Outwardly, the Druses conform to Orthodox Mohammedanism; in their secret religion only 15 per cent. of the adults of both sexes are fully initiated, and wear a white turban as a distinguishing mark. It is doubtful whether there is any foundation for the tales of pagan practices connected with the secret religion.
(ii) Christians
Antioch and Jerusalem were the centres of Christianity in Syria and Palestine under the Roman Empire. The former was the seat of one of the three Great Patriarchs; the latter was given patriarchal dignity in the fifth century. Both sees were torn asunder by the Nestorian and Monophysite heresies in the fifth and sixth centuries, and through the epochs of the Arab invasions, the Crusade, and the Turkish rule, have never succeeded in re-establishing orthodoxy in their respective spheres. A further schism has been caused by the division between eastern and western Christendom.
The present position is that there are three Uniat Patriarchs and one Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch,[1] and a Latin and an Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. The Uniat Patriarchs of Antioch are: (i) the Melchite, who resides at a monastery in the Lebanon, and has jurisdiction over all Uniats of Greek nationality in the Turkish Empire; (ii) the Maronite, who also resides in the Lebanon, and has jurisdiction over about 500,000 people; (iii) the Syrian, who resides near Diarbekr, and rules over 15,000-20,000 people who have seceded from the Jacobite Church.
Of the communities represented by these three Patriarchs, the Melchite represents the old Orthodox and Imperialist Byzantine Church, which refused, in the fifth and sixth centuries, to accept the Nestorian and Monophysite heresies; the Maronite represents a very old and extensive body of Christians in the Lebanon and other mountainous districts in Syria,
- ↑ There is also a Jacobite Patriarch.
