The American Board has a press at Constantinople, and the Presbyterians have one at Beirut, at both of which religious, educational, and scientific books are published in the languages of the people. The Arabic Bible published at Beirut is circulated in all Jlohamme- dan countries. Other editions of the Bible are publish- ed in all the languages spoken in the empire. The whole number of copies of books, tracts, etc., printed at the press of the American Board from the beginning of its operations to 1879 is 2,248.354, comprising a total of 325,508,988 pages, in the Armenian, Armeno-Turkish, Greco-Turkish, and Bulgarian languages ; and the whole number of pages printed on the Presbyterian press from the beginning to 1879 is 183,705,027. "
The organization of Protestant churches has been generally confined to other than Mussulman popula- tions— chiefly to Greeks, Bulgarians, and Armenians. It was until recently a capital offence, by the Turkish law, for a Moslem to become a Christian. More atten- tion is now given to the evangelization of the Turkish population; but the number of Protestant Turks is still very insignificant. The Protestants have acquired a good reputation in the communities among whom they live, and have gained their esteem and confidence to a degree that is rarely accorded to persons professing a strange religion. See Syria, Missions in.
VI. Other Religious DenominaUons. — The most im- portant of the other religious denominations of the Turkish empire are the Jews. Their old native land, Palestine, is now a part of Turkey in Asia, but the overwhelming majority of its population consists at present of Mohammedans, the total number of Jews in all Asiatic Turkey being estimated at only 50,000. It is believed that their first appearance in European Tur- key may have been connected with the conquests of Alexander the (ireat, who planted many colonies of Jews about his empire. Philo mentions Jews in Thes- saly, Bceotia, Macedonia, etc. Luke speaks of them at Thessalonica and Beroea. The Jews have probably been settled in Macedonia from the first emigration to the present time. In consequence of their expulsion from Spain, a large number of Spanish Jews settled in Thes- salonica. Paul Lucas says that in his day there were 30,000 in that city, with twenty-two synagogues. The descendants of these Spanish Jews spread throughout the empire; they continue to speak among themselves the Spanish language, but their written correspondence is carried on in Hebrew. The great mass of the Jews in Turkey are Talmudists, but there exists a small sec- tion of Karaites (q. v.). The latter have about a hun- dred families at Has-Keui, near Constantinople; there are also many in Galicia and the Crimea; but the great bulk of the Jews of this persuasion are, outside of the Turkish empire, in Galicia and the Crimea. "There is
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also a curious sect of Jews at Salonica called Afamim, which sisnities 'turncoat.' They believe in the four- teenth false Messiah, Sabati Levi, who, to save his life, became with his followers Mohammedans; but tliese, again, have their rcli<;ioiis differences, and are divided into three sects. They are still Jews at heart, but their trifling witii two creeds makes them despised and looked down upon. They marry among themselves only, and live together in a particular quarier of the town. There are others of the same sect in parts of Russia. At Sa- lonica they are Mohammedans in public and Jews in private life. The Jews have no hierarchy, but each congregation is independent, and is governed by its own chief rabbi; but they have a representative head at Constantinople, called the khdklutiii-hashi, who is chief of the Israelitish nation in the empire. The khakham- bashi at Constantinople has a court or council to assist him in administering both ecclesiastical and civil law. It is divided into two parts — first, the Mcjliss-i-rouhani, or spiritual council, composed of six grand rabbins, which, as its name implies, deals with questions relating to the Jewish religion; and, second, the Mejliss-i-jesindni, or civil council, which deals with questions of civil law, and assists the Turkish courts in any questions relat- ing to Jews. The same organization applies to each grand rabbi, who, in his turn, is assisted by two similar councils. As the Jewish law, like that of the Moham- medan, is explained by the teaching of the sacred books, the establishment of these councils forms a ready means of arriving at a judgment on all religious and civil cases arising in the Jewish community. The khakhara-bashi takes rank immediately after the Greek and Armenian l)atriarchs. The Jewish population of the Turkish em- pire is estimated at 158,000. The poorer are entirely dependent upon the liberality of the upper classes for education and relief in case of want, and the obligation is met in a most commendable spirit. They possess an institution called the ' Universal Israelitish Alliance,' which is charged with the administration of education, etc. In 1875 the alliance had twenty - one schools throughout the empire, which gave instruction to 209-i children of both sexes, and of this number 809 were ad- mitted gratuitously. The teachers of these schools are educated in the Rabbinical Seminary at Paris, and they give their pupils instruction in foreign languages and all the elements of a first-class education. The ele- mentary schools, or tdlnutd/oia, are crowded with chil- dren of both sexes, who are simply taught to read and write" (Baker). The estimates of the Jewish popula- tion in the Turkish empire vary greatly. It has al- ready been mentioned that Baker, in his work on Tur- kej', gives the total number as 158,000, and that in the Asiatic possessions they are supposed not to exceed 50,000. The Servian statistician Jakshitch estimates the Jews in the immediate European possessions at only 55,000, distributed as follovvs among the several vilayets: Constantinople, 22,943; Adrianople, 13,492; Salonica, 7409 ; Monastir, 25G6; Kossovo, 1323; Yani- na, 4085; Crete, 3200 — total, 55,018. The same sta- tistician gives the number of Jews in Roumelia at 3969, in Bosnia at 6968, in Bidgaria at 8959— total in Turkish empire in Europe, 74,914. In the African de- pendencies, the Jews are chiefly represented in Tunis, where they are supposed to number 45,000 souls. See