Читать книгу American Foreign Missions to the Oriental Churches (Vol. 1&2) - Rufus Anderson - Страница 14

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1836–1840.

The first visit of Mr. Johnston to Trebizond was in 1834. Through priestly interference, he failed in three successive attempts to procure a house, and at last secured a contract for one only on condition of obtaining a firman from Constantinople. The United States Minister at the Porte procured a vizierial letter, directing that Mr. Johnston suffer no further molestation, and he removed his family thither in the spring of 1835. The breaking out of the plague prevented him for a time from having much intercourse with the people. In August of the next year, he had the pleasure of welcoming the Rev. William C. Jackson and wife as associates.

The Patriarch of the Armenian Church at this time was Stepan, who was averse to severe measures; and Boghos, his vicar, though inclined to oppose the spreading reformation, thought it prudent to do nothing openly. Several high ecclesiastics were on terms of intimacy with the missionaries, and some of them seemed on the point of yielding to the influence of the truth. But generally they were without fixed religious principles, and were ready to follow the lead of the men most able to favor their own advancement in office or emolument. Matteos, the newly appointed bishop of Broosa, was one of these. While residing on the Bosphorus, he was a professed friend of the mission; and after his removal to Broosa, he expressed by letter the most friendly sentiments, and assured Mr. Schneider of his approbation of the school then recently established in that city. But this school, after a few months, was entirely broken up through the agency of this same prelate, who also sought in other ways to weaken and destroy the influence of the missionaries. Somewhat later, having been elevated to the Patriarchate, he became a reckless persecutor of the Protestants of Turkey, as will appear in its proper place.

The beautiful type used by the Catholic-Armenians at Venice, made it necessary for the mission to procure new fonts of type adapted to the taste of the Armenians. The monks of Venice refusing to sell to the mission, Mr. Hallock, the printer, visited the United States, and superintended the cutting of the needful punches. The Prudential Committee, appreciating the new demands, authorized an expenditure of five thousand dollars for punches and types in the Armenian, Greek, and Hebrew languages, and for foundries of types and stereotype plates. After Mr. Hallock's departure, the mission succeeded in procuring two Armenian fonts of great beauty from Vienna.

Meanwhile the Turks were making some advance in civilization. Lancasterian schools were established by them in the barracks of Dolma Baktche and Scutari, which were carried on with remarkable success. The missionaries being present by invitation at a public examination, Azim Bey publicly declared, that the Turks were indebted to them for everything of the kind. Travellers were no longer obliged to depend on slow sailing vessels, since steamers ran every week from Constantinople to Smyrna and Trebizond, and every fortnight to Galatz on the Danube. A road for carriages was constructed from Scutari to Nicomedia, a distance of sixty miles; and as a means of arresting the ravages of the plague, the European style of quarantine was extensively introduced.

The most determined opposers of the mission at this time were the Papists, who spared no pains in exciting prejudice among the Armenians. The Papal Armenians were estimated at from fifteen to twenty thousand, and according to usage in Turkey they had a Patriarch of their own. This functionary came out with a public denunciation of all Protestant books, including the New Testament. He even forbade the receiving of copies of the Armenian Scriptures in the ancient language, which had been printed at their own press in Venice, and were purchased, several years before, by the British and Foreign Bible Society for sale at a reduced price or gratuitous circulation.

There was so much desire for religious instruction among the Armenians, that two weekly meetings, in the Turkish language, were established in Constantinople, one conducted by Mr. Goodell, the other by Mr. Schauffler. Their houses were frequented by ecclesiastics as well as by laymen, and some of the former seemed to be sincere inquirers after the truth. One of them, attached to the patriarchal church, proposed that they publish a revised edition of the modern Armenian New Testament; and offered to subscribe five hundred piastres, or somewhat more than twenty dollars, towards the object, and also to procure aid from others. It was a favorable sign, that bishops and vartabeds began now to give instructions from the sacred Scriptures, instead of the legends of the saints. It subsequently appeared, indeed, that most of them were influenced in this more by public opinion, than by personal interest in the subject. They probably had exaggerated notions as to the actual prevalence of evangelical sentiments.

Female education, which had been almost entirely neglected, began now to receive attention, both at Constantinople and at Smyrna. No regular school, indeed, had as yet been opened for females in the former place, but a few parents were providing means for the instruction of their daughters, and one of the evangelical brethren had a class of twelve Armenian girls. In Smyrna, a school for Armenian girls was opened by the mission in a commodious room, with desks, benches, and cards, and was commenced with the express approval of influential men in the community. More than forty girls attended it the first week. But an influential Armenian made such an appeal to the national pride of his countrymen, that the community assumed the charge of the school, and refunded what the mission had expended on it.

