280 



EASTERN CHUECHES. 



patriarch of his temporal power, and to invest 

 it in a committee of laymen. In Smyrna and 

 Constantinople they are especially strong and 

 confident, while in the interior stricter lines are 

 drawn, and reformers obliged to secede and join 

 the Protestant party. Many enter into the 

 scheme for political reasons, as the Protestanti- 

 zation of the church will secure English pro- 

 tection for the Armenians, the only Christian 

 sect in Turkey who have no friends abroad. 



3. The Nestorians. They have a patriarch 

 at Diz (Mosul), in Turkey, and eighteen bish- 

 ops. In 1833 their number was reported as 

 10,054 families, or 70,000 souls. Other state- 

 ments give higher figures. The number of Nes- 

 torians in Persia is estimated at 25,000. Since 

 1833 the American missionaries have labored 

 among the Nestorians, and formed a number of 

 Evangelical Congregations. Those Nestorians 

 who have united with Rome are generally called 

 Chaldeans. They have a patriarch, bearing 

 the title of Patriarch of Babylon, and residing 

 at Bagdad, archbishops at Amadia and Seleucia, 

 in Asiatic Turkey, four bishops in Turkey, and 

 two in Persia. In India the Nestorians are 

 commonly known under the name of Christiai* 

 of St. Thomas or "Syrians," of whom there are 

 about 70,000. About 150,000 are united with 

 the Church of Rome. 



4. The Jacobites. They have a patriarch, 

 with the title, Patriarch of Antioch at Caramit 

 (Diarbekir), a maphrian (head of the Eastern 

 Jacobites), in a convent near Mosul. Besides, 

 there are said .to be 21 bishops in Asiatic 

 Turkey. The number of families in Turkey is 

 variously estimated from 10,400 to 34,000. It 

 is said that there are about 200,000 Jacobites 

 living in East India (in Malabar and Travan- 

 core). Of late, the Roman Catholic Church 

 has made progress among the Jacobites in Syria. 



5. The Copts. This is the name of the native 

 Christians in Egypt. They have a Patriarch of 

 Alexandria who resides at Cairo, and is the head 

 of the entire church, with jurisdiction also ex- 

 tending over Nubia and Abyssinia, and the right 

 of consecrating the Abuna (patriarch) of the 

 latter country; 16 bishops, 146 churches and 

 convents. The population is variously estimated 

 from 150,000 to 250,000, of whom about 10,000 

 are in Cairo. Of the Copts, about 13,000 have 

 united with the Roman Catholic Church (United 

 Copts). For some years past, missionaries of 

 the United Presbyterian Church of the United 

 States have done a great deal for the cause of 

 education among the Copts. 



Their staff has consisted of eight ordained 

 missionaries, three female teachers and a print- 

 er, together with only about forty native con- 

 verts, who are engaged as teachers, .preachers, 

 and colporteurs. They have occupied several 

 central stations, and several out-stations, where 

 the Gospel has been preached in the vernacular 

 of the native Egyptians. Congregations have 

 been gathered, schools established, a printing- 

 press set up, and upward of seventy thousand 

 volumes of the Scriptures, in whole or parts, 



have been sold. Until recently the American 

 missionaries were pursuing their work under 

 the belief that what they were doing was well- 

 pleasing to the Viceroy. Five years ago a house 

 in Cairo, worth more than 8,000, was pre- 

 sented to the mission as a mark of his good-will. 

 A little later the Viceroy declared that the 

 missionaries were doing a great, work as edu- 

 cators of his people; be wished them all suc- 

 cess, and promised his support should it be 

 needed. In the autumn of 1865, however, a 

 boys' school at Osiout was broken up, the pupils 

 being sent off to' work at the railway works for 

 two or three months. When the matter was 

 brought under the notice of the Viceroy, he 

 made the following reply : "The sole aim of the 

 American missionaries is to change the religion 

 of my subjects. In changing their religion, 

 they change to some extent their nationality. 

 Were I to grant the favor requested of me (the 

 exemption of the children from government 

 levies while they were at school), I should, ipso 

 facto, aid them in undermining my own influ- 

 ence over my subjects. This I cannot reason- 

 ably be expected to do." The only reason for 

 this change, in the Viceroy's opinion, apparently, 

 is the growing strength of missionaries and 

 converts. In 1865 the American missionaries 

 had doubled their staff, and had opened several 

 new stations, as if with the intention of occu- 

 pying the whole land. The Coptic patriarch 

 became alarmed at the number of new converts. 

 He insinuated to the Viceroy that the mission- 

 aries were actuated by sinister motives, and 

 that it would be to the interest of Egypt to 

 drive them out of the country. The Viceroy 

 at first aided the patriarch to set up opposition 

 schools in the localities where mission institu- 

 tions were established. He then sent a firman 

 to the governors of the provinces in Upper 

 Egypt, to be read at a public meeting of the 

 sheiks of the villages, the effect of which was 

 that to become a Protestant was henceforth to 

 rebel against the government. 



This decree the Patriarch endeavored to 

 carry into execution early in 1867, during a 

 tour in Upper Egypt, where the majority 

 of the Copts live, lie instituted a cruel per- 

 secution against all the native Christians 

 who associated with the American mission- 

 aries, causing, their children to be beaten and 

 withdrawn from the schools, and burning all 

 the Bibles and other religious books he could 

 lay hands on. The local Mussulman authori- 

 ties, instead of interfering to protect their sub- 

 jects, rather countenanced the patriarch's pro- 

 ceedings. The consular agents of the United 

 States and France advised the native Christians 

 to submit to the authority of the patriarch; 

 but the consul-general of the United States, in 

 Alexandria, Mr. "Hale, emphatically remon- 

 strated with the. Egyptian Government in be- 

 half of the missionaries, and after long hesita- 

 tion the Viceroy was finally induced to send a 

 telegram to the patriarch to stop his violent 

 dealings and come home. 



