The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-11-08

Aoy IoNS tIlc IlSnl TO tina
church and church property. Tbero
nave already been numerous riots no
tween these Greeks and foraion
MONKS, and not long age the neonle
that the patriarch. or head
. me creek Church, resign. The
hatNe MONKS threatened to put him
out, and the Mohammedan authorities
here wired Constantinop,e as 70 What
Ihey should dc. The sultan has favor
cd the outsiders. He telegraphed the
patriarch to hold on, but neverthe-
less, there were more riots, the pe0nle
rose and the patriarch is here now
only on sufferance.
Monks Who Control Millions.
The fight among the Greeks is to
some extent sentimental, but it is also
largely done for the loaves and fishes.
The Greeks are the most powerful
religious body in Palestine, and their
property runs high into the millions.
lheE have monasteries, c~onvents and
hoFplces scattered over the Holy Land
from Dan to Deersheba, and at all Of
these the pilgrims who travel over
the country make contributions. Some
OF the places are so valuable that the
priests in charge are said to pay a
lump sum Of q thousand dollars or
more Il year for the privilege of pre-
siding at each Of them, expecting to
recoup themselves from the gifts Of
he pilgrims: Here, in Jerusalem,
there are t~hirty-fve Greek monas-
teries and other big buildings man
aged by 600 monks.
The Church of the Holy SepuIchre.
the greater part of which belongs to
the Greeks, brings in tens Of thou
sands of pounds every. year to the
church. There are thousands of Rus
slams who make pilgrimages to the
city, and each is expected to leave
an OrIprJnp 1PcOr6jno Ia hiC WOO to
and spiritual desire.
The Greek Church also owns the
shops Of a new bazaar which has been
opened near the Holy Sepulchre, and
it holds the titles to the most valuable
of the buildings about the Jaffa gate
and DaVid's tower, including that in
which the Grand New Hotel is.
The native monks say that the
Crock criests who have been inn
ported from Constantinople, Athens,
Smyrna. the Isle of Samos and other
places now hold the fat jobs, and that
something like ST each per month.
They do the pastoral work of the viii
lagos and act as the priests Of the
towns. On the other hand, the out
siders have amassed fortunes. They
pretend to be hermits and devoted to
cusad of living IuXuriously and of
keeping establishments which are by
no means as good as they should be.
Christians F1ogged by NohaInnedans.
Indeed. the fights among the war
ring Christians are such that the Mo-
hammedan soldiers have to use whips
to keep them in order. h Turks
are always on guard in the Church Of
he Holy Sepulchre. I have seen them
there at Easter time, when they were
Whipping the quarreling Greeks, Ar
menians and Copts in order TO sepa-
rate them. During the fight knives
were drawn, and il is not an uncom
mon thing for blood to pollute the
Holy Sepulchre on festal days.
! went last week to bethlehem to
visit the Church of the Nativity. In
the stable where Christ was born q
line has been Drawn across the center
of the floor. On one side of that
line the Greek Catholics claim their
RIGHTS and the other side belongs to
the Romans. AS the two sects were
w~orshiping, a Mohammedan soldier,
with q gun and a whip in his hand,
stood at each end Of the line and kept
order. Other Moslem soldiers We're
guarding the services in the church
overhead.
It seems d~isgracefu1 to think that
Mohammedans should be necessary to
keep the peace among Christians.
Nevertheless, Palestine BELONGS to the
sultan AND it is his troops who must
a pilgrim had q feht in the Church
Of the NATIVITY during which he shot
one monk and two others,
and such troubles are liable to arise
arv day in the Churc Of the Sepul-
Chre.
This is especially so at Easter time,
when the thousands belonging to the
different sides go marching about sing
their fanatical SONGS ana de-
~norncing eac other. One OF their
cries is: 'This is the tomb of our
Lord Another is. GOD help the sui
tam and a third. ooh. Jews! Jews!
YOUR feasts are the feasts of pigs"
AS they go the Greeks jostle the
Armenians and the AbvssianS bump
against the I.atins. Not long since the
followers Of one sect set fire to some