1895
Born a Jew, Baptized a Christian, but Still an Unbeliever.
Although a Jew by birth, Rubinstein was baptized when a mere infant, and, as religion is a necessity in Russia, was forced, when residing there, to follow the prescribed forms once a year at least. But in reality he had little sympathy with the religion of the priest. The question of the hereafter had for him a fascination and a certain awe; but, although he went so far at times as to profess a belief in annihilation after death, yet it is to be doubted if Rubinstein himself really knew what he did believe. He certainly had his full share of Jewish skepticism, but at the same time was full of superstition — a sure sign, at least, that he could not have believed in nothing, since he feared something. He would never set out on a journey on Friday, neither would he, unless forced by circumstances, mention any of his undertakings before they were accomplished — a superstition which I encountered only the other day in Paderewski.
In his physiognomy Rubinstein had nothing whatever of the Israelite. He resembled Beethoven strangely, and for this was laughingly dubbed "Van II" by Liszt. It is worthy of notice and stands greatly to his credit that in Russia, where it is better to be born a dog than a Jew, Rubinstein, despite his baptism, never sought to deny his Jewish origin. In a certain way he was even proud of it and always boldly acknowledged it.
He was an ardent patriot and loved Russia with heart and soul, working unceasingly for the musical future of his country, having devoted the best part of his life to this cause. Without doubt he did for musical Russia more than any other man, and the best conservatory in the world today — that of St. Petersburg — owes its existence to his enthusiasm and the lavish gifts of money he made from time to time. He was curiously proud of this work, and he said once to me: "When I am dead, all that I care men should remember me by is this conservatory; that they should say it was Anton Rubinstein's work." — Alexander McArthur in Century.
Showing posts with label Russian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russian. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Saturday, April 12, 2008
The Soldier and The Czar
1900
When a Russian soldier, heavily in debt, wrote out a list of his many obligations and exhibited it in a public place, adding in large letters the question: "Who will pay these debts?" the Czar happened to see the whimsical notice, and quietly wrote his name after the question: "Nicholas."
The soldier knew that he was free from his creditors. As simple as this, absolutely as simple, is the soul's way to get rid of its sins.
—The Ram's Horn, March 17, 1900, p. 14.
When a Russian soldier, heavily in debt, wrote out a list of his many obligations and exhibited it in a public place, adding in large letters the question: "Who will pay these debts?" the Czar happened to see the whimsical notice, and quietly wrote his name after the question: "Nicholas."
The soldier knew that he was free from his creditors. As simple as this, absolutely as simple, is the soul's way to get rid of its sins.
—The Ram's Horn, March 17, 1900, p. 14.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Curious Facts About Babists
1905
At a recent meeting of the Imperial Geographical society at Weadikawkas, Russia, the explorer Arakelyani made some interesting statements about the religious sect of the Babists.
This Mohammedan organization was founded in 1844 by the Persian Mirsa Ali Mohamed, and now numbers about 5,000,000 members. According to the "Bejan" — the Koran of this sect — all men are brethren, and should speak and write the same language. The year is divided into nineteen months and nineteen days, of which the latter five are devoted to repentance.
Of these 5,000,000 members, over 3,000,000 live in Persia, where they have been allowed to build their own churches, while the remainder is spread over Egypt, Arabia, Turkestan and even China.
The present head of the sect is Abbas-Effendi, who resides in Persia. The founder of the organization, Mirsa Ali Mohamed, was killed in Persia some three years ago.
At a recent meeting of the Imperial Geographical society at Weadikawkas, Russia, the explorer Arakelyani made some interesting statements about the religious sect of the Babists.
This Mohammedan organization was founded in 1844 by the Persian Mirsa Ali Mohamed, and now numbers about 5,000,000 members. According to the "Bejan" — the Koran of this sect — all men are brethren, and should speak and write the same language. The year is divided into nineteen months and nineteen days, of which the latter five are devoted to repentance.
