Page:Mahometanism in its relation to prophecy - or, an inquiry into the prophecies concerning antichrist, with some reference to their bearing on the events of the present day (IA mahometanisminit00philrich).pdf/251

 and the declaration of the holy patriarch St. Sophronius, the great mass of the orthodox Catholic Christians of Jerusalem left the city, and betook themselves to the mountains of Lebanon, where they have dwelt ever since even to the present day. These Christians are to this hour Catholic and orthodox, and their patriarch is the true Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem. They are known commonly by the name of Maronites, and they are conspicuous for their piety, their simplicity, their virtue, and their faith. They have always remained firmly united to the see of St. Peter, and the learned author of "La Fin des Temps" contends with great force and ability that these holy Christians are the descendants of the first Jewish converts to the faith of Christ. From the time that the Mahometans got possession of Jerusalem very few orthodox Christians have remained in that city, and it is only on sufferance that the Catholics are able to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in the holy places, which for the most part arc in the hands of heretics and schismatics.

We may therefore confidently date the treading down of the Holy City, of which St. John speaks in this eleventh chapter of his Apocalypse, from the period of its capture by the Caliph Omar in 636, and from the establish-