Jewish Presence (5) - Clergy
On 5
Nov
1895 Elizabeth Finn [of the Syrian Patriarchate Education Society]
wrote to the Foreign Office The
Reverend A.E. Suffrin and Mr J. Hubert
Smith BA (both of Exeter College Oxford) have proceeded to Syria as
agents of the Syrian Patriarchate Education Society to assist the
Syrian Patriarch in his educational work for his peoples. Mr J.H. Smith
is of English birth, the Revd A.E. Suffrin is naturalised....These
gentlemen arrived at Aleppo on 17th October on their way to the
Patriarch at Mardin in Mesopotamia. They were never to reach their destination. Political events in 1895 in Eastern Anatolia were far too disturbed to allow foreign visitors access. Armenian Turkish fighting was dominating the whole region. On 1 November 1895, Suffrin and Smith telegraphed from Aleppo, Waiting, Progress impossible. Wire advice. The Committee of the SPES now had the task of giving advice as to whether the expedition should continue or not. Writing to the Foreign Office for the relevant advice, Elizabeth Finn enquired on behalf of the Society, We are at a loss to know what advice to give, not being sufficiently informed as to the circumstances – but have seen published reports of disturbances at Diyarbakir which is within two days journey of Mardin (but it is not necessary to go to Mardin via Diyarbakir). There are no Armenians at Mardin, only Syrian Christians (and some Moslems) who are always loyal to the Ottoman Government and are not in any way concerned in political or foreign intrigue – nor are they in sympathy with the Armenians, whose supremacy they dread. And it is to be hoped there will be no disturbance at Mardin. [she adds that the missionaries had a grievance because on landing at Alexandretta Smith's revolver had been confiscated by a Turkish official.] Despite Finn's inaccurate or misleading statement that there were no Armenians in Mardin (Parry had given an account of Armenians in Mardin), her analysis of the relationship between Syrians and Armenians is of interest. It was important to the Syrian Orthodox, and to the Patriarch in particular, that in pursuing their contacts with foreigners, they should under no circumstance allow themselves to be compared with the Armenians who had been, and were, seeking foreign intervention. The Foreign Office response, of course, was that the missionaries should only operate under the instructions of the British Consul at Aleppo, Henry Barnham. W.A. Cockerell, the Foreign Office official who answered Finn's request made reference in general terms to the 'violent condition of feeling among both Moslems and Christians in Asiatic Turkey.' Specific references as to the cause and course of the disturbances are not made. Henry Barnham, British Consul in Aleppo, gave more specific details of the disturbances. He referred to the Armenian massacre in November 1895, at Marash. And even though Marash is a considerable distance from Mardin, and involved Armenians, not Syrians, he clearly felt that they feeling of the whole region was such that the presence of foreigners there would be an unnecessary risk. He counselled against any British presence there. The 1895 expedition thus was halted at Aleppo and never reached its destination. Parry [of SPES], writing in 1892, had apparently not reckoned on the volatile political balance in Eastern Anatolia being so swiftly upset. |
THE KAFIR INSTITUTION AT BISHOP'S COURT I
beg to forward you the first quarterly report of the Kafir school at
Protea. I commenced my work here on the 11th of March in the present
year. When I arrived I found thirty-six boys and three girls. The
boys were of various ages, most of them being from six to thirteen
years old. Eleven of them were rather older, six of them having
probably attained the age of sixteen or seventeen years. The girls
were about fifteen or sixteen. I also found here an intelligent
Christian Kafir, who had been appointed by his Excellency the
Governor to render me the services of an interpreter. This man is
married to a Christian Kafir woman, who, like her husband, joined
this institution in order to assist in the work among the children of
her native country. After commencing with them all from the very
beginning, and this under most difficult circumstances, not more than
three months ago, you will not, I trust, already look for any
extraordinary results. I can assure you, however, that I believe the
blessing of God has hitherto accompanied my efforts.The children,
generally, have proved themselves to be very intelligent. Their
progress in writing, indeed, seems to be extraordinary; from my
experience as a teacher, I may say that I never in my life met with
any children, who in so short a time have mastered the difficulties
of forming letters as these have done who are at present under my
care. Some prejudice has prevailed among persons acquainted to some
extent with the intellectual powers of the natives of this country,
as to their inability to comprehend numbers. I am of a different
opinion to that entertained by these persons. My pupils have proved
themselves to be as competent to grapple with figures, at least in
the rudimentary stage, as any intelligent children of European blood.
In English reading they have given decided proofs of what may be
termed a fair average amount of intellect. The principal parts of our
Church Catechism they can not only repeat in a very intelligible
manner, but they likewise understand it quite as well as the
generality of Sunday-school pupils in any school, whether in England
or at the Cape. Parts of it also they admirably rehearse in their own
tongue. With regard to their conduct, I am happy to say that I on
bear them the best testimony. They are good-natured, willing to
learn, and obedient. I believe, moreover, that they feel perfectly
happy in their present position. Of late, they have sometimes
attended Divine service on Sunday in St. John's Church, Wynberg.
Their conduct in the house of God has been very good. In conclusion,
I may say a few words with reference to the routine of our daily
work. At half-past six o'clock the bell rings for rising. This is the
arrangement at the present season; in summer we shall of course rise
earlier. I then take the boys to the small river behind Bishop's
Court, where they perform their ablutions. After they have bathed,
and finished their toilet, the bell rings again at seven o'clock, for
morning prayers and religious instruction, which lasts until eight
o'clock. They breakfast immediately afterwards, and then they have an
hour's run. At half-past nine the school assembles. The morning's
work is over at twelve or half-past twelve. At one o'clock dinner
takes place. An allowance for a little play follows, and the
schoolroom business is resumed shortly after two. At four o'clock I
again dismiss them. Between that time and six o'clock I give some
extra instruction to one or two of my pupils. At six o'clock they sit
down for tea, I being present at this as well as at their other
meals. Shortly after seven o'clock I have a Bible class; I first
explain a portion of the Word of God, and then I catechise them on
what they have heard. The younger children I do not now admit to this
class. Shortly after eight o'clock the bell rings for retiring to
bed, and then the candles are extinguished. This appears a somewhat
early hour for the elder boys, as they are very fond of learning
their lessons in an evening; but as I do not like to leave them alone
with the candles, it seemed that they should all retire to bed at the
hour named. |
It was a strange sight
to see the boys' schoolroom filled with a frowsy crowd of unkempt
Polish Jews, singing in Yiddish, Lord, I hear of showers of
blessing:
it was a still stranger sight to see an adult baptism, when the
converts would be followed into church by a fierce-eyed, muttering
crowd of their fellows, who would threaten acts of personal violence
alike to priests and converts, threats which, happily, they seldom
if
ever managed to put into practice. Strangest and most moving of all it
was to be present at a choral Hebrew Eucharist, when one seemed, as it
were, to be hearing the Church of Jerusalem in the first days lifting
up their voice with one accord
in praise of the Crucified. This Jewish work.....made, as might be
expected, a deep impression upon the parishioners. |