The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1916-04-21

does not coincide with that Of the western
churches, holy week in Jerusalem is celebrated
predominantly according to the Greek calendar.
the services of the other churches being repeated
their own dates
,.aIn all the Greek orthodox countries-Russia,
Roumania, Greece. Bulgaria. Servia Montenegro,
and a large part of stria-Hungary-Eas is
celebrated with great fervor and devotion The
Easter kiss Is a wellknown incident of these
celebrations.
Jerusalem is naturally full of churches, monas-
teries hospices and hospitals of the various
creeds ncS~every OF them at Easter brings
out its peculiar religious individuality. The
Latin church, for instance, whose establishment
In Jerusalem harks back to Godfrey de Bouillon
and his crusaders, has number OF oriental
churches united to the Roman Catholic church.
Thus there are the United Greeks the United
Syrians, the United HISTORIANS. the United Ar
menans the Maronites, all of whom celebrate
mass in their own tongue and add In their
ceremonies and garb picturesque distinctive
to the whole.
Then there are the Copts, the Armenians the
Syrian Jacobites the HISTORIANS. the Abyssinians,
besides Greeks and Protestants. The relative
standing of the various churches is in measure
expressed in the way they share the 10 lamps
that burn in the Holy Sepulcher chapel. which
is in the center of the stone that rolled away
from Jesus grave by the angels. Five of these
lamps belong to the Latins, five to the Greeks,
four to the Armenians and one to the Copts.
Away from the ecclesiastical ceremonial the
pilgrim in Easter time seeks the traditional
places where our Lord spent his last days and
nights or these Gethsemane is the principal
goal and here the difference in creed among the
many visitors is obliterated by an earnest and
quiet devotion which is Unexpectedly free from
the emotional
Another figure has prominent place in Easter
celebrations In Jerusalem; that of Moses whose
n pofth tha Sh
Egypt is commemorated in the ancient Hebrew
paschal feast.
There is very little known Mohammedan
celebration which though no longer so general as
formerly is still most interesting one. To
the Mohammedan, It must be remembered Jeru-
salem is a holy city, like Mecca and Medina and
there Is a saying among Arabs. Syria is the
blessed county Palestine the holy land. and Je-
rusalem the holy city. is the holy of holies.
Native Mohammedans and pilgrims make up
a procession and issue from the Situ Myriam
gate They are joined by throngs of their breth-
rem from the neighboring villages. and amid the
widest enthusiasm. with standards being borne
aloft and to the typical Arab music of drum and
ffe. the pilgrimage proceeds In the direction OF
the Dead sea.
As the Arabs claim common descent with the
Jews from Abraham the Holy Land holds ira
ditions equally sacred to them Jerusalem Is
second only to Mecca In sanctity because II con-
tains according to tradition. the ROCK OF Abra-
hams sacrifice over which the famed mosque OF
Omar is built The Arab pilgrimage to the burial
place OF Moses recalls the similar one to the tomb
of Noah. near the ruins of Baalbek. short dis
tance from Damascus.
In cosmopolitan charm Easter in Constantinople
almost equals that found in Jerusalem. The capital
of the Turkish empire is of course in itself highly
cosmopolitan: and there is no other city in the
world where so many languages are heard in the
streets. not by foreigners. but by the variegated
native population. The background here is not
Jewish and Mohammedan, as in Jerusalem but
Mohammedan and Christian. with a strong tinge
OF Spanish Jewry.