to sick persons; whereas the Syrians of the Greek Church refuse this respect to the Eucharist if consecrated by those who acknowledge the pope. The Jacobite patriarchs originally took their title from Antioch, but only the earlier of their number resided there. It would appear that Tagritis (Tecreet) was one of their original seats: from thence they removed to Mar Mattei, near Mosul, the see of which place was joined to that convent. In the time of Niebuhr, the titular patriarch of Antioch resided at Diarbekir; but, according to Assemani, the sect appears to have been very numerous and widely diffused, for he gives a list of upward of fifty dioceses in Mesopotamia, Assyria, and Babylonia alone. These, it is probable, did not all exist at the same period, and some of them were very small; but their number implies a dense population and a considerable flock. Of the Armenians and Roman Catholics there is little to be said. The first are chiefly found in towns, pursuing the profession of merchants or craftsmen: the latter, though so few as to constitute but an inconsiderable portion of the population, are more scattered over the country. There is at Bagdad a vicar appointed by the authority of Rome to look after this small flock, which does not, we believe, increase at the present moment. Of the character of the Christians in that part of Asia, the little we know is not very favourable. Uneducated and oppressed, forced still more than their Mohammedan neighbours to cringe and deceive the despots who rule and pillage them, with no fit preceptors to teach them the value either of morality or religion, it is not to be expected that the cardinal virtues can flourish among them. Accordingly, we hear them spoken of with but little respect. Mr. Rich alludes to the dirt and bad order of their villages, the squalidity and drunkenness of their inhabitants. Rassam, again, though son of the Bishop of Mosul, classes them with the rest of the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, as being vicious from habit as well as education; asserting, however, that those who live in towns are industrious, carrying on useful trades, especially in cotton-cloth and cutlery. The villagers, he adds, who cultivate the land in summer, manufacture calicoes in winter. The Nestorians of the mountains, those, namely, who inhabit the highlands of Kurdistan from Ooroomia to Mo sul, are, he says, a very different race from those of the plains. They have numerous gardens, the produce of which they lay up for winter store; and they barter gallnuts, yellow-berries, goats' hair and down, sheep's wool, dried fruits, wax, honey, tobacco, cheese of an excellent quality, and sheep, for wheat and other necessaries. Their tobacco, in particular, is excellent. These people are said to be handsome and strongly made, great hunters, and excellent marksmen, never going without their arms, and knowing well how to use them; in short, their countryman Rassam gives pretty much the same account of them as others do. There is yet another sect of Christians found in the regions we are now describing, although their religion is of very doubtful character. These are the Sabæans, often called Christians of St. John Mendai, or Mendai Jaja by themselves, and Sabbi by the Arabians and Persians. They are sometimes also described as Chaldeans or Syrians, for there is reason to suppose that the creed of both was originally the same. Their descent has, according to some authors, been referred to Saba, the son of Cush, whose progeny are understood to have occupied the remote parts of the peninsula bordering on the Persian Gulf. But they themselves contend for the truth of a tradition which deduces them from those Arabians who were baptized by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. It would appear, however, that they originally came from Haran, in Mesopotamia, and that, till the time of Julian the Apostate, they continued to be idolaters, worshipping the planets and host of heaven; after which they adopted certain of the Manichæan errors, and by degrees their sacrifices, especially of a cock and a ram. About A.D. 770, according t to Abulfaragius, they were identified with a class of heretics who were put to death by the Caliph Haroun al Raschid for infamous practices. That the portion who in later ages have been known as Sabæans did, however, embrace Christianity according to the Nestorian persuasion, is certain, although the sect has for a long time degenerated into a very questionable form. About A.D. 1480 they refused obedience altogether to the Patriarch of Babylonia, and separated themselves entirely from that church. They are said to worship one God, to revere angels and the stars, to read the Psalms of David, but chiefly to pay regard to certain books, written in Chaldaic characters so ancient as now to be almost unknown, and which they attribute to Adam. They also preserve and repeat sayings of Seth and Enoch. They pray seven times a day, fast a month before the vernal equinox, regard as holy the city of Haran in Mesopotamia, and make pilgrimages to it. They hold as saints Sabin ben Edris (a son of Enoch), and Sabin ben Mari (a contemporary of Abraham); respect the Pyramids of Egypt, in one of which they say a son of Sabin ben Edris was buried; and also pay some regard to the Temple of Mecca, In the times of the Ommiad caliphs, the Sabæans, being severely treated, emigrated into Persia and the lower parts of Chaldea, where they remained until after the death of Tamerlane. They were then once more subjected to a rigorous persecution by a certain chief, Mubarick, who, having seized on that part of the country, sought to exterminate the nation. This violence forced them to disperse among the neighbouring countries; some went to Haweeza; some to Dorak, to Shuster, Dezphool, Rumez, or Minas; others remained in