Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 1, 1851).djvu/269

 death, so that he cannot take bread, a drop is poured out for him from the chalice. The Sacrament is not consecrated for the Communion unless it be already sacred; but it is consecrated on Thursday in the Holy Week for sick people, and kept through the whole year; and when it is wanted the priest takes a small