.
The Syrian Church Divided into Syrians, Chaldeans,
Nestorians, Jacobites, and some Roman Catholic Bodies--The
Jacobites--Patriarch of Antioch--Condition of Villagers--Jebel
Tur Region--Nestorians--Patriarch of Babylon--Badir Khan
Bey--Chaldeans--The Copts of Egypt--Maronites and Druzes.
In the provinces of Mesopotamia and Kurdistan in Eastern Turkey we
meet with comparatively few Armenians or Greeks, but large communities
of Syrian Christians are numerous. The Church of Syria is the oldest
of all the churches founded among the Gentiles. It was for centuries
renowned for its theologians, its schools of learning, and for its
activity in spreading the Gospel into the remote empires of Asia.
The remnants of it which are found to-day in Eastern Turkey are but
melancholy wrecks of a church once so flourishing and aggressive. Like
battered hulks on an unfriendly shore, they bear witness to the fierce
storms which have overtaken them in the progress of time; storms now of
internal dissensions, now of violent theological controversies, and now
of cruel persecutions and decimating international wars. Here on these
fields of once great ecclesiastical activity have met in protracted
struggle for supremacy Roman and Persian legions; here Mongols and
Tartars have enacted terrible scenes of massacre; Saracens and Kurds
too have swept over the land, leaving wasting and destruction in their
paths, and here now, in later centuries, the Turk has set his terrible
iron heel, as if to crush out the feeble remnant of the Christian name
altogether.
The numerous divisions into which this famous church is now
disintegrated is as much a cause for lament as is its prostrate state
under its conquerors. Syrians, Chaldeans, Nestorians, Jacobites,
Syrian Papists, are names of separate and, in a degree, antagonistic
bodies which the traveler meets at different points as he journeys
from Aleppo to the Persian boundary. Each sect owns allegiance to some
chief bishop or Patriarch of its own, each holding a different creed
or ritual, and there is no intercommunion between any of them. The
Patriarch of the Jacobites is resident at Mardin, of the Chaldeans at
Mosul, of the Nestorians still farther east in the heart of the Kurdish
Mountains. Zealous though these all are for their inherited creed and
ritual, the form of Christianity we meet among them is by no means an
ideal one. The ancestral organization remains. Rites and ceremonies
as handed down from the early fathers are observed with a blind
superstitiousness. There is a staunch grim loyalty to the Christian
name, in the face even of much persecution for the name’s sake. But
traces of genuine spiritual life are rarely to be found among them.
Their ancient missionary zeal, which carried their priests and bishops
throughout Persia, Tartary and into China, has long since given way to
a night of stolid indifference as to the spiritual fate of even their
nearest neighbors. The struggle for self-preservation taxes to its
absolute limit all their present religious ambition. And when we turn
to find, if may be, some evidence that their ancient learning may have
survived the catastrophe that has extinguished all but a name to live,
we discover that, too, has perished with the rest. Their language, once
aglow with devotion and religious thought, is long since dead. Their
clergy are sunk in deepest ignorance. The Syrian fathers were eminent
as authors of commentaries and hymns, grammars and lexicons, but the
highest attainment of a modern scholar among them is to be a good
copyist of the old books and to repeat the vocabularies and grammars
of the mediaeval times with slavish devotion to all their oddities and
errors.
But each of these particular bodies has a history and conditions
peculiar to itself that deserve a separate consideration.
The Jacobites cling proudly to their ancient name of Syrians
(“Syriani”) as we shall see do also the Nestorians. But both have
become better known by the names derived from their great theological
leaders. The Jacobites are so called from Jacobus Baradeus, a monk,
who in the sixth century checked the tide of desolation caused by the
Emperor Justinian’s persecutions, revived their declining church, and,
with almost incredible zeal, spread the faith throughout Syria and
Mesopotamia. He established the Patriarch of Antioch as their supreme
head, who styles himself to this day as the successor of St. Peter.
Their attachment is strong to the belief that theirs is the ancient
Church of Antioch where the followers of Christ were first called
Christians. As there are two other Patriarchs, of the Greek faith, who
make the same claim, there are no less than three prelates who bear
this title, “Patriarch of Antioch.”
The Jacobites hold to what is known as Monophysite doctrine, the
oneness of the divine and human natures in Christ.
