m m if THE MOUNTAIN OF THE MONKS PRINTED BV SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NRW-STRRET SQt'ARE LONDON ATHOS OR THE MOUNTAIN OF THE MONKS ATHELSTAN RILEY M.A., F.R.G S. itjj mtmcrcms Illustrations LONDON LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1887 All rights reserved TO MY DEAR AND VALUED FRIEND THE REV. ARTHUR EDWIN BRISCO OWEN, M.A. December 18 CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE INTRODUCTION .'..." i CHAPTER II. DEPARTURE FROM LONDON A STIFF WINDOW BUCHAREST A FUNERAL RUSTCHUK VARNA A WEDDING ARRIVAL AT CONSTANTINOPLE . . 8 CHAPTER III. CONSTANTINOPLE ST. SOPHIA DEDICATION AND DESECRATION OF ST. SOPHIA TRIPLE WALLS SEVEN TOWERS VISIT TO THE (ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH PROSELYTISM IGNORANCE AS TO THE ENGLISH CHURCH . . ' . . . -19 CHAPTER IV. WE LEAVE CONSTANTINOPLE CAVALLA ARCHBISHOP OF CAVALLA TURKISH BARGAINING DESCRIPTION OF OUR PARTY ARRIVAL AT ATHOS A TERRIBLE SUPPER , .34 CHAPTER V. VATOPEDI ATHOS ARCHITECTURE CEMETERY COURTYARD PHIALE DESCRIPTION OF AN EASTERN CHURCH CATHOLI- CON RELICS MIRACULOUS STORIES ORIENTAL MONASTI- CISM CCENOBITE AND IDIORRHYTHMIC LIBRARY A THEO- LOGICAL DISCUSSION . . . . . . . . .46 Vlll CONTENTS CHAPTER VI. PAGU 'LITURGY OF ST. GREGORY DIALOGOS' ROAD TO CARVES CARYES GOVERNMENT OF ATHOS THE HOLY SYNOD AN IMPOSING RECEPTION CIRCULAR LETTER 'Goo GRANT us UNITY ' 73 CHAPTER VII. VATOPEDI SEMANTRA A MONASTIC BATHER PREACHING- MUSIC HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY PRIORIES AND HER- MITAGESCHURCHES 90 CHAPTER VIII. DEPARTURE FROM VATOPEDI PANTOCRATOROS FOUNDATION CHURCHES CATHOLICON LIBRARY ANCIENT BOOK-COVER WE DISCUSS 'FlLIOQUE' AND BAPTISM CLERICAL MAR- RIAGES ABRUPT TERMINATION OF THE DISCUSSION . . 101 CHAPTER IX. SKETE OF THE PROPHET ELIAS RUSSIAN HOSPITALITY STAV- RONIKETA HISTORY CHURCHES THE NOISY EPITROPOS AN APPALLING SUPPER LEVINGES 'FAIR AS THE MOON' . 114 CHAPTER X. STAVRONIKETA CATHOLICON ST. NICHOLAS MYRON LI- BRARY AN UNEATABLE COCK 'ALL ROMAN PRIESTS ARE IMMORAL' IVERON DlSH OF SNAILS HISTORY OF THE CON- VENT CHURCHES AND CATHOLICON THE PORTAITISSA LIBRARY ST. EWTHYM'S MS. CLOCK 125 CHAPTER XI. PHILOTHEOU THE GLYKOPHILOUSA CATHOLICON AND LIBRARY FOUNDATION PORT OF LAVRA THE LAVRA MONASTIC CURIOSITY A KELLI FOUNDATION OF LAVRA ST. ATHA- NASIUS OF ATHOS SKETES, HERMITAGES, AND CHURCHES CATHOLICON RELIQUARIES JOHN COUCOUZELE DOUBTFUL LEGENDS . . . . *. . .145 CONTENTS IX CHAPTER XII. PAGE LAVRA LIBRARY THE EX-PRIMATE OF SERVIA AN ANGLICAN EUCHARIST OBSTINATE LOVERS QUIETISM THE UN- CREATED LIGHT SKETE OF THE PRODROMOS CAVE OF ST. ATHANASIUS MIRACULOUS ICON . 182 CHAPTER XIII. THE PRODROMOS SELF-CONVICTED SLUMBERERS DOG-FACED ST. CHRISTOPHER MONASTIC TIME-TABLE ASCENT OF ATHOS KERASIA CHURCH OF THE PANAGHIA WE REACH THE SUMMIT CHAPEL OF THE TRANSFIGURATION MAGNIFICENT c VIEW DESCENT TO KERASIA 204 CHAPTER XIV. ROAD TO AGIOS PAVLOS MONASTERY OF ST. PAUL THE HER- MIT'S GARDEN FOUNDATION OF ST. PAUL'S CATHOLICON, RELICS AND TREASURES SKETE OF ST. ANNE WE LEAVE THE ARCHBISHOP MONASTERY OF ST. DIONYSIUS CATHOLI- CON ST. NIPHON LIBRARY FOUNDATION . 216 CHAPTER XV. MONASTERY OF ST. GREGORY LIBRARY AND CHURCHES Row TO RUSSICO A DEVOTED LOVER THE RUSSIAN QUESTION RUSSIAN COLONIZATION OF ATHOS HISTORY OF RUSSICO FOUNDATION OF ST. ELIAS AND OF THE SERAI RUSSIA AND ENGLAND 235 CHAPTER XVI. RUSSICO MY LORD ABBOT BONE-HOUSE GREAT SERVICE- LIBRARY CHURCHES XEROPOTAMOU FOUNDATION - CATHOLICON RELICS AND TREASURES CHURCHES RIDE TO CARVES THE SERAI COUTLOUMOUSSI RAT-OIL GREGORY THE SON OF DEMETRIUS . 251 X CONTENTS CHAPTER XVII. PAGE THE POSTMASTER OF CARVES THE PROTATON PANSELENUS SCHOOL OF PAINTING THE SERAI HEAD OF ST. ANDREW- CEMETERY AND BONE-HOUSEPHOTOGRAPHING IN CARVES FAITH AND MIRACLES 271 CHAPTER XVIII. THE CAIMACAN DEPARTURE FROM THE SERAI RIDE TO CARACALLA BENIGHTED THE MONKS SUSPECT TREACHERY FOUNDATION OF CARACALLA CATHOLICON AND LIBRARY BACK TO Russico CURIOUS SERVICE VENERATION OF ST. MARY 287 CHAPTER XIX. S i MOPETRA ROMANTIC SITUATION CHURCHES AND FOUNDA- TION RETURN TO XEROPOTAMOU THE ARCHBISHOP PER- FORMS THE OFFICE OF A DRAGOMAN RETURN TO Russico BISHOP NILOS STATE VISIT TO THE ABBOT .... 308 CHAPTER XX. THE ARCHBISHOP'S MASS XENOPHOU CHURCHES CATHOLI- CON AND RELICS THE MISSING VOLUME CAUGHT IN A STORM DOCHEIARIOU CATHOLICON THE GORGOYPECOOS FOUNDATION THE ARCHBISHOP FAVOURS us WITH A SONG 325 CHAPTER XXI. RIDE TO CONSTAMONITOU < WHERE'S MY CLOAK' FOUNDA- TION OF CONSTAMONITOU CATHOLICON CHURCHES GIVE, AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN UNTO YOU 343 CHAPTER XXII. ZOGRAPHOU- FOUNDATION PICTURE OF THE PAINTER MIRA- CULOUS ICONS SlX-AND-TWENTY MARTYRS RETURN TO VATOPEDI GREAT SERVICE SKETE OF ST. DEMETRIUS THE ARCHUISHOP'S REVENGE -ESPHIGMENOU FOUNDATION 352 CONTENTS XI CHAPTER XXIII. PAGE CATHOLICON AND RELICS ST. AGATHANGELOS LIBRARY TREA- SURY CHURCHES CHILIANDARI HISTORY AND CHURCHES CATHOLICON THE THREE-HANDED PANAGHIA LIBRARY- FAREWELL TO THE ARCHBISHOP BACK TO VATOPEDI . .371 CHAPTER XXIV. FINAL DEPARTURE FROM VATOPEDI XEROPOTAMOU THE ATHE- NIAN PROFESSORS Russico WE LEAVE ATHOS SAIL UP THE GULF XERXES' CANAL ST. NICHOLAS MONASTIC FARM-HOUSE SALONICA CALAIS CONCLUSION , . 385 APPENDIX. I. THE DISPERSION OF THE WOOD OF THE CROSS . . 405 II. GREEK ECCLESIASTICAL Music 406 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. (Mostly engraved from the Author 's photographs.} FULL-PAGE PLATES. PHIALE AT THE LAVRA Frontispiece ALL THE MONASTERIES (FROM A MONASTIC ENGRAVING) To face p. 34 THE LAVRA (FROM A MONASTIC ENGRAVING) . . . 188 MONASTERY OF ST. PAUL 217 MONASTERY OF ST. PAUL (FROM A MONASTIC EN- GRAVING) ,,220 MONASTERY OF ST. GREGORY (FROM A MONASTIC ENGRAVING). ..,.,.., 238 MONASTERY OF SIMOPET*RA 309 INTERIOR OF CATHOLICON AT DOCHEIARIOU . . 336 WOODCUTS IN TEXT. THE HOLY MOUNTAIN (FROM A RUSSIAN PRINT) . Title-page PAGE COURTYARD OF VATOPEDI 49 GROUP OF MONKS AND PHIALE AT VATOPEDI .... 94 MONASTERY OF PANTOCRATOROS 102 ANCIENT BOOK AT PANTOCRATOROS . 106 XIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE PORTION OF THE EASTERN SHORE OF THE PROMONTORY, WITH STAVRONIKETA IN THE FOREGROUND, AND MOUNT ATHOS IN THE DISTANCE . 118 IVERON 131 MONASTERY OF PHILOTHEOU 148 PORT .OF THE LAVRA 153 THE LAVRA 159 COURTYARD OF THE LAVRA . . .... . .161 CAVE OF ST. ATHANASIUS, WITH THE HERMIT . ... 200 MONASTERY OF ST. GREGORY 235 HIGH STREET, CARVES 283 CARACALLA 292 MONASTERY OF SIMOPETRA 313 MONASTERY OF ST. XENOPHON 326 CONSTAMONITOU 344 OUR CAVALCADE 359 MONASTERY OF CHILIANDARI 379 PLAN OF AN EASTERN CHURCH 52 MAP OF ATHOS .... At the end KEY TO THE DESCRIPTION OF THE MONASTERIES. PAGES PAGES Vatopedi 43-100. 359-365 Xeropotamou . 258-262 Pantocratoros . 101-113 Serai . . 277-287 Prophet Elias . . 114-117 Coutloumoussi . 264-269 Stavroniketa . 118-130 Protaton . . 272-276 Iveron . . . 130-144 Caracalla . . 289-299 Philotheou . I45-I5I Simopetra . . 309-314 Lavra . 153 197 Xenophou . 327-333 Prodromes . . 197-208 Docheiariou . . 335-342 St. Paul. . . 217 224 Constamonitou 347-351 St. Anne . . 224-227 Zographou 352-358 St. Dionysius . . . * 228-234 St. Demetrius 366 St. Gregory . 235-238 Esphigmenou . 368-375 Russico 241 258, 300-307, 317 325 Chiliandari . 376-382 MOUNT ATHOS. CHAPTER I. The sanctuary of the Greek race, which is in a great degree the sanctuary and refuge of the whole Eastern Church, is Athos ' the Holy Mountain.' STANLEY'S Eastern Church. THREE years ago an improvement in railway connection placed Constantinople within five days of Paris. The Oriental express running direct from the capital of France to the ferry across the Danube at Rustchuk, in communication with a train to Varna and a steam packet sailing thence to Constantinople, enables the traveller to undertake with but little difficulty a jour- ney to the great metropolis of the East, and, if he be of the more adventurous sort, to prolong his voyage to the maritime cities of Asia Minor, or wander along from island to island in the Greek Archipelago. Few more delightful journeys than these can he undertake, and few will so repay him in refreshment of both mind and body ; for in Oriental Europe there are still to be found secluded paths, fresh scenes, and many an untouched mine of rich and varied interest, whilst over all there hangs that soft and dreamy Eastern charm, quite indescribable and only to be appreciated by those who have at some time revelled under its delicious influence. If ever, reader, you should be fortunate enough to B 2 MOUNT ATHOS undertake such a journey, as you pass through the blue waters of the ^gean on your way from ' The City ' to Athens, you may chance to see, if the weather be clear and your eyes open, as it were a high and rocky island lifting itself out of the waters far away on the northern horizon. You ask one of the ship's officers to tell you what it is. He replies, ' The Monte Santo,' the Holy Mountain. If you can draw into conversation that Greek sailor who, with shaded eyes, is gazing so earnestly over the sea, and ask him to supplement this meagre information, he will call upon you to bless God that He should have permitted you but to cast your eyes from a distance upon so holy a spot, the Agion Oros, the Mountain of the Hermits and the Saints. Yes, the island to the north is but the peak, rising above the horizon, of lofty Athos, the very centre of the Eastern Church, the proud Christian fortress that has never yet yielded to the infidel, but has preserved its independence through three long centuries of Moslem rule, the one spot to which every Orthodox Eastern, from sultry Egypt to the icy shores of the White Sea, turns his eyes, as the nursery of all holiness and the impregnable fortress of the Christian faith. 1 1 There are about a hundred millions of Christians belonging to the Holy Orthodox Eastern Church. Those who divide Christendom into Protestants and Roman Catholics will do well to remember this vast body of Christians who stand aloof from both, protest against the Papal pre- tensions as much as any Protestants, and yet reject the novelties of the sixteenth century, appealing, as the Church of England does, to antiquity and the inspired decisions of Christ's Undivided Church. Amidst our endless religious controversies in the West it is something more than a relief to turn to this great Church, which has been all the time far removed from the questions which trouble us, whatever difficulties she may have had of her own. INTRODUCTION 3 You cannot see more of Athos if you would, for the swift steamer hurries you along- without a stoppage until you reach the capital of modern Greece, where you will find that the excursion would mean a voyage to Salonica and a forced stay in that town, probably extending rather over weeks than days, before an opportunity occurred of transporting yourself to the monastic shores. An out-of-the-way place, indeed, and it is well that it should be so, for the very diffi- culty of access affords the chief protection to the monastic life ; and when the long-projected railway connects Salonica with Europe, and brings the eager tourists to the threshold of the Holy Mountain, the guardians of the sacred shrines will do well to add to the severity of their laws and increase the jealousy which guards their borders. From the south of Macedonia there stretches into the ^Egean Sea an irregular tract of land about the size of Norfolk, bounded on the west by the Gulf of Salonica and on the east by that of Contessa, these being known anciently by the respective names of the Thermaic and Strymonic gulfs, and the projecting tract of land itself as Chalcidice. From the southern, or, to speak more accurately, the south-eastern side of Chalcidice three promontories of almost equal length run side by side into the sea, the easternmost being that of Athos, the