The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 20, 1903, Page 2

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL—CHRISTMAS NUMBER. Vo> 7 SEBASTAINX DABOVICH il OF THE TRINTY TATHEDRAL. ELLS in the early morn, in e frosty air, resounding far over the tablelands of Hersegovina. The roads are thick with groups of brightly dressed peasantry. “Christos * (Christ is born) is the univer- sal greeting. Bang! Bang'! Flutters by on horse- back the Herzegovinian, his silver- ! pistols still smoking from h his decorated wide girdle. The bian hearty “voistinu se rodi” (in- deed he is born) is the response in every’ quarter. Be it the spirited Montenegrin or the sedate Bosnian, to either, who r in the Orthodox Catholic the collects and carols of this on are alike appealing and nifying, harmonious. our God, upon the world 1 shined the light of ge; for at it they that served ‘e stars were taught by a star to wor- ship thee, the sun of righteousness, and to know the dayspring from on to thee, O Lord.” Troparion chanted in tone the s the same note of celebration aithful in Egypt or in Byria L is Wallace might have ith more history, and might e abundantly adorned with al gorgeous and subtile imagi- nation the good chapter on the Magl in his Ben-Hur. Jerusalem was the f meeting and Bethlehem was tination of the wise -men from t Far who studied the stars and heavens. They halled from Per Arabla and Ethiopla. They were the three ' Princes—Melchior. old end gray, with long halir end long bear who brought gold unto the Lord King: the second was Gaspar, beardless glowing face—he se to God Incarnate; the as Baltazar, dark and hairy—he e mvrrh to the child Jesus, as to I—the Son of Man. Christmas night in the if you look you can see ens the Polar star, which t line may bring you to the rcle. But it is very unhospi- n December, and so we stop near by in Moscow habitants to warm the se hee. East the this holy day the numerous re ec nuously filled with of the flock.” According afton; who recently visited -fourths of the great con- men. (See B. G.’s letter e “Living Church” of sring the first part of No- Moscow, with her historical with all her works defeat and victory; Moscow, ts, is to-day the heart of Mogcow, vodern times, lived the great He was the great Bishop t city. F flourished between . 2% s of the XIX centw This old r ut young philosopher, thus taught Christmas day: The Evangelist Matthew repeatedly 11 the circurfistances and signalized the birth upon r Incarnate God and Savior s Christ were not merely a con- currence of circumstances and events, but were an exact fulfillment of prophe- tical D An obgervation this, imp not o to the Jews—who would not view even that which might be exa d by the natural eye, other- wise than through the vision glass of prophets—but also to every one discover the workings in the entangled paths of men, and to discern the hand of God in the events of the world. Is it not evidently & work of God, when gome- thing foretold several years ago is ex- ectly fulfilled? And, aboVe all, when that is fulfilled, which, according to ordinary ideas and calculations, seemed fmpossible of fulfillment? As though she stood befors his eyes, does Isajah point to the most blessed Virgin Mary, behold, a virgin; at a , when not only this virgin herself, but even her parents and her fore- ’ es tc of Pr fathers, had not as yet come into the world; behold, says he, a. virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth & son. What sayest thou, O Prophet? Can a virgin conceive? Can she, who giveth birth, still be a virgin? If this be possible, then how can it be accom- plished in the nation to whom thou foretellest this event? If even it be ful- filled, then how can this be the sign, the evident and trustworthy sign, which thou foretellest? The Lord him- #elf shall give you a sign (Isaiah vil, 14). If thou dost indeed see this daugh- ter of David, to whom thou pointest, saying, behold a virgin; If thou seest her in the far distant from the birth- place of David, and despised Nazareth, en orphan, poor, and with no marks of her royal descent, espoused to a car- penter, then tell us, how shall the Lord give that =ign, that she should appear & virgin of the line of David, giving birth to her child in the house and in the city of David, namely, as another prophet appointed, in Bethlehem? Bee, then, how faithfully the Lord himself answers for the truth of the prophecy: The Holy Ghost came upon Mary, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her (St. Luke 1., 25); and she conceived, being still a virgin; and having become the mother of the son, nevertheless remained a virgin. In or- der that those who were unacquainted with the mystery of this conception should not be able to malign her who had conceived, she was betrothed to her husband before that conception; and that to every healthy mind this sign of the Lord might be clear, that a virgin had concelved without a husband, the conception followed the espousals, even before they came together (St. Matt. 1:24), even before Joseph took unto him his wife (8t. Matt. 1:19) into his house. To Joseph himself an angel was sent to reveal this mystery, and to show him this sign, so that he should not remain in doubt: while to others, who could neither see nor hear angels, a no less trustworthy witness of the sign and herald of the mystery was given in the person of Joseph himself, who was known to all as a just man (St. Matt. 1:19), and therefore was unable to de- cetve people, and still less able to slan- der God and the Holy Spirit. * * * A comfortable coach on a fast train will now take us a distance of many hundred miles in a very few days, and, if we choose, we may get out either at Nishe or Uskub. from where, if we brave the attempt to trudge the high- ways, we may soon be among the vil- lages of Macedonla. Christmas in