They have been estimated as some 250,000 souls in number, but it is
far too large a calculation. Turkish statistics, however, are of no
practical value for correctness. Their chief centres of population are
Mardin, Diarbekir, Aleppo, Urfa, Jezireh, Mosul, and a district in the
western mountains of Kurdistan, named Jebel Tur. In their common speech
they use the Arabic, the language of their Moslem conquerors, but in
their church services they adhere to their much revered ancient Syriac
tongue. The church books are of distinguished origin and of venerable
date.
In the height of their ancient glory the Jacobite Church embraced 159
bishoprics. Now, there are scarcely a score.
It once boasted of twenty-one monasteries. Of these but two are even
occupied so far as is known. It is in one of these, the monastery of
Zafaran, near the city of Mardin, where the Patriarch of the Jacobites
has his residence. Here, perched high upon the rocks in a most
commanding position, surrounded at a distance by lofty and precipitous
crags, and near at hand by hillsides covered with vineyards, orchards
and gardens, has been the patriarchal abode for some eleven centuries,
except for two brief periods when the Kurds have seized it for uses
of their own. The late Patriarch had visited England in recent years
and through assistance received he restored a part of the famous old
monastery and enlarged it, and had established a fine printing press,
which the Turks, however, did not allow him to use.
The support of the monastery, with its score or two of monks, comes
in part from their own fields, in the cultivation of which the clergy
of the church, and the Patriarch himself, take an active share, and
in part from contributions of the villages lying between Mardin and
Jezireh.
The Patriarch is recognized by the Turkish authorities as having
the right to exercise a measure of control in the civil affairs of
his spiritual subjects. His people at least look up to him as their
spokesman in time of trouble from the government, and he is expected
to act as mediator between the two. The bishops of the church in
their respective localities are also allowed something of the same
authority. But they are a broken reed to lean upon as against the
organized oppression practised under Osmanli rule. They are, indeed,
themselves often the victims of the same relentless bondage. The very
manhood of this once noble, energetic race, is well-nigh crushed
out of them by the contumely and oppression to which they have been
subject for centuries. The pity of a Western visitor mantles his face
with a blush as he witnesses the cringing demeanor of these Syrian
dignitaries of the Church in the presence of some Mohammedan lord,
even when for the nonce the Pasha or Agha may treat them with courtesy
and kindness. Yet in the presence of sympathizing Christians from
Europe, it is surprising to note the manly, dignified bearing of these
same men. When we come down to the common villagers, their condition
is, as we might expect, pitiable in the extreme. Their moral and
spiritual apathy is painful to observe, and added to this is their
extreme industrial and financial distress, chargeable to successive
famines and a pitiless government. In their times of greatest want and
desperation, the government never diminishes aught of its exactions.
Pharaoh’s demand of the same tale of bricks without straw is repeated
over and over again. It would seem at times as if the rulers had
entered upon a settled policy to stamp out the entire Christian element
of the population. In evidence of this we might cite the observations
of recent very intelligent travelers through Mesopotamia. One speaks
of passing through a number of ruined villages that showed how the
process of depopulation had been carried on. The large stones in their
buildings, the remains of well-built churches, and the large tracts of
land that had once been terraced for vineyards, gave evidence of former
thrift and prosperity. The legitimate taxes alone are exceedingly
heavy, but they are often duplicated, or back taxes are claimed.
All these additional burdens, with and without the knowledge of the
central authorities, are laid upon the people, driving them almost to
distraction. Abuses through unjust and corrupt assessment, extortion in
collection, farming out the taxes, and the demands of petty landlords
and soldiers, simply defy description. The people are largely in the
hands of Aghas. These are the remnant of the feudal system of Turkey,
descendants of the feudal lords, who became proprietors of the soil by
virtue of a grant from the Sultan. The proprietorship has ceased, but
the Aghas have their retainers, and exercise lordship over the people
by force of arms. Each village is obliged to choose its Agha, and it is
supposed to receive protection from him. But it is like setting a wolf
to guard the sheep.
The Jebel Tur region, of which Midyat is the chief town, has long been
the stronghold of the Jacobite Church. It is now gradually dying out
under the crushing process practised by the Turkish authorities. To
one familiar with the history of the place in the past twenty-five or
thirty years, the change that is going on is distressingly apparent.