At Constantinople, Der Kevork, the most learned of the fifteen priests ordained in 1833, was at the head of a school of four hundred boys, supported by his countrymen and having no connection with the mission. Kevork boldly introduced the custom of daily reading and explaining the Scriptures. He also selected twenty of his most promising scholars for the critical study of the New Testament.

The learned and amiable Peshtimaljian died in the year 1837. In the same year, Mrs. Dwight and one of her children became victims of the plague. Her husband escaped the contagion, though of course greatly exposed. This terrible disease had been almost an annual visitation at Constantinople, and was believed to be imported from Egypt. As soon as it made its appearance, schools must be closed, public worship suspended, and the giving and receiving of visits in great measure interrupted. The quarantine appears to have been an effectual preventive.

In the course of this year, the missionaries had a meeting at Smyrna, at which Messrs. King, Temple, Goodell, Bird, Adger, and Houston were present. Its results were important and interesting. During the sessions, Mr. King preached two sermons to a Greek audience in the chapel of the Dutch Consulate. This was seven years after the commencement of his mission in Greece. Mr. Bird was there, on his way from Syria to his native land, and wrote, on hearing Mr. King preach and seeing the apparent effect, that he became quite reconciled to his laboring among the Greeks, rather than the Arabs.

In the same year Boghos, vicar of the Patriarch, encouraged by certain bankers, resolved to break up the mission High School for Armenians in Pera, of which Hohannes was the principal. In preparation for this, a College had been built at Scutari, some months before, on an extended scale; and the public school in Has Keuy, superintended by Kevork, had been committed to the general supervision of one of the great bankers residing there, that it might be remodeled according to his own wishes, and made a first-rate school. This was deemed a needful preliminary to shutting up the mission High School. Early in the year, the parents were summoned before the vicar, and ordered to withdraw their sons from that school. The plan of the opposing party was, in this case, after breaking up the school, to procure from the Turkish government the banishment of Hohannes. But they had misapprehended the banker, and great was their astonishment when they heard that Hohannes was no sooner released, by their own act, from his connection with the mission school, than he was engaged by the banker of Has Keuy to take the superintendence of the national school they had placed in his hands. In vain they remonstrated. To their assertion, that it was the American system he had adopted he replied, that he knew nothing of the Americans, but had adopted the system because it was good. To their objection, that the principal was evangelical, he responded, "So am I." He at length declared, that unless they permitted him to manage the school in his own way, he would withdraw from the Armenian community. They could not afford to lose one of the leading bankers; and one of the principal opposers, finding it necessary, in a business transaction, to throw himself on his clemency, opposition ceased for a time, and a school of six hundred scholars went into successful operation, with Hohannes for its superintendent, and Der Kevork, the active priest, for one of its principal teachers.

It is worthy of special note, that up to this time, the banker was wholly unknown to the missionaries, and to the evangelical brethren generally. He was evidently raised up by divine Providence for the occasion. Not only did the Has Keuy school greatly exceed the mission school at Pera in the number of its pupils, but it was formally adopted as the school of the nation, and Hohannes was appointed its principal by the Armenian Synod. Having liberty of action, he devoted an hour each day to giving special religious instruction to a select class of sixty of the more advanced pupils, besides his more general teaching, and the daily good influence exerted by Der Kevork and himself. The course of study was liberal, the philosophical apparatus of the mission was purchased by the directors, lectures were given on the natural sciences, and the school obtained a temporary popularity.

Yet there were secret opposing influences too powerful to allow this state of things long to continue. In the middle of the year 1838, the distinguished patron understood, not only that there was a growing dissatisfaction among the leading Armenians with the school, and especially with its principal, but that his munificence was attracting the attention of the Turks; and he deemed it prudent to withdraw his patronage. Before the close of the year, the teachers were dismissed, and the school was reduced to its former footing. The leading men of Has Keuy sent a delegation to the Patriarch deprecating the disaster, but obtained only fair promises. Hohannes now renewed his connection with the mission, and was placed in charge of the book distribution. Der Kevork spent much time in going from house to house, reading the Scriptures to the people, and exhorting them to obey the Gospel.

At Broosa, the number of visitors at the house of the missionaries was increasing, and among them were two young teachers in the Armenian public school, who were specially interested in the subject of personal religion. They were among the first to make the acquaintance of Mr. Powers, on his coming to take up his residence in their quarter of the city. One of these young men, named Serope, had the sole charge of about fifty of the most advanced scholars, whom he instructed daily in the Word of God. The principal men in the Armenian community at Broosa soon decided to place a select class of boys under his instruction, to be trained for the priest's office, and eight were thus set apart. Before the end of the year both of these teachers gave hopeful evidence of piety.

