out of the same lake, to Novogorod; thence by the same river to Lake Ladoga, and by the River Neva to the sea, which they call Varetzkoi, but which we call the German Sea [the Baltic], between Finland and Livonia, and so sailed to Rome. Finally, that he was crucified for Christ’s sake in the Peloponnesus by Antipater. Such is the account given in their annals.
Metropolitans and bishops were formerly chosen at an assembly of all the archbishops, bishops, abbots, and priors of monasteries; a man remarkable for sanctity was sought for through monasteries and deserts, and was selected. But they say that it is the custom of the present prince to summon certain ecclesiastics to him, and choose one of their number according to his own judgment. When I was the Emperor Maximilian’s ambassador at Moscow, Bartholomew, a man of holy life, was the metropolitan; and on one occasion, when the prince had violated an oath made conjointly by him and the metropolitan himself to the Duke of Semeczitz, and had made assertions which appeared to him to be contrary to truth, he went to the prince and said:—Since thou usurpest all authority to thyself, I find it impossible to retain the charge of my office; and tendering the staff which he bore, which was in the form of a cross, he thus resigned his office. The prince without hesitation accepted the staff, together with the resignation of the office, and immediately sent the poor man bound with chains to Bielosero. They say that he was there a long while in chains, but that he was afterwards liberated, and privately passed the rest of his life in a monastery. One Daniel succeeded him as metropolitan, a man of about thirty years of age, of a large and corpulent frame, and with a red face, who, lest he should be thought more given to gluttony than to fastings, vigils, and prayers, used on all occasions when he had to perform any public ceremony, to expose his face to the fumes of sulphur to make himself pale; and when
