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THE MODERN JERUSALEM
AS SEEN BY PIERRE LOTI.
The Brilliant, Facile Frenchman Describes The
Strange Sights and Scenes Witnessed
Around The Holy Sepulchre.
On foot and accompanied by an ni '- S9 which forme the facade of the
Arab for my guide, I left my hotel Holy Sepulchre, and has all the
to go at least to the Holy Sepul- appearance of irregularities of a
chro. It is almost in the heart of great rock. It has two enormous
Jerusalem. I passed through little, porticos of the 12th cectury, bor
narrow and tortuous streets be- dered by ornaments strange and
tween walls of houses old as the Cru- archanic. One is walled up, and
sades, without window sand v ithout the other, wide open, leaves in
roofs. On the damp pavements vi«w in the obscurity of the inter
nnd under a sky still obscure ap- ior thousands of little Hames,
pearod the costumes of the east, Chants, cries and discordant la
worn by Turks, Bedouins and mentations, lugubrious to the ear,
Jews. The women looked like escape from this opening min
phantoms with their long veils. gl®d with the odor of incense.
The town still remains Saracen. On entering we find ourselves in
On the way I noticed that we were a 6 °rt of vestibule, revealing the
passing through an Oriental bazaar magnificient depths where innum
where the stands were occupied by erable lamps are burning. Turk
venders wearing turbans, and in the ish guards armed as if for a mas
shadow of thecovered little streets sacre, occupy the entrance. Seat
there moved along slowly a file of ®d like sovereigns on a large di
enormous camels which compelled van, they look with scorn upon
us to take shelter in the doorways, the passing adorers of this place
A little further on we were again which from their point of view, is
obliged to stand aside to make the disgrace of Mohammedan Je
roora for a long and strange pro- rusalem, and which the ferocious
cession of Russian women, all a- among them never hesitate to call
bout 60 years old at least. They el Komamah (filth.)
walked rapidly, leaning upon Oh, that unexpected and never
sticks or umbrellas and wearing to-be-forgotten which
faded dresses and fur cloaks. Their oue receives on entering there *for
faces, with an expression of fati- first time! Here is a labyrinth
gue and suffering, were framed, as of dark sanctuaries of all periods
it were, by black handkerchiefs, and of all aspects, communicating
presenting a dark and gloomy pic- by bays and porticos, superb col
ture in the midst of the high col- onnades, little a doors, and open
ors of the Orient. They moved a- * n g ß like the entrances to caverns,
long with an excited and at the Some are elevated like high trib
same time an exhausted air, jost- ones, where we notice in obscure
ling everything and everybody corners groups of women wearing
without noticing anything, like long veils; others underground
somnambulists, with fixed eyes, as where we brush against spectres a
if in a celestial dream, and old l or a the sides of the black and
moujiks by hundred succeeded damp rock; and all this is a sort
them, with the same expression of °f uight, except here and
estasy on their faces. Upon their there great rays of light, which
breasts were many medals, indicat- intensify the neighboring obscuri
ing\hatthey were old soldiers, ty, the whole infinitely starred by
They han entered Jthe Holy City the little Hames of golden and sil
the day before, ?.”d were coming ver lamps which descend in thous
back from their first visit to the ands from the vaults And every
place of adoration, where I w tere W 0 jilxd crowds moving a
ing. Poor pilgrims! they come loTi'g or standing grouped according
here by thousands, traveling on to their nationalities around the
foot sleeping out doors under the tabernacles.
rain or snow, suffering from him- Psalmodies, lamentations, and
ger and leaving many of their dead joyous chants fill the high vaults
upon the roads. and vibrate in the sepulchral son-
As they approach, the eastern orities below—the nasal melopae
objects upon the stands disappear ia of the Greeks, broken by the
to'gf¥£-place to objects of obscure shouts of the Kopts—and in all
Christain piety—beads by the these voices there is an interming
thousand, crosses, religious lamps, ling of grief and prayers, blending
images and incons. And here the the discords in a manner indes
crowd becomes greater. The pil- crioably strange, and sounding
grims stop to purchase the little like the great wail of humanity,
beads made of wood, and little the last cry of its distress in the
two-cent crucifixes, which they car- presence of death.