Of these 5,000,000 members, over 3,000,000 live in Persia, where they have been allowed to build their own churches, while the remainder is spread over Egypt, Arabia, Turkestan and even China.
The present head of the sect is Abbas-Effendi, who resides in Persia. The founder of the organization, Mirsa Ali Mohamed, was killed in Persia some three years ago.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Russian Pilgrims Dip in Jordan's Stream
1905
Jerusalem itself has so much of interest for the traveler that we had spent a week there before we felt an inclination to look beyond its immediate vicinity and go down to Jericho.
Probably no trip of the length of all the excursions about Jerusalem surpasses in interest this short one to the shores of the Dead Sea, for in it are combined the most diverse attractions. One sees the Jericho road, famous since the story of the Good Samaritan: the sites of the Jerichos of Joshua and of Jesus, where Zacchaeus, the chief publican, climbed into the branches of the sycamore tree to see the Lord pass by; the ford of Jordan, where the Israelites passed over against Jericho, and where tradition places the baptism of Jesus by John; and the Dead Sea, unique among bodies of water in its combination of the sterile saltness of its waters and their extraordinary depression below the level of the sea. There is another feature of the excursion, the Wady Kelt, the "Brook Cherith" of the Old Testament, where the prophet Elijah hid in a cave and was fed by ravens when fleeing for his life from Jezebel.
The immediate occasion of our going down to Jericho, however, was the news that a great number of Russian pilgrims would, the following day, celebrate the Greek Epiphany by baptizing themselves, to the number of 2,000, in the Jordan river, while the Patriarch of the Jordan blessed the waters, thus commemorating the baptism of Jesus, which a more than doubtful tradition places at this fold of the Jordan instead of farther north. A great deal of interest in this sight was felt in Jerusalem, and when we made up our party and began to inquire for a carriage we found that every comfortable conveyance in the city was already spoken for, and that we would be lucky to get any vehicle at all.
Along the Jericho Road
It was therefore a rather stiff and rusty old fourposter into which we bundled, early the next morning, for our twenty-mile drive down the Jericho road. The morning was cool and the day, which looked undecided when we left the Jaffa gate and turned the northwest angle of the city wall, soon cleared finely. We turned again at the northeast angle, "the Stork's Tower," descended into the Kedron valley, passed the Mount of Olives, and began to wind in among the brown hills toward Bethany. The road was good, one of the few roads in Palestine, where paths are the usual and almost the only thoroughfares.
We passed Bethany, and found our first halting place at Khan-Hadrur, a little solitary khan by the wayside, where Jerusalem drivers stop to feed their horses. It was 9 o'clock, and while the horses were being fed we inspected the cave which does duty as the Inn of the Good Samaritan, who seems to have emerged from the parable into real life. Half an hour farther on we passed close to the Wady Kelt, sometimes identified with Elijah's Brook Cherith, and we left the carriage to scramble over the rocks into the barren gorge. Far below us, on the other side, we could see the white walls of a strangely Italian monastery, hanging over the abyss in what seemed a very precarious fashion. It was the Monastery of St. George, the only building in the gorge, but not the only dwelling, for the steep, rocky walls of the Wady were honeycombed with the caves of hermits of the past and present, and their ladders could in some places be seen hanging straight down the face of the cliff, before the mouths of their rocky dens. Except for the little garden of the convent, and a slender thread of verdure along the little brook at the bottom of the gorge all that one could see was waste and barren, the sides of the valley descending, treeless and arid, steeply to the slender stream that murmured along, far below us.
In the Jordan Valley
Rejoining the carriage we proceeded and soon rolled out into the broad plain into which the Jordan valley widens at the head of the Dead sea. The so-called Fountain of Elijah, a copious spring near Jericho, together with the waters of Jordan, are amply sufficient to water and develop this whole plain, as, indeed, they were made to do in ancient times. But Turkish authority so persistently discourages enterprise of every sort that nothing of this kind is dreamed of now, and the river and the spring send their waters idly into the Dead sea, almost unvexed by any irrigating appliances.
