Peter the Hermit | Page 3

a thorn
which had torn His brow. All these were believed to possess powers of
healing, and their possession permanently increased the dignity of
families and the wealth of Churches.
[Sidenote: Relics and Miracles]
The demand for such relics from the Christian world was great and the
supply was greater. Traffic in these was enriched by the purchase of the
silks, spices, and other treasures of the East, and commercial greed
came to move men under the cover of the cross.
[Sidenote: Chosroes Conquers Syria]
The stream of pilgrimage was full until the reign of Heraclius. Then the
Persian king, Chosroes, carried his arms through Syria and Palestine to
Egypt. The fire-worshipers defiled the holy city by their authority and
their worship. They tainted and robbed the churches, and carried off
what was believed to be the cross of the crucifixion, which had been
guarded by the Church of the Resurrection.
[Sidenote: Return of the Cross]
The wailing of the Christian world over this loss strengthened the
courage of Heraclius through ten years of reverses, and aided in the late
but full victory which not only brought back to Jerusalem the enslaved
Christians but the Cross of Calvary, as the most glorious of trophies.
The emperor himself bore this barefooted to the summit of Calvary,
and at Constantinople received the congratulations of the Christian
world.

Jerusalem was soon, however, to feel the weight of a new and heavy
hand.
[Sidenote: Rise of Mahomet]
[Sidenote: Greek Empire Corrupt]
In Arabia a religion arose with a singular power of advance, which it
retains to this day. The union of the spiritual with the material, of the
sensual with a fatalistic theology, made the followers of Mahomet
eager for heaven by way of the battle-field. The Jews had now no unity;
Christianity had become divided into sects cursing each other; the
Persian Empire had exhausted itself; the Greek Empire was wasted
with its own corruptions. The way was open for the stern, sober, and, in
all respects but one, self-denying followers of Mahomet. Until they
learned to navigate they swept the eastern and southern coasts of the
Mediterranean. They early overwhelmed Palestine. Becoming masters
of maritime peoples, they conquered even to Spain; were held at bay
for a while by Constantinople; came even under the walls of Vienna,
and were at length beaten back by Charles Martel.
[Sidenote: Jerusalem Sacred to Mohammedans]
[Sidenote: Jerusalem Taken by Omar]
Jerusalem was almost as sacred a city to the Mohammedans as to the
Christians. Their prophet had visited it, and had journeyed to heaven
from it. Attacked by the soldiers of Omar shortly after the death of the
prophet, the Christians endured the horrors of a siege for four months,
resisting armies which claimed the city as theirs by the promises of
God. Omar came to receive the keys of the exhausted city, and
Christians cried out in agony as the chief infidel defiled by his presence
the Holy Sepulcher. They were permitted to worship, but not openly to
exhibit their crosses and sacred books. Their conqueror erected a
mosque on the site of the temple. This was more than the breaking
heart of the Christian patriarch could bear. He died bewailing the
sorrows and desolation of the city of the Great King.

[Sidenote: Omar Checks Persecution]
While Omar lived the hand of persecution was in good measure stayed,
but worked in full vigor as soon as he was dead. Christians were certain
neither of their homes nor of their churches. Their taxes were increased
to the point of exhaustion. They could not mount a horse nor bear a
weapon. A leather girdle must always show their subjection. No Arabic
word must fall from their lips, nor could they speak the name of their
own Patriarch without permission.
[Sidenote: Hardships Stimulate Pilgrimages]
These hardships awakened the sympathy of the Christian world, and
stimulated many to go to the Holy Land that they then might be
"accounted worthy to suffer with Christ."
Arculphus and Antoninus, of Plaisance, reached sainthood by making
this journey and certifying to the Western Churches the persecutions of
the Christians in the Holy Land.
[Sidenote: Haroun al Raschid Just]
Yet truth compels the statement that the Mohammedans were not
always unjust or unkind. Intervals of peace came to cheer those who
wept, and the reign of Haroun al Raschid offered them the largest hope.
The great Charles was now great enough, even in Eastern eyes, to
secure liberty and peace to Christians in far-off Palestine, and was
treated as an equal through embassies and presents by the great Caliph.
Never could a monarch have received a more welcome present than did
Charlemagne when the Caliph sent him the keys of the Holy Sepulcher.
[Sidenote: Christ Expected 1000 A. D.]
It is also to be remembered