Every-Day Life in Palestine.
By W. M. Jones
A SYRIAN BISHOP AND THE DAYS OF THE WEEK.
THE ARABS AND THE AYAM UL-USBOO-AH.
FOR several weeks past I have intended a visit to the patriarch of Antioch and the bishop of Jerusalem, ecclesiastics of the Syrian church, who have been some months in England on a mission in behalf of their schools. Their churches are few and have been much oppressed, doubtless because of their independence of the papacy, which has done all it could to get every one of the ancient Eastern churches into its power. The patriarch is the acknowledged spiritual head of his people. The language of the church service is Syriac, or Aramaean, and is nearly, if not quite, the language spoken by our Lord and the Hebrew nation of his time. Once I listened to the church service, and was charmed by the music of the read and spoken tongue. I have often referred to the occasion, and, at the time called the attention of my learned friend, the late Rev. John Mills, to what seemed to be one-third Hebrew, one-third Arabic, and one-third Chaldaic. The language is deeply guttural, but soft to the ear and very expressive. Three or four villages of this people in the Lebanon mountains, speak Syriac in common with the Arabic, which last is used by all the people about them. In the other localities the Syriac is used only in the church service. The Syriac is therefore to them the holy language; that is, it is for worship and religious purposes; just as Hebrew, Arabic, Armenian, Greek, and Latin are used by the several religious faiths—Jew, Christian, and Mahommedan. The outgoing old year and the incoming new year brought with them an increased press of work, so that I began to despair of a chat with these native Arabs. But to-day I broke away from home. An hour's walk, and half an hour on the underground railway brought me to their lodgings in Hammersmith. An English gentleman, who was born and brought up in Jerusalem, was the first to extend to me the hand of welcome. The arrangement of the reception room was half oriental. Presently the bishop, with a pleasant countenance and affable bearing, was ushered into the room and seated by my side on the divan. His dragoman followed and stood at a little distance, with his eyes intently fixed upon his master, otherwise there was no show of dignity. I was instantly at home, and as the Arabic began to flow from the lips of the bishop, I thought (as in former years) that it was the most delightful music I had heard for a long time. I was embarrassed for words, and all the more because of my obliging English friend's presence. He was perfectly at home in his native Arabic. To me fourteen years had caused quite a loss of the ready use of sentences. The bishop's rapid utterance was distinct enough; but it would have been fun to have thrown me into deep water and to have allowed me to swim for dear life; yet my friend was so glib that I allowed him to row the boat while I took the helm; i. e., I managed the simple sentences and he the compound ones. In fact, in three-quarters of an hour we had gone over enough Arabic for a student's practice for a twelve month, and could the interview have been prolonged for another three-quarters of an hour I might have been nearly myself again in the practice of the wonderful tongue of that wonderful people—the Arabs. You must imagine the gestures, the one-sided tip of the head, and the shrug of the shoulders, the uplifted hands, the glistening eyes, the contrast in our dress, opinions, and dogmas, the gentleness and the fervor of the endeared companionship of that hour. You would have thought us old friends. At first I arose to salute the dragoman, and meeting no recognition, I took my seat, fully aware of my blunder, but the politeness of the company forbade any notice of the ludicrous mistake. The dragoman (turjoman—interpreter, but really a valet, a courier, and a general manager) would have been unfaithful to have acknowledged a recognition, which belonged wholly to his lord and master. Young, of a commanding physique, and neatly attired in native costume, not the least of which was the zunmar, or girdle, he was an important complement to the company. During our rapid conversation the dragoman stood at a distance intently watching the bishop for a movement of the hand to indicate anything that might be wanted. For the hundredth time I witnessed the illustration of Ps. 123:2: "Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters," &c. The bishop is apparently forty, has dark, olive complexion, frank countenance, and very graceful manners. The patriarch was too ill, or too fatigued to be seen. Soon, however, I introduced the question of the Names and the Order of the Days of the Week. I asked him: "What do you call, or what other name do you give to the days of sevens?" The word usboo-ah or sevens, is used in Arabic for week. "Shoof, ya akhee," said the bishop; i. e., "look here, O brother," and taking his left hand in his right, as the Arabs do when about to count, and touching each finger and counting, he said:— "El-had, . . . . (The First,
El-ithneen, . . . . The Second,
E-thalathee, . . . . The Third,
El-arbah, . . . . The Fourth,
El-khamees, . . . . The Fifth,
El-joomah, . . . . The Assembly,
Es-Sabt," . . . . The Sabbath.) The more literal translation is the one, the two, the three, the four, the five, the assembly, the Sabbath—with day understood, but pronounced when required, before the words one, two, three, &c., thus making the meaning to be day of the ONE, day of the two, &c.; so with the last yom, or day, is understood to belong to the word, or name Sabbath, as much as to the other days thus: yom es-sabt or day of the Sabbath. My next question was: "Do you ever call them by the names. Sunday, Monday, and Saturday? Bishop. "Never, never, in every place among the Arabs, no matter where, nor what the dialect may be, among all Arabs it is the same: THEY KNOW NO OTHER NAMES BUT THE NUMBERS AND JOOMAH AND ES-SABT." "Do you ever speak of El-had (the first) as yom ir-Rub (day of the Lord)?" At this the bishop slightly shrugged the shoulder, and replied quickly: "It is not the custom to speak of it as such. You may sometimes hear it, but only occasionally, and then when treating of religious matters; but even then only rarely." "Is it found in your church books or liturgy?" Bishop. "It can be found in our writings, but rarely, yet we give it no heed, or rather it has no effect to change the universal practice of calling it El-had" (the first). As it was Wednesday, I said, "What do you call to-night?" Bishop. "What, the night that is coming?" "Yes." Bishop. "Why, El-khamees" (the fifth). "And what do you call this night?" (That is, the night belonging to this DAY.) Bishop. "Layl-at-El-arbah," i. e., night of the fourth day. Observe that these questions were not leading ones. The bishop is a responsible representative of the oldest of the Christian churches in the East, if not of the first church at Jerusalem. Whatever of error that church has it has never been guilty of robbing the first day and the Sabbath day of their scriptural names, and more, of attempting to blot out the name Sabbath and foist into its place the name of an idol. During my residence in Jerusalem, had I been impressed with the importance of an accumulation of evidence, I might have made a record of thousands of instances where these old scriptural names were used by all classes. The only exception being the case of appointments for the first day by foreign Protestant missionaries who sometimes used "Lord's day," but not Sabbath. Even this had no effect upon the natives; and God grant that it may never affect them in the way of sanctifying what he has not ordained. The Syrian church, like all Eastern churches, is not a Sabbath-keeping church. Its worship day is the first day. But let the reader bear in mind, that more than one hundred millions of Arabs, and those influenced by their customs, inhabiting nearly all of Northern Africa and Western Asia, use the names of the days of the week as stated above. I asked the bishop: "Have you books published in English which give an account of your church?" His answer was: "There are such, but unfortunately they abound in mistakes." At parting, our brother of the cloth, inquired if I had children, and how many. He wished very hearty blessings for them and for my wife—blessings expressed in a style purely biblical and oriental, but at which Western usage hints silence; we bade each other farewell with a Kheirak and a Salaam =good will and peace. W. M. JONES.
London, Jan. 27, 1875.