From every point of view the Dead sea is interesting. Hereabouts lay the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, whose overthrow makes so striking a picture in Old Testament annals. The Arabs still call the sea "Bahr Lut," the Sea of Lot, after the patriarch, who, tempted by the rich pasturage of this then smiling valley, "pitched his tent toward Sodom." Here, also as far as ancient records can vouch for, is the tomb of Rachel.
We hastened away to the Jordan fords, where the ceremony of blessing the waters and the self-immersion of the Russian pilgrims were to take place. In perhaps an hour we reached the spot, a low, muddy space beside the river, with some groves of small trees near by. The pilgrims were already assembled, to the number of some two thousand, and were engaged in putting on coarse slips or shifts of white cloth. For this purpose some, but not all of them, withdrew to the bushes. Some neglected the use of the slips, and altogether it was an extraordinary scene. A certain dignity, however, attached to the scene, disgusting as some of the features of it undoubtedly were, for these rude peasants, in their coarse boots and rough clothing, were sturdy men and women, with the marks of toil and hardship written plainly on their faces; and they were deeply, quietly in earnest about this Jordan baptism, to undergo which they had come thousands of miles, and endured not a little hardship and privation. They had all walked from Jerusalem, a distance of over twenty miles, and they were all to walk back thither, the following days.
Ceremony of Baptism
The Bishop of the Jordan was in the midst of a sort of preliminary service in a little open air chapel near the river bank, and a great crowd surrounded it. But the most of the pilgrims were gathered along the bank of the river, which here makes one of its numerous bends.
The waters were a muddy brown, and as they ran swiftly along between their mud banks they were anything but inviting. The pilgrims never gave the matter a thought, however; in sober silence they helped each other in with their white slips, and then awaited the appearance of the Bishop. He appeared at length and two boats received him, in his ecclesiastical robes, with the striking headdress characteristic of the clergy of the Greek church, and the Greek and Russian consuls, with their ladies. These last, in their European gowns, struck the only note of fashion in that strange assembly. No other boats were about; a swimmer now and then braved the strong current of the turbid river, and crossed and recrossed the narrow stream.
The two boats were now in midstream; the bishop rose and blessed the waters, flinging into them a golden cross, and all the waiting peasants rushed in. Three times they plunged their heads beneath the muddy waters, then fell to filling the flasks and bottles they had brought with them, to take back to their distant homes. The slips worn on these occasions are carefully preserved by their wearers to serve as grave clothes when their possessors die, and some extra suits we saw dipped in the water, evidently for friends at home who had been unable to make the pilgrimage.
The river bank was not a pleasant place when, ten minutes later, these 2,000 dripping pilgrims were crowding their way up it, and changing their clothes, and we were glad to make the best of our way out of it and drive to the little town of Eriha, and our hotel.
Jerusalem itself has so much of interest for the traveler that we had spent a week there before we felt an inclination to look beyond its immediate vicinity and go down to Jericho.
Probably no trip of the length of all the excursions about Jerusalem surpasses in interest this short one to the shores of the Dead Sea, for in it are combined the most diverse attractions. One sees the Jericho road, famous since the story of the Good Samaritan: the sites of the Jerichos of Joshua and of Jesus, where Zacchaeus, the chief publican, climbed into the branches of the sycamore tree to see the Lord pass by; the ford of Jordan, where the Israelites passed over against Jericho, and where tradition places the baptism of Jesus by John; and the Dead Sea, unique among bodies of water in its combination of the sterile saltness of its waters and their extraordinary depression below the level of the sea. There is another feature of the excursion, the Wady Kelt, the "Brook Cherith" of the Old Testament, where the prophet Elijah hid in a cave and was fed by ravens when fleeing for his life from Jezebel.
