SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
(Notice in this *Munn Coss sot neousarily proeluds subsequent review.]
Sir Anton Bertram, the Chief Justice of Ceylon, and Com- mander H. C. Luke, the Assistant-Governor of Jerusalem, were appointed last January as commissioners to inquire into the affairs of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The Report of the Commission has now been published in a volume (H. Milford, 12s. 6d. net) which throws much new light on the organization of the Patriarchate and on the disputes and the imbusinesshlie methods which have led it to the verge of bank- ruptcy. The bitter feud between the Patriarch and his Bishops is not unconnected with the desire of Athens to exercise control over the Greek Church in Jerusalem. The Patriarchate is on bad terms with the Arabic-speaking Orthodox Christians in Palestine. Its finances are in a deplorable condition, partly because the large contributions of the pilgrims from Russia have ceased. The commissioners explain and justify their proposal to sell part of the suburban lands owned by the Patriarchate. The whole affair is one of the most complex and thorny disputes that British administrators have ever been called upon to unravel.
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