The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-26

tan cfV1lfZation as IL IS, the naked lrulu still remains that the honored, but some what hackneyed, title church militant, finds it's best exemplihcation In the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem where stands the traditional sepulchre of our Saviour and where daily fights are of common occurrence.
 This statement may possibly be modi- fled by saying that fights were almost daily occurrence within this church until the Turkish government placed troops there in the preservation of order.
 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre cov- CTS, 1t is alleged, not only majority Of the sacred stations that marked the passage of Christ along the Via Dolorosa from his place of condemnation to the spot of His execution, but 1t contains the site of Calvery, the tomb of Adam, the Holy Sepulchre and the stone of unction upon which the body of the crucifed one was placed for anointment preparatory to interment.
 The Holy Sepulchre is placed in the cen ter of the edihce and access thereto is guaronteed to the respective memberc of the five cults to which the church proper belongs.
 These cults are the Latins (Catholics), Greeks, Armenians, Copts and Syrians. Each denomination has It's respective place of worship assigned to 1t and no member of another cult can encroacn upon the designated precincts without per- mission so to do, which permission Is rarely, if ever, granted. The aisles and approaches to the holy sepulchre are used in common, but the respective paces Of worship are designated by huge car pets spread upon the floor upon which the worshippers must stand. Now each de- nomination is continually accusing the other of cutting off these carpets in the night time and thus curtailing the allotted space, which alleged act and accusation lead to a fierce fight
 I have never attended service here or even entered the building without passing through file of Turkish soldiers and on special occasions applied to the Ameri- can consul who furnished me with a per sonal body guard, a favor which he seemed pleased to accord me as I had at one time myself seen service in the d1plo- matic corps. Tn necessity for such mili- tary intervention has justly given the Turk occasion to deride our professed worship of the Prince of Peace and also noted the travesty enacted in Mohamme-
 
 Christian place of worship. In fact my respect for the Turkish government has been greatly increased since my visit to tine Orient, for believe that the Sultan is endeavoring to act wisely and liberally. My heart, however. bled as contemplated the poorly clad and half starved Turkish troops. The officers were admirably &C., coutered and neatly dressed, but the man of the rank and file was an object of pity, his uniform being a mass of patches so stitched that it resembled a worn out quilt. His pay is mere pittance ana his daily provisions consist of a mess of lentils and two loaves of bread. During the present war with Italy the lentils have been cut out of the rations and of the two loaveS of bread the poor fellow often tries to sell one.
 I was fortunate in being in Jerusalem during Easter week as the festivities were attended by over 100000 Christian pilgrims as well as drawing there some 80,000 Mo- hammedans for purpose of which I will presently speak. A majority of the pill grims were Russians, with the Armenions ranking next in numerical strength. The subjects of the Tzar were, men and wom- en, the toughest, most repulsive creatures that ever beheld. The men wore skin caps and coats fashioned out of untanned pelts, while the women more high topped, coarse boots, shod with huge nails. All of them carried slaves, and not a few bore rude crosses of wood upon their should CTS. The Greek Easter comes one week later than the Latin observance and dur ing the interim the Armenians celebrated their great religious ceremony of feet washing Most of the Armenian women took occasion to visit the professional tatooers, where in the little shops they had their arms tatooed with some religious de- sign or Christian character. The foot IL. -~y. -I,A Hal form in the square before the church of the Holy Sepulchre and was performed by the bishops and priests of the congre- sation.
 The Greek ceremonies were the most gorgeous and attractive of the entire week. Most of the pilgrims had been to the Jordan and bathed in it's waters. Tn truth T saw over 300 of them of both sexes bathing perfectly nude in the river. The Greek patriarch was a superbly handsome man. of faultless figure and commanding presence. He resembled the late Gen. Albert Pike in a most remarkable degree The ceremonies consisted of chants, pray CTS, visiting the holy sepulchre and kiss- ing the patriarch's hand, and found up with the distribution of the holy fire, which was said to come down from heaven and issued from the holy sep- ulchre. ftef.
 The Russian pilgrims had measured the stone of unction to the dimensions of which they were to make correspond their winding sheets those who had kept on thein garments while bathing in the Jor- dan were preserving them to be used as burial clothes, and now they were ready to light from the holy fire the huge can. dles which they had brought with them from home and would carry back to use in igniting the lights and lamps of their church altars. As soon as the great doors of the church, which had been previously fastened, swung open, the fire was to be seen issuing from the holy sepulchre and then began an indescribable pandemonium as the seething, scrambling, fighting. fren zied mass of human beings struggled. tugged, writhed and tore to ignite the can dles from the heaven-sent flame. Tn an outsider, gazing through the entrance. if seemed as if the entire interior of inc edifce was afire; the lines of soldierv were swept aside as a frail fence befora stampede of maddened animals and on. lockers fled for their lives. The crusb was appalling and the religious fervor a q founding and yet at this very critical mo- ment noted muezzin high up m Fl. minaret of q neighboring mosque callinp the faithful of Islam to prayer sa 4 noted, because in the great throne ana tconfusion 1t was impossible to hear bis voice.
 Many denounce the holy fire delus;op ana claim that it is ceremony causing sucn plot upon Christianity that 1t should be abolished.
 But there was another setting to tho weeks celebration which was equally as nr.1 r,,t~.