The immediate occasion of our going down to Jericho, however, was the news that a great number of Russian pilgrims would, the following day, celebrate the Greek Epiphany by baptizing themselves, to the number of 2,000, in the Jordan river, while the Patriarch of the Jordan blessed the waters, thus commemorating the baptism of Jesus, which a more than doubtful tradition places at this fold of the Jordan instead of farther north. A great deal of interest in this sight was felt in Jerusalem, and when we made up our party and began to inquire for a carriage we found that every comfortable conveyance in the city was already spoken for, and that we would be lucky to get any vehicle at all.
Along the Jericho Road
It was therefore a rather stiff and rusty old fourposter into which we bundled, early the next morning, for our twenty-mile drive down the Jericho road. The morning was cool and the day, which looked undecided when we left the Jaffa gate and turned the northwest angle of the city wall, soon cleared finely. We turned again at the northeast angle, "the Stork's Tower," descended into the Kedron valley, passed the Mount of Olives, and began to wind in among the brown hills toward Bethany. The road was good, one of the few roads in Palestine, where paths are the usual and almost the only thoroughfares.
We passed Bethany, and found our first halting place at Khan-Hadrur, a little solitary khan by the wayside, where Jerusalem drivers stop to feed their horses. It was 9 o'clock, and while the horses were being fed we inspected the cave which does duty as the Inn of the Good Samaritan, who seems to have emerged from the parable into real life. Half an hour farther on we passed close to the Wady Kelt, sometimes identified with Elijah's Brook Cherith, and we left the carriage to scramble over the rocks into the barren gorge. Far below us, on the other side, we could see the white walls of a strangely Italian monastery, hanging over the abyss in what seemed a very precarious fashion. It was the Monastery of St. George, the only building in the gorge, but not the only dwelling, for the steep, rocky walls of the Wady were honeycombed with the caves of hermits of the past and present, and their ladders could in some places be seen hanging straight down the face of the cliff, before the mouths of their rocky dens. Except for the little garden of the convent, and a slender thread of verdure along the little brook at the bottom of the gorge all that one could see was waste and barren, the sides of the valley descending, treeless and arid, steeply to the slender stream that murmured along, far below us.
In the Jordan Valley
Rejoining the carriage we proceeded and soon rolled out into the broad plain into which the Jordan valley widens at the head of the Dead sea. The so-called Fountain of Elijah, a copious spring near Jericho, together with the waters of Jordan, are amply sufficient to water and develop this whole plain, as, indeed, they were made to do in ancient times. But Turkish authority so persistently discourages enterprise of every sort that nothing of this kind is dreamed of now, and the river and the spring send their waters idly into the Dead sea, almost unvexed by any irrigating appliances.
From every point of view the Dead sea is interesting. Hereabouts lay the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, whose overthrow makes so striking a picture in Old Testament annals. The Arabs still call the sea "Bahr Lut," the Sea of Lot, after the patriarch, who, tempted by the rich pasturage of this then smiling valley, "pitched his tent toward Sodom." Here, also as far as ancient records can vouch for, is the tomb of Rachel.
We hastened away to the Jordan fords, where the ceremony of blessing the waters and the self-immersion of the Russian pilgrims were to take place. In perhaps an hour we reached the spot, a low, muddy space beside the river, with some groves of small trees near by. The pilgrims were already assembled, to the number of some two thousand, and were engaged in putting on coarse slips or shifts of white cloth. For this purpose some, but not all of them, withdrew to the bushes. Some neglected the use of the slips, and altogether it was an extraordinary scene. A certain dignity, however, attached to the scene, disgusting as some of the features of it undoubtedly were, for these rude peasants, in their coarse boots and rough clothing, were sturdy men and women, with the marks of toil and hardship written plainly on their faces; and they were deeply, quietly in earnest about this Jordan baptism, to undergo which they had come thousands of miles, and endured not a little hardship and privation. They had all walked from Jerusalem, a distance of over twenty miles, and they were all to walk back thither, the following days.
