The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-04-08

Of pilgrims. touching ana moistenins
with their tears those very same stones.
There is no fixed plan IN this cluster
OF churches and chapels around the
holy kiosk. Some are large and mar
vellously sumptuous; others little.
humble. and primitive, crumbling with
Old ese. In obscure corners cut into the
rock. And here and there the rock of
Calvary appears in the midst Of rich
and archaic ornaments. The contrast
is strange between so many heaped-up
treasures-icons of gold, crosses OF gold,
and lamps of gold-and the rags of the
pilgrims, the dilapidation of the walls
and pillars, worn, deformed, and greasy
from the constant contact with so much
human flesh.
The affairs OF all the different faiths
are so thoroughly mixed here that
priests and professions go astray. They
force their way through the crowd. car
rying censers. and preceded by soldiers
In arms, who strike the sonorous flags
with the ends Of their halbreds. Room
there!" Here come the Latins, that
pass like a golden chasub,e. zone
side!" Leading his flock. here comes
the Bishop OF the Syrians with a long
white beard. Then come the Greeks,
still wearing Byzantine ornaments, or
Abyssinians with their dark faces.
They march on In their rsumptuous vest
ments, preceded by children carrying
censers, and the crowd makes way for
them. Accompanying this human tide
there is kind of continuous rumbling,
the incessant sound of psalmodies and
little bells. Almost everywhere 1t is so
dark that, in order to get along, 1t IL
necessary to carry n little candle; and
under the high columns and in the dark
galleries a thousand little flames move
In streams and eddies. constantly 60
ing and coming. Men pray aloud and
sob. passing from one chapel to another,
here to kiss the rock where the cross
was planted, there to kneel down where
Saints Mary and Magdalen wept,
Priests call You by signs, and lead you
through little doors. Old women with
wild eyes and cheeks wet with tears
come up from the darkness, where they
had kissed the stone Of the sepulchre.
CHAPEL OF ST. HELENA.
In profound obscurty we go down to
the chapel OF Saint Helena through q
wide staircase of about thirty steps,
worn, broken, and dangerous. looking
like a tumble down ruin, and lined with
crouching spectres. Our candles, as we
~.
immovable and of the color Of the side
of the rock. They are maimed beggars,
demented creatures devoured with ul-
GERS. all sinister looking. with their
hands under their chins. and their lonH
hair falling down about their faces,
Among these frightened objects Is
Dllnd young man enveloped in his mag
nificent blond >curls which cover him
like cloak. He is marvellously hand.
some, and might pose for Christ.
In the background the chapel of st.
Helena appears in the pure rays Of the
day, which come in pale blush tints
through the openings Of the vault. It
is certainly one of the strangest pieces
Of this wi ole place which is called the
Holy Sepulchre Here we experience
In the most striking fashion the senti-
ment of the terrible past. 1t was silent
when came there and 1t was empty
under the gaze of the phantoms that
occpuied the staircase OF the entrance.
There was an indstnct sound from the
bells and the chants above. Behind the
altar another staircase, occupied by the
same kind Of personages with long hair,
reaches further down into the dark
ness. Four pillars, short and strong, of
primitive Byzantine style. heavy and
powerful, sustain the cupola, from
IL
sand pendants. Fragments of paint
ings on the walls still indicate saints
with golden nimbus. and in attitudes
stiff and naive, the defacing caused by
humidity and dust. Everything here Is
In state Of dilapidation. From the
depths below there comes o. procession
OF Abyssinian priests, looking like an
cient Magl coming from the bowels of
the earth. In the distance, near the
kiosk Of the Sepulchrc, the rock of CAL
vary appears. 1t supports two chapels,
into which one enters by about twenty
stone steps, which for the crowd form
the chief places for prostration and
sobS,
From the peristyle Of these chapels,
as from an elevated balcony, the view
commands q confused mass Of taber-
nacles, a laybrinth tn of churches. The
most splendid of all is that of the
Greeks. Upon g. nimbus Of silver,
which shines out in the BACKGROUND
like rainbow, there appear in life size
the pale images of the three crucitied
ones--Christ and the two thieves. Tho
walls disappear under the icons Of sill
yer. gold, and precious stones. The
altar is erected at the precise place
where the cross was planted. and 1t is
the altar rail a treillage of silver leaves
in view in the dark rocks the hole
where thee ross was planted, and Ii Is
there that the pilgrims crawl on their
knees, moistening those sombre stones
with their tears and their kisses, while
soothing sound of chants and prayers
necessarily comes from the churches
below.
And here for now nearly 1000 years
the same scenes have been enacted in
this place, although under different
forms and in different hasilics, with in
terruptions Of sieses, battles, aud mas
slcres, only to be reproduced again
more passionately than ever. Here is
the same concert of prayer, the same
ensemble OF supplications and Of tri-
umphant acts of grace.
THE CRY OF UNBELIEF.
Certainly these alterations seem
idolatrous for him who said, God Is
spirit, and those who adore Him must
adore Him In spirit and in truth"
But they are human! How well they
respond to our instincts and to our mis-
cry! Surely the first Christians, in the
purely spiritual spring of their faith,
when the teaching Of the Master was
still fresh in their souls, did not en-
cumber themselves with the magnifi-
cences Of symbols and images. Ger
tai'iy IL was Hol editHiy IecoilectioHS-
the place Of n martyrdom or an empty
sepulchre - that preoccupied them.
They did not seek their Redeemer there,
because they saw Him forever freed
from transitory things and standing
above in serene light. But we. the peo-
pie of the West and Of the North. have
escaped more recently from naive bar
barities than the antique societies from
which the first Christian sprung. In
the middle ages, when the faith pene-
trated our forests, 1t was obscured by
n thousand primitive religions; and it
Is the smallest number among us that
have been sufficiently enfranchised
from accumulated traditions to be able
to embrace the evangelical worship in
spirit and in truth. And. moreover,
when faith Is extinguished in our mod
ern souls it Is still toward this vener-