3-017-058 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Two Nestorians at the Strangers' Home for Asiatics, Limehouse, 1862. Priest Yohanan (John)...had heard of the Turkish Missions Aid Society...the idea struck him that if the...condition of his people [ie extreme poverty] were more widely known in England help would be forthcoming...he set out for England on foot..."without purse or scrip"...attended by Deacon Yiskhak (Isaac)...When we add that Yohanan is sixty-two years of age, and knows only a few words of English, the strong faith or love of adventure which animated the old man, who previous to 1861 had never wandered beyond his native plain, becomes apparent...[They] crossed the Caucasus, wandered over the Steppes of Russia...they arrived [in London] the first Nestorians who ever visited this island...Priest John's discourse is thoroughly primitive and Oriental, and evinces an intimate acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures...[He has] features of the highest Syrian type...The deacon is...of a sallower complexion...The evangelical section of the British public...will probably desire to become more nearly acquainted with these interesting strangers who appeal to our sympathies both as representatives of a primitive Christian Church and as footsore wanderers from the shores of the Caspian'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.