Ceremony of Baptism
The Bishop of the Jordan was in the midst of a sort of preliminary service in a little open air chapel near the river bank, and a great crowd surrounded it. But the most of the pilgrims were gathered along the bank of the river, which here makes one of its numerous bends.
The waters were a muddy brown, and as they ran swiftly along between their mud banks they were anything but inviting. The pilgrims never gave the matter a thought, however; in sober silence they helped each other in with their white slips, and then awaited the appearance of the Bishop. He appeared at length and two boats received him, in his ecclesiastical robes, with the striking headdress characteristic of the clergy of the Greek church, and the Greek and Russian consuls, with their ladies. These last, in their European gowns, struck the only note of fashion in that strange assembly. No other boats were about; a swimmer now and then braved the strong current of the turbid river, and crossed and recrossed the narrow stream.
The two boats were now in midstream; the bishop rose and blessed the waters, flinging into them a golden cross, and all the waiting peasants rushed in. Three times they plunged their heads beneath the muddy waters, then fell to filling the flasks and bottles they had brought with them, to take back to their distant homes. The slips worn on these occasions are carefully preserved by their wearers to serve as grave clothes when their possessors die, and some extra suits we saw dipped in the water, evidently for friends at home who had been unable to make the pilgrimage.
The river bank was not a pleasant place when, ten minutes later, these 2,000 dripping pilgrims were crowding their way up it, and changing their clothes, and we were glad to make the best of our way out of it and drive to the little town of Eriha, and our hotel.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Universalist Services — Duty Toward Immigrants
Iowa, 1914
Rev. Effie McCollum Jones' sermon last evening was a plea for the immigrant. Her subject was suggested by Mary Antin's book on "The Promised Land" and was very interesting.
Mary Antin is a Russian Jewess, who came to this country when 12 years of age. In her book she outlined the condition of her people in the old country and portrays the essentially religious feeling which the immigrants entertain about America. To them it is a place of hope and deliverance; a place where great opportunities await them.
Mrs. Jones emphasized the duty of American citizens toward their immigrant neighbors. She believes that if the immigrant's dreams do not come true when he reaches American soil that it is the fault of the American people, and they should attempt to train the immigrant educationally, socially, industrially and religiously. This cannot be done by the settlement workers alone, but can be done by each of us cultivating a better sentiment toward our new citizens and by each feeling a deeper interest in them.
A special song service was given in the evening by the chorus choir under the direction of Mrs. Maxwell Case, who sang "God Be Merciful," by Bartlett.
—Waterloo Evening Courier, Waterloo, IA, Jan. 19, 1914, p. 8.
Rev. Effie McCollum Jones' sermon last evening was a plea for the immigrant. Her subject was suggested by Mary Antin's book on "The Promised Land" and was very interesting.
Mary Antin is a Russian Jewess, who came to this country when 12 years of age. In her book she outlined the condition of her people in the old country and portrays the essentially religious feeling which the immigrants entertain about America. To them it is a place of hope and deliverance; a place where great opportunities await them.
Mrs. Jones emphasized the duty of American citizens toward their immigrant neighbors. She believes that if the immigrant's dreams do not come true when he reaches American soil that it is the fault of the American people, and they should attempt to train the immigrant educationally, socially, industrially and religiously. This cannot be done by the settlement workers alone, but can be done by each of us cultivating a better sentiment toward our new citizens and by each feeling a deeper interest in them.
A special song service was given in the evening by the chorus choir under the direction of Mrs. Maxwell Case, who sang "God Be Merciful," by Bartlett.
—Waterloo Evening Courier, Waterloo, IA, Jan. 19, 1914, p. 8.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
The Gods are Hungry — A Reason For War
1874
Never did war, among either savage or civilized peoples, assume so sinister an aspect, as when it was carried on under the guise of religion, to furnish those human banquets which some peoples have thought it necessary to lay before their gods.