Not only are mortgages upon fields and vineyards on the increase,
but there is a decrease of stock with which to work them. The area
of uncultivated land around the villages enlarges, and the number of
unkempt vineyards multiplies. Further marks of the business stagnation
are seen in the dress of the people, and in the declining scale and
style of living among all classes of the population. And if other
evidence is asked for, it is found in the considerable numbers of
families who have been obliged to go elsewhere in search of a living.
The town of Sert furnished striking illustrations of this process, even
before the massacre in 1850.
Thus we find repeated in the social and industrial conditions of this
ancient Jacobite community the same proofs we have seen to prevail
elsewhere throughout the empire, of the utter indifference of the
Turkish Government to the well-being of its Christian subjects, if not
of its covert intentions to gradually efface them from off the land.
Let us turn now to the other large division of the Syrian Church, known
as Nestorians. They are sometimes spoken of as “Chaldeans,” and again
as “Assyrians.” But for neither of these names does there exist any
sufficient warrant either on historical or geographical grounds. They
recognize no appellation for themselves except “Syriani.” Their chief
bishop claims for himself the title of “Patriarch of the East.” But
they will always be best known to the world as “Nestorians.”
When Nestorius, from Antioch, being Bishop of Constantinople, was
condemned by the Council of Ephesus, in the year A. D. 431, for his
alleged heretical opinions regarding the Person of Christ, the “Church
of the East,” with its headquarters at Seleucia-Ctesiphon, warmly
espoused his cause. They were consequently cut off from communion with
the Western Church. Located so far to the East, beyond the reach of the
persecuting acts of the Byzantine powers, they enjoyed unusual liberty,
and used it with enthusiasm to extend their faith at home and in remote
lands. The growth of their church is one of the brightest and most
interesting chapters in the annals of Christianity. By its wonderful
missionary enterprises churches were planted from Egypt to China, and
from north of the Caspian Sea to the southern bounds of India. The
flourishing church in Persia was of their founding. It is admitted that
they were the most numerous body of any of the then existing Christian
churches. Nor were they conspicuous for their missionary zeal alone.
Their schools, where Biblical theology and medicine were taught, were
famed throughout Christendom. And when the Arabs became the patrons
of science and learning, these Nestorian scholars opened to them the
lore of the Greeks, and were allowed positions of honor and influence
at the courts of Haroun Al Rashid and other Caliphs, at Bagdad. Under
the Persian and Mongol rulers, this church, eminent as well for its
liberality of opinion and catholicity of spirit, as its aggressive
efforts, continued to flourish, despite seasons of severe persecution.
But towards the close of the fourteenth century a terrible storm burst
upon it. It was then that Timour, or Tamerlane, emerged from the far
East, and swept the lands occupied by these Syrian churches as with the
besom of destruction. His Mohammedan zeal added fury to his inhuman
efforts to exterminate every trace of the Christian faith. He was far
too successful.
The Patriarchal seat was removed from place to place in quest of a
safe retreat. It is probable that about this time, in consequence of
these desolating conditions, large numbers of these Christians found
refuge from the tempest in the secluded fastnesses of the inhospitable
mountains of Kurdistan, where they still dwell. A considerable portion
of this people are still found in Persia. The whole number in Turkey
and Persia is probably about 100,000.
In the sixteenth century there arose unfortunately a schism in
the church, resulting in the establishment of two Patriarchs, both
holding to the same creed. One of these made Mosul his residence. In
recent years a large body of this section of the Nestorian Church
has conformed to the Roman Catholic Church, and is known as the
“Uniat Chaldean Church,” under a Patriarch, called the “Patriarch of
Babylon.” But in the earlier division mentioned, the larger portion
of the Nestorians living in Kurdistan and Northwest Persia, accepted
the Patriarch Mar Shimun as their head, who established his residence
in an Alpine village, among the Kurdish mountains. His successors
always take the same dynastic name of Mar Shimun, and for nearly
four hundred years have made their home among these lofty crags and
precipitous ravines. Where the valleys broaden out into wilder areas,
the various tribes have built their villages, and through the centuries
have maintained their national existence and their ancient faith at
serious odds as against their neighbors and foes. The most important of
these villages are Tiari, Tkhoma, Jelu, Bas and Dis. These Christian
mountaineers are called “Ashiret,” or _tribal_ Syrians, while those
living outside the mountains proper are called “Rayahs,” or “Rayats,”
_subjects_. The Ashiret are semi-independent, and pay only a nominal
tribute to the Turkish Government. The Rayahs are the prey of Turkish
despoilers and Turkish exactors to a degree that makes life miserable.
