"We have heard nothing from friends in England, but from other sources infer the probability of at least a visit of Episcopalians to Mar Shimon, and possibly to Oroomiah, the coming spring. Priest John states, that Dr. Perkins did him harm in England by his published statement, that he (Priest John) had come, not as an accredited agent to secure Episcopal interference, but rather on a private and personal begging expedition (the truth of which is well known in Oroomiah, and confirmed by a written stipulation lodged with friends here, that his companion should receive one third of the avails of the excursion). To destroy the force of Dr. Perkins' statement, Priest John has secured the signature of a large number of names, including Patriarchs, Bishops, Maleks, and principal men among the people. The paper was circulated privately, but we learn that only one of our employees, and very few, if any, of our communicants, could be persuaded to sign it.
"If asked, what is the true state of feeling among our communicants, an extensive and familiar acquaintance with them enables me to testify with great confidence, that, with the exception of a very small high-church party, headed mainly by Mar Yohanan, I discover no special tendency to Old Churchism of any kind, and if let alone, they are more than satisfied with the gospel simplicity and spontaneity of worship."
Under date of January 10th, 1870, Mr. Cochran adds, "Geog Tapa continues to witness novel scenes under the eccentric and reckless Priest John. At the close of the fast of the nativity, the communion was administered to the whole village, and numbers from surrounding villages were also invited in. Many who had not communed for from ten to thirty years, as well as the more superstitious and the lowest rabble, participated. Four priests, all of whom are of doubtful piety (though two were in our communion), officiated, clothed in white. The whole Old Church service was read in ancient Syriac, and long Psalms were chanted in the same. The baser sort were exultant, but the thoughtful, even of those not with us, were sad. Every artifice was used to draw in our communion, but we were rejoiced to find that all except ten,—consisting of the family of Priest John, and the priests and deacons who officiated,—refused to partake with them.
"I have preached there three times since. Yesterday was our communion. The house was crowded at both services. It was judged that seven hundred were inside, and not less than one hundred and fifty outside. I preached in the morning on the spiritual character of a true church, and newness of life as the condition of admission, and that the ordinances belong exclusively to the church, and not to those outside. All listened attentively, though a disturbance was feared. In the afternoon I 'fenced' our communion fully, but Priest John had the effrontery to partake. I have since learned that had it been withheld, he, with the rabble, would have taken it by force. A perfect separation seems called for, and with it a casting out of unworthy members from the church. But the heart of the body is right, and will, I trust, stand by the truth."
"Enlightened villagers," adds Mr. Shedd, under date of January 20, 1870, "besides members of the evangelical communion, did not partake. It shows the movement for high-church aid in its true colors. Such aid on the part of the English bishops is nothing more nor less than salarying Mar Shimon and his ecclesiastics, for reading their old prayers and using their dead forms and rites, as they have done for ages past. We rejoice in so simple an issue, and are sure it can do no injury to vital Christianity."[1]
[1] Missionary Herald, 1870, p. 190.
The time having come for separate and independent church organizations, these painful occurrences seem to have been providentially designed to promote that result.
Mr. Cochran thus writes: "The progress of the gospel and providential occurrences, are bringing us into many new relations to the old Nestorian Church, and grave questions, affecting the purity and future growth of our churches, are now forcing themselves upon us. So long as the Old Church did not oppose evangelical labors, so long as she freely opened her doors to our services, consenting to a separate administration of the ordinances for the hopefully pious, and silently tolerating many ecclesiastical and social reforms, and an abandonment of the liturgical service; in short, so long as we could see, under the preached gospel, the hold on the old superstitions steadily lessening, and the masses being leavened with evangelical truth, we were more than content to labor on without a separate church organization.
"But experience in other fields, as well as our own, has proved that such labors can only be prosecuted for a time. From year to year we have found the old ecclesiastics more restive under their loss of support, and more jealous of the progress of spiritual life. Mar Shimon, as you are informed, has for years openly opposed the gospel, and now so intimidates the interior mountain districts under his immediate control, that it seems preposterous to attempt to prosecute labors there, unless on a separate foundation. And we now find the opposition on the plains, and all over the field, not less positive, and daily becoming more concerted and potent.
"Mar Yohanan has also, for years, secretly, and often openly and most offensively, opposed spiritual and reformatory labors. Priest John, a most untiring and reckless man, is arousing a furor of zeal for Old Churchism,—a fanaticism that will not be likely to subside with the spasmodic efforts he may make. He and others are now administering the communion every few weeks to the whole people, without distinction of character. They also enjoin the fasts and saints' days, resume the use of the liturgy in ancient Syriac, burn incense daily, bow before the altar, and make the sign of the cross; though some, as yet, refuse to come into all these measures.