ry away for relics to be held sacred The rotunda with a high cupola,
forever. into which we first enter and from
At last, in an old wall, rough as which we can imagine the obscure
a rock, here appears a shapeless o- chaos of the other sanctuaries, is
pening, narrow and low, and by a occupied in the centre by a graad
series of descending steps we come kiosk of marble |of semibarbarous
out upon a place overhung by high beauty and loaded with siver lamps,
sombre walls in front of the Basi- It encloses the stone of the sepul
lica of the Holy Sepulchre. Here chre. All around this holy kiosk
it is customary to uncover, as soon the crowd gathers or remains sta
as the Holy Sepulchre comes into tionary. On one side there are
view. People pass there barehead- hundreds of moujiks and mat-
when simply crossing it ouchkas kneeling upon the flags,
to continue tlie route through Jer- Ou the other are the women of Je
usalem. It is crowded with poor rusalem standing upright and
men and women, praying pilgrims wearing long white veils. One
and venders of crosses and chaplets would take them to be antique
who spread out their wares upon virgins in this dreamy penumbra,
the venerable and worn flags. A- Further on we find Abyssinians
mong the pavements and among and Arabs prostrated, with their
the steps appear here and there the foreheads on the flags; Turks
socles, still imbedded, of columns with drawn sabres, and people of
w hich.formerly supported basilicas all communions and of all langua
that were razed long ago at per- ges.
iods hard, if not impossible, to n nQ . • ,
„ ~ . . . ’ (.’ne does not remain long in
J u rU ‘ nS th " thia almo3t suffocating portion of
city which has undergone twenty the Holy Sepulchre, which is the
sieges, which every fanaticism has very heart of this mass of basili
sacked The high walls, whose cas and chapels. Processions pass
stones of a reddish brown from nn . • r- T ,
...... a on in single hie, each individual
sides of the place, are convents or bo , iug his baad The
chapels. One night fancy that though , little marble
they were fortresses. In the back- and oruamented . The
groubd higher and more sombre is withio . encased jn m ? ®
than all, stands the broken au d oo whicb tbere afe jon
icons and lamps of gold. At the
same time with me there passed a
Russian soldier aud a poor old wo
man in rags and an Oriental wo
man dressed in garments of bro
crade. All kissed the covering of
the tomb and wept. Others fol
lowed them; indeed, there is an e
ternal procession of pilgrims,
touching and moistening with
their tears those very same sUnes.
There is no fixed plain in this
cluster of churches aud chapels a
round the holy kiosk. Some are
large and marvelously sumptous;
others little, humble and primi
tive, crumbling with old age, in
obscure corners cut into the rock.
And here aud there the rock of
Calvary appears in the midst of
rich and archaic ornaments. The
contrast is strange between s<>
many heapedup treasures—icons
of gold, crosses of gold, and lamps
of geld—and the rags of the pil
grims, the dilapidation of the
walls and pillars, worn, deformed,
and greasy from the constant con
tact with so much human flesh.
The altars of all the different
faiths are so thoroughly mixed
here that priests and processions
go astray. They force this way
through the crowd, carrying- cen
sors, and proceeded by soldiers in
arms, who strike sonorous flags
with the ends of their halberds
“Room there!” Here come the
Latins, that pass like a golden
chasuble. “One side!” Leading
his flock, here come the bishop of
the Syrians with a long white
beard. Then come the Greeks,
still wearing Byzantine ornaments
or Abssinians with their dark fa
ces. They march on in their
sumptous vestments proceeded by
children carrying censers and the
crowd makes way for them. Ac
companying this human tide there
is a kind of continous rumbling,
the incessant sound of psalmodies
and little bells. Almost every
where it is so dark that, in order
to get along, it is necessary to car
ry a little candle; and under the
columns and in the dark galleries
a thousand little flames move in
streams and eddies, constantly go
ing and coming. Men pray aloud
and sob, passing from oue chapel
to another, here to kiss the rock
where the cross was planted, there
to kneel 43V- Saints Mary
aud Magdalene wept. Priests call
you by signs, and lead you through
little doors. Old women with
wild eyes and cheeks wet with
tears come up from the darkness,
where they had kissed thestoue of
the sepulchre.
