The Holy Land and Syria

by Frank G. Carpenter

The Greek Church has a score of monasteries and convents in the Holy City where it can accommodate pilgrims by the thousands. Its believers come to worship here from the borders of Siberia, from the isles of Greece, and from the wilds of Arabia, and as I write there are thousands of Russian pilgrims paying their devotions in the gorgeous Greek chapel of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Greek Church has a faith which might be called a cross between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. It differs from Catholicism chiefly in denying the spiritual supremacy of the Pope, in not demanding the celibacy of the clergy, except the bishops, and in authorizing all of its people to read the Scriptures. It claims to be the original Christian church and says that the Roman Catholics broke away from it. The dispute between the two branches of the Church arose three or four hundred years after Christ. It was a question as to what should be the rank of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and as the Pope would not give in the trouble began. It continued off and on until about 1000 A.D., when the two churches broke apart, and from that time the Greek Church has existed on its own footing.

The head of the Greek Church is the Patriarch of Constantinople, and under him are the patriarchs of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria. Since the sixteenth century, the Russian branch has been independent of the main body. These patriarchs are elected by the clergy and the laity. They have limited terms of office, but the Patriarch’s power over the people here in Jerusalem is to a large extent that of a judge as well as of a pope.

But let me tell you about my talk with His Beatitude. It was arranged by one of the church and the audience took place in the Patriarch’s house, a great stone building near the Pool of Hezekiah and not far from the Church of the Sepulchre. His Beatitude lives there with one hundred monks, and I saw many fine-looking Greek priests as I went up the stairs of rose-coloured marble. I passed through several rooms filled with high-capped, black-gowned ecclesiastics, and as I waited priests and bishops from the four quarters of Greek Catholicism passed in and out. One of the priests, who spoke English, went with me into the audience chamber and gave me a seat at the right of the throne. He asked me to wait, telling me that the Patriarch would be in shortly.

Meantime, there were others who had come for an audience, and the chairs about the long table in the centre of the room were soon filled. Most of the men were bearded priests dressed in black gowns and high caps.

As we waited a servant brought in a silver tray containing a plate of rose-and-white cubes of Turkish delight and several glasses of water. Upon the tray were many silver forks, each having two fine tines as long as my little finger. As the candy was passed each one of us took a fork and stabbed it into a cube of the sweets, and thus conveyed it to the mouth. It was delicious.

By and by the Patriarch entered. He talked first with some of the priests, so I had a good chance to study him. Imagine a tall, full-bearded, fair-faced man of middle age dressed in a long black gown and a rimless black hat which rises eight inches over his forehead.

The gown, which is cut full, falls to his feet. His cap is draped with black cloth which covers his shoulders, and about his neck is a long, heavy gold chain to which hangs an ivory medallion as big as the palm of your hand. The rim of this medallion is studded with diamonds and inside the rim is a painting of the Madonna with the Holy Child in her arms.

I watched the Patriarch as he talked. He gestured now and then and I saw that his hands were soft and his nails well kept. His face changed with the subject and the man he spoke to. At times he was serious, again his eyes sparkled with animation, and now and then he broke into a smile.

My talk with him was through the Greek priest, who spoke English. I asked His Beatitude about the condition of the Church. He spoke of many sects of Christians now in the Holy Land, saying that they were gradually growing more liberal, and that they would work more in harmony than they had in the past.