CHAPTER IV.
JEWISH CONVERTS IN THE EASTERN CHURCH.
Aleksyeyev, Aleksander (called Wolf Nachlass), born in 1820, at
Nazarevietz, government of Podolsk, of poor Jewish parents. At the age
of ten he was impressed into military service by the press-gang
(poimshchiki) of Nicolas I., and sent away to the distant city of
Volsks, government of Saratov. It was the political and missionary
policy of Nicolas I. to take young boys from their parents and to train
them in military schools, so that after they had completed their service
of twenty-five years, they might return home and act as missionaries to
their parents. Aleksyeyev for a long time resisted Christian teaching,
and the officials considered him a most stubborn subject. However, about
1845, he changed his views entirely, and not only became a member of the
Orthodox Russian Church, but managed to convert about five hundred
Jewish Cantonists, for which he was promoted in 1848 to the rank of a
non-commissioned officer, and was honoured by the Emperor's thanks.
About 1855, Aleksander was so unfortunate as to lose the use of his
legs. He then settled in Novogorod, and during his long illness wrote
the following works on ethnographic and missionary topics:--English
titles: 1. "The Triumph of Christian Teaching over the Talmudic
Teaching, or a Soul-saving Conversation of a Christian and a Jew on the
Coming of the Messiah" (St. Petersburg, 1859); 2. "Religious Service,
Holy Day and Religious Rites of the Jews To-day" (Novogorod, 1861); 3.
"The Public Life of the Jews, their Habits, Customs and Prejudices"
(_ib._ 1868); 4. "Colloquies of an Orthodox Christian with a
Newly-Converted Jew" (St. Petersburg, 1872); 5. "A Former Jew for
Monastries and Monasticism" (Novogorod, 1875); 6. "The Conversion to
Christianity of an Observer of the Jewish Law" (_ib._ 1882); 7. "Do the
Jews use Christian Blood?" (_ib._ 1886), and several others. His works
are interesting, as he was the first Jew in Russia to give a description
of the life and customs of his Jewish brethren. He refuted the absurd
and criminal blood accusation.
Gregory Bar-Hebræus (son of a Hebrew) Abu Ab-Foraj Ibu Harun, Jacobite
Syrian historian, physician, philosopher and theologian; born at
Malatia, Asiatic Turkey, 1226; died at Moragha, Persia, 1286. Gregory
first studied medicine under his father Aaron, who embraced
Christianity, and was probably baptized in his youth. This accounts for
his not being conversant with Hebrew, though he was well acquainted with
Jewish doctrines. He was successively Bishop of Guba (1246), of Lakaba
(1247), and of Aleppo (1253). In 1264 he was named "Mafriana," or
Primate of the Eastern Jacobites, with his seat at Tekrit on the Tigris.
Gregory was a prolific writer on theology, philosophy, ethics, history,
grammar, medicine, mathematics and astronomy. Some of his works were
written in Arabic, but most of them in Syriac. He was the last great
Syriac writer, though he is important rather as a collector than as an
independent writer. He is best known for his Syriac grammar, "Ketaba de
Semhe," his "Chronicle" in two parts, ecclesiastical and political; his
"Menarat Kudshe," a compendium of theology, philosophy, medicine,
physics and metaphysics, and his scholia on the Old and the New
Testament (Auzar Raze). In the last-named he occasionally cites readings
from the Samaritan text; it is interesting to note that in a scholium to
2 Kings xvii. 28, he says: "The Law (_i.e._ text of the Pentateuch) of
the Samaritans does not agree with that of the Jews, but with the
Septuagint." He occasionally cites opinions of the Jews, _e.g._, on Ps.
viii. 2, on the Shem Hamephorash (the name Jehovah). In the introduction
to his commentary on Job he mentions as a writer the priest Asaph
(brother of Ezra the Scribe), who identifies Job with Jobab. In speaking
of the Apocryphal account of the death of Isaiah, he cites "one of the
Hebrew books" as authority. (Nestle Marginalien ii. 48).
Rubinstein Anton Gregryevich (not to be confounded with Josef, also a
Russian great musician), was born 1829, in the village of Wetchwotgretz,
Bessarabia, died at Peterhof, near St. Petersburg, in 1894. His parents
embraced Christianity, and the children were probably baptized when
still young. Anton was first taught music by his mother (Katherina
Khristoferovna, _née_ Lowenstein), and then studied at Moscow. The great
services rendered by him in the advance of music in Russia were
recognized by the Czar, who decorated him with the Vladimir order.
Rubinstein Nikolai, born in Moscow 1835, died in Paris 1881, was the
brother of the above, and was well-known in England.