others known as Longos and Cassandra, but the three anciently as Acte, Sithonia, and Pallene. The promontory, or rather the peninsula, of Athos (for not far from its base, at the spot where Xerxes cut his canal, it measures but a mile and a half across) is long and narrow, having an average breadth of about four miles, whilst its length is forty. B 2 4 MOUNT ATHOS A ridge of hills runs down the centre of the peninsula, beginning from the narrowest part near its base and reaching some height where the monastic establish- ments commence, at a distance of fifteen to twenty miles from its extremity. From this point the ridge rises gradually from 1,000 to between 3,000 arid 4,000 feet, when it suddenly shoots up into a mountain nearly 7,000 feet high l and falls into the sea. There is but little level land on Athos ; the sides of the central ridge slope as a rule down to the very shore, whilst round the end of the peninsula, especially on the western side, the mountain drops by rapid descent or breaks away in steep and rocky cliffs. Every part of the promontory is covered with vegetation, the east side being the more conspicuous for luxuriance of growth ; and its position in the waters keeps the forests of Mount Athos fresh and green when all the neighbouring country on the mainland is burnt up by the summer and autumnal heats. The mountain is one vast mass of white or whitish-grey marble, clothed with trees to within a thousand feet of its summit and then rising in a bare and conical peak. From the top can be seen the islands of Thasos, distant thirty miles ; of Lemnos, forty (upon which the shadow of Athos is said to fall as the sun sets 2 ) ; of Samothraki, sixty ; and on a clear day the Thessalian Olympus, distant ninety miles ; whilst, on the other hand, it can itself be seen from the shores of Asia Minor on the plain of Troy. Round the shores of Athos stand the twenty ancient monasteries to which the whole peninsula belongs, and 1 Various heights have been given, from 6,349 feet to 6,900. * "A0ws (TKui&i v(i>Ta Atyftwac POOS. Sophocles. INTRODUCTION 5 which form the monastic republic of the Holy Moun- tain. The origin of this ecclesiastical state is lost in the obscurity of centuries. When the hermits first chose this romantic spot, and when they first were gathered into monasteries, is uncertain ; but though the establishment of religious houses by the great Constantine may be a myth, we have evidence of the existence of hermits on Athos for the last thousand years ; l we know that the founder of one monastery lived in the tenth century, and another convent was restored nine hundred years ago. Comparatively few vicissitudes have befallen this strange community since its foundation ; the Latin conquerors of Constantinople, it is true, pillaged the monasteries in the thirteenth century, but by the lavish support of succeeding Greek emperors it not only recovered but soon surpassed its former estate. Passing from the jurisdiction of the Christian emperors to that of the Ottoman, it alone preserved its self-government and its ancient privileges when all the rest of the Byzantine Empire was crushed beneath the feet of the victorious infidels. At the be- ginning of the present century the War of Independ- ence brought heavy burdens on many of the convents, and the confiscation of their lands first in free Greece, then in the Roumanian provinces in 1865, inflicted a heavy blow upon their fortunes. But now the com- munity seems to have again recovered, to have made good its losses, to be increasing in numbers, and to be extending its establishments, and, with the exception of the universal want of learning, which seems to date from an epoch not much posterior to the Turkish Con- 1 By a document of the Emperor Basil in the year 885. 6 MOUNT ATHOS quest, 1 when arts and humanities fled from the East to find a home in Western Europe, the Holy Moun- tain appears to be in much the same condition as it was in the Middle Ages. Such is Athos, a land of great and varied beauty, a mountain and a garden in the sea. If it please you we will together wander up and down this eastern fairyland, peep into its venerable religious houses, talk to their grave inhabitants, and examine the treasures which centuries have heaped together within their walls ; we will refresh ourselves with a visit not only to another clime but to another century, and we will seize upon this one changeless spot as a solitary mark by which to take our bearings when all the world and we within it have drifted to and fro upon the ever- varying tide of human restlessness. There is some- thing of fascination in this thought, is there not ? But stay ! Do not promise too rashly. My com- panion must be of chameleon temperament, and able to change at will from grave to gay and gay to grave ; for there is in all connected with Athos a strange mix- ture of grotesqueness and religion, so much that forces merriment from Western travellers, whilst as we laugh the mysterious power of the Christian faith on the spot devoted to its cultivation checks the motion of our thoughts and leads them into other channels. And so, though we jog on like any other travellers, and crack our jokes and curse our bed and board, yet we shall be 1 ' Les Grecs des sus-dicts monasteres estoyent le temps passe" beaucoup plus doctes qu'ils ne sont pour 1'heure presente. Maintenant il n'y en a plus nuls qui s^achent rien ; et seroit impossible qu'en tout le mont Athos Ion trouvast en chaque monastere plus d'un seul Caloiere sgavant.' Les Observations de plusieurs singularitez et chases memorables trouve"es en Grece, Ast'e, Inctte, Egypte, Arabic et autres pays estranges. Par Pierre BelonduMans. Anvers, 1555. INTRODUCTION 7 pardoned if sometimes a touch ignite a train of thought, out of place in any other journey save that across a land saturated through and through with the energy of faith, for we will quench the flame as speedily as we may and trudge again along the proper and accepted track of statistics and description. My companion too must be one able to leave all prejudices behind, and be content to reflect on what he sees, and, may be, sometimes learn a thing or two from those poor folk whom the world despises and contemns, the humble and illiterate peasant monks, possessed of nothing save a dauntless hold upon the ancient faith of Christendom. Such companions are hard to find ; there are but few to whom a journey to the Holy Mountain will bring any profit or even pleasure. Perhaps, dear reader, you are one of these few ; if so, will you come ? MOUNT ATHOS CHAPTER II. The love of Greece, and it tickled him so That he devised a way to go. Old Song in ' Monsieur Thomas? ON Friday, July 20, 1883, at twenty minutes to eight A.M. I left London for Bucharest. I was to travel alone, for it had been arranged that my companion should follow in the course of the next thirty-six hours and join me in the capital of Roumania. That night I slept at Cologne, putting up at that most comfortable house, the Hotel du Nord. Starting the next day at noon, I passed the night in the train, was turned out at the early hour of four o'clock on Sunday morning to pass the custom house at Passau, and reached Vienna at half-past ten. The remainder of this day I passed pleasantly in the Austrian capital ; went in the evening to Schon- brunn, and lay that night at the Hotel Metropole. On Monday, July 23, I left Vienna at 3.30 P.M. to travel direct to Bucharest. All went well until after passing Pesth ; only two other men were in my com- partment, and I was looking forward to a comfortable night, when at ten o'clock we were invaded by an old gentleman, his wife, and his daughter. Our compart- ment was now complet ; paterfamilias occupied the seat in front of me, and the mother, who was of such proportions that she had had considerable difficulty in A STIFF WINDOW 9 squeezing through the doorway, filled, or rather over- flowed, the seat on my right. Presently the daughter complained of the draught, and the old gentleman shut the window. At the end of a quarter of an hour the atmosphere of the carriage became perfectly unen- durable to me, although none of my fellow-travellers appeared to be uneasy. What was to be done ? I could not insist upon fresh air in the face of the majority, so I determined to try what politeness would effect. Seeing that the mother was endeavouring to compose herself to sleep, I offered her my air cushion to support her head, and under cover of this small courtesy, which was accepted with bows and thanks, in Hungarian, I pointed to one of the ventilators and proposed by signs to open it. ' 1st good ?' said I. ' Good ! ' replied the old gentleman ; and opened it was. Still the heat and stuffiness were intolerable it was a sultry July evening, remember and I began to cast about for a new relieT. Just then we happened to stop at a station. ' Szegedin,' said the old gentleman to his family. ' What ! ' said I, a brilliant idea occurring to me, ' Szegedin ? ' ' Szegedin,' repeated he. Down went the window in an instant, and out went my head. It was pitch dark, and of course under any circumstances there was nothing to see. As the train moved off I proceeded to shut the window, as in duty bound. It was a very unfortunate thing, but the win- dow would not quite shut. Whereupon the old gentle- man hastened to assist me, and we both pulled and IO MOUNT ATHOS pushed with apparently equal earnestness. Finally we both desisted, with mutual smiles and shruggings of shoulders. Triumph number two, ventilation se- cured, and I soon fell into an innocent slumber. Late in the evening of the next day I reached Bucharest, and put up at the Hotel Otteletchano, a comfortable house, with fairly reasonable prices for a town where everything is dear. Bucharest is a city of gardens in a flat plain, in character half Russian, half Oriental. The Dimbovitza runs through the midst of it, a river highly praised by the native poets. Dimbovitza, apa dulce. But when I had the pleasure of gazing upon this renowned stream it bore a strong resemblance to a very large ditch filled with singularly dirty water. On the farther side of the Dimbovitza stands the metropolitan church of Bucharest, on the top of a considerable eminence. There is nothing in the church itself to repay one for the toil of climbing the steep ascent, but from the platform outside one gains a really fine and comprehensive view of the town, which looks its best from this point. The meanness of its buildings is not discernible, whilst one's eye rests with pleasure upon the expanse of white houses, green gardens, and the many domes of the churches and monasteries ; some painted in the brightest colours, others plated with sheets of tin, which light up brilliantly under the cloudless Eastern sky. One of the things that most strikes the English traveller in Bucharest is the degraded condition of the women of the lower classes, who are employed literally as beasts of burden. BUCHAREST I I When I was in the town building and rebuilding were taking place on a very large scale, and in every street women and girls of all ages, and burnt by the sun to every shade of brown and black, might be seen mixing mortar, or painfully carrying loads up inclined planes to the top of scaffolding, where their lords and masters were engaged in slowly and deliberately putting the bricks into their places. It is exceedingly unfair to judge of a people from a hasty visit to their country, more especially if that visit be to their capital, where a nation usually exhibits its worst side ; and, indeed, the Roumanians do not appear to be very proud of their chief city, if the following proverb rightly ex- presses their sentiments towards it : ' Here flowers have no smell, men no honour, women no virtue.' Still, without pretending to estimate their national