The excellence8 of our schools has been so manifest that its stimulating9 effect has been felt by not only the Armenian and Greek schools, but also by the Turkish schools.
The medical work of our missionary physicians has also widely commended itself to men of all faiths and has awakened10 a decided11 interest not only in the religion which so humanely12 brings its generous hospital treatment to all who desire it, but also in the rational system of medicine and surgery which it illustrates13. Even the Mohammedans who are generally inaccessible14 to the approaches of our missionaries15 cannot but have some appreciation16 of the benevolent17 and Christlike work of our physicians.
Wherever an American mission is established, there is a center of alert, enterprising American life, whose influence in a hundred ways is felt even by the lethargic18 Oriental life.
—Prof. James B. Angell, LL. D., University of Michigan,
Ex. U. S. Minister to Turkey and China.
[Pg 137]
Smyrna was the first station of the Levant occupied by American missionaries. This was an important city of Turkey and, until Constantinople was better understood, was considered the most important city to hold as the central station of the missions to Turkey. Since 1820 this place has been one of the stations of the American Board and the residence of one or more missionary families. This was regarded as a good starting-point for work among the Greeks, as well as other races centering there in large numbers.
Beirut, after an attempt to locate in Jerusalem, was occupied as a station three years later. While the original plans for work in Syria had the Jews most distinctly in mind, attention was quickly diverted to other races more alert and promising19.
It was inevitable20 that Constantinople should early become the headquarters of missions in the Ottoman empire as it was the political capital and commercial metropolis21. The climate is healthy, and being partly in Europe and partly in Asia, the city partakes in part of the character of both continents.
There was also another strong reason for making Constantinople the headquarters of work in Turkey, namely, the fact that it was the headquarters of every important religious sect22 in the empire. Opposition23 to mission work must emanate24 from that center and difficulties could best be overcome right at their beginning. As it was also the seat of government from which governors and civil officers [Pg 138] were sent to every part of the empire, this made it still more important that a strong mission force should reside here, in order that these men should not receive the impression that Christian6 missionaries are advancing upon the empire only through remote interior districts. The capital was occupied as a mission station of the Board in 1831, and has since been the base of operations for the work of the American Board in the country. Tours of exploration made in Asia Minor and into Koordistan and Persia started from this center.
Preliminary explorations had been made by various scientific societies, as for instance that of John M. Parker, F. G. S., F. R. G. S., under the auspices25 of the Royal Geographical26 Society and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, in 1839-40. They went overland from Constantinople to Cæsarea, Malatia, Diarbekr, Mosul, Koordistan, Bitlis, Marash, Erzerum, Trebizond, and thence back to Constantinople. The report of this extended tour through Asia Minor, northern Mesopotamia, Koordistan, and Armenia, published in two volumes, under the title “Travels and Researches in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Chaldea, and Armenia,” was of great value to the missionaries in planning their locations. These researches were made largely from the purely27 scientific standpoint and in some cases needed to be supplemented by missionary observations.
The establishing of mission locations over the vast areas of Asiatic and European Turkey was not hastily carried out. The country was well mapped and explored before the stations were opened, and then only such places were chosen as promised to be central to large populations and healthful for missionary residences. The policy seems to have been early adopted to set the stations far apart, with two or more [Pg 139] missionary families in each of them. The success of this plan has proven its wisdom, and even now the tendency is to greater consolidation28 in important centers rather than to a scattering29 of forces.
A few, and but a few, places early opened as stations were later abandoned. Three of these were Mosul, Diarbekr, and Arabkir. The former place proved to be exceedingly unhealthy and was made an outstation of Mardin, while the two latter places were within one hundred miles of Harpoot and were made outstations. The carefulness and foresight30 with which the early stations were chosen are proved by the test of over fifty years of successful occupancy.
Trebizond, upon the southern shore of the Black Sea towards its eastern extremity31, was occupied as a station, as already stated, in 1835. It is a large city of great influence, with a Greek, Armenian, and Turkish population.
In 1839 a missionary family was sent to Erzerum, one hundred and ten miles into the interior to the southeast of Trebizond. As soon as these stations were opened they became the centers of exploration for securing and forwarding information to the headquarters of the missions in Constantinople and to the Board in Boston.
Aintab was opened in what was then called “Southern Armenia,” in 1849, and became the center for operations upon a large population dwelling32 in northern Syria, extending from Urfa on the east into the Tarsus mountains upon the west, and including the important cities of Marash, opened in 1855, Adana, Aleppo, Tarsus, Hadjin, Antioch, Kilis, and many other towns of less importance. Later this became the center of what came to be known as the Central Turkey Mission. This region is approached from the Mediterranean33 and is inhabited chiefly by Armenians [Pg 140] and Turks. In this section of country the Armenians have lost, for the most part, their native tongue, and speak only the Turkish language. As the Koords and more savage34 races live in remote regions, the people have not endured the persecution35 here that their brethren in the north and east have been called upon to pass through.
