"You ask, why should we save Armenia? Why, just to save America we must save Armenia. Just to make Chri.siianily alile to look at itself in the glass, we must save .Armenia." — Dr. Frank Gun.'saulus. THE CKOSS IN THE EAST AND THE TASK "But iwiu ill Christ Jesus ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ." — Eph. 2:13. The Christian Cliurch today is at crisis in the Near East. The disintegration of stable government tliat has followed the war, and the destruction of ties of home and family, that has followed in the wake of deportation, martyrdom and slaughter of the Christian popula- tions from the Caucasus mountains to the Mediterranean and frOm the Aegean to the Caspian, are a challenge to the Christians of the remainder of the world, of the value in the hour of need of brotherhood in Christ. These are the oldest Christian peoples who are so sorely beset: The Armenians, evangelized by Apostles who came fresh from the memory of our Lord. For over twelve of the twenty-five centuries of their known existence as a people, they have been independent, with a government, a literature, a science, an art and a faith of their own. And the faith to which they have been true through almost ten centuries of slavery is our faith, in Jesus Christ. The Greeks, with whom Paul labored, inheritors of the earliest traditions of Christi- anity. Their ideal of democracy is the very foundation of our national life; their concept of art and architecture and civilization is the very basis of our civilization. The Assyrians, they of the ancient Chaldean church, wanderers today on the face of the earth. The Syrians, whose home is the very land where Christ was born. These are they of whom the word comes by cable : "Famine will increase in geomet- rical proportion with lapse of time," whose need is described as "unprecedented"; 60,000 fled from looted homes in Transcaucasia; 65,000 concentrated in camps near Constantinople, 15,000 near Bagdad, without help since April 1 ; 60,000 refugees from Transcaucasia, who lived six months in a fever stricken camp on the outskirts of Batum, and then were packed into ships and taken to Thessalonica where neither houses, hospitals, clothing, food nor work awaited them. As then, "in the beginning of the gospel", the young church even in Thessalonica sent once and again unto Paul's need, so now these starving thousands cry to us for aid. And besides these, and among them, everywhere, the little children, emaciated, "blue and pinched with the cold, and too miserably lifeless to cry": 18,000 of them at Alexandropol in the largest orphanage in the world; 5,000 of them at Harpoot — over 110,000 here and there, throughout the Near East, their parents dead or lost, the fragile, human playthings of the vast, sinister forces of war and destruction, left dying by roadsides or huddled in the mangers of abandoned stables, rag-clad, barefoot, hungry, with no hope in life save that held out to them from the Churches, the Sunday Schools and the homes of the people of the United States. WHAT HAS BEEN DONE "Theij help everyone his neighbor: and every one saith to his brother, Be of good courage." — Isaiah 41:(). This problem is not a new one. Throughout the period of the war it has been grow- ing more and more acute, and as it has grown more compelling, it has been met by pre- cisely those to whom it is a real and personal problem, because it challenges them in their greatest possession: the reahty of their brotherhood in Christ. The money to help these desperate people, these helpless little children, was raised largely in or through the Churches and Sunday Schools. Little at first, it has grown to be one of the greatest pieces of continuous philanthropy in the world, involving the cooperation, since the inauguration of its work, of a total of 711 American and Canadian men and women, who have left everything else to go to the desolate land where the need is so great, and give themselves to the work of making the spirit of Christ live among those who have suffered so terribly. The Near East Relief, which has undertaken this immense task, and has been incorporated by Congress for this purpose, has received and disbursed in the THE CHUKCH IN THE WEST name of the American people over $60,000,000 in money and supplies. During the past year it has maintained 63 hospitals with 6,522 beds; and 128 chnics; 11 rescue homes and 229 orphanages, accommodating 54,600 children. It has fed and given clothing to 56,039 other children outside of orphanages and given food relief to 561,970 persons, to whom 300,000 garments have been distributed. The work of the Near East Relief has reached into Transcaucasia, Persia, Armenia, Georgia, Anatolia, Ionia, Cilicia, Syria, Mesopotamia and Palestine. Over 1,000,000 people are alive today who would have been dead of starvation and disease, had it not been for the ministrations of the Near East Relief. In addition, the little children who have been rescued from roadsides and aban- doned buildings, and nursed back to health and hope again, are being taught. The inlluences of home and church of which war and disaster have deprived them have been recreated under the guidance of men and women distinguished for their devotion and spirit of self- sacrifice. WHAT MUST BE DONE "Therefore I command thee, saijing, Thou shalt sureli/ open thy hand unto thi; brother, to thy needy and to thy poor, in thy land." — Dent. 15:11. No part of this work must cease. But it is a work which