virtues or their national vices, one cannot help noticing that miserable desire to imitate French manners and customs which seems to have taken root throughout the East r especially in the little Balkan States which have just begun to toddle by themselves. Unable to distinguish between the good and bad of mores Gallici, eager to hide their rude native characteristics beneath the veneer of Western civilisation, the men of the upper classes copy the vices, the women the fashions of the West. French architecture is transplanted into countries where it looks ridiculous ; French republi- canism tinges the politics of nationalities but just emancipated from tyrannous despotism, whilst the common people keep more or less to the customs of their fathers, unable to appreciate exotic manners and caring little or nothing for political freedom. Thus one class losing touch with the other, division 12 MOUNT ATHOS arises, and patriotism is either sorely injured or alto- gether extinguished. Whilst walking about the town the day after my arrival I suddenly came upon a large funeral pro- cession, evidently that of some person of consideration, as two mounted soldiers rode in front to clear the way. They were followed by an undertaker dressed in a black suit trimmed with gold lace and a cocked hat, carrying a basketful of unlighted candles. Then came a second undertaker, bearing a disc of painted cardboard, and two more behind him carrying another disc between them, all three being attired similarly to the first. After the undertakers came four carriages, each containing two priests ; then a fifth, in which were seated two deacons, one of whom bore an episcopal staff in pjeces ; a closed carriage followed, in which was the prelate. All these ecclesiastics were in full vest- ments. Then came two horse undertakers, dressed like their brethren on foot. A mounted undertaker is an odd idea, I admit, but very gallant these gentlemen looked nevertheless on their prancing steeds, support- ing by hand and stirrup long poles with swinging lanterns at the ends, like a pair of sepulchral lancers. A quire of men and boys followed, chanting dolefully : these were in ordinary dress. Immediately behind them came the hearse. It was much more like a circus car, for the canopy over the coffin was sup- ported by four wooden knights, nearly life size, clad in complete armour and richly gilt. A red pall covered the coffin, and on it, surrounded by wreaths of flowers and evergreens, was the deceased's best tall silk hat. Wreaths and ribbons of the Roumanian colours hung round the car and its canopy. Four horses, each led DRINKING-WATER 1 3 by a footman carrying a candle, drew the hearse, and on the box there sat a gentleman in a cocked hat with a large white plume nodding over his eyes. In the rear of the procession were fifteen male mourners on foot, one carriage in which rode the chief female mourners, and eight other vehicles containing the friends and relatives of the deceased. I noticed that all in the streets un- covered when the hearse passed, and some saluted the bishop in a similar fashion. I must confess that I had considerable difficulty in preserving the gravity of countenance proper to the occasion. No, I do not find the water of the Dimbovitza palatable ! Undeterred by the sight of the river to-day or bv its ominous colour in the carafe this evening, I have tried it, but I do not appreciate the flavour. On an appeal to the head waiter he tells me, with a fine and undisguised contempt for my taste, that everybody, in- cluding the King, is only too glad to have the chance of drinking the water of the Dimbovitza, that all the aerated beverages* are made of it, and that no other water is obtainable unless I like to pay a franc and a half for a bottle of imported Apollinaris ! I end by drinking my wine undiluted. The next day, Thursday, July 26, O arrived, bringing the good news that he had succeeded, though with great difficulty, in persuading the customs officials at the various frontiers that the five her- metically sealed tins of photographic dry plates (to open which would have been, of course, destruction) did not contain tobacco, dynamite, or other contraband articles. The following morning we rose at half- past three o'clock, in order to catch the 5.15 A.M. 14 MOUNT ATHOS train for Varna. There was some doubt as to the station from which the train started, but on the autho- rity of ' Bradshaw ' and our landlord we were persuaded that the right station for Varna was the one known as ' Philarete.' To ' Philarete ' we accordingly went, and reached it at four o'clock, congratulating ourselves on being in such excellent time. There were only two men about, one of whom was washing what we supposed was our train, but neither of them could speak any but their native language. Time passed on, and, as at five o'clock no other officials had appeared and the ticket office had not yet opened, we began to sus- pect that something was wrong, and our worst fears were confirmed a few minutes afterwards by our seeing the express crossing a distant junction on its way to Varna. It had left the other station. We roused the slumbering station master, who soon appeared, half-dressed, and through the medium of some execrable French we drew from him the ex- planation that there had been a recent alteration, owing to the establishment of the Oriental express, so that now travellers bound for the East started from the arrival station instead of having to drive across Bucha- rest. Of course the landlord of the Otteletchano must have known that he was sending us to the wrong station, and he no doubt expected to see us back again to spend three more days under his roof ; so we vowed that he should not profit by his iniquities, and de- termined to devote the three days to visiting other places on our route. There was a train leaving for Giurgevo at half-past seven, and this we resolved to take, as it would give us an opportunity of seeing Rustchuk, the second town RUSTCHUK 1 5 of Bulgaria and celebrated in the late Russo-Turkish war. In four hours we arrived at this place, situated on the Danube, across which there is a steam ferry to Rustchuk. On board the steamer we made a frugal meal, which we had hardly finished before we arrived at the Bulgarian shore. The instant we had dis- embarked we found ourselves surrounded by a crowd of men and boys, all eager to carry our luggage. One grabbed one thing and one another, which we hastily snatched back and piled up on the quay. Finally we seized upon the best looking of the party, who spoke a little Italian, and put ourselves under his guidance ; the crowd was then cuffed and kicked in various directions, and three Turks were selected to carry our baggage into the custom house. The dry plates proved the only obstacle to our speedy release ; finally these had to be bought with backsheesh, and we then drove in a carriage over a bad road to a miser- able place that called itself an hotel. Rustchuk is not a prepossessing place. Whatever it was before the war, it is now most dilapidated and poverty-stricken. The streets are mere sandy tracks except in places where they appear to have been paved at some remote period and still preserve a few odd stones. Wooden houses of one storey totter on either side, and here and there a half-ruined mosque reminds one of the late rulers of the town. A palace had just been built for the Prince by a Bulgarian mer- chant. It stands on the high bank overlooking the Danube, and bears a striking resemblance to an English suburban villa. We walked in at the open door and inspected it ; for it was not quite finished, although a soldier was keeping guard and the Bulgarian standard floated proudly over the roof. l6 MOUNT ATHOS We visited the chief church, which, however, hardly repaid our trouble, and, as we were assailed by myriads of fleas, we soon made our escape. As we passed through the doorway the guardian of the church ad- vanced and sprinkled our hands with lavender water from a silver bottle. Our guide (the youth we had picked up on landing) then conducted us to the princi- pal mosque, into which he contemptuously strode with some other Bulgarians, trampling over the matting without removing his boots. A few Turks were say- ing their prayers, and it was curious to see how the conquered race did not even deign to notice the insult they were powerless to avenge. Truly the tables are turned in Bulgaria, and all the Turks that can afford to do so have left the country. Our dinner was abominable this evening ; the steak which our landlord had provided for us was like leather, and so gritty that we wondered if it had been accidentally dropped in the sandy street outside. Our bedroom also was full of vermin, and we were not sorry when the time came to bid farewell to Rustchuk, which we did early the next morning, taking the 7.30 A.M. train for Varna. The landlord had very foolishly brought the bill to the station, thinking, no doubt, that, in the hurry of departure, the amount, equal to what one might have paid with grumbling at a first- rate hotel in Paris for a night's board and lodging, would have been handed over to him without much difficulty. But we were his match, for, O having duly registered the baggage, I called for the bill, and on observing the total simply turned the paper over, made up my own account on the back, item by item, at fair prices, added it up, and presented the sum to VARNA 1 7 our host. He recognised that he was beaten, for he quietly pocketed the money without a murmur. It is a golden rule worth remembering when travelling in these countries : If you intend to dispute your bill, see that your luggage is safely out of the land- lord's clutches ', he has then but little hold on you. The railway to Varna lies through a flat, uninte- resting country. Before reaching the coast the line passes through a large marsh ; tall reeds shut out the view on either side and even brush against the carriages. Varna itself is situated at the mouth of a long arm of the sea, and is a clean and flourishing town with a population of about 20,000 souls. We reached the terminus at 4.30 P.M. and drove at once to the Hotel de Russie. The room allotted to us was com- fortable enough, but on asking the price we found it so enormous that we instantly demanded a cheaper apart- ment. This was declared impossible, but we argued the point and reminded the landlord that we were not in an European capital. 