DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4592#0315
GREEK CHURCH. 315
souls. We paid an early visit to their synagogue. It
is a small building, and presents nothing very striking.
We were requested to take off our shoes on entering.
The priest was a man of about thirty and of very
good demeanor. He showed us what they say is the
oldest manuscript in the world ; a copy of the Pen-
tateuch, written by Abishua, the grandson of Aaron,
three years after the death of Moses. It was consid-
erably tattered and worn, and certainly bore marks
of old age. We then proposed to the priest several
questions. Q. Do you know any thing about such a
person as Jesus Christ 1 A. Yes, there was such a
man as Jesus. Q,. Where was he born, in Nazareth 1
A. No ; in Bethlehem. Q. Where did he die 1 A.
At Jerusalem ; he was crucified. Q. Was he a good
person 1 A. Yes, he was a good man and a prophet
The Jews did very wrong to crucify him." Some
other questions were put, but these are the main ones.
We then took our leave.
A Greek priest had accompanied us to the place,
and now appeared anxious that we should visit their
■church. He conducted us to a small chapel, of rather
ordinary external appearance. The inside was more
showy. He laid beforj us an Arabic manuscript,
which he represented as very ancient. It was very
neatly written, but I could see no marks of very great
antiquity about it. The walls of (hs chapel were
filled with dauby, ill-executed'pictures, among which
I remember one representing the day of judgment, in
which a pair of scales was used to weigh souls. The
priest took great pains to explain this to us as some-
thing wonderful and sublime.
souls. We paid an early visit to their synagogue. It
is a small building, and presents nothing very striking.
We were requested to take off our shoes on entering.
The priest was a man of about thirty and of very
good demeanor. He showed us what they say is the
oldest manuscript in the world ; a copy of the Pen-
tateuch, written by Abishua, the grandson of Aaron,
three years after the death of Moses. It was consid-
erably tattered and worn, and certainly bore marks
of old age. We then proposed to the priest several
questions. Q. Do you know any thing about such a
person as Jesus Christ 1 A. Yes, there was such a
man as Jesus. Q,. Where was he born, in Nazareth 1
A. No ; in Bethlehem. Q. Where did he die 1 A.
At Jerusalem ; he was crucified. Q. Was he a good
person 1 A. Yes, he was a good man and a prophet
The Jews did very wrong to crucify him." Some
other questions were put, but these are the main ones.
We then took our leave.
A Greek priest had accompanied us to the place,
and now appeared anxious that we should visit their
■church. He conducted us to a small chapel, of rather
ordinary external appearance. The inside was more
showy. He laid beforj us an Arabic manuscript,
which he represented as very ancient. It was very
neatly written, but I could see no marks of very great
antiquity about it. The walls of (hs chapel were
filled with dauby, ill-executed'pictures, among which
I remember one representing the day of judgment, in
which a pair of scales was used to weigh souls. The
priest took great pains to explain this to us as some-
thing wonderful and sublime.