Bussora, Jessayer, and other places; while a third party proceeded to Babylonia. Assemani* considered that in his day their numbers might amount to 20,000 or 25,000 families; and they continue still to reside in the places we have named. Among other peculiar customs of this people, it is said that, in order to prevent the violation of their sepulchres, they seal the grave-clothes with a certain signet, on which are engraved the figures of a lion, a wasp, and a scorpion, surrounded by a serpent; and the following story implies a belief that the charm was effectual: Nadir Shah, for the purpose of maintaining the efficiency of his army and preventing desertion, made the byractars or ensign-bearers answerable for the appearance of every man under their respective colours; and in all cases of casualties, these officers were obliged to produce the nose of the deceased as a proof of his death. It happened that a desertion occurred in a corps at Dezphool in Kuzistan, and the byractar of the company, in order to escape punishment, bethought himself of the expedient of taking the necessary token from the visage of the last-buried person in the place. * Bib. Orien., vol. iv., p. 610. This, as it happened, was a Sabæan, which sect is numer ous there. Accordingly, certain persons were sent in the night to effect the desired purpose; but in vain did they attempt to open the grave. The guardian animals and reptiles assumed so fierce an attitude, that the disturbers of the dead, after many efforts, withdrew, and, consciencesmitten, repaired next morning to the dwelling of the chief priest, and told their tale. "I thank God," said the hierarch, "that our protectors have not yet lost their power; but at the end of the third day, should ye visit the tomb, ye will suffer no disturbance." The men, however, preferred some other resource, and left the grave of the Sabæan unmolested. In enumerating the various sects that have appeared in Mesopotamia, it would be wrong to omit some notice of the Manichæans, although their title to the name of Christian may be justly questioned. Manes, the first propagator of the heresy, appeared in the reign of Shapoor, who, it seems, had been in some degree won over to the new doctrines; and Hormuzd, his successor, embraced them. But Bahram, his son, adhering to the faith of his fathers, inveigled the pretended prophet from his stronghold at Descara, and put him to a cruel death, killing or making slaves of all his followers. The religion he taught appears to have been an attempt to ingraft some of the Christian doctrines upon the tenets of the ancient Gnostics and the religion of the Magi. He recognised the two distinct principles of Good and Evil, whom he represented as always contending with each other. The good was the light in which God sat enthroned; darkness was the abode of evil. After the creation of Adam, who for a while lived holy, the spirit of evil prevailed, and he fell. To repair this mischief, God formed two beings of eminent dignity from his own essence: the one, Christ, to whom Manes appears to have applied and accommodated the character and actions of the Persian god Mithras, and the other the Holy Ghost; which two, with himself, constituted a perfect deity under a threefold appellation. After using the ministry of angels a long time to bring back mankind from the evil of their ways, Christ was sent on earth. The Jews, instigated by the Prince of Darkness, put him, apparently, to death. But his mission was ful filled, and he returned to his throne within the sun, leaving his apostles to propagate his word, and promising the Comforter, or Paraclete, whom Manes asserted to be himself. Such is a slight sketch of his scheme of faith; his system of morals appears to have been more perfect. He inculcated on all his followers a life of virtue, combined with great moderation and temperance; while on the Elect, or chosen few, he enjoined the greatest austerity, privation, and voluntary poverty. Their food was to be just sufficient to support life; while celibacy and abstinence from every pleasure were absolutely insisted on. The Scriptures were read at their meeting for public worship, as well as the writings of Manes. They observed the two Christian sacraments, baptizing after the Catholic fashion; fasted on the Lord's day; kept Easter and Pentecost; and, in the month of March, celebrated the anniversary of the martyrdom of Manes. The Yezidees, as they are called, are a far more singular, though a less numerous race than the Christian population, and not the less interesting that their origin remains quite uncertain. Their principal abode for a considerable time past has been in the mountainous range of Sinjar, in Mesopotamia; but they are also pretty numerous in Assyria, particularly in the neighbourhood of Mosul and ancient Nineveh, where there are many villages entirely inhabited by them. Indeed, there are some circumstances which might lead to the conclusion that their original seat was rather in that part of Assyria than in Mesopotamia. This people, we learn from Niebuhr and Rich, call themselves Dassinis or Dawassinis, not Yezidees, which appellation appears to be a term of reproach bestowed upon them by the Mohammedans, who hate them. On everything relating to their origin, their religion, and customs, they maintain a profound silence. The best-informed of their Sonnee neighbours and of the Christians of those parts, judging from what they have seen, not less than from what they have heard, say that they are the descendants of those Arabs who, under the directions of Shummur, the servant or follower of Yezid bin Moaviah, put Hassan, the son of Ali, to death. They are led to this belief, it appears, because, as they assert, Shummur is regarded as a great saint by the Dawassinis; and the Sheahs, in consequence, hold it meritorious to kill any of this sect. |