'No/ said he, 'hut, you see, this hotel must be supported, and no one would ever stay here unless he had missed the steamer, as you have done.' This, I dare say, was true enough. However, we came to terms at length, and I am bound to say we were very well treated during our stay. We had a de- licious bathe that afternoon, although we unfortunately managed to choose a spot where the rocks were most painfully sharp. The next day being Sunday we went to the Church of St. Athanasius, and found a wedding taking place. In the centre of the nave were the bride and bridegroom before a desk upon which was placed the Book of the Holy Gospels. They had I 8 MOUNT ATHOS wreaths or crowns of orange blossoms on their heads, and stood clasping each other's hands. In front of them was the bishop, who officiated ; behind them an old clerk held two lighted candles adorned with twisted bands of muslin. Two priests and several readers, standing in stalls, chanted at intervals. The day was ter- ribly hot and the church pretty well filled with people. One kind lady friend occupied herself with fanning the bride, and at intervals an old man went up behind the happy couple, and removing first the bride's crown and then the bridegroom's, mopped their streaming faces with a handkerchief, replacing the orange blossoms after the performance of this kind office. Towards the conclu- sion of the ceremony the relatives and friends kissed first the Gospels, then the bishop's hand, and finally the newly married couple on both cheeks. When the service was over the people rushed out of church and formed a procession to conduct them to their home. This was headed by two fiddlers, a man with a clarionet, and two other men playing instru- ments resembling guitars, but struck with a quill in- stead of the fingers ; and a curious noise this Bulgarian band made. On the Monday we left Varna by the Austrian Lloyd steamer ' Ceres ' at 3 P.M., and early next morning, after a calm night's voyage, passed the ancient Cyanean rocks and entered the Bosphorus. We were not long in steaming down that enchanting stream ; we were soon abreast of the Castles of Europe and Asia, and a few minutes later, off the village of Candelli, the distant view of Constantinople burst upon us, the dome and minarets of St. Sophia rising above the green cypresses of the Seraglio gardens. At 8 A.M. we cast anchor in the Golden Horn. CHAPTER III. Costantynoble is a full fayr Cytee, and a gode and a wel walled, and it is three cornered. And there is the most fayr Chirche and the most noble of alle the World : And it is of Seynt Sophie. SIR JOHN MAUNDE- VILLE. WITH a description of Constantinople a volume could be filled, and if one were to spend a twelvemonth in the imperial city, and, having visited the ordinary sights, were to search amongst courtyards and gardens and dive into cellars and modern Turkish houses in quest of the antique and the historic, not one but many volumes would have to be written to treat of those relics of departed Byzantine glory which are to be found beneath the dust of Stamboul. As for ourselves, we are bound for another place ; we cannot afford to waste time on our journey thither, so I shall be accorded grace, I am sure, if I touch but briefly upon a city which demands something more than a passing notice. We have visited the Hippodrome, have seen the Delphic column and the obelisk of Heliopolis ; we have descended into the great hall called the Thousand and One Pillars, formerly the cistern of Constantine ; we have strolled through the bazaars, jostling with every kind of Asiatic and delighted with the sight of wares brought from every part of the world. There are no bazaars like those of Constantinople, none one C2 2O MOUNT ATHOS quarter the size, none so rich in the products of both East and West, for here alone do both civilizations meet. Constantinople was no new ground to me, so I had the pleasure of being a cicerone to my friend. Acting upon the experience of my first visit, I arranged that we should see the other great mosques before that of St. Sophia ; as the latter furnished the inspiration for the architecture of those built after the conquest, and far surpasses them in almost every particular, one's interest is better kept up by reversing the usual pro- cedure of travellers. The exterior of St. Sophia is disappointing ; the church presents but the aspect of a confused mass of buildings, irregular and somewhat mean in charac- ter and detail, above which rise a flat central dome, several half-domes abutting thereon, and four inelegant minarets. But having passed the outer porch, or exonarthex, and gained the inner porch, or esonarthex, with its sixteen bronze gates, nine of which lead directly into the nave, the glory of the great church begins to dawn upon us ; for we find, on looking round, that we are in a hall, 200 feet long by 30 feet broad, the walls of which are panelled with variegated marble, though dull with age and neglect, it is true, and above the marble we gain our first view of mosaic work. We pass impatiently into the nave, and pausing in the centre of the church cast our eyes around. No disappointment awaits us here. Like the heavenly Jerusalem, this Christian temple ' lieth four-square, and the length is as large as the breadth ; ' and if we were to measure the height from dome to pavement we might still further the comparison, for we should SAINT SOPHIA 21 find that, speaking roughly, 'the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.' Above us, supported on four arches resting on four massive piers, is the aerial dome, so called because, by reason of its extreme shallowness in proportion to its diameter fifteen feet more than that of the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, in London^ it is supposed to resemble the vault of heaven ; it is constructed of pumice stone and bricks of an especial lightness. On the north and south sides, between the dome piers, stand eight great columns of green marble, four on either hand, said to have formed part of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, brought, it is certain, from that town by the Praetor Constantine. Eight more columns of porphyry came from the Temple of the Sun at Baalbek, and ninety- one other pillars of every variety of marble, brought from many ancient buildings, support the galleries and vaulted roofs, making up the total number of one hundred and seven. There is but one apse ; here stood formerly the high altar, and before it the screen or iconostasis, partly'of carved and gilded wood, partly of gold itself. This apse is lighted by two rows of three windows each, in honour of the Holy Trinity, according to the direction of an angel who appeared to Justinian during the erection of the building. The walls are veneered with jasper and variegated marbles, or adorned, like the vaulted ceilings, with mosaic ; but here and there plates of marble have fallen off, and the present possessors of the church have supplied their places with plaster painted in imitation of the more precious substance ; the mosaics too are for the most part hidden behind a layer of plaster, as representing human figures inadmissible in a mosque. 22 MOUNT ATHOS There are two chapters in the history of St. Sophia upon which I like to dwell when treading the pavement of that great church. The first carries one back thirteen centuries, to December 27, 537, when the Emperor Justinian solemnly dedicated the completed building to the worship of the Eternal Wisdom. The Patriarch, we are told, rode in the imperial chariot, accompanied by all the ecclesiastics of the city ; Justinian himself followed on foot at the head of his people, giving thanks as he went for the mercy vouchsafed to him in having been permitted to finish the holy work ; and thus the vast procession wended its way from the Church of St. Anastasia to the new basilica. The Emperor enters : he gazes around upon the gorgeous marbles, the glittering mosaics, all fresh from the hands of the craftsmen ; he sees the great iconostasis of wood overlaid with gold, the splendid sanctuary, the walls of which are encrusted with forty thousand pounds in weight of silver, the doors of cedar, of amber, and of ivory, the holy table one mass of jewels held together by gold, for that precious metal was thought too poor to be used alone. Thousands of lamps and candles are suspended from the arches and the dome, or burn in silver standards upon the marble pavement. The sunlight streams through the windows and lights up the curling incense- wreaths. Justinian is surrounded by a dazzling crowd of bishops and senators, priests and courtiers ; all that is noble in the empire is gathered within those splendid walls. He stands in front of the altar screen ; he gazes upward at the great vault sus- pended, as it were, over his head, and as he does so the cry bursts from his lips, ' Solomon, I have sur- passed thee ! ' SAINT SOPHIA 23 The curtain drops. We raise it again when nearly a thousand years have elapsed, on May 29, 1453. The vast city of Constantine, which the first Christian emperor had founded to be the capital of the Christian world, is in her death throes. For fifty-two days the fifteen miles of wall had been successfully defended by 8,000 soldiers against nearly 300,000 infidels ; the siege had almost been raised in despair, when Mahomet executed his famous stratagem and sailed his fleet over the dry land into the Golden Horn, and on the evening of the 28th all knew that the end had come. The brave Emperor Constantine Palaeologus, having made his last speech to the valiant defenders, and re- ceived for the last time the Lord's Body at the altar of St. Sophia somewhere about midnight, bade farewell to the trembling inhabitants of the palace, forgave and asked forgiveness of those around him, and mounting his horse rode to the great breach by the Gate of St. Romanus in the land wall on the farther side of the city. At eight o'clock that morning, the Feast of Pentecost, Constantinople was taken. Twenty thousand people of every age and rank rushed in the vain hope of sanctuary to St. Sophia. ' In the space of an hour the sanctuary, the choir, the nave, the upper and lower galleries were filled with the multitudes of fathers and husbands, of women and children, of priests, monks, and religious virgins.' l A mighty cry goes up, ' Kyrie eleison ! Kyrie eleison ! ' ' Have mercy upon us, O Lord ! have mercy ! ' A thousand hands are outstretched in agonized supplica- tion to where the calm, majestic face of the Virgin Mother looks down from the mosaic vaulting upon the 1 Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 24 MOUNT ATHOS frantic crowd; a thousand voices implore the aid of the great archangel, who, a prophecy asserted, would ap- pear to deliver Constantinople at the eleventh hour. Ah, poor souls ! It is too late now to cry for mercy, for the hour of judgment has come. In vain do you seek the intervention of the Blessed Ones, for their will is the will of God ; Mary has veiled her face and Michael is sorrowfully leaning upon his sword. Ten centuries have filled to overflowing the cup of wickedness ; the sins of the great Christian city have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Alas ! alas ! that mighty city! for in one hour is her judgment come ! A roar of voices is heard out- side ; shouts of ' Allah ! ' drown the Kyries ; the doors resound with heavy blows ; the axes crash through the brazen gates : the Turks rush in. They meet with no resistance ; the crowd is like a frightened flock of sheep. Some few, indeed, are cut down by the flashing swords ; battle axe and mace beat down the upturned faces of those who block the entrance of the conquerors, but these are already satiated with blood and tired of slaughter, eager now for the captives and the spoil. The miserable wretches are dragged out into the courtyard and bound together in rows, amidst tears and wailing ; daughters are torn from their mothers, wives from their husbands, the men to cruel bond- age, the women and girls to grace the harems of their masters. 1 Some are forced down by the press and trodden underfoot ; shrieks and groans resound through the church and mingle with the battle cry of the infidels, ' Allah ! Allah ! ' Tradition asserts that at 1 Phranza, 3, 8. SAINT SOPHIA 25 one of the altars in the southern gallery a priest was celebrating the last mass in St. Sophia ; for the last time the blessed words of institution had been pro- nounced within these venerable walls, for the last time the spotless sacrifice had been offered up, when the Turks streamed up the inclined planes which serve instead of staircases and threw themselves amongst the terrified throng above. One quick glance behind him upon the advancing infidels, one imploring cry to God, not for himself but for the holy mysteries, that they might be preserved from profanation, and then the priest, bearing the Sacred Gifts before him, passed through the solid wall, leaving behind no trace either of the manner or of the place of entrance. 