Very interesting cases of conversion occurred at Nicodemia, at the head of the gulf bearing that name. Mr. Goodell, when passing through this place in 1832, gave several tracts to some Armenian boys. One of these, a translation of the "Dairyman's Daughter," came into the hands of a priest, whom Mr. Goodell did not see. This led him to study the Word of God. A brother priest, on intimate terms with him, was induced to join in the study, and the result was the hopeful conversion of both. Their united efforts were now directed to the conversion of their flock, and a spirit of inquiry was awakened. In the spring of 1838, Mr. Dwight found sixteen at Nicomedia, who appeared to be truly converted men. He was surprised at the seriousness and intelligence with which they conversed on the great truths of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit had evidently been their teacher, and the doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone, was the foundation of their hopes. The joy with which they greeted the missionary of the cross for the first time, was most gratifying to him, as was the earnest attention they gave to his instructions. Compared with their countrymen in the same place, they might be called intelligent men, and some of them were in very easy circumstances. The two converted priests, Der Vertanes and Der Haritûn, became afterwards well known in the mission. Of their own accord they removed to Constantinople, and were placed together in charge of a village church on the Bosphorus; and the Patriarch Stepan, being an old acquaintance, spent several weeks with them, and generally assented to the views advanced by them in their free conversations.

We now enter the year 1839, which was a year of severe persecution. Of this persecution, in which the Porte itself became a party, I am now to give a brief account.

The missionary force at Constantinople had become unusually small. Mr. Dwight was absent until September, on a visit to the United States. Mr. Schauffler left in May for Vienna, to superintend the printing of the Hebrew Spanish Old Testament. He went by way of Odessa, and both there, and among the German churches in that part of Russia, he did much to sustain a religious revival that had been long in progress. Mr. Homes left in the spring to join Dr. Grant in exploring Kurdistan. Mr. Hamlin arrived early in the year, but was occupied in the study of the language. Mr. Goodell was, therefore, almost alone in this trying season.

The extent and violence of the persecution were convincing proof of the progress of the reformation. A corrupt priesthood dreaded its tendency to deprive them of their sinful gains. Certain persons no longer enjoyed a monopoly of Armenian printing. Education ceased to be exclusively in the hands of a few bankers. And the popularity of Hohannes and Boghos Fizika was thought to operate against the great Armenian college at Scutari. Nor were the members of the Romish Church idle.

The patriarchs were elected by the primates, who were chiefly bankers, and were in an important sense their creatures. The bankers were divested of much of their power in 1839, by the rise of three men of the artisan class, who suddenly stood before the nation as its guides and dictators, and more especially as extirpators of heresy. These were the two chief architects of the Sultan, and the superintendent of the government powder works. The two first, being employed in erecting the most splendid of all the imperial palaces, were often in contact with the Sultan. The expulsion of Protestantism lay near their hearts, and they resolved to make use of the strong arm of Mahmood to effect it. What were the representations made to him is not known; but it is known that the three favorites were authorized to call on the civil power to aid them in extirpating the dangerous heresy.

The first thing was to get the tolerant Patriarch out of the way. For some reason they did not at once remove him from office, but procured from the interior a man named Hagopos, notorious for his bigotry and sternness, whom they appointed Assistant Patriarch. A month later, Stepan was deposed, and permitted to retire to his convent near Nicomedia, and Hagopos was installed in his place. Before this, Hohannes had been thrown into the patriarchal prison, without even the form of an accusation; but every one knew that his crime consisted in following the Bible, rather than the Church. Boghos Fizika was arrested, and cast into the same prison; and four days after, they were both banished by an imperial firman. Their place of exile was a convent near Cesarea, four hundred miles distant. Stepan took leave of them with tears, well knowing the deep injustice of the act. This was in the month of February, and the Turkish police-officer sent back word from Scutari, that Boghos, being an invalid, was too feeble to bear the fatigues and exposures of such a journey in that inclement season; but positive orders were returned to carry him to Cesarea, either dead or alive. Nicomedia lay on their route; and the brethren of that place hastened in a body to the post-house, and had a season of prayer with the exiles, which greatly comforted them. This intercourse was kept up during a delay of several days authorized by the Nicomedia primate. When the Armenians of Cesarea were told, on their arrival at that place, that their banishment was for receiving the Bible as the only infallible guide in religious matters, they said the Patriarch might as well banish them all, for they were all of that opinion.

