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304 politically subject to the King of Abyssinia are Moslem. They are not allowed to build mosques in the central (Christian) part of the country, and the conversion of a Christian to Islam is still forbidden by law. But, in spite of that, Islam is making alarming progress among the Tigre tribes in the north. It is said that already nearly two-thirds of these tribes have been won by Moslem missionaries from the Sudan. Lastly, we may note that the Orthodox Russians show great friendliness to the Abyssinians, and may very likely make an attempt to detach them from their ancient dependence on the Copts and to turn them into an Orthodox Church dependent on the Czar. In 1904 the Abyssinians quarrelled with the Copts over the possession of the Coptic monastery (Dair asSulṭān) by the Holy Sepulchre, which they said ought to belong to them, since St. Helen gave it to the King of Abyssinia. The Negus was so angry about it that he broke all relations with the Coptic Patriarch, made a schism from Egypt, and sent a general, Metshetshia Warkye, to Jerusalem and Constantinople to persuade the Turks to hand it over to him. He was overwhelmed with attentions by the Russians, who took up his cause hotly. They hoped great things from the schism against the Copts; Orthodox papers began to foretell the speedy conversion of Abyssinia to Orthodoxy. However, the English Embassy took up the cause of our clients (Egypt), and the Sublime Porte, as usual, promised everything to everybody and did nothing at all. So far the Abyssinians have not turned Orthodox and have not got the monastery.

3. Christianity in Nubia

Before we describe the Abyssinian Church as it is to-day, we must say a word about the old Church of Nubia, if only to point out that once there was one. It is difficult to realize that the heart of the Sudan, the desert which we associate with the horrors of the Mahdi and Khalifa, of Khartum and Omdurman, was once