1 Will he ever return and complete that unfinished Eucharist ? Some think he will, on the day when St. Sophia is solemnly restored to the worship of the Christian faith ; others, and they are the more part, doubt the possibility. For myself I have no opinion on the matter ; but one thing I know, that if that tradition be true and the priest again appears after his long sleep to assist in the re-dedication of the profaned sanc- tuary, the nineteenth or twentieth century will per- suade itself that he is but an optical delusion ; it will need something more than the reappearance of an old priest to shake the world out of its material conceits. Below the work of destruction has commenced : 1 During the restoration of the church in 1847-49 by Monsieur Fos- sati, an Italian, called in by the Sultan Abdul- Medjid to save St. Sophia from the ruin which threatened it through long neglect, this architect had the curiosity to open the wall at the spot where Turkish and Greek traditions alike declare the priest to have entered. He found a little chapel in the thickness of the wall, with a descending staircase encum- bered with rubbish. 26 MOUNT ATHOS the great screen is hewn into fragments ; the jewelled sheathing of the icons and the countless silver lamps that burn before them become the prey of the maddened soldiery. The costly hangings and veils, the curtains of scarlet and of purple are torn down and parted amongst the spoilers ; the holy table is hacked to pieces ; the crosses are defaced. The crowd pours into the sacristies; the vestments and the sacred vessels of priceless worth become the property of the furious infidels ; the bodies of the saints are turned out of their precious shrines ; the temples sanctified by the Holy Ghost are thrown to the swine arid to the dogs. In a few short hours the heaped-up treasures have been swept away for ever, and nothing but the empty shell of St. Sophia remains. Then a cry goes up for the utter destruction of the Christian church ; the Turks have already commenced to cut away the mosaics, when the Conqueror himself appears and sternly claims the building as his own. He rides proudly into the church ; l his charger's hoofs clatter on Justinian's pavement ; he stops before the eastern apse and there proclaims the Church of the Eternal Wisdom to be henceforth sacred to the religion of the Prophet. That evening the muezzin ascended the principal tower and called the faithful to prayer : La Ilah il Allah we Mohammed resoul Allah. St. Sophia was lost to Christendom. But so say Turks as well as Christians not for ever. And in the eastern apse, above the muttering Moslems, may still be traced the image of the Divine Redeemer with all- 1 Ducas seems to contradict this tradition ; but the historian was not present on the occasion. SEVEN TOWERS 27 embracing Arms stretched out in benediction, appear- ing through layers of paint and plaster ; and over the western doorway may yet be read the words, written on a brazen tablet, ' Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' Viventne ossa ista ? Domine Deus, tu nosti. It is a long ride or drive from Pera to the triple wall which defends the land side of Constantinople, but it is worth undertaking, for it offers the most perfect specimen extant of mediaeval fortification, never having been touched since the Turkish conquest and presenting the same shattered aspect as when the city was stormed in 1453. At the corner where the triple wall joins the wall on the south side of Constan- tinople, which runs along the shore of the Sea of Marmora, is the citadel or fortress known as the Seven Towers, formerly used by the Ottomans as a State prison, but now entirely dismantled. From the circuit of the castle walls a fine view is obtainable ; the inclo- sure is bare and empty, but in the vaults under one of the towers visitors are shown the place where the un- fortunate prisoners were confined. Until comparatively recent times, on war breaking out between the Porte and another Power, the ambassador representing the hostile government was hurried to the prison of the Seven Towers, instead of being politely handed his pass- port, as in these days. Of those confined within the castle few ever regained their freedom ; the sword, the bowstring, and the torture did their work, and many a gloomy story those walls could tell. On the walls of what was formerly a dark vault, but which is now opened to the light, many names are scratched in European characters. One imperfect inscription I copied out. 28 MOUNT ATHOS Prisofiie urs qui dans les miseres, gemissez dans ce triste lieu Offrez les de bon Coeur a Dieu et vous les trouverez le*ger. But a few broken words, and yet a touching tale is hidden here. Poor prisoner ! without a name, without a history. One night we went to dine with some English friends at their house at Candelli, on the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus. After dinner we sat on a terrace overhanging the water and enjoyed the coolness of the evening, listening to the heavy sighs of the porpoises as they frolicked in the rushing stream. As it grew late, we embarked in our host's ca'ique to return to Constantinople. The old Greek boatman took us into the middle of the stream, and then, equidistant from Europe and Asia, we were partly rowed, partly carried by the swift current towards the city. We were re- clining lazily on the cushion at the bottom of our little craft when Constantinople rose before us in the darkness like an enchanted city of the ' Arabian Nights.' .It was the festival of Bairam, and every minaret in Stamboul was illuminated with rows of lamps a scene most weird and wonderful, but, like most good things, too transient, for the stream was swift, our old boatman strong of arm, and soon our sharp prow grated against the dark quay of Galata. Before our departure for Mount Athos it was PHANAR 29 necessary to obtain a letter of introduction to the monks, and for that purpose we arranged for a visit to Phanar, where lives the Patriarch of Constantinople the (Ecumenical Patriarch, as he is called in the East to present the formal letter of introduction with which we had been furnished by our ecclesiastical authorities and to pay our respects to his Holiness. Having received intimation from the Patriarchate that an audience would be granted us on a certain afternoon, we left our hotel at Pera at two o'clock that day and drove, attended by our dragoman and a cavass from the consulate, to Phanar. We were re- ceived at the gate of the Patriarchate by several servants, who conducted us up a long flight of steep marble steps to the room of the Grand Vicar, a rather young man with black hair and beard. About ten or twelve other ecclesiastics were present, and we soon got into conversation, as they were very inquisitive and asked innumerable questions over the sweets, coffee, and cigarettes which are the invariable prelude to all business in the East. So we told them that we belonged to the great Anglican Church of which the Archbishop of Canterbury was the patriarch : that we were not like the Lutherans or the Calvinists ; that we had nothing to do with the Presbyterian mission- aries, but had the greatest respect for the Eastern Church and much wished for unity. Then we exhi- bited certain photographs, with which we had provided ourselves before leaving home, of the Archbishop, St. Paul's Cathedral, and other English churches. These called forth endless questions, which we had not time to answer before word came that the Patriarch had finished his siesta and was ready to receive us. 3O MOUNT ATHOS Accordingly we got up, bowed to our friends, and were taken into the presence of Joachim III. His Holiness was sitting in a good-sized, airy room, furnished in the French style with a row of high-backed chairs and a sofa covered with crimson velvet. A few sacred pic- tures hung round the walls, amongst them an engraving of Murillo's Madonna in the Louvre. A small writing table covered with books, at which the Patriarch sat, completed the furniture. As we entered his Holiness rose and gave us his hand. We all sat down, and he remarked that he was very glad to see me again (I had had a short interview with him in 1882), and pleased to make the acquaint- ance of my friend, who, he hoped, was satisfied with Constantinople. Then O drew from the pocket of his cassock our commendatory letter, saying to the in- terpreter, ' Tell his Holiness that I have the pleasure of bringing him a letter from the Most Holy and the, Most Learned the Bishop of Lichfield/ The Patriarch took the document and read it through carefully from beginning to end, and then began it again and read the whole of it for the second time. Apparently he was much pleased with it, for he said ' Polycala ' (Very good) several times, and then handed it to the Grand Logothete, or principal layman, who was the only other person in the room. The episcopal seal of wafer and tissue paper hardly excited less interest than the contents of the letter, and both Patriarch and Grand Logothete twisted it every possible way to see how it was done. We conversed about the English Church, and his Holiness said that he was very sorry to hear of the death of the late Archbishop of Canterbury, and asked ANGLICANS AND PROTESTANTS 31 after the present one, whereupon I told him that our Lord Edward was much interested in Eastern Christen- dom, and that on my return to England I should relate to his Grace all I had seen. Then we exhibited our photographs and began the subject of unity by saying that there were many people in England who wished for the union of the two com- munions. The Patriarch said that the wish was a good one, and he hoped it might be fulfilled. ' But/ added he, referring to what was evidently on his mind, ' unity should be procured without individual proselytism.' ' Of course,' said we, ' that is very wrong.' ' But the Protestants and the Americans prose- lytize,' said his Holiness, ' and the American college here does its best to draw away our people from the faith of their fathers.' Here it was necessary to insist very strongly on the fact that our Church had nothing whatever to do with the Protestant missionaries in Constantinople. These missionaries themselves are at great pains to inform the Greeks that they belong to our holy religion, for however much they may attack the Church at home they like to wrap themselves in the mantle of her prestige abroad. So we put the matter quite clearly before his Holiness, and asked him if he had ever found our people proselytizing amongst his flock. ' No,' said he, ' with Anglicans we have no fault to find.' We next spoke about a Greek deacon whom the Patriarch had sent to Oxford to study English theo- logy, and said that we were all much gratified at his sending him to us, taking it as a great compliment to our Church. At this the Patriarch's face quite 32 MOUNT ATIIOS brightened up ; he was evidently pleased at hearing that his action had been appreciated, and he twice repeated that he would send some more. The Patriarch then discussed our journey, and commended our pur- pose of visiting the Holy Mountain. Soon afterwards we rose to take leave. His Holiness bade us adieu in a very kindly manner, asked us to visit him in the event of our returning to Constantinople after leaving Athos, and finally said, ' I am always delighted to see any member of the English Church, and you must be sure to convey my salutations to the Archbishop of Canterbury.' So we bowed and withdrew. After visiting the Patriarchal Church of St. George and leaving a card upon the Metropolitan Bryennius, the learned editor of the ^1809(77 'AiroaToXuv, whose acquaintance I had made the previous year, we left the Patriarchate and returned to Pera. Two days after our interview an archimandrite and a secretary waited on us at the Hotel d'Angleterre with a letter from the Patriarch, recommending us to the synod of Mount Athos. The following is a literal translation