That the Turkish Government is either unable or indisposed to afford
them protection from the Kurds is the substantial ground on which
the Ashiret refuse submission to the constitutional authorities. The
practical serfdom of their Rayah brethren is before their eyes every
time they step out on the hills and plains. They are largely in the
hands of the Kurdish landlords, or Aghas, as are the Syrian Christians
of Jebel Tur, already described. They are taxed to the starvation
point. Their houses are miserable quarters for human habitations. They
are mercilessly robbed and even murdered by the Kurds. Appeal to the
government officials is seldom of avail; for these are either Kurds
themselves or are surrounded by Kurdish gentry, once themselves the
rulers of the country, whom it is the government’s policy to placate
now, as much as possible. Quite in contrast is the independence of the
Ashiret, under their Maleks, or chiefs. They always go armed, are bold
and warlike, and no Turkish officials or soldiers enter their tribal
districts except with their consent.
Though possessing only the old-fashioned flint locks, they are often a
match for the Kurds, who are armed generally with Martini-Henry rifles.
Yet it is only by the most fierce defense of themselves that they have
maintained their freedom against the sanguinary Kurds. And it is not
strange that they sometimes betray the same wild traits of character
as their hereditary enemies. But despite their desperate stand for
freedom and the fear in which the Kurds regard them, they have suffered
terrible assaults, which threatened at the time to utterly exterminate
them. Such was the case in the terrible massacres perpetrated on
them by the bloodthirsty Kurdish Chief, Badir Khan Bey, in 1843. By
bringing an overwhelming force successfully against Tiari and Tkhoma he
succeeded in almost annihilating their populations. Layard, the British
explorer of Nineveh, and subsequently Minister and Statesman, who was
in the mountains both before and after these occurrences, has described
the inhuman slaughter of the people of Tiari and Tkhoma in their homes,
and the destruction of their churches and sacred books. In Tiari,
after an indiscriminate slaughter of a crowd of assembled fugitives,
tired of butchering, and knee-deep in blood and mangled carcasses, the
Kurds forced the survivors at the point of the dagger to leap down a
precipice on the rocks below. Not less than a thousand persons here
perished. Mr. Layard visited the fatal spot in 1846 and described,
with graphic pen, the terrible evidences still remaining of the awful
transaction. The patriarchal residence in Dis was also sacked and the
blood of nearly eight hundred, of both sexes, stained its valleys. The
leading men were assassinated at a council to which they were invited
to settle terms of peace. The Patriarch himself had escaped beforehand,
but his aged mother was slain and her mangled body dragged to the river
Zab, her murderers exclaiming as they threw it in, “Go, carry the news
to your accursed son.”
The story of the cruelties of the Kurdish Chiefs of those days will
never perish from the legends of the Nestorians. It should be said,
that under the pressure from the European Government the Turks sent
a force against Badir Khan Bey, and he was captured, but the only
punishment inflicted on him was banishment to the Island of Candia.
There can be little doubt, however, that the Kurds were encouraged by
the Turks in their nefarious job, with a view to the subjugation of
these Independent Christians.
Every few years since these events, there have been reasons to fear
a repetition of the Kurdish atrocities perpetrated by Badir Khan Bey
and his fellow-fiends. In July, 1888, one of the summer encampments of
the Tiarians, occupied chiefly by the women to care for the products
of their flocks, while the men are engaged in their little fields in
the valleys below, was overpowered by a band of Kurds, who killed the
few men at hand and outraged the women. The Christians were desperate
for revenge. But a force of 8,000 Kurds promptly assembling, there
was imminent danger of their falling upon the Christians in a general
massacre. Speedy representations through the English and American
missionaries led to energetic action on the part of the foreign Consuls
which compelled the Turks to force the Kurds to retire.
But in the absence of any such general outbreak of Turkish fanaticism
and outrage, the oppressions of the Christians whenever in the least
exposed to their enemies are of incessant occurrence. The Patriarch,
Mar Shimun, wears a sad, weary countenance, as the tales of wrong
and injustice practised on his people are daily poured into his ear.
