Norwich bulletin., 1919-04-19

and recalls his attendance upon
ceremonial service there On Good
Friday DIR. Blake described his expert
ence, stating thatait was the twenty
fourth day of April 1905. Easter
Sunday had been celebrated and what
the Greeks of Damascus call Easter
Monday had dawned. There was to
be no trading that day. at least not till |
this great service had 9heen held. The
speaker said: I'VE had not attended |
church the day before as DR.. Mathews
was i'll and had sent me for the doctor
1t was Dr. McKinnon at the mead of |
the Scotch hospital there. To show |
him proper respect chartered (; car
riage and called at his door,. s,lpIos- /
ing, of course, he would return with |
me. Evidently, however, the doctor
was not of the same mind aud polite
ly told me he would come by his own
conveyance which he did after some
little time in waiting. When he ar
rived he so reminded DR.. Mathews of
his own father, who was also a physi- |
clan, that he was readily forgiven and
leaving a little medicine for which
there was no charge he quietly took
his leave. The doctor recovered in due
time So rapid was this recovery, that
the patient was able to be about Mon
day. and attend the Easter Monday
service. 1t was our Greek merchant
who had invited us, otherwise we
might not have heard of this unique
occasion. Every Greek store, and, for
aught l know, every other store owned
and operated by Christians is closed
that day and the churches are filled
with earnest and devout wors.lippers.
Men, women and children are i'll at
tendance, the men crowded upoa the
| a -
getller with their children, but the wo-
men, according to the custom of the
Mohammedans who ruled the land and
set the customs, are out of mortal
gaze, secreted behind lattice work in
what we might call the galleries of
the church. The priests soon appeared
accompanied by the altar boys. who
looked extremely interesting ats they
passed in orderly procession.
The Patriarch assumed his exalted
position facing the altar around which
the little choristers had assembled.
They sang with as much spirit as the
children sang on that first Palm
Sunday in the ancient Tenpie When
Jesus entered. healing the sick and
bringing the blind their sight and the
deaf their hearing. The Patriarch was
/ clad in beautiful garments, while up
on his head rested the nitre ;,dorled
with gold.
The service, although i,nperfectly
| understood by the English auditors,
was interesting from begiluliag to end.
al its close, the Patriarch t0kilg the
| lead formed 4 procession in the main
aisle. followed by the priests and the
altar boys. In the line was the French
consul clad in the uniform Of lis high
office, accompanied by his BODY guard
! which tha Turkish al
ways made it obligatory upon Eila and
all other foreign officers to employ.
| The American consul at Jerils LIEN
was always expected when on the
street to have his Turkish guard near
at hand clad in uniform of the Ctto-
man empire. No sooner had the pro
cession formed within than the firing
of small arms and frecracNers was
| heard iii the yard without. Pistol af-
ter pistol was discharged, followed i,v
guns and larger arms and at last a
/ heavy cannon was sent off shaking
| the whole edifice. Men 'hollared," boys
! cheered and it was difficult t. find q
single person present who did rot
have some part in this Easter Monday
! celebration. When the last gun had
/ been fired and the last firecracker had
| been burned. the band struck up the
| French national air at the close of
which the ceremonies OF the day We're
! ended. How did it affect you, being
a Protestant" Well, l was not d
Protestant that Gay. 1 was in accord
with it all These devout Greeks
knew its meaning better than + did
They evidently were getting. some
! spiritual food from the celebration
which brought so much JOY to their
| souls.
We passed out from the church ser
vice to visit the Church Of st. Anan-
anias built on the reputed spot where
! Anananias lived and where Saul OF
Tarsus was brought into the liberty Of
a sou of God through the efforts Of
| this dcvout Christian. II was i great
day, one to be long remembered.
The Sunday service at the Baptist
| church a / a. M. will be an Easter
service. The church school meets at
1215 for service Of son gand study.
To keep ahead of Putnam in the con-
test each one must rally to the school
Evening service at ! oclock. with
special music, scrmonette and bap-
tism.
The musical programmes will be as
follows: Morning service at II O'Clock
Organ Festival Prelude. Buck; an
them, Awake Thou That Sleepest,
s;tainer solo, The First Easter Morn,
Shelly, Mrs. C. A. Frost; offertory, an
them. Christ is Risen. Wilson; Post
lude in E fiat. Alternately.
Evening service at o'clock-Organ
prelude, Chant Triunohal. Gaul; an
them, And When the Sabbath Was
Past, Suits; solo, Christ, the Lord, Is
Risen Today. Smith. Earle f. Wins
low; offertory anthem, Triumphant
Strains Arise. Chapman; postlude in
D, Harris.
A chorus choir of twenty-five voices
will sing at both services; the soloists
will be Mrs. c. A. Frost and Mrs. H. F
Turner, soprano; Earle +. Winslow
,, and Homer W. Dixon. tenor and Les
ter R. Craig. bass. Miss Grace NJ
Stanton is organist and Lorimer H
Dixon is chorister.