Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1890-11-21
The Churches of the East.
BAYRoUT OF GALLILEE.
PALESTINE,

PALESTINE,
Special to the Graphic
While Christianity had its birth
here in the Holy Land, and all the
great miracles were performed
here for the people, yet
that same people still reject it and
the Mohammedans have perfect
hatred for Christians and the
Christian faith. The Turks are
the ruling power and constitute
the chief population IN all Pales-
tine, hence the mosque is seen in
every village, town and city in the
land, andkoran and Crescent take
the place of the bible and the
cross, and to day there is more
missionary work needed here than
in any part of the four quarters of
globe we have yet seen. Yet mil
llonshave beeh spent and many
lives lost in the work and to day
the Turks hold the keys of the
Holy sepulchre, and the door keep
ers who have been here by inherit
ance for centuries have never been
converted. Their own faith is the
most despotic and degrading that
perhaps the world can present. 1t
was forced upon them but now
neither fear, force nor favor can
cause them to forsake it. They
fast until they often faint, and tor
ture the body until life is bur-
den. Every one is required to
make at least one pilgrimage to
Mecca, during which time the
hardships crossing the desert and
deIvish dancing, which we will de-
scribe in full in future, kill per-
haps as many as the cholera. They
pray until prayer becomes daily
persecution. Think of common
scene in all these parts where the
blinded and misguided creatures
spend hours by the road side in
the hot sun saying a prayer to that
chief Of religious impostors. They
fall on their knees and bow down
until the face rests on the ground.
If thu reader wants to better
realize what torture this is let
him try it for an hour, and I think
he will rise with more complete
realization that the Christian yoke
is easy and his burden light in
comparison with that borne by the
man who rejects the Bible and fol-
lows the Koran. The Mohamme-
dan must enter the mosque with
out shoes and must obey every
coA Amand of the Koran and the
caliph. The former to civilization
is the embodiment of licentious-
ness and fosters ignorance and
every species of cruelty against
the Christian. Women are the
slaves of men and to live in the
harem is the highest position she
can hold. She Is allowed no part
in the worship of Mohammed and
never is allowed to enter a mos
que. She must mask her face be-
fore men and keep the fast, but is
allowed no part in en- open air
feast. The men shave their heads,
TATTOO their arms and keep Friday
as their Sabbath. The Jews in
and about Jerusalem are the most
prosecuted people in Palestine.
They can hardly walk the streets
or enter their synagogues without
being insulted or stoned. They
have popular wailing place by
the old temple wall and here alone
they may go and mourn over their
sad fate. The rite of the temple
is open to Christians but on pain
of death no jew can enter. The
Cheek church holds some power in
every part of Palestine. The
Priests never shave or cut their
hair and all are required to marry.
They go to every family in the
parish and bless all the house
hold on the first of every month.
The latin mass is not used nor do
they affiliate in any way with the
church of Rome. They claim to
be the true orthadox church, and
that the Latin Catholic church is
the most ancient of heresies. They
carry their dead exposed to view
In the streets and at the church all
the congregation gather about and
kiss the corpse. In confession, ab-
solution and the divine presence
IN the sacrament they are .as the
Catholics. They have no Pope
but in his stead they have three
high patriarchs who constitute the
highest tribunal of the church.
The Coptic church is that branch
of the Latin church which has for
centuries been established IN
Egypt and is now represented in
the keeping of the holy places in
Palestine. They possess a strange
combination of Catholic rites and
hence remove their shoes Or san
dals on entering the church, and
bow down to the ground in pray
er. The Armenian church is a
combination of ancient phlloso-
ply and Christian doctrine, and is
well represented in the Holy Land.
RAMBLER.