Robberies, outrages and murders are on the increase; the bishops
and chiefs, and even the Patriarch and his family, are continually
exposed to insults and indignities at the hands of Kurdish chiefs.
It is no great wonder that he believes, as most of the Kurds confess
to believing, and observant travelers are compelled to the same
conclusion, that the policy of the Porte is to allow the Christians to
be impoverished and exterminated by the Kurds, provided that this is
done so covertly that European nations shall not be aware of it.
The Patriarch’s appeals for some sort of protection for his distressed
people, which come to the ears of American and English friends, are
truly affecting. And yet, even to these he scarcely dares to speak his
mind fully. He receives a stipend from the Porte. The Turkish officials
near him, at Van and Julamerk, keep a sharp watch over all he does. So,
when his most trusted friends from Christian lands visit him, he speaks
to them in bated breath, and glares around in fear lest somehow what
he may say shall reach the ears of his suspicious guardians, and the
charge of treason be brought against him. Can any one imagine a more
pitiable position for the head of this once renowned and widespread
branch of the Christian Church?
The Syrians on the plain of Mosul are known as “Chaldeans,” whether
the larger body of them, who have conformed to the Church of Rome,
and are under the spiritual jurisdiction of the so-called “Patriarch
of Babylon,” or the feebler community under the Bishop Mar Elias
Melus, who have strenuously resisted union with the Romish Church.
The Chaldeans in the city of Mosul are many of them merchants, fairly
prosperous, as things go in that part of Turkey. The Rassam family,
distinguished in the English explorations at Nineveh, are Mosul
Chaldeans. A powerful Roman Catholic establishment in the city affords
considerable protection to its own adherents. But the condition of
the Chaldean villagers is much the same as that of the Jacobites and
Nestorian Rayahs already described. They are often little else than
the serfs of the Kurdish Aghas. And the oppressions are increasing
from year to year. There can be little question that unless a thorough
system of reforms is introduced, the whole region will soon fall into
the hands of the Kurds. Yes, there is one other alternative which
would bring them relief. If they would give up their faith, they might
receive as efficient protection as their Moslem neighbors. But in all
their poverty in things spiritual, as well as temporal, living in
abject terror from day to day, they cling to their Christian faith as
to their ancestral homes with a devotion that should compel admiration
and the assistance of the Christian powers.
The blame that rests upon the Turkish Government for its chronic
inefficiency in regard to these, its dutiful Christian subjects, is
made apparent in the strongest light by two now well-known facts. The
first is, that the Christians in Persia, also a Moslem Government, in
precisely similar conditions, though the victims of much oppression
from Kurds and Mohammedan Aghas, live in greater security and ease
than their brethren in Turkey. The second fact is, that in the recent
outbreaks against the Armenians of Turkey, the Governors of Mosul and
Mardin, under the most imperative orders from Constantinople, repressed
all attempted assaults upon the Christian population of those cities by
the most rigorous measures. It clearly shows what the government might
have done in other towns to protect the Christians if it had wished to
do so.
It is due to say that the Sultan directed the Vali of Mosul to proclaim
that the reforms which had been granted to the Armenians were to
extend to all the Christian nationalities alike. The explanatory
telegram was sent subsequently to say that these promised reforms were
simply those allowed by his grandfather. It would be a joy to all
classes--Jacobites, Nestorians and Chaldeans--if they could indeed go
back to the brighter days of thirty years ago. Every year but envelops
their fate in direr gloom and hopelessness.
Of the other Christian sects in the Turkish Empire the most important
are the various branches of the Greek Church, those connected with
the Roman Catholic Church, and the Copts of Egypt. The various
branches of the Greek Church have already been described in a previous
chapter. The Copts in Egypt are the descendants of the ancient
Egyptians. They number about 500,000. They live almost entirely in
the towns, and furnish the greater part of the clerks, accountants
and general administrative officers in the government. They are also
to a considerable extent farmers and land owners, and have risen
especially under the English administration. They are an intelligent
class, and were it not for the oppression that they have endured from
the past centuries they would be far stronger than they are. They
form one branch of what is known as the Monophysite Church, akin to
the Armenians and Abyssinians. They preserve their old language in
their liturgy, but the language of daily life is entirely Arabic.
