Sunday, November 30
Fun with the Nestorians
From the immensely witty and engaging From the Holy Mountain by William Dalrymple:
"...Alarmed Anglican missionaries who tried to make contact with Nestorians in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries reported they [the Nestorians, not the Anglicans] would go into battle against tribal enemies led by their bishop, wearing his purple episcopal trousers, and their priests would return bearing the severed ears of their victims. On one occasion a dog-collared Anglican vicar was invited to lunch by a Nestorian chieftain and had the temerity to refuse, offering some lame excuses. 'It is my hope that you will come and stay,' repeated the chieftain. 'If you do I shall be proud to recieve you; if you do not, my honor will make it needful for me to shoot you.' "
Yikes. So much for ecumenism.
From the immensely witty and engaging From the Holy Mountain by William Dalrymple:
"...Alarmed Anglican missionaries who tried to make contact with Nestorians in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries reported they [the Nestorians, not the Anglicans] would go into battle against tribal enemies led by their bishop, wearing his purple episcopal trousers, and their priests would return bearing the severed ears of their victims. On one occasion a dog-collared Anglican vicar was invited to lunch by a Nestorian chieftain and had the temerity to refuse, offering some lame excuses. 'It is my hope that you will come and stay,' repeated the chieftain. 'If you do I shall be proud to recieve you; if you do not, my honor will make it needful for me to shoot you.' "
Yikes. So much for ecumenism.
![[SMMMHDH]](http://www.mgilleland.com/music/smmmhdh.png){kind=small}