Macedonia was never a holiday of toys, nor a feast, only for the young, and surely this year is not a bright excep- tion. The unfortunate people of this gad country, represented mainly in its serfous men, now perhaps more faith- fully than ever before, chant the an- gelic doxology: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to men,” in thelr churches plundered by the Albantans, with undoubting faith in the might of the little child of Bethlehem, Jesus in the manger with- out a home. This Slavonic people commence their Christmas with the sunset of the 24th of December, according to the Julian calendar, when they go to church for vespers. . After the service they go to their homes, which they neatly fix up in holiday order, decorated with greens; then they light 2 pure beeswax candle before a sacred picture of the nativity of our Lord, or before the image of the patron saint of the family, as the case may be. This is usually superintended by the mother and the female portion of the household, while the boys or young men bring in fresh straw, whith they lay abundantly upen the floor, after which they light the fire in an open hearth with the fire taken from the blessed candle. Now food is brought and supper is served in a plate which each one holds in his lap, sitting In the straw upon the floar. No flesh meat or fish is eaten, but usually a porridge; & small cake flour fried in olive ofl with currants is customary; dried figs and different kind of nuts are also in abun- dant supply. During the repast the father of the family, or the old man of the com- munity, goes out and soon comes back with a log, or with the trunk of a young tree, which he lays over the fire. All the men present do likewise in turn, This is the ' “Badniak,” or yule log. When it is not a branch with greens, it is decorated. The “Domachin,” or host, pours a little wine over the Bad- niek, besprinkles it with a little grain, then wishing all present a merry Christmas, they partake of the wine. While they quietly sit'upon the straw one of their number takes up the gusli (one of the most primitive musical in- struments known to mankind) and without book or writing relates in a melancholy tone long and complete his- tories of his people, but on this occa- sion more chants are devoted to the holy child, who was this night laid in the manger. In the meantime another keeps turning over the fire a lamb or a pig which {s meat for the morrow. Black coffee s served. The vigil is clos- ing. Just at the break of dawn the bells sound the hour for matins and the people go to church. Most of the women, who previously have been to holy communion, return after matins to prepare the 'renut, while the men in a body remain for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. ~After the feast the young enjoy their open alr games, es- pecially the ring dance, which is made up of momke and devojke—lads and maids. The old smoke and chat. Here is the border line of Bulgaria. Shall we step across to say merry Christmas to the more than 14,000 inno- * cents? These children are in danger of being slaughtered as lambs when the spring comes. The Mussulman army even now is nigh at hand. Should the Slavic prove to have a backbone and a human will—many hundred thousands Mohammedan fanatics will come over from Asia willingly. It is difficult to belleve that the population of Bulgaria are ignorants as might be suggested by their poverty. One of our best com- mentaries on the New Testament be- longs to St. Theofilaktus of Bulgaria. A trip to Byzantium i{s worth the. - while. Would you have me show you Constantinople? Ah, I am sorry, but a single view is beyond my ability to portray its grandeur. Here Js the'pul- pit of the sublime Chrysostom. Christ- mas Matins. The slender figure of @he . Saint ascends. The choir chants the last ode of the canon in all the beauty of the Greek classic tongue: “A mys- tery strange and wondrous I behold. The cave is heaven, the virgin is the throne of cherubim, the manger is the place where the {ncomprehensible is laid, Christ our God, whom, singing, we magnify.” Ah, that the heavenly music would resound once more in the Cathedral of St. Sophia. I belleve the Greeks no longer trust to the friendship of the Turks. We need not recall the strug- gle of their kingdom with the Ottoman empire last year. We find ourselves again about Stamboul. It may be in a° different form of existence and in a different mode of crushing and annihi- lating; still they suffer. We filve not far to go to recall how Gregory, the Patriarch, was hung at his door on Easter day. Many other eminent men were put to death in Adrianople, Cy- prus, the Ionian Islands, in Anatolia and Mcunt Athos in the same year of 1821. Although the unwelcome stranger is in their home, yet I feel at home with the fathers, who on Christmas day, as g0 many trumpets of the Divine Spirit, poured forth such volumes of profound lore, with such divine reasoning clothed in the rhetoric of the golden age, and who only commenced the eulogy—that shall pass beyond the expression of hu- man speech—when mankind, let us hope, will be something more than human; the homily and praise on the occasion of the nativity of Jesus Christ, which will ever go on, world without end, to enrich the inquiries of reason concerning the little babe. Among such commencers were the holy fathers— Cyril of Jerusalem, Eustathius of An- tioch and Athanasius of Alexandria. I must be pardoned If I have forgot- ten the reader. The appetite should be considered if one takes the newspaper -]- the higher moral ideals of the race cut athwart the native In- stincts of the human heart quite so decidedly as the admonitions to culti- vate the virtue of universal benevo- lence. To be sire, we talk loudly about the brotherhood of man, but 6uf beautiful words are not always matched by beautiful deeds. Chiurch