The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-08-18

respondence of THE HERALD. I have jus
had an audience with one of the highes
religious functionaries of the Orienta
world
THE PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM
has charge of the Church of the Holy Sepul
cher, and as the head of the Greek church
in Syria, Palestine and Arabia, he is to hi:
people the Pope of the east. The Greek
church contains about sixty-two million
members in Russia, number equal to the
population of the United States. 1t has
about five millions in Greece and Turkey
and it is in Jerusalem the most powerful
and the richest church Of all the denomina-
tions represented there. There is no king
in the world who appears in such splendor
upon state occasions as the patriarch of
Jerusalem. He wears cloth of gold and his
great hiatt is covered with magnificent dia-
monds, emeralds and rubies. His bishops
who march with him have crosses of dia-
monds hanging to their necks, and their
dresses are of gold and of silver brocade,
and the mitre and other church implements
are Of solid gold and silver. In
THE TREASURY OF THE GREEK CHURCH
here there are jewels which would make
Tue treasury VI uduy q DdldCS COuuOuJldC
and the rich men and the kings of the
world have for generations been giving to
this collection thinking that in so doing
they have been buying their way into
heaven.
The Greek church has score of mon
asteries and converts in the holy city and
il can accommodate pilgrims by the thou
sands. Its believers come here from the
borders of Siberia, from the isles of Greece
and from the wilds of Arabia to worship,
and as l write there are thousands of
Russian pilgrims paying their devotious in
the gorgeous Greek chapel of the Church
of the Holy Sepulcher. The Greek church
has faith which might be called cross
between Roman Catholicism and Protest
ism. 1t differs from Catholicism chiefly in
denying the spiritual supremacy of the
Pope, in its not prohibiting the celibacy of
the clergy, and in its authorizing all of its
people to read the Scriptures. 1t claims to be
THE ORIGINAL CHRISTIAN CHURCH
and says that the Roman Catholics broke
away from it. The troubles between the
two branches of the church began three or
four hundred years after Christ. 1t 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.
1t continued off and on until about one
thousand A. ID. when the two churches
broke apart and the Greek church from
that time has existed on its own footing
The church has five heads TO govern diff
ferent parts of its territories. One of these
is the Gar of Russia, and he appoints all
officials in the church in Russia. The other
heads are the patriarchs of Jerusalem,
Alexandria, Antioch and Constantinople
These patriarchs are elected by the clergy
and the laity. The have limited terms of
office, but the patriarch's power over the
people is here in Jerusalem, to a large
extent, that of judge as well as a Pope
He settles the disputes of his people and he
has much the same power as had the
patriarchs in the days of the past.
The patriarch of Jerusalem lives in one
Of the biggest and best mansions of the
holy city. The American consul and my
self in going to 1t wound in and out through
arcades and with the aid of the consular
cavasses pushed our way through
THE DENSE CROWDS OF PILGRIMS,
Bedouins an l Syrians which are filling the
holy city during this holy week We went
of course in oriental state, dressed in our
black morning coats and preceded by the
cavasses. The cavasses are the guards of
the consul on state occasions. They are
tall Syrians who stand as straight as West
Point cadets and who walk with the pom
pous airs of drum majors. They wear gor-
geous Turkish uniforms embroidered with
gold thread and their short round about
vests were to-day covered with enough
gold to have made the eIa1lettes for an
army. Each had onfull blue Turkish trousers,
which were gathered in zouave folds at the
ankles, and the silver-handled scymeter-
like sword of each clanlled as we marched
solemnly along. They wore red caps with
long tassels on their heads and each had an
iron shod ebony staff in his right hand, the
silver head Of which, as he rested it on the
ground was on a level with his eyes These
stats were as big around as your wrist and
the silver heads were the size of a mans
fist. They were very heavy and as we
marched along
THE MEN WARNED THE CROWD
to keep out of the way of the two ''Ameri-
can princes, by dropping them down on the
stone flags with noise like that of sledge
hammer on granite. The masses rushed
t1p to the wall as we went by and not few
Of the women crQssSStal themselves and some
of the Bedouins scowled.
At the patriarch's mansiicCn. which indeaed !
is only big, plain, stone house of two
stories, we were met by several priests in |
.ong black gowns, which fell in full folds |
from their necks to their feet and in tall, |
round, black caps, with capes falling down |
upon their backs. These put their hands |
to their foreheads as we entered and |
motioned US to come in. We then assembled |
q wide stairway at the sides on which were |
brass ratings and at the top of which stood |
more priests similarly attired. Here we
were taken into a great hall where the |
portraits of the patriarchs of the past |
looked down upon us out of gold frames |
and then on into a second grand salon in
which were a number of Turkish soldiers |
and of church dignitaries, and at the back
of which in chair-of-state sat
TIE PATRIARCH HIMSELF.
He rose as he saw US and moved towards
US. Tall, broad -shouldered and we'll
formed, he is one of the finest looking pub
lie men have ever seen. He has mag
nificent head, well set on a pair of broad |
shoulders; large, intellectual eyes, big
straight nose, and long patriarchal beard
of sable silver. His high forehead was
bordered with black cape of fine cloth,
which rose for full six inches above it and |
from the back of which fell a cape of the
same color, forming a striking back ground
to his strong, intelligent face. He wore
long, full gown of some fine black cloth and
he had two gorgeous gold medals about his
neck, each as big as the palm of your hand
and between these hung cross of dia-
monds He met US IN the middle of the
salon, shook hands with US and conducted
US to divan at the right Of his chariot
state. We then chatted through the inter
prefer, the legation addressing him, &C
cording to etiquette, IS your blessed
ness.n He was pleased when l told him
that had come as an American to pay him
my Easter greetings and when l told him
that 1 was the correspondent of THE
HERALD, and that l intended to tell the
American people of my visit to him, he
SMILED LIKE POLITICAL CANDIDATE
who has chance to be interviewed on the
eve of an election, and he sent one of his
servants to bring me his photograph and