It was reported in Constantinople, that the Patriarch had a list of five hundred persons suspected of heresy, and that among them were bishops, priests, and bankers, some of whom were to be banished immediately. Few dared to visit the missionaries, and those only under cover of the night. A proclamation was issued by Hagopos, forbidding the reading of books printed or circulated by the missionaries, and all who had such books were required to deliver them up without delay. On the 14th of March, Der Kevork was arrested and thrown into prison; and when respectable Armenians of Has Keuy made application for his release, they were rudely told to mind their own business. After lying in prison for more than a month, he and several others were banished into the interior. A rich banker, who had long been on friendly terms with the missionaries, was arrested and imprisoned in a hospital as an insane person—a method of persecution not unfrequently resorted to in Turkey. He was released after a week's confinement, on paying a large sum for the college at Scutari.

Nor were the Greek ecclesiastics behind the Armenian in hostility to the reformation. The Greek Synod and Patriarch issued a decree, excommunicating all who should buy, sell, or read the books of the "Luthero-Calvinists;" and condemning in like manner the writings of Korai, the illustrious restorer of learning among the Greeks, and of the learned Bambas, the friend of Fisk and Parsons. An imperial firman was also published, authorizing, and even requiring, the several Patriarchs to look well to their several communions, and to guard them from infidelity and foreign influence; thus connecting the Porte itself with the persecution.

A strong effort was made to procure the expulsion of the missionaries. Multitudes were active, from diverse motives, to secure this end. One of the most conspicuous of these was a renegade Jew, once baptized by an English missionary, but now an infidel who seemed to have satanic aid in the invention of slanders against Protestants and Protestantism. Another was a disappointed infidel teacher, whose malice and bitterness made him a fit ally for the Jew. The enemy seemed to be having everything in his own way, and strong was his confidence of success.

At this crisis, Divine Providence interposed. The army of the Egyptians was on the march towards Constantinople, and the Sultan deemed it necessary to call upon all the Patriarchs and the chief Rabbi of the Jews, each to furnish several thousand men for his army. It was an unprecedented demand, and occasioned great consternation, but must be obeyed. The army was raised, and was estimated at eighty thousand. It encountered an Egyptian army of about the same number on the plains of Nezib near Aleppo, on the 24th of June, and the Turkish troops were scattered in all directions. The tidings of this disaster never reached Mahmood, as he died in his palace on the first day of July. A few days after, the Capudan Pasha surrendered the Turkish fleet to Mohammed Ali; and on the 11th of July, Abdûl Medjid, a boy of seventeen, was placed upon the throne. The news of the entire loss of his army and navy arrived in a few days, and the empire seemed on the verge of dissolution. It was saved by the intervention of the great powers of Europe. The apostate Jew, to avoid punishment for various crimes, professed himself a Mohammedan; and for crimes subsequently committed, he was strangled by the Turks, and thrown into the Bosphorus. On the 12th of August, between three and four thousand houses in Pera were consumed by fire, with the loss of several lives and an immense amount of property.

The persecution had extended to Broosa and Trebizond; and at Erzroom, in ancient Armenia, where Mr. Jackson had commenced a new station, a letter was read from the patriarchate, warning the people against the Americans, and their schools and books.

The Egyptian war and its consequences broke the power of the persecution. The Armenian Synod voted to recall all the exiles, except Hohannes, whom they adjudged to perpetual banishment as the ringleader of the "Evangelicals." At length an English physician, of humane feelings, being informed as to the facts in the case, stated them to one of the sisters of the late Sultan. The result was that, on the fourteenth of November, an imperial request for Hohannes's release was sent to the Patriarch. He resorted to various devices, first to procure the reversal, and then to delay the execution of the order, which was addressed by the Turkish minister of foreign affairs to the governor of Cesarea, and had on it the Sultan's sign-manual, and the seals of several high offices of state. Not daring to delay longer, on the tenth of February, 1840, he placed the imperial requisition in the hands of the father of Hohannes, by whom it was immediately forwarded to Cesarea, and Hohannes arrived at Constantinople on the twenty-fourth of May.

The persecutors, one after another, were brought low. A change was made, about this time, in the mode of collecting the revenue of the empire, rendering the board of Armenian government bankers useless, and they were directed to settle up their accounts and close their offices. This reduced some of them to poverty, and stripped them all of a great part of their power. The Greek Patriarch was deposed, on complaint by the British Ambassador of his interference with matters in the Ionian Islands; and the Armenian Patriarch found himself in trouble with his own people. He was too overbearing, and was obliged, in November, 1840, to resign his office, to avoid a forcible deposition; and it was a significant sign of the times, that Stepan, who had been ejected from office on account of his forbearance towards the Protestants, was now re-elected; first, by the vote of the principal bankers, and afterwards by acclamation in an immense popular assembly convened for the purpose. He was immediately recognized by the Turkish government.