reflects the spirit of America, the faith of Christ in each one of us and the tie of brotherhood that binds us together, in His name. It continues and grows, or it dies and ceases, as the people of the United States, by their voluntary contribu- tions, keep it alive, — a dynamic force for good in the world, or permit it to die through indifference. The full effort of the Near East Relief must be given to work where work is needed — where the demand is so great that all we can do is not enough to save all of those who face death, today and every day. No great part of its energy can be deflected to providing the means to carry on this work, and certainly its funds must not be used merely to raise more funds. The need is too great. There is no doubt that the money will be found to go on with this work. It is coming in now. In addition to the Churches and Sunday Schools, it is coming in from colleges and schools, from fraternal organizations, from commercial clubs, chambers of commerce and business clubs, from women's organizations, from labor organizations and farm organiza- tions, and from thousands of individuals all over the country, who hear the call and whose hearts are touched by the need. But for the church of Christ in America, it is immensely important that the leader- ship in this great enterprise of humanity shall rest with those who are active as Christians in the life of the community — the pastors, the Church organizations as a whole, with all their subsidiary organizations and agencies; the local Churches, the Sunday Schools, the Missionary Societies, the Brotherhoods — all that crystalizes the Christian spirit. These are the agencies that must provide the impulse an d the example, not only because this vast philanthropic work cannot be carried through without them, but for the sake of the Church of Christ itself. Nor is it enough that the ministers who believe in this work and are eager to for- ward it carry the message of this great Christian problem to their own parishioners or ask subscriptions to meet the need in their own Churches alone. This is not leadership in the sense that Christian leadership is required if the great adventure of saving a whole people in behalf of the Kingdom is to be carried through. Prayer and sacrifice are but means which, without active work in enlisting the sympathy of every type of citizen in this cru- sade for the salvation of the Christian peoples of the Near East, may be unavailing. For this is a Christian problem. Christian ideals must be preserved in the Near East. A Christian example must be set. And it is those who believe on the Lord Jesus who must do the work, if it is to be done — who must gather and give, in pity and love. For only so may it be made clear to all men that brotherhood in Christ is a living influence in the world, and that through the work that the Near East Relief is carrying on, as an instru- ment in the spirit of Christ, a Christian people can be saved, — And will be saved! Form 11 CABLEGRAM t^T.^ZltlZio'i.T^x::. «V!A COMMERCIAL" • ubjoct to the terma and heraof| which are agreed to. C01JSTANTi:i?0PLB April 21. 1921. HEAEEAST IfY 246 FOLLCfflNG TELEGRAM RECEIVED APRIL EIGHTEEN EROJJ TIPLIS "CBlTICAIi NEED FOE FOOD PRODTJCTS IN CAUSASUS. COUU) USE TrffiNTYFIVE TO FIPTY9K0USA1© TONS. NO LIMIT^ TO NEED IN ARMENIA. NEW GOVERNMMT PRO- MISES BETTER FACILITIES FOR^ RELIEF ACTIVITY THAN FORMER GOVERNMENT. ALL WELL. YARROW. P0LL0V/I13; TELEGRiff SEN? APRIL FIFTEEN FROM TIFLIS "NEABEAST POOD SUPPLIES EXHAUSTED. SITUATION ESPECIALLY ARMENIA VERY CRITICAL. SEND FOOD SUPPLIES TO BATOUM IMMEDIATELY. YARROW". MACCALLUM CONSTANTINOPLE April 22. 1921. NEABEAST NY 250 RUSH SHIPLAOD CORN PRODUCTS ESPECIALLY CORNMEAL AS AlJlERICAS ANSWER CABLE 249. FAJ.aNE VflLL INCREASE IN GEOMETRICAL PROPORTION WITH LAPSE OF TIME. THIS 13 FIRST OPPORTUNITY SINCE ffOVEMBER SIXTH TO TRANSPORT POOD PROM BATOHir TO ALEXANDROPOL Alffi ERIVAN. ABCOM JAQUITH CONSTANTINOPLE May 2, 1921. NEAREAST NY 259 CABLE m.0¥ CURT HARPOOT APRIL TWENTYTHIRD "PULL RELIEF PEOGBAMMS RUNNING INCLUDING CARE MVE THOUSAND ORPHANS". JACJUITH CONSTANTINOPLE May 3. 1921. NEAREAST NY T'A'OSirPYONE TRIAL K)QD. SHIP QUEQUEN BWTERED DESERTED HARBOR BATODM ^RE RE>aiNED ONLY TEN BAGS FLOUR. ALEXAKDBOPOL WIRED "NO FOOD AT ANY PRICE. FOUR DAYS MORE AND V/E ARE FINISHED". IMMEDIATE TRANSPORT SAVED EIGHTEEN THOUSAND ORPHANS SEVEN JSMERICANS AT ALEXANDROPOL WHERE FOOD ARRIVED SAME DAY LAST HALP-RATIONS EXHAUSTED. SOVIETS GUARANTEE NEABEAST UNRESTRICTED ACCESS TO GEORGIA, ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN WITH^ ABSOLUTE PROTECTION AND DIRECTION OP 0RPHAN.4GES AND SUPPLIES; LATTER DUTY FREE. SOVIET TBAlISCAUCASIAN POLICY SUBPRI SljNGLY MODERATE. APPARENTLY. WISHFUL FOREIGN SYI,IPATHY, ' JAQUITft NEAREAST CONSTANTINOPLE anrll 2? iqpi NUMBEE 148 REPLYING 247. 249. 250. EXPECT "SHIP FIRST WEEK IN MAY ONE rS-^J^?n='^Sr ^^^^ ONHTHOUSAND TONS B-HEATPLOUR SIXotSS^^ ToS? CoSlEAL ^^"^^ ^°NS arCAR PIVEHUNDRED TONS BEANS PIVEThSnD 5^f2S CORNSYRU? pa/ NEW YORK AND NEW ORLEANS DIRECT BAT OUM SUBJECT S Prcllfc'^ofsT'm'E'p!p/s"!"°''" ADDITIONAL THOUSAND TONS MMTFLOUB _ VICKREY NEAH EAST RELIEF James L. Barton, Chairman John H. Finley, Vice Chairman Charles V. Vickreij, General Secretary Cleveland H. Dodge, Treasurer National Headquarters, 1 Madison Ave., New York City Prepared for Church Assemblies by the Organizational Relations Hepdrtment National Headquarters, 1 Madison Ave., New York City