head priest, that he may kiss it; and then all that are present kiss it likewise. He goes out with it also to the women, that they may kiss it in like manner; and then returns to the thurible. As to the hours, they are altogether neglected by the Greeks, except the first hour, or prime, at break of day; and so they close their service: but the priest, as he says mass, repeats them all in secret. In the country of the Cossacks, however, and at Moscow, they say them loud and publicly, as with us. In the procession with the body, the deacons go out before, and the priests behind it. In all this country, except Moscow, the whole of the persons present in the church go into the sanctuary to take the Ἀντίδωρα[1] (Remunerations) from the hand of the head priest or the officiating minister. He even goes out to the women and children, and imparts the Communion to them.
On Saturday the ninth of Teshrin the first, they took us to the warm baths Yengi Klabouja[errata 1], which resemble Behram Basha and Mustafa Basha at Damascus and Aleppo. We visited the source of this water; which boils as it springs out of the rock, and throws up a smoke into the misty air. Its smell is sulphureous; and it is impossible for any one to hold in it his hand; for it scalds fowls, and boils eggs, as we ourselves witnessed: on this account three or four cold waters are mixed with it, to bring it to a just temperature. The baths are an immense structure.
On the morning of Sunday, the fourth after the Festival of the Cross, our Lord the Patriarch was invited by the priests and principal inhabitants of the quarter called Balik Bazaar to say mass in their church, which is dedicated in the name of St. John the Evangelist. He went thither accordingly, and performed mass. This church is double (ملفقه), as the others are. On the eve of Tuesday, he was again invited by the inhabitants of the quarter called Damir Gibi to their church, where he performed the ceremony of the Ἁγιασμός,[2] and slept there.
On Wednesday the twelfth of Teshrin the first, and the sixteenth day of our abode in Broussa, we departed, after taking leave of the principal inhabitants; who accompanied us as far as Modanir, from which place the whole population issued forth to meet the Patriarch, at a considerable distance. They took us directly to their High Church, called after the Assumption of Our Lady: and the deacon
- ↑ The Ἀντίδωρα consist of holy bread, which is sanctified during the service of the mass, and at the close of it is distributed to the people. This bread is however quite distinct from the consecrated, or as the Greeks consider it the transubstantiated, bread of the Eucharist. The Sacrament is administered to the laity four times a year, but this holy bread is distributed after every celebration of the mass.
- ↑ The Ἁγιασμός, the Purification, or Sanctification: but to what particular ceremony it alludes, I am not aware.—H. D. L.