The hierarchy with them, as with other Orientals, has been strongly
conservative and oppressive, bitterly opposing every effort to educate
and raise the people. Of late years, under the influence of the
missionaries of the United Presbyterian Board of the United States,
there has been an earnest effort to secure a better condition of
things. This, however, has not succeeded to the extent that was hoped,
and still the bishops and priests are a great obstacle in the way of
intelligent laymen who desire the reformation of the church.
The principal community connected with the Roman Catholic Church is
that of the Maronites. There are also Chaldeans and Armenians in some
considerable numbers, passing under the name of the United Syrian and
Armenian Churches, or Uniats. The Maronites number about 250,000,
and are scattered all over the Lebanon and ante-Lebanon ranges in
Syria. They are found especially in the northern districts, where they
have complete control of local affairs. They also extend south to
Mt. Hermon, in the heart of the Druze country, and they have always
been on hostile relations with the Druzes. They take their name from
their first Patriarch and political leader, John Maron, who lived in
the latter part of the seventh century, and under whose influence at
the time of the various ecclesiastical controversies they declared
themselves Monothelites. They then occupied the plains chiefly, but
afterwards, under the invasion of the Saracens, fled to the mountains,
and there maintained their independence for a long time. At that time
they used Syriac in all their services and in their social life, and
developed a feudal system with a sort of theocratic government, their
head being styled “The Patriarch of Antioch and all the East.” At the
time of the Crusades they were brought to the knowledge of Christendom,
and about the middle of the twelfth century opened communications with
the Pope at Rome. They gradually adopted the Arabic language as their
vernacular, and at the Council of Florence were received into the Roman
Catholic Church. They were, however, allowed to retain their Syriac
liturgy, the celebration of the communion in both kinds, the marriage
of the lower clergy, their own fast days and their own saints. Little
by little the power of the Pope over them was strengthened. A special
college was given them at Rome, and schools for clergy and printing
presses were established in Syria. A Papal legate was sent to Beirut,
and the Maronites became most submissive followers in the Latin Church.
They first came prominently into the notice of the rest of the
Christian world in connection with the famous massacres in 1860, in
which thousands of them were butchered by the Druzes. The result
of this was the redistricting of Syria under European intervention
and the formation of the province of Mt. Lebanon under the rule of
a Christian governor. At present they are a frugal and industrious
people, mostly illiterate, except where schools have been established
under the pressure of the influence of Protestant missions. They have
many monasteries and guard as specially sacred the famous group of
cedars at the head of the gorge of the Holy River, where is the summer
home of their Patriarch. Under the influence of the American missions
the Jesuits and Lazarists have exerted themselves to keep their hold
upon the young men. They have established a fine school for boys and
have a large college at Beirut and fine library with very complete
scientific apparatus. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions commenced work among these people early in the present century
and it is now carried on by the Presbyterian Church. The distinctive
Protestant community is not large, but has a very powerful influence,
and the Syrian Protestant College at Beirut, with its medical
department, has done very much to develop a better life among all these
people.
At the same Council of Florence in 1439 that gathered the Maronites
under the care of the Roman Catholic Church, there was formed a United
Armenian Church, consisting of a number of Gregorian Armenians, who
felt that it was best for the interests of their people to cease their
separation from the Western Church. They have, however, not grown
in numbers to any great degree, and are chiefly known through their
monastery at Venice, which has been foremost in the development of
Armenian literature. They are strongest in Constantinople and on the
seaboard, though there are some congregations in the interior. They are
as a rule looked upon by the Gregorian Armenians with more suspicion
even than the Protestants, on account of their political relations with
the French Government.
[Illustration:
BRIDGE OF BOATS ACROSS THE LOWER TIGRIS. Over the boats, which are of
the very simplest construction, are laid poles, and over them rushes,
the whole making a somewhat uncertain platform. In the foreground is
a greyhound, such as are rather common in Eastern Turkey.]
[Illustration:
VILLAGE OF REED HUTS IN LOWER MESOPOTAMIA, together with a group of
Arabs. These are not regular Bedouin Arabs, but belong to another
tribe. These villages are found throughout the region south of Bagdad
and in the neighborhood of Babylon.]