of it : Joachim, by the mercy of God Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and CEcumenical Patriarch. Most Holy Presidents and Overseers of the Synod of the Holy Mountain of Athos, Our beloved sons in the Lord, Grace be with you and peace from God. The bearers of our present letter to your Holinesses, English travellers, the Most Reverend Priest of the English Church Arthur E. Brisco Owen and Athelstan Riley, eminent professors of the renowned University in Oxford, visiting Eastern parts, journeyed also to Constantinople to see what is most worthy of inspection therein, and came to Us provided with a commendatory letter from the Most Beloved of God William, Bishop of Lichfield, in England, A BULGARIAN APPLICATION 33 who requires that they, who are about to visit the sacred abodes of the Holy Mountain, shall be properly recommended. We, therefore, assigning to these persons who have been intro- duced to Us befitting dignity, as being illustrious persons and strangers worthy of all honour, writing by this present Patriarchal epistle of Ours, exhort your Holinesses, that, having received with hospitality these distinguished guests, ye furnish them, besides necessary pro- tection, with every other facility, that making the circuit of the Holy Mountain they may see also whatever is worthy of inspection therein and may carry away with them the most pleasing impressions of your friendly and kindly customs. The Grace and Endless Mercy of God be with you. July 21, 1883. + OF CONSTANTINOPLE your bedesman in Christ. Before leaving the capital we visited the chaplain of the Crimean Memorial Church, Canon Curtis, who gave us three copies of Palmer's ' History of the Church,' a work which he had translated Into modern Greek, asking us to give them away at Athos as presents from him. He spoke much on the utter ignorance respecting our Church which exists in the East, and told us an amusing story in illustration of this. During the late troubles in the Bulgarian Church, which have culminated in a sort of partial schism and separation from the Patriarchal see, Canon Curtis re- ceived a letter, signed by high ecclesiastical and lay members of the Bulgarian Church, asking him to use his influence with the Archbishop of Canterbury to get them admitted into the Anglican communion ; ' for,' said they, ' you have so many sects in your Church- Presbyterians, and Lutherans, and Calvinists, and many others that it cannot do you any harm to have one more ; so please take the Bulgarians as well.' D 34 MOUNT ATHOS CHAPTER IV. In cities should we English lie, Where cries are rising ever new And men's incessant stream goes by We who pursue Our business with unslackening stride, Traverse in troops, with care-fill'd breast, The soft Mediterranean side, The Nile, the East, And see all sights from pole to pole, And glance, and nod, and bustle by ; And never once possess our soul Before we die. MATTHEW ARNOLD. ON Saturday, August 4, N .S., we left Constantinople at 3.30 P.M. in the 'Calypso/ one of the Austrian Lloyd Company's steamers. The Sea of Marmora was as smooth as glass, and we had a glorious view of Stamboul and Scutari as they gradually disappeared from sight. There were hardly any saloon passengers only a Greek tobacco merchant, a Turkish officer on his way to Salonica, and one other man. As we were drinking tea in the cabin after dinner the Greek mer- chant, who spoke a little English, imparted to us the unwelcome news that the ship in which we were had just returned from Alexandria, with only ten days' quarantine at Beyrout and two in the Dardanelles ; that she had been engaged in Turkish transport service in the Red Sea, when two privates and one officer had * en -v. s * CAVALLA 35 died on board of cholera ; that one of the numerous deck passengers had only just recovered from cholera, and that he himself had seen his papers, which testified to that effect. Here was a cheerful prospect to be cooped up for forty-eight hours in a choleraic vessel, with the uncomfortable feeling to boot that the Turkish officer might have died in one's berth ! However, there was nothing to be done ; we put as cheerful a face upon our circumstances as possible, and after all were none the worse for our voyage. On Sunday morning, at 4.30 A.M., we anchored off Gallipoli, and at eight o'clock passed through the Dardanelles, which are perhaps a trifle narrower than the Bosphorus, but not nearly so pretty. At four in the afternoon we reached Dedeaghach, and, as the steamer was to remain there until mid- night, took the opportunity of landing. The town consists of between fifty and a hundred houses scat- tered over a sandy plain ; in fact, a more miserable place it would be difficult to imagine. The next morning, quite early, we touched at Lagos, and soon after leaving it saw the mountainous island of Thasos in the distance. Passing this we cast anchor in the bay of Cavalla a little after noon. The town of Cavalla is extremely picturesque. Oc- cupying a rocky promontory, it is surrounded by the sea on three sides ; the houses rise one above another until they are crowned by an ancient fortress at the top of the rock, and the whole is encircled by walls in perfect preservation, I think of Genoese construction. The promontory upon which the town stands is con- nected with the mainland by an isthmus ; here a fine Roman aqueduct conveys water from the neighbouring D 2 36 MOUNT ATHOS hills to the inhabitants, of whom there are at present 11,000, 6,000 being Turks and the rest Greek Chris- tians, with the exception of a small colony of 150 Italians. Almost the whole population is concerned in one way or another with the tobacco trade ; for the tobacco plantations of Cavalla are only second to those of Yenidjeh, which lie a little inland. On landing- we found the city quite as pleasing in its interior as in its exterior ; the streets are narrow, steep, and tortuous, the dresses of the natives tho- roughly Oriental. Here turbans are still in fashion, and the women are clad in the brightest-coloured silks and wear the yashmak more closely than their sisters of Constantinople, tying it in a different way, with the end of the veil hanging down their backs. There being no British consul, Signer Pecchioli, who represents Italy and Germany as vice-consul, has been appointed our acting consul. This gentleman insisted upon our accepting his hospitality during the term of our enforced stay at Cavalla although we were perfect strangers and had no letters of introduc- tion to him and took upon himself the conduct of all our affairs. The consul went with us for a walk on the after- noon of our arrival and showed us a plane tree of great size and between 400 and 500 years old, growing in the court of a mosque. Near it, under a pump, is a stone trough which tradition asserts St. Paul used for baptisms. But half a mile from the town, on the other side of the bay, is a relic which is more certainly con- nected with the great Apostle, the old Via Ignatia, which here leaves the sea and stretches across the mountains to Philippi. This part of the old Roman METROPOLITAN OF CAVALLA 37 road is still in perfect preservation and is paved with blocks of stone. The scene from it, looking back over the bay, is a beautiful one, and can be but little changed since the Apostle's days ; probably the town itself pre- sents much the same aspect that it did 1,800 years ago. We returned to the town towards evening, stopping first, however, at a little wayside cafe to refresh ourselves. We sat down in the garden facing the bay and had some Turkish sweetmeats and water. In front of us we could just make out the outline of Mount Athos through the mist, rising up out of the distant sea. Whilst we were thus enjoying ourselves an eccle- siastic appeared, preceded by a cavass gorgeously apparelled in blue and gold. He was walking with a long silver-headed staff in his hand, and was introduced to us by the consul as the Lord Archbishop of Cavalla. He took a seat at our table, and we entered into con- versation, the prelate speaking a little French. We told him that we were waiting for a boat to take us to Mount Athos. ' Why, then,' said the Archbishop, ' you must be the two Englishmen of whom the (Ecumenical Patriarch wrote in his letter to me. I too am going on a pil- grimage to the Holy Mountain for the first time, and when the Patriarch sent me my letter of introduction he told me that I should probably fall in with two dis- tinguished English travellers, in which case I was to show them every civility. So we will go together.' Of course nothing could have been more advanta- geous for us, and we arranged the matter over a cup of coffee. The Archbishop would go as soon as we wished, and as we wished. And thus it was that our friendship 38 MOUNT ATHOS began with the genial fellow-traveller who was to con- tribute so much to the pleasure and the profit of our ' memorable and fortunate journey to Athos.' l But it was no easy matter to get to the land of the monks. Though under its very shadow, it seemed as far away as ever. The consul refused to aid us in going round by land, as recent intelligence had reached him of brigand bands in the vicinity, and he would not take the responsibility of abetting the journey. We tried a sailing boat belonging to two Italian sailors, but they said that we might take three days to reach Athos if the wind was unfavourable, and this intelligence was quite enough to make me refuse the experiment. One course was still open to us, to charter a little Turkish steamer, that was to touch at Cavalla on its way from Salonica to Smyrna, to take us to our destination. This vessel arrived at 10 A.M. on the second day of our stay, Wednesday, A j^ 7 8 , and we instantly sent to make arrangements with the captain arid the agent. The answer was that they would take us for the modest sum of 25/. ! Then the usual bargaining began. Two or three messages passed between the steamboat office and the consulate, with the result that two hours later the captain paid us a visit to inform us that after due consideration, to oblige Englishmen, &c. &c., they had agreed to take I2/. or 300 francs ; this was the very lowest price. So we thanked him for the trouble he had taken in coming to see us, and told him that upon second thoughts we had come to the conclusion that a sailing boat would be a far more pleasant means of transit. 