That "the gods were hungry," was the cause of wars among many ancient races, but notably so among the Mexicans. The object of wars among the Aztecs was far less territorial or personal aggrandizement, than the procuring of human victims to place before their deities.
More than two thousand of such victims, upon a moderate estimate, were annually sacrificed in the Mexican temples, and in some years more than a hundred thousand human beings are believed to have perished in this manner.
They also had a yearly sacrifice to one of their idols, in which the victim was a beautiful youth, who was worshiped as a god for a whole year before he was killed. — Scribner's Magazine.
Seraphinnis is a Russian monk who latterly founded a society to which women were admitted on condition that they cut off their hair. The beautiful appropriateness of this will be perceived when it is stated that his brother was an enterprising hair-dresser.
What wine is both food and drink? Port wine with a crust.
Never did war, among either savage or civilized peoples, assume so sinister an aspect, as when it was carried on under the guise of religion, to furnish those human banquets which some peoples have thought it necessary to lay before their gods.
That "the gods were hungry," was the cause of wars among many ancient races, but notably so among the Mexicans. The object of wars among the Aztecs was far less territorial or personal aggrandizement, than the procuring of human victims to place before their deities.
More than two thousand of such victims, upon a moderate estimate, were annually sacrificed in the Mexican temples, and in some years more than a hundred thousand human beings are believed to have perished in this manner.
They also had a yearly sacrifice to one of their idols, in which the victim was a beautiful youth, who was worshiped as a god for a whole year before he was killed. — Scribner's Magazine.
Seraphinnis is a Russian monk who latterly founded a society to which women were admitted on condition that they cut off their hair. The beautiful appropriateness of this will be perceived when it is stated that his brother was an enterprising hair-dresser.
What wine is both food and drink? Port wine with a crust.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Churchmen Refute 'Man Descended From Horse' Theory
1936
CHURCH CHIEFS RISE TO REFUTE 'HORSE' THEORY
Man was created in the image of God — not of a horse.
Such, at any rate, was the answer yesterday of Chicago fundamentalists to the assertion made before the American Museum of Natural History, that man is a "quadruped turned up on end" and descended from the same family tree as the horse.
Said his holiness the metropolitan, Theophilus, head of the Russian-Greek Orthodox Church of North America, here for bishops' conference:
"Despite scientific theories, I, for one, prefer to cling to the Biblical account of the creation, and believe that God made man, a higher being, after His own image."
"Unfortunately I was not an eyewitness either at the creation of man or of the horse," said Dr. J. Oliver Buswell, president of Wheaton college, "but the suggestion of horse and man being in any way related strikes me as ridiculous."
James Watt, company servant of Jehovah's Witnesses, added:
"Everybody who ever read the Bible knows that Adam was the first man and that Jehovah created him. To say that man is even a distant relation to a horse is to deny the holy writ."
—The Hammond Times, Hammond, IN, Nov. 18, 1936, p. 7.
CHURCH CHIEFS RISE TO REFUTE 'HORSE' THEORY
Man was created in the image of God — not of a horse.
Such, at any rate, was the answer yesterday of Chicago fundamentalists to the assertion made before the American Museum of Natural History, that man is a "quadruped turned up on end" and descended from the same family tree as the horse.
Said his holiness the metropolitan, Theophilus, head of the Russian-Greek Orthodox Church of North America, here for bishops' conference:
"Despite scientific theories, I, for one, prefer to cling to the Biblical account of the creation, and believe that God made man, a higher being, after His own image."
"Unfortunately I was not an eyewitness either at the creation of man or of the horse," said Dr. J. Oliver Buswell, president of Wheaton college, "but the suggestion of horse and man being in any way related strikes me as ridiculous."
James Watt, company servant of Jehovah's Witnesses, added:
"Everybody who ever read the Bible knows that Adam was the first man and that Jehovah created him. To say that man is even a distant relation to a horse is to deny the holy writ."
—The Hammond Times, Hammond, IN, Nov. 18, 1936, p. 7.
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