CHRISTIANS of S. John. They whom Travellers call Christians of S. John, and the Eastern people Sabians1, are not a particular Nation, as that might be of the Sabeans in Arabia, but they who make profession of a particular Religion, prevailing pretty much in the Provinces of the East: It is not easy to demonstrate in what particularly this Religion consists, the eastern Authors being very little agreed about it; but this is evident, that the Religion of the Sabians, is one of the three to which Mahomet granted his protection in the Alcoran; which three Religions are Judaism, Christianity, and Sabiism. See the Article Zabians or Sabians.
The Christians of S. John, or Sabians, have borrowed many observances from the Christian Religion; they have a kind of Baptism, and great veneration for S. John Baptist, whose Disciples they call themselves. They read not only the Book of Psalms, which they call Zebour, but another Book also, which they attribute to Adam, and look upon as their Bible, the characters whereof are very particular, but the language of it is almost intirely Chaldee.
The Arabian Authors tell us2, that these people are descendants of the most antient Nation in the World, that they still at this day, in their Books at least, speak the language used by Adam and his Sons; that they hold their Religion and their Law from Scheith and Edris, who are the Patriarchs Seth and Noah, whose Books abounding with moral instructions are still in their possession. They pray to God seven times a day, and intermix no other action with this exercise. They fast during the whole course of a Moon, and take no nourishment from the rising to the setting of the Sun. This fast always ends at the vernal Equinox, which answers very nearly to the Jewish Passover.
They honour the Temple of Mecca, and have likewise much respect for the Pyramids of Egypt; because they believe Sabi the Son of Enoch to be buried in the third. Their principal Pilgrimage is performed at a place near Haran in Mesopotamia, which some maintain to be the place of Abraham’s birth; but is certainly that from whence he departed when he set out upon his journey to Palestine. Others are of opinion, that this place is honoured by them, by reason of Sabi the Son of Mari, who lived in Abraham’s time, and from whom probably they derive their original, much rather than from Sabi the Son of Enoch, who is not known to us in the Scripture, and must have lived before the Deluge.
Another Arabian Author3 says, that the Religion of the Sabians was not only the most antient, but farther, the general and only Religion of the World, till the time of Abraham, from whom all other Religions are descended. They say, that the antient Persians, Chaldæans, Assyrians, Greeks, Egyptians, and Indians, were all Sabians, before they embraced Judaism, Christianity, or Mahometanism. And the eastern Christians make no scruple of affirming that Constantine the Great forsook the Religion of the Sabians, to espouse that of the Christians.
M. Chardin4 in his travels into Persia, says, that the Disciples of S. John are inconsiderable in number, and scattered over Arabia, Persia, and along the Persian Gulph; that they come originally from Chaldæa, and were the antient Disciples of Zoroastres, many of whose opinions are maintained by them: they received the Baptism of S. John, and blended the Doctrine of Christianity with Jewish practices, and the extravagancies of Mahometanism. They esteem S. John Baptist to be the Author of their Creed, their Rites, and even of their Books. They receive every year the Baptism of S. John, who, with his Father and Mother, is their great and only Saint. They place his Tomb near Chuster the Capital of Chusistan; where likewise they suppose to be the source of Jordan. They do not hold Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, but only for a Prophet, and the Spirit of God. Their veneration for the Cross proceeds almost to idolatry.
They have a Book called Divan, which they esteem sacred: There we may read that God is corporeal, and that he has a Son whose name is Gabriel, by whom he hath created the World. He created also Angels with bodies, and of different sexes, capable of engendering. It is said, that they consecrate, or believe they consecrate Bread kneaded with Wine and Oil, and that after they have carried it in procession, they eat it. They have Bishops and Priests who succeed one another from Father to Son; their Priests marry young Virgins. Some assure us, that once every year they sacrifice a Hen upon the banks of some River; they sacrifice also a Ram.
They receive their Baptism every year with aspersion or immersion, as they please, and in the name of God only; for they acknowledge neither the Son nor Holy Ghost. Polygamy is permitted among them. They are almost as scrupulous in observing Purifications as the Jews. Such are the pretended Christians of S. John.
Christians of the Girdle. In the East5, they call the Nestorians or Jacobites, and sometimes even the Maronites by this name, tho’ the latter are Catholicks: The original of this denomination is as follows. Motavakel, tenth Caliph of the house of the Abbastides, was the first Mahometan Prince who obliged the Christians and Jews of his Dominions to wear a black leathern Girdle6, which they continue to do at this day, principally in Asia, in order to be distinguished from Mahometans. From this time the Christians of Syria and Mesopotamia, who are almost all Nestorians or Jacobites have generally worn it; for which reason they are called the Christians of the Girdle. When any of these people were excommunicated, their Girdle called Zonar was cut, and with it some stripes were given them upon the shoulders. When the eastern Poets intend to praise their Princes, and exaggerate their conquests over Christians, they say they have silenced their Bells, and cut their black Girdles in a thousand pieces.
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