1 So the Archbishop described it in a letter to me after my return. A TURKISH BARGAIN 39 The captain pointed out that the wind was contrary. ' So much the better,' we replied ; ' we shall have the more for our money ; ' whereat he departed. ' Ah,' said the consul, ' give him another hour, and he will be here again.' And sure enough the little steamer in the bay showed no signs of weighing anchor, and at one o'clock the captain returned with the agent of the company. He said that they thought it right to warn us that a storm was brewing, and that it would be extremely dangerous to attempt the passage in an open boat. We thanked them for their kind thoughtfulness, but said that, having quite decided to go by the sailing boat, we must trust to our kismet. If we were fated to be drowned we should be ; but if otherwise, Inshallah, we should arrive at Athos. The agent then observed that having spent the last hour in minute calculations he had found that the amount of extra coals needed for the trip would not come to more than 1 1 /. ' Well,' said I, ' as you are so very anxious for us to take your steamer (though for my part I much prefer a nice little boat in which one can take one's ease for a day or two), perhaps we might give you ten Turkish pounds.' ' Certainly,' said the agent, ' but as Englishmen you will pay in English pounds.' ' Oh, no ! ' said I ; ' we could not think of that ; it would be an insult to the country we are in. In Turkey we always pay in Turkish pounds.' And so the bargain was struck ten liras (about 9/. sterling), and we might start at once. We took leave of our kind host and his wife, and were soon on board ; the Archbishop and his servants 4O MOUNT ATHOS joined us a few minutes later ; we weighed anchor and made for the Holy Mountain. The deck was encumbered by Turks and Greeks with their goods and possessions round them, placidly smoking their tchibouques and cigarettes. All were bound for Smyrna, and were consequently being taken some way back in the direction of their starting- place, Salonica ; altogether the digression for our benefit would entail about ten hours' extra voyage. But what matter ? Time is of no value to an Oriental ; he never makes an appointment, or if he makes one he never keeps it. Now that our party is finally made up, and before we reach the scene of our toils, the pilgrims will do themselves the honour of making their introductory bows to the reader. First comes the Altogether Most Holy One Philotheos, by the Mercy of God the Most Reverend and Divinely Appointed Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Most Holy Metropolis of Xanthe and Christo- polis (Cavalla) ; Highly Esteemed and Right Honour- able. The possessor of these superlative titles is about five-and-thirty years of age, in person short, not more than five feet three inches, but looks much taller on account of his lofty hat and the extreme dignity of his demeanour before strangers on all official occasions. Over his purple cassock he wears a grey cloth cloak lined with white fur, and over this again, at stated times, a voluminous cloak of black stuff. Genial, kind, and full of good-nature towards his equals, whilst haughty and unbending towards his inferiors, indolent beyond belief, absolute idleness being his chief delight, in character he is a pattern Oriental. PANTELE AND PETER 4! He is attended by two servants, Pantele and Peter. The former is his cavass, or soldier servant, whose duty it is to ride or walk before him, carrying his long silver- headed staff. His dress consists of a pair of loose blue trousers fitting tightly below the knee, a short jacket of the same colour, both jacket and trousers being covered with gold embroidery, a forage cap, a sword by his side, and a sash round his waist containing knives and pistols. He is a Montenegrin, and does justice to his nationality quick, handy, obedient, possessed of a fine upright figure (he has a curious way of bringing his feet together in the ' first position ' when halting, which gives him a particularly smart air), and in addition to these good qualities extremely devout and well- behaved in church, where he is accustomed to strike his forehead with such resounding blows on the pave- ment that the exercise seems to partake more of the excess than defect of devotion. Peter : The bosom friend of Pantele and his inseparable companion through evil report and good report, through archiepiscopal storm and sunshine ; in nearly everything except re- ligion his friend's antithesis ; short, thick-set, with a light brown beard, dressed in untidy European dress surmounted by a fez. In character humble, submissive, he is kept in constant attendance on his master not an easy one to please whom he serves as valet and general slave for the magnificent wage of a mejidieh and a half a month (about six shillings) and what he can pick up when resident at ' the metropolis.' Peter will tell you that his one great ambition is to become a deacon, and that his master has promised him that if he is very good, and serves him well and faithfully, perhaps he will make him one. Peter has, therefore, already 42 MOUNT ATHOS commenced to grow long hair, which escaping from beneath his fez adds to his general unkempt appearance. Probably he hopes by this means to keep the promise constantly before his lord's notice ; for he has mis- givings that the Archbishop prefers his present services as servant to his doubtful diaconal assistance, and Peter being remarkably quick with his needle and an expert mender of the archiepiscopal wardrobe, I have no doubt that there is good cause for his fears. Now, Peter, off you go with a salaam and make room for your betters. The Reverend Arthur E. Brisco Owen next ap- pears before you an old Oxford friend of mine, a tried fellow-traveller, whose sunny presence and mirth- ful humour have relieved many a dreary hour ; in every respect an ideal companion for the journey upon which we are engaged. In height well, he has the advantage of Philotheos ; in dignity, a good second. Now you know as much about O as you will learn from me, for to describe a friend is not only an improper but an impossible task. Angelos Melissinou, our dragoman : In person tall, broad-shouldered, and to use a polite word stout; his weight I should be sorry to mention. O always speaks of him to me as ' your ox ' ! Dresses as much like an Englishman as possible, and prides himself on being taken for one. He speaks our language like a native, having been engaged in his business from his youth, chiefly on board English yachts in the Levant. He knows his profession well, and is usually employed by travellers in Greece, with whom he is a general favourite. Being a native of Athens, he thinks it grand to exhibit a mild form of ARRIVAL AT THE HOLY MOUNTAIN 43 scepticism, has given up fasting, and in church makes a little sign of the cross an inch long, as if he were ashamed of it. His chief delight is to torment the Archbishop by telling him, with an air of great supe- riority, how they have given up this or that piece of religion at Athens. The Archbishop rejoins by per- tinent allusions to hell fire ; Angelos appeals to us ; we back up the Archbishop, and so the controversy sub- sides for the next forty-eight hours. Lastly there is your humble servant. Well, perhaps the less said about him the better. By the time we have completed our journey you will know as much of him as is necessary. So here we all are, three Greeks, two Englishmen, and a Montenegrin ; and having introduced ourselves we will think about landing, for we have nearly reached the great promontory with its white monasteries dotted along the shore, and we are just entering the Bay of Vatopedi. The British ens4gn was run up to the mainmast, the Turkish flag (to denote the presence of the Arch- bishop, who was a Turkish subject) to the foremast ; the steamer gave several loud whistles and cast anchor in the bay. It was now eight o'clock and dusk, but through the gathering darkness we could see two or three small boats coming towards the steamer, propelled by monks in tall hats. Into one the Archbishop, O , Pan tele, Peter, and myself entered, but not without the greatest difficulty, as the boat all but upset Angelos followed in another with all the luggage. We soon reached the pier, were assisted to land by 44 MOUNT ATHOS a crowd of monks, walked a little way towards the monastery, and then sat down on a stone bench to await the luggage. When it arrived a Turkish custom- house officer was greatly desirous of opening it, but by strenuous exertions Angelos prevented this, and we all proceeded to the monastery. On our arrival the great gate was thrown open, and a monk carrying a taper in his fingers went before us. It was now quite dark and we could see nothing of our surroundings, but followed the monk through what seemed a laby- rinth, through courts, up flights of stairs, along passages, across the tops of ancient walls, now under cover, now, as we could tell from the stars overhead, in the open air. Finally we reached the set of rooms provided for us a large sitting-room, into which two bedrooms opened, one for the Archbishop and one for us, con- taining clean iron bedsteads, and three or four other bedrooms on the other side of a passage in which our retainers settled themselves. Supper was announced almost immediately, and the Archbishop, ourselves, and Angelos were conducted to the room where it was prepared. We seated ourselves round a table with four of the chief monks, and the meal was immediately served. But what a repast ! Our hearts sank within us as we thought of the gastronomic trials in store for us during the next few weeks. The first dish consisted of raw tomatoes and chillies steeped in strong-smelling oil. This was placed in the centre of the table, each person helping himself with his own fork. The second course was soup, delicately compounded of fish and oil, the first spoonful of which positively took my breath away, it was so inexpressibly nasty. The AN ATHOS MENU 45 soup was followed by hot fish cooked in oil ; this was just eatable. Then cold cooked tomatoes stuffed with herbs and garlic. The fifth dish consisted of a white paste looking like cornflour, which we were told was made of ground beans ; this was a sort of sweet, but being flavoured with garlic it did not suit our palates. At the sixth course we returned to the fish again, and ended with water melons, which all ate with their fishy and garlic-scented knives. The redeeming point in the supper was the wine, which was both plentiful and good. After the meal we left the table and reclined on the divans to take our ' after-dinner ' glass. Whether we afterwards got accustomed to the fare or not I cannot say, but this supper seemed to us to be un- questionably the worst meal we ever had at Vatopedi ; we never had anything to complain of in the food set before us on subsequent occasions in this hospitable monastery. We returned to our rooms, had coffee whilst re- ceiving several mqnastic visitors, and retired at half- past eleven for our first night's rest on the Holy Mountain. ^ 6 MOUNT ATIIOS CHAPTER V. IN spite of the novelty of our situation we slept well, and did not awake until the sun had been up many hours and the heat of the day had begun. Before dressing we hastened to the windows of our little bed- room to see where we were, for our rambling walk through the monastery the previous night had left us in utter ignorance of the points of the compass. We found that our room was at an angle of the walls, where there had been originally a great tower, which, having been evidently considered useless and out of date by the monks, had been levelled to the height of the walls and then been built upon. This is the usual modern de- velopment of Athos architecture, and if my reader will take the trouble to look at the illustrations of the mo- nastic exteriors he will find examples of it in nearly every convent. Thus at Vatopedi the rooms are con- tinued along the top of the wall the whole way round, with two exceptions, where the ancient battlemented towers have been allowed to remain. A second archi- tectural peculiarity is that these rooms, which are built on the top of the wall, overhang it considerably on the exterior, and are, therefore, supported by brackets of stout timbers. Sometimes, indeed, these hanging rooms are built in several rows one over the other, as at the Monastery of St. Dionysius. This gives a curious pic- VIEW FROM OUR WINDOW 47 turesqueness to the walls of the convents, although there is a drawback in the feeling of insecurity which forces itself disagreeably upon the visitor as he leans out of the window at the back of his divan and discovers that he and the divan upon which he is reclining are not upon terra firma, as he fancied, but overhang a pre- cipice. But I must return to our chamber at Vatopedi. Our first peep gave us a slight foretaste of the glorious scenery that was in store for us during our six weeks' sojourn on the Holy Mountain. Immediately beneath us was a sort of moat supplied with water from one of the numerous rills which flow down from the hills ; beyond the moat an open space of ground led up to the gate of the monastery, before which was a domed porch