Pen Pictures of the Holy Land. IV

PEN PICTURES OF THE HOLY LAND. 203 Joseph of Arimathsea, Christ's grave, and Golgotha. Whether it really does so or not is, and has long been, a matter of dispute. But it is the i.nal goal of all Christian pilgrims, and the center of the religious worship in the Holy City. The courtyard of the church is always full of hucksters and peddlers, who do a brisk trade in crosses, rosaries, beads, candles and holy pictures. The Church properly consists of two main parts, a circular-domed building, covering the sepulchre, and a rectangular church built over the garden. The exterior is any- thing but beautiful. The stone is dull, rough and weather-beaten. But the interior more than makes up for the simplicity of the outside. I remember it as a mass of twinkling candles, gold and silver lamps and candelebra, and richly decorated pictures. The richness and gorgeousness of the decorations are amazing. Some steps lead from the entrance up to Golgotha, the place of the crucifixion. A marble floor now covers the rock, but three holes show where the crosses stocd. Over these the ceiling is completely covered with gold and silver lamps. Behind them is a golden sun about six feet in diameter, whose rays extend in all directions. A picture image of the Virgin Mary also deserves mention. She wears a golden crown studded with jewels, her breast fairly blazes with precious stones, and her fingers are cov- ered with diamond rings. Thus have misguided Christians deco- rated the place where their Master was crucified as a blasphemer and a criminal. Never did precious metal appear so cheap and so gaudy. The grave of Jesus was a sepulchre — a sort of rock tomb, with a shelf on one side and a rock to cover the opening. A mag- nificent marble structure now covers the burial place. One passes through a little room called the Chapel of the Angels, and stoop- ing through a low door, enters the sepulchre proper. On one side is the shelf, where it is supposed Christ's body lay for three days. Now it is all covered with marble, and ever burning lamps of gold and silver hang above it. The pilgrims approach this shelf on their knees, fervently kiss it, spread out shawls and kerchiefs on it, and the priest sprinkles these articles with holy water and henceforth they are regarded as sacred relics. There are many other traditional sites of Biblical events in

304 IMPR 0 VEM EK T ERA . the Church of the Sepulchre, but only a few are worth mentioning, and that merely to give an idea of what is told to the pilgrims. A part of the pillar to which Christ was bound when he was scourged is shown. It is encased in marble, so the pilgrims, being unable to kiss the pillar itself, touch it with a stick, which they push through an opening in the marble, and kiss the end of the stick. In one part of the church is a stone ball. This is actually stated to be the center of the earth, and the poor, ignorant pilgrims devoutly prostrate themselves before it and kiss it. In a cave, below the Church, Helena, the mother of Constantine is supposed to have found the true cross. Three were found, and, being at a loss as to which was Christ's, she placed three sick men on them. One was instantly healed, so she knew the cross he touched to be the true one. As for the spirit manifest by Christians in the church, it is vastly different from what would be expected in a place they should regard as sacred and holy above all others. Among the different sects there is a continual wrangle and dispute. An example of their disunity is shown in a certain window which has not been cleaned for fifty years, because of the jealousy the attending monks bear toward each other. So it was necessary for the Sultan of Turkey, a Moslem, to arbitrarily prescribe the rights of each church. But even that is not sufficient. On every holiday Turk- ish soldiers must be stationed In the church to preserve order. At Easter, twelve hundred can be found there, armed and ready for any emergency. I saw one fight break out in the crowded court- yard, between Greek and Russian pilgrims, and the soldiers stopped it by simply clubbing both factions down with their muskets. It is such occurrences that make the Jews and Mohammedans of Jeru- salem look down on the Christians with contempt, and that not unjustifiably. I was fortunate in being in the Holy City during Easter week. At this time the most important religious customs are observed, and the city is crowded with pilgrims. Among all others the Rus- sians are most noticeable. These poor, simple-minded children of the steppes realize a life-long desire in spending two or three months in Palestine. All their journeys are performed on foot, and they suffer untold hardships and privations. But they are ever willing

PEN PICTURES OF THE HOLY LAND. 305 to offer their hard-earned means to the many shrines throughout the country. Advantage is taken of their ignorant faith and credulity, they are told the most absurd and ridiculous stories, and as a result are plundered and rohbed. On the Friday before Easter I witnessed the ceremony of the washing of feet. On a raised platform in the courtyard of the Church of the Sepulchre, the Greek patriarch washed the feet of twelve bishops, in imitation of Christ washing the apostles' feet. All were clad in richly decorated garments, and the service was per- formed with great ceremony. The water the patriarch used was then sprinkled on the heads of the pilgrims, and it was amusing, and at the same time pathetic, to see them fight for this holy water. But the great event of Easter week is the Holy Fire. As early as the afternoon of Good Friday, pilgrims begin to assemble in the Church of the Sepulchre. By Saturday noon it is densely packed. The people all come with candles, and their religious enthusiasm and zeal have reached the highest point. At two o'clock all lights in view of the pilgrims are extinguished and the Greek Patriarch enters the marble structure over the sepulchre of Christ. There, amid the prayers of the priests and the suspense of the people, he is supposed to receive fire from heaven, and his lighted candle is thrust through a small opening. Immediately the wildest confusion breaks out. Every one seeks to light his candle first. The crowd becomes a pushing, seething, screaming mass of religious fanatics. The heat from the thousands of can- dles is terrific. People lose all control over themselves in their religious frenzy over the possession of fire from heaven. Women faint, men fight and many are often injured. Such are some of the scenes enacted in what to the Christians should be the Holy of Holies— and this description of them is not at all exaggerated. I have met people who wished they had never seen Jerusalem. The hatred, jealousy and sham they witnessed there was so differ- ent from what they expected, that their belief was seriously shat- tered. And that is only perfectly natural. Very little of the love and humility of which Jesus spoke so much is manifested in the actions of his professed followers in the Holy City today. The fact of an apostasy from Christ's simple teachings was never so

strongly impressed upon me as during the week I spent in Jeru- salem. In order to have one's faith strengthened at all by a visit to the Holy City, one must be able to look through the actions of these misguided people and try to view Christ and his teachings as they really must have been. On' a hillside overlooking the city, away from the quarrels and strifes of the churches, let us try to imagine the lowly Nazarene preaching doctrines that should influ- ence the world's history more than anything else. Picture his suffering, his death, his resurrection, the struggles of his early followers, the ultimate triumph of his teachings. Who would not view the place with reverence, where such events occurred? Yes, Jerusalem's title is not an empty one. She is, and ever shall be, the Holy City. (to be continued.) University of Utah. Zion, Thou Holy One. ' (For the Improvement Era.) Zion, thou holy one, bright as a star, . Lighting the nations, thou comest afar; Thou art the queenly one prophets of old Saw the far future divinely unfold ! Blossoms of virtue spring up from the sod Into the path where thy white feet have trod. Oh, may thy pilgrimage here never cease; Hail to thy purity, hail to thy peace! Soon, in the midst of his penitent flock, Jesus, the risen Redeemer, shall walk; Nations shall honor thee, crowned at his side; He is the Bridegroom, and thou art the Bride! Theodore E. Curtis.