In profound obscurity we go
down to the chapel of Saint Helen
a through a wide staircase of about
30 steps, worn, broken, and dan
gerous, looking like a tumbledown
ruin, and lined with scrouching
spectres. Our candles, as we go by,
light up those vague creatures,
immovable and of the color of the
side of the rock. They are maim
ed beggars, demented creatures, de
voured with ulcers, all sinister
looking, with their hands under
their chins, and their long hair
falling down about their faces. A
mong these frightful objects is a
blind young man enveloped in his
magnificient blond curls which cov
er him like a cloak. He is mar
vellously handsome and might pose
for a Christ.
In the background the chapel of
St. Helena appears in the pure rays
of the day, which come in pale
blueish tints through the openings
of tUe vault. It is certainly one of
the strangest pieces of this whole
place which is called the Holy Se
pulchre. Here we experience in
the most striking fashion the sen
timent of. the terrible past. It was
silent when I came there and it
was empty under the gaze of the
phantoms that occupied the stair
case of the enhance. There was
an indistinct sound from the bells
and the chants above. Behind the
altar another staircase, occupied by
the same kind of personages with
long hair, reaches further down in
to the darkness. Four pillars,
short and strong, of a primitive
Byzantine style, heavy and power
ful, sustain the cupola, from which
hang ostrich's eggs and a thousand
barbarous pendants. Fragments
of painting on the walls indicate
saints with golden nimbus, and in
attitudes stiff and native, the de
facing caused by humidity and dust.
Everything here is in a state of di
lapidation. From the depths below
there comes a processions of Abys
sinian priests, looking like ancient
Magi coming from the bowels of
the earth In tho distance, near
the kiosk <>f the Sepulchre, the
rock ot Calvary appears. It sup
ports two chapels, into which one
enters by about 20 stone steps,
which for the crowd form the chief
places for prostration and sobs.
• From the pertistyle of these
chapels, as from an elevated balco
ny, the view commands a confused
mass of tabernacles, a la’byrinth of
churches. The most splendid of
all is that of the Greeks. Upon
a nimbus of silver, which shines
out in the background like a rain
bow, there appears in life size the
pale images of the three crucified
ones—Christ and the two thieves
The walls dissappear under thu
icons of silver, gold and precious
st- ms. The altar is erected at the
precise place where the crucifixion
took place. Under the altar rail a
treillage of silver leaves in view
in the dark rock the hole where
the cross was planted, and it is
there that thepi’grims crawl on
their knees, moistening those som
bre stones with their tears and
their kissses, while a soothing
sound of chants and prayers inces
santly comes from the churches be
low.
And here for nearly 2,000 years
the same scenes have been enacted
in this place, although under dif
ferent forms and in different basi
lics, with interruptions of seiges
battles and massacres, only to be
reproduced again more passionate
ly than ever. Here is the same
concert of prayer, tho same ensem
ble of supplications and of tri
umphant acts of grace.
Certainly these adorations seem
a little idolatrous for him who
said, “God is spirit, and those who
adore Him must adore Him in
spirit and in truth.” But they are
so human ! How well they respond
to our instincts and to our misery!
Surely the first Christians, in the
purely spiritual spring of their
faith, with the teaching of their
Master was still fresh in their
souls, did not encumber themselves
with) magnificences of symbols
and images. Certainly it was not
earthly recollections—the place of
a martyrdom or an empty sepul
chre —that preoccupied them.
They did not seek their redeemer
there, because they saw him for
ever freed from transitory things
and standing above in serene light.
But we, the people of the west and
of the north, have escaped more re
cently from native barbarities
than the antique societies from
which the first Christians sprung
In the middle ages, when the faith
penetrated our forests, it was ob
scured by a thousand primitive re
ligions ; and it is the smallest num
ber among us .that have been suffic
iently enfranchised from accumul
ated traditions to be able to em
brace the evangelical worship in
spirit and in truth. And, more
over, when faith is extinguished in
our modern soulsit is still toward
this veneration of sacred spots and
cherished recollections that unbe
lievers like me are brought by the
sad regret of the lost savior.
Pierre Loti.
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