The Authority Exercised By The Mussulman Government In Relation To
The Holy Sites Is In One View Somewhat Humbling To
The Christians,
for it is almost as an arbitrator between the contending sects
(this always, of course, for the sake
Of pecuniary advantage) that
the Mussulman lends his contemptuous aid; he not only grants, but
enforces toleration. All persons, of whatever religion, are
allowed to go as they will into every part of the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre, but in order to prevent indecent contests, and also
from motives arising out of money payments, the Turkish Government
assigns the peculiar care of each sacred spot to one of the
ecclesiastic bodies. Since this guardianship carries with it the
receipt of the coins which the pilgrims leave upon the shrines, it
is strenuously fought for by all the rival Churches, and the
artifices of intrigue are busily exerted at Stamboul in order to
procure the issue or revocation of the firmans by which the coveted
privilege is granted. In this strife the Greek Church has of late
years signally triumphed, and the most famous of the shrines are
committed to the care of their priesthood. They possess the golden
socket in which stood the cross of our Lord whilst the Latins are
obliged to content themselves with the apertures in which were
inserted the crosses of the two thieves. They are naturally
discontented with that poor privilege, and sorrowfully look back to
the days of their former glory - the days when Napoleon was Emperor,
and Sebastiani ambassador at the Porte.
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