In 1850 an investigation36 of the condition of the Jews in Salonica was made, which resulted in the opening of that station for work, especially among the Jews. There seems to have been no thought of reaching from that station any other races. They found the Jews there extremely ignorant, and divided between the Rabbinicals and the Mohammedans. The unhealthy condition of the city led in 1859 to the transfer of the station to Smyrna.
The more interior stations, like Marsovan, Cæsarea, Sivas, Harpoot and Bitlis, were occupied in the ’50s, while Van, the most eastern mission station in Turkey, was made such in 1872. From Constantinople the missionaries had been gradually reaching out, Nicomedia and Brusa having been made stations in 1847 and 1848, respectively.
The languages used in these missions were the Arabic and Syrian in the Syrian field with its center at Beirut; the Turkish language in the Central Turkey region with its center at Aintab; the Armenian language in the Eastern Turkey district with its center at Harpoot; while Arabic was the language of Mardin, Mosul and Arabia, and the Greek, Armenian, Bulgarian and Turkish languages in the Western Turkey mission including Trebizond. Various plans were tried at first of grouping these various stations for purposes of control and administration. They could not all [Pg 141] be classed together owing to the long distances separating them and the difficulties of travel in a country with no roads and no public conveyances38. Finally the above outlined arrangement of the stations was adopted and each separate mission became a little republic in itself, holding its annual meeting, in which delegates from all the stations belonging to it met and legislated39 for it as a whole. In 1872 the European Turkey mission also became separate from the Western Turkey mission and has since been conducted as an entirely40 distinct organization.
The great extent of territory covered by these missions can best be understood by the fact that but few stations anywhere were less than one hundred miles apart. The nearest station to Harpoot in Eastern Turkey was distant one hundred and fifty miles, a six days’ journey by the ordinary mode of conveyance37. To reach some of the interior stations like Bitlis, Harpoot and Mardin required an overland journey on horseback of from three to four weeks from the Black Sea coast. Thus the country was dotted by mission stations which became at once centers for direct, aggressive, educational, philanthropic and Christian work. In no case was one opened except upon the urgent invitation of a large number of the people themselves. A station meant then, as it means to-day, a center in which missionaries reside. It was understood also that this residence was permanent, and to make this clear to all, houses for the missionaries were purchased or erected41 and other arrangements completed for a life-work. This fact in itself made a profound impression upon the people of all classes and religions. When it was charged that the missionary movement would prove to be short-lived, no one was able to answer the question, “What mean these [Pg 142] residences owned by the missionaries?” Certainly, if it was the purpose to carry on only a temporary work, houses would have been leased. Another fact, which gave the appearance and impression of permanency, was that the missionaries came with their wives and set up their homes there. These two facts had much to do in giving stability and strength to the earlier work. The three men and their wives who occupied the Harpoot station in 1858 were there together in that same station until after the massacres42 of 1895, when owing to broken health and the destruction of their homes four of them were compelled to come to this country. Three of the six are still living, two of them at Harpoot. The policy of married missionaries permanently43 located in central stations and from there working together as a unit the large adjacent field, has proved itself to be a wise and efficient policy for all parts of Turkey. This policy necessitates44 the wide use of trained native pastors45, preachers, evangelists and teachers who occupy the outstations and push the work into the remoter districts.
Each station became a social settlement, in which the Christian home was the center and from which wholesome46 Christian influences were exerted upon all with whom the missionaries came in contact. The plan involved the elevation47 and purification of the entire social fabric48 of the country, and, judged from our modern standpoint, no more effectual way of accomplishing this could have been devised. It is no small thing for devout49 philanthropists in England and the United States to give up their comfortable homes and establish their residence, as many have done and are still doing, among the downtrodden and oppressed in our great cities. It is well known, however, that this change of residence is not permanent and that, in cases of sickness, the old home and [Pg 143] friends remain, to which return can be made. With those missionaries the case was different. Their homes in America were broken up. They took up their abode50 in the interior cities of Turkey for life. In times of sickness they remained. No friends from home visited them, and in case of their death, their bodies were buried in the soil of the land. There were their children born, and in multitudes of cases, because of the severity of the climate and the lack of proper facilities for safeguarding their health, there also were they buried. Herein lie many elements of moral strength which appear in the foreign missionary movement. It is this feature which has made a profound impression upon the races of Turkey and which is now reshaping its social system.
In 1860, after forty years of exploration and study in the Turkish empire, so far as her people and their moral and spiritual needs were concerned, missionary work had been outlined for at least five different races. Interest in the Jews had been continued, and a missionary, Dr. Schauffler, intended exclusively for work among them, had been maintained, not at Jerusalem but at Constantinople. He was working in harmony with the three English and Scottish societies, each of whom was maintaining missionaries to the Jews, with headquarters at Constantinople. The work done was quiet, exciting apparently51 less interest among the people of Turkey than among the organizers of societies in the United States for work among this race. Undoubtedly52, during the first generation of work in the Ottoman empire, the people of the United States and England were more stirred by appeals for work among the Jews than by any other appeal which was or could be made.
