Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/342

288 while the opportunity was given us, and not knowing but that might open a way for our further sojourn among the Nestorians, of whom I thus wrote in a letter addressed to the Society, dated 28th December, 1843: "My late reports will convince you that much has already been done in paving the way for a rapid regeneration of this people. We have assisted in establishing schools among them in the district south of the Tyari, and have opened communications with most of the clergy in that region. Mar Shimoon, and several of his principal ecclesiastics, have now been with us for six months, and we have daily proofs of his increased attachment to our Church, and of his anxious desire that she should use all her efforts to benefit his people. The late massacre has driven a great number to Mosul, who have not only partaken of our charity, but have received instruction from us, and are now tolerably well acquainted with us as a Church. These still continue here waiting until Mar Shimoon's affairs shall be so far settled as to allow of their return to the mountains with safety. Up to yesterday they numbered eighty-four persons, exclusive of the Patriarch and his immediate attendants, and I am sure it would gratify you to see all these assembled every Sunday morning witnessing our services with the greatest decorum and reverence. The Patriarch and his clergy are always present on these occasions, and from what I have heard it only requires an invitation from me (which, however, I do not feel authorized to give), and Mar Shimoon himself and all his people would gladly receive the Holy Eucharist at our hands.

"Besides this we have formed the children into two schools, as I have already acquainted your committees, and no less than sixty Nestorians receive daily catechetical instruction in our