Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/277

Rh brought into contact with the people of Mosul, a great change for the worse has taken place in this respect. The Turks, and I regret to say several Europeans whose character and office demanded far different conduct from them towards these unfortunate Christians, have been the principal agents in bringing about this deterioration of chastity. May, in His mercy, avert the sad consequences of such wicked examples.

I shall conclude this chapter by making a few remarks on the names by which the Nestorians designate themselves, and in so doing shall take the liberty of correcting several statements on this subject made by Dr. Grant and later travellers. Dr. Grant in attempting to support his favourite hypothesis regarding the Hebrew descent of the Nestorians, writes: "The word Nazarean or Nsâra is specific in its application to the Nestorians, and is never applied to the Armenians or other Christian sects." The premises here laid down being fallacious, the author's conclusion necessarily falls to the ground; for, in the first place. Riddle says that the Christians were styled "Nazareans" by the Jews, and from them by the Gentiles also, and in proof of this he adduces the authority of Epiphanius, Jerome, and Prudentius. He also distinguishes these Nazareans from a Jewish sect of the same name which existed at the same time. Nasrâni, moreover, is the common title for "a Christian" throughout the East at the present day, and more especially in Mesopotamia, the term being less general in Syria. The same appellative is the only one used on the northern coast of Africa to denote a follower of, and in Malta also, where it was doubtless carried by the Mohammedans who took possession of that island in the ninth century.

Further, on our way to Amedia, and just as we emerged from the Suaretooka pass overlooking the Supna, Kasha Mendu observed to me: "There are many villages of Nsâra in this plain." On asking whether he meant Christians of his church, he replied: "Some are Nsâra Meshihayé and others Nsâra Frangayé." In this answer the priest gave the distinctive appellative of the two sects into which the Nestorians are at present divided. The Nestorians frequently use the term Meshihayé (i.e. followers of the ,) when speaking of themselves, but generally