The work for the Greeks was promising in Smyrna and Constantinople. [Pg 144] Owing to Greece obtaining her freedom from the rule of the sultan, Greeks still living in Turkey were drawn53 away in their sympathies and interest to Greece, and the spirit of patriotism54 was strong in holding them to the national Church.
Among the Syrians a hold was obtained in spite of the intense opposition of the Roman Catholics who claimed all Syrians as belonging to them. The severest opposition during the first twenty-five years of mission effort in Turkey came not from the Turks but from the Roman Catholics, who did not stop at the employment of any measure which would tend to banish55 the printing-press and curtail56 the work of the Protestant missionaries.
The Mohammedans commanded early attention. They were drawn to the missionaries by the fact that no pictures or images were used in Protestant worship nor gaudy57 display made in any public services. Repeatedly Turks said to the missionaries, “You are like us, you are good Moslems.” As acquaintance increased, interest deepened in this dominant58 race. Conditions were such that little directly aggressive effort could be wisely made for their immediate59 enlightenment. Much was done in the way of private conversation and through the preparation and publication of a Christian literature adapted to their needs.
It may be said, however, that the Armenians most completely commanded both the interest of the missionaries and the attention of the constituency at home. The most of the stations in the country were established especially for this race. They were found at every center. Even in Syria and in all of the interior stations, Armenians and Turks were the chief people with whom the missionaries constantly came in contact. Interest in Armenians was strengthened by the intense [Pg 145] persecutions through which the evangelicals passed in the early ’40s, at the hand of their own ecclesiastics60. They were open-minded, able, and devout, and presented a wide opportunity for sowing the seeds of intelligent belief. At that time little had been done for the Bulgarians in European Turkey and Macedonia. The more remote Asiatic field had proved to be so large and so interesting that there had been scant61 pause to look into the conditions and needs of the people so near at hand, occupying the southeastern corner of Europe.
Levi Parsons and Pliny Fisk, writing from Smyrna to the Board rooms in February, 1820, said, “In all the populous62 Catholic and Mohammedan countries on the north and south side of the Mediterranean there is not a single Protestant missionary. In all the Turkish empire, containing perhaps twenty million souls, not one missionary station is permanently occupied and but a single missionary besides ourselves.” This one man did not long remain. Besides the English work among the Jews and Turks in Constantinople and Palestine, the evangelization of the Turkish empire was left from the first to the American Board. In later years the Disciples63 of Christ and the Seventh Day Adventists have sent a few missionaries into the country, but their work has been almost exclusively among the Protestants and has resulted only in dividing churches already organized. The Church Missionary Society of England has had some work in Bagdad, and a Scotch64 society in Aden and the Reformed Church of the United States has recently begun operations upon the southern coast of Arabia. With a few other minor exceptions, the Turkish empire north of Syria has been generally conceded to be the distinctive65 mission field of the American Board of Missions. [Pg 146]
When the division of fields took place in 1870 between the American Board and the newly organized Presbyterian Board of Missions, southern Syria and Persia were assigned to that Board, while the American Board retained northern Syria and all the rest of Turkey. In European Turkey the same Board is in sole charge of all the evangelical work for and among the Bulgarians south of the Balkans, the Methodist Episcopal Board of the United States having a work among the same people north of the Balkans. Thus Macedonia and Bulgaria south of the Balkans, Asia Minor, Armenia, Koordistan, northern Syria and northern Mesopotamia are left the sole field of the American Board, with the few exceptions mentioned above. This has put upon it a responsibility and placed before it an opportunity such as few mission agencies in modern times have had to face.
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1
missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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imbue
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| v.灌输(某种强烈的情感或意见)，感染 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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stimulating
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| adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的 | |
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awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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humanely
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| adv.仁慈地；人道地；富人情地；慈悲地 | |
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illustrates
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| 给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
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inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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lethargic
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| adj.昏睡的，懒洋洋的 | |
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promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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metropolis
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| n.首府；大城市 | |
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sect
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| n.派别，宗教，学派，派系 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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emanate
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| v.发自，来自，出自 | |
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auspices
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| n.资助，赞助 | |
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geographical
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| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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consolidation
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| n.合并,巩固 | |
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scattering
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| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
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foresight
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| n.先见之明，深谋远虑 | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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conveyance
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| n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具 | |
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conveyances
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| n.传送( conveyance的名词复数 )；运送；表达；运输工具 | |
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legislated
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| v.立法，制定法律( legislate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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massacres
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| 大屠杀( massacre的名词复数 )； 惨败 | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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necessitates
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| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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pastors
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| n.（基督教的）牧师( pastor的名词复数 ) | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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53
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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55
banish
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| vt.放逐，驱逐；消除，排除 | |
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curtail
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| vt.截短，缩短；削减 | |
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gaudy
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| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
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dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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ecclesiastics
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| n.神职者，教会，牧师( ecclesiastic的名词复数 ) | |
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scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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populous
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| adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的 | |
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disciples
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| n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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