supported on four marble pillars. Close to the gate there is a little kiosk, or summer house, where the monks sit in the cool of the evening and enjoy the balmy breezes from the sea, which is only a few hun- dred yards distant and here takes the form of a beau- tiful bay. A few small craft were lying at anchor, discharging cargoes of bricks and iron rails for the re- pair of some buildings recently burnt. Just outside the monastery and opposite to our window are the stables, where a hundred fat and well-groomed mules belong- ing to this convent have their head-quarters, wandering about the neighbouring pastures when they are not re- quired, each with his little tinkling bell round his neck. Then comes the cemetery, a marvellously small piece of ground for the number of inhabitants that live and die in and around Vatopedi, if it were not for the in- variable custom which prevails here, and generally amongst the Greeks, of digging up the bodies three 48 MOUNT ATHOS years after burial ; theskulls are then neatly labelled with the names of the owners and the dates of their deaths, and placed in the crypt of the cemetery church, whilst the other bones are thrown confusedly into a large chest. The crypt at Vatopedi contains 3,000 skulls. In the hole out of which the skeleton has been dug (corpses are buried without coffins) another body is buried, and so on ad infiniinm. How the soil manages to absorb so much animal matter I cannot tell, but it is a very rare occurrence for a body to be found entire at the end of the three years, and a popular superstition hands over the owner of the said body to the Fiend in the case of non-decomposition. Passing the cemetery and the various little cottages all covered with vines and creepers which lie between the convent and the sea, where dwell the muleteers, artisans, and labourers belonging to the monastery, you arrive at the garden in which the good monks grow their herbs and vege- tables. It stretches for some distance along the sea- shore, from which it is separated by a stone wall. Every evening this garden is carefully irrigated from a large reservoir, and in consequence is very productive. After we had gazed for some time at the scene I have just described we called for Angelos, who was sitting talking with the Archbishop in the next room, and made him fetch water for our bath. And here let me recommend to all travellers that great luxury, a port- able india-rubber bath. Mine goes into the compass of a large sponge bag, and does not take up more room in the portmanteau than an ordinary night shirt. It has been many thousand miles with me, and is in as good condition as when I first bought it at the cost of seventeen shillings and sixpence. We dressed rapidly, VATOPEDI COURTYARD 49 and having" startled an old monk beneath by emptying the water from the bath into the moat, joined the Arch- bishop in the parlour. It was now time to go to break- fast ; but O had to take his departure without me, as the dainties I had consumed the previous evening had proved too much for me, and I breakfasted in my COURTYARD OF VATOPEDI. bedroom on plain boiled rice. Towards noon, how- ever, I recovered and joined O in an examination of the interior of the monastery. It is built on a hill rising from the sea, so that the courtyard, which is very extensive, is on a consider- able incline. Within this is the catholicon, or principal church, the ancient refectory, another church dedicated to the Holy Girdle, and various offices, such as kitchens, E 50 MOUNT ATHOS oil stores, bell and clock towers, &c. The courtyard is surrounded by the monastic buildings, of vast extent, partly within the great walls, partly built on them in the manner described above. There were originally twelve towers ; now only two remain as such, the rest having been levelled nearly to the walls. Curzon in his delightful book l describes the monastery accurately when he says, ' This convent well illustrates what some of the great monastic establishments in England must have been before the Reformation. It covers at least four acres of ground, and contains so many separate buildings within its massive walls that it resembles a fortified town/ Some idea of its extent may be realised when one considers that it contains no less than sixteen churches within the walls. Of course many of these are mere chapels, but still each is a perfect church with its interior divisions and its dome over the roof. The entrance, which, as before said, has a porch, 2 is defended by three gates placed at intervals along a narrow and tortuous passage, so constructed as to be easily de- fended in case of need. I n this passage Clarke, in 1 80 1 , noticed two guns on carriages ; there were then, he says, many cannon in the embrasures of the walls. In fact, until 1820 all the monasteries were provided with cannon ; in that year the Turks removed them. On the second gate (the old outer gate, the present one 1 Monasteries of the Levant. London, 1850. 2 Nearly all the convents have similar porches. They generally con- tain frescoes of the Blessed Virgin and the Holy Child, the two arch- angels Michael and Gabriel, the two soldier saints George and Demetrius, and the patron saint of the house. Lamps are suspended before these representations of the guardians of the monastic gate, and it is customary to bow towards the principal picture over the doorway and to cross oneself on entering or leaving the convent. VATOPEDI PHIALE 51 having been added 1 50 years back) is a small handle fashioned into the rough likeness of a dog, and the story goes that it was presented by a Turkish officer who contemptuously brought his bitch within the sacred precincts (probably during the occupation at the time of the Greek Revolution), when the animal was instantly stricken dead. The door is thickly plated with iron and is of great weight. Between the west end of the catholicon and the refectory is a charming little court planted with orange trees, containing \hephiale, or fountain, which is always to be found close to the catholicon, generally at the west end, throughout the Athos convents. 1 It is used for the blessing of water at the Epiphany and on the first day of each month, though anciently it was probably intended for the performance of ablutions before entering the church, 2 as is the custom of the Mussul- mans at the present day ; indeed, this reason has been given for its discontinuance amongst Eastern Chris- tians. In the West jthe phiale has been replaced by the holy water stoup ; in the East holy water at the church doors is unknown, although I have heard it stated that there are exceptions where the Easterns have been brought into contact with the Latins. At Vatopedi the phiale, dedicated to St, John Baptist, has a dome supported by a double row of white marble columns, connected by a carved parapet of the same material. Under the dome is a large marble basin. 1 On the phiale of St. Sophia at Constantinople was the following inscription, which, it will be observed, reads both ways : NI*ON ANOMHMATA MH MONAN O'MN. ' Eusebius, Hist. Eccl, x. 4. See also Texier, Byzantine Arch. p. 71. E 7. 52 MOUNT ATHOS The catholicon is one of the most ancient buildings on the Holy Mountain, and is particularly well propor- tioned. From internal evidence it would seem to have been built about the ninth century, possibly as late as the end of the tenth, as there exists a tradition that the monastery was restored at that time after it had been destroyed by the Arabs. The monks assert that the PLA.N OF AN EASTERN CHURCH. 1. Bema. 2. Chapel of the prothesis, 3. Diaconicon. 4. Nave. 5. Esonarthex. 6. Exonarthex. 7. Pronaos. 8. Holy table. 9. Table of the prothesis. 10. Bishop's seat. 11. Holy doors. 12. Iconostasis. 13. Pillars supporting the central dome. four massive columns of porphyry which support the central dome were gifts of the Empress Pulcheria, 1 being brought hither from Ravenna. Pulcheria died in A.D. 453, and the church is certainly not as old as the fifth century, but it is quite possible that these 1 Another tradition alters Pulcheria to Placidia : see history of the monastery, below. DESCRIPTION OF A GREEK CHURCH 53 pillars may have belonged to a more ancient church which was only partially destroyed and was afterwards rebuilt much on the old plan. Before giving a description of the interior of this ca- tholicon it will be necessary for me to explain to some of my readers how a Greek church is built, for it differs so widely from a Western interior that if I omitted to do so my remarks would be for the most part unintelligible. It will be seen, looking at the accompanying plan, that the church is divided into three principal portions, the exonarthex, or exterior vestibule, with the esonar- thex, or interior vestibule, the nave, and the bema, or sanctuary. The exonarthex and esonarthex are fre- quently merged into one division, called simply the narthex. Generally in addition to the nartheces there is a pronaos, or porch, sometimes called the proaulion. Besides these divisions there is theoretically always a quire, situated in front of the bema in the centre of the church, but at Athos there is no proper quire, as stalls are fixed agaiost the whole of the walls of the nave and narthex. On each side of the bema is a chapel, that on the north being the chapel of the prothesis, that on the south the diaconicon, or sacristy. These chapels are sometimes completely separated from the bema, being entered from it by doorways in the dividing walls, but more often, especially in modern Byzantine churches, they are only architecturally separated. The bema, the chapel of the prothesis, and the dia- conicon are separated from the nave by a high and solid screen called the iconostasis, which reaches at least halfway up to the roof of the church and is covered with icons, or sacred pictures, in which, as a 54 MOUNT ATHOS general rule, only the faces and hands of the figures are painted, the rest of the subject being rendered in repousse metal work, usually of silver gilt, and set with precious stones. This screen is pierced by three door- ways, the centre one called the aytat Ovpai, or holy doors y opening directly on to the holy table, which is situated in the bema about three feet behind the iconostasis. The icon next to the holy doors on the south side is that of our Saviour, that on the north of the Blessed Virgin. This order is invariably followed in every Eastern church ; the other icons on the iconostasis may be of any saints. Besides the holy doors a curtain or veil (fir)\60vpoi>), drawn across their interior face, completely shuts off the bema from the nave if, as is frequently the case, the doors are of open carved wood work. The door on the north of the holy doors leads into the chapel of the prothesis, that on the south gives access to the diaconicon. The bema contains the holy table (ayla rpdrre^a), which is usually rather low and square in shape, having four pillars at the corners supporting a canopy or baldakin like that over the high altar in St. Ambrose at Milan. On the holy table is kept the Book of the Gospels, always magnificently bound, a cross used for blessing the people and for them to kiss, and a cor- poral of linen or silk called the antimins, which has a small portion of relics sewn into a little bag in the corner. The antimins is always kept carefully wrapped up in a piece of silk, and is not allowed to be touched by the laity. On the eastern side of the holy table are a cross and candlesticks, as with us. The Eucharist is frequently reserved in a little box suspended by chains between the two eastern pillars of the baldakin. DESCRIPTION OF A GREEK CHURCH 55 Behind the altar a seat generally runs round the wall of the apse, having in the centre the seat of the bishop of the diocese, called the synthronos (a-vv0povo