314
CAIRO TO DAMASCUS
as a matter of history, Rome itself caused the dissension in
Christian unity—have since lived in the hope of inducing the
Armenian Church, as well as the other Churches adhering to
the doctrines of the non-Roman Catholic Church, to join the
Roman fold.2
In Jerusalem the relationship was further strained by the
fact that the Armenians shared the custodianship, on a basis
of equality with the Latin Catholics and Greeks, of the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Shrine of the Ascension, together with the rights and responsibilities of other holy
places in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the Holy Land. The religious rivalry among these three main custodians has always
been intense, the Latin Church unfortunately maintaining
that the custodianship should be hers exclusively.
No newcomers to the Holy City, the Armenians have had a
history of more than 1,300 years, and from the seventh century continuously maintained religious establishments of considerable importance in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
Against this background, the Latin priest stepped into the
arena, determined to discredit the Armenians and thus destroy once and for all their claim to secular and religious rights
in the Holy City. He called together some of Jerusalem's
choicest Arab cutthroats, and craftily incited them with the
fabrication that the "Orthodox Communists" (the Armenians) were secretly helping Jews with arms, food, and water
through a tunnel dug from the Armenian quarter to the Jewish quarter. Further, the "Armenian microbes of St. James
Monastery" were giving to Jews refuge inside the Vank. A
2
The Pope's missionary efforts have generally fallen on barren ground,
and only a small percentage of the Armenian people subscribe to the Roman
faith. A somewhat larger percentage belong to various Protestant denominations, owing to the initial efforts of missionaries of the Foreign Mission Boards
who proselyted in Turkey before World War I.
At least 85% of Armenians, however, cling to the Mother Church—
National, Apostolic, Orthodox, Independent—for spiritual and moral sustenance. Armenia is the oldest Christian State. It adopted Christianity in A.D.
301, some 20 years before Christianity became the State religion of the Roman
empire.