Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-04-02
EASTER IN THE
HOLY LAND.
Pilgrims Flock to Bethlehem and
Jerusalem.
RINGING THE EASTER CHIMES.
Uorshippins at the Spot Where
Christ the Saviour
Was Born.
RINGING THE EASTER CHIMES.
THE MECCA OF PILGRIMS AT EASTER


Easter Day is celebrated in Bethle-
hem by the believers in the Catholic
and Lutheran, the Greek and the Ar
nenian creeds, with great pomp. Beth
lehem has now about 5000 inhabitants,
all believers in the Christian faith.
Among them are about 1900 Christians
belonging to the English and other re-
,ormed churches. Greeks and Arnen-
ians make up the rest.
To TO estall trouble between natives
and visiting Christians Of the different
denominations, the Church of the Ma
tivity, which is built in the form of
cross. has been divided into three parts.
The Armenians conduct their devotions
in the nave of the Cross, beautiful edi-
fee resting on forty-eight granite col
umns, the Christians and Greeks occu-
plying the arms of the cross.
Easter day always brings no end of
pilgrims to Bethlehem from all parts
of the world, especially England,
France and Russia, and the natives,
who make a living by the sale of SOU
venirs, bearing more or less on the
character of the place and its holy
antecedents, do a rushing trade in cru
cifixes, rosaries, etc.
Wherever we turn on Easter day in
the Church of the Nativity, we encoun-
ter Turkish soldiers, armed to the tech,
in their picturesque, yet warlike, uni
form. They do not interfere with any
body, yet do not conceal their contempt
for what is going on, especially in
those parts of the convent and church
set apart for the Catholic and Protest
ant Christians. The Convent of the
Nativity dates from the thirteenth CEN
tliry, and is very impressive struc-
ture
The Crypt, where Christ is supposed
TO have been born, is reached by mar
BILE stairway leading a dozen or more
steps below. The entrance of the stairs
is situated in the part of the church
The Lodge of the Nativity is less i'm
pressive than the general aspect of the
church would lead one to believe. 1t is
furnished entirely in Oriental fashion,
the walls being hung with carpets and
tapestry work in gay colors and of
artificial designs. A hollow cut into
the rock opposite the stairs is fur
Qished with a rickety manager, in which
GlSSist, is said to have taken his first
nap. Ti,I spot where the Blessed Vir-
gin lay IL marked by star suitably in
scribed iA the Latin language.
One of the queerest of the many queer
places in Palestine is the Convent of
Mar Saba, On the rocks of the Kidron,
in the southeast of Jerusalem and not
far from the shores of the Dead Sea-
The Convent, which dates back to the
end of the Fifth century, and which is
in the hands of the Greek Church, is
a conglonleration of detached buildings
of sirregular form, consisting Of single
cells, towers, chapels and cathedral,
which latter stands in mountain six
hundred feet high. The dome is
reached by terraces and steps hewn in
the rock.
The place is the Mecca OF hundreds
of pilgrims. especially about the time
at Easter. From whatever pare of the
world they may come, they find ready
hospitality-at least then men do. Wo-
men. are not permitted within the
sacred walls of the convent and must
Ike refuge in tents or in lonely
Flower up in the mountains.