people are too often disposed to limit the obligation of love to those within their own fold whom they unctuously call “brethren” and even then it is no guarantee because a man belongs to a church that he loves his fellow member in the next pew. BSocialists and trade unionists proclaim in swell- ing tones the same great doctrine of O injunctions of the scriptures or of other books embodying 1 ' . OUR L.ADY OF KAZANn THE PAMOUS sILVER INADONNA IN THE RUMA AN CHURCH AT JITKA to the breakfast table. Be it plum pud- ding or turkey, each and both will be digested better with' a little “side” of readable matter. I presume I am per- mitted to leave the fathers of ages and to say something of the children of to- day, yes the children of the Iliving world. Is this not the season of chil- dren? There is a pretty custom in the sev- eral provinces of Little Russla, in which children take the chief part at Christ- mas time. On the eve, when night has brotherhood, but if you attend their meetings and especially if you watch their behavior week in and week out, you will quickly conclude that they have no intention of loving the mil- lionaires. 3 And an the rank and file of us we, too, obliged to confess that while theoretically we are well dis- posed to everybody we find it exceedw ingly hard to apply our ideas of uni- versal benevolence to concrete cases. The world is wide and full of people and even in our little world we en- counter those for whom we do not care a rap. Some of our acquaint- ances, we have good reason to be- lieve, are thoroughly corrupt. Some are surly and mean. Others are ob- Jectionable, so far as we know, from the moral standpoint, but they do not ek ae get in, the lads of the community, pre- viously clubbed together for the occa- sion, go about from house to house with a brightly decorated star, in the center of which is an illuminated picture of the nativity. The star révolving around the scene of the place of Christ’s birth, the delighted children sing their bright carols to the pleasure of every omé in the place. As a matter of course the children are stowed with all the goodies that the country can afford. Btrange as it may appear, tzul same * MUST WE LIKE EVERYBODY ? «# appeal to us. In fact, to be perfectly honest, they bore us. We remember the young man’s reply who after he had listened to his friend’'s long and enthusiastic and detalled commenda- tion of the girl whom that friend thought he ought to marry, replied, “I have no doubt that every word you say is true, but the simple fact is I don't like her.” . One can, indeed, if he will, love all men in the sense of wishing them well, of seeking their highest Interests, of serving them as he has opportunity. And we ought to be particularly care- ful to be true and fair and kind, or, in other words, to love those whom we think we do not like. Who knows but what, if we persist in loving them, we shall in due time come to like them too, - THE PARSON. custom prevails among the creoles of Kodiak and Sitka in Alaska. The prominent music with them in their nocturnal procession on this occasion is the Church Kondakion in tone the third: “To-day the virgin beareth him who is above all essence, and earth offereth the inaccessible a cave. Angels with shepherds glorify, and the Magi journey with the star. For our sake he hath been born a little child—he God before the worlds.” On Christmas day we worship the child and son, but what of the virgin, the handmaid Mary? Mother—she, too, is glorified, she is crowned the Queen of Saints, A number of tourists in this country have seen the old wooden cathedral in the old town of Sitka, Alaska. In & chapel thereof they have seen the beautiful copy of Our Lady of Kazan. The original of this Madonna is treasured in the beautiful Kazanskl Bobor in St. Petersburg on the Nevski Prospect, midway between Nikolaevski rallway station and the Annitchkin Palace. The miraculous Madonna was - found several hundred years ago by a little girl in the outskirts of the city of Kazan. The gems and hand-beaten robes of gold with which it is orna- mented (the faces and hands being left open) are of inestimable value. The copy in Sitka cannot be compared in wealth of material worth, but the painting is far superior. The humble mopk or nun who accomplished this work may never be known. The Ma- - donna of Sitka is a pear! of Russian ecclesiastical art, which cannot t strike every lover of pure and holy ¢. The countenances of the Virgin and of the Holy Child are “sweeter than the radiance of stars” and the mildest lig! It was a true artist’s brush that pro- duced this heavenly face of ineffable mildness. The charm and novelty of the ecclesiastical type lies in its entire harmony with the reverential purity of true religious inspiration. Tha Virgin and Child of Cignani, the Holy Family of Morando. the touching portrayals of Jesus’ divine childhood by Dolel, the unspeakably ingenuous treat- ment of the same sacred subject by the immortal Murillo, the severe simplicity of Perugino, the various versions.ef the same theme under the bold brush of that great genius, Raphael Sanzo, from his Madonna Della Sedla to that of San Sisto—all these are immense and matchless creations, the pride and glory of the painter’s craft; yet even after having admired and enjoyed those priceless gems, one will still be able to look on this modest product of Russian ecclesiastical art with a serene and prayerful feeling, subdued by the lofti- ness of the orthodox type, the comcen- | trated force which lies In its very gen- tleness. The traveler in the distant lands of waterfalls and cataracts will feel compelled to say, as he n the Kazan chapel of the cathedral at Sitka: Although the Sistine Madonna stands supreme in the world of paints ing, still the orthodox Madonna of Sitka has & divine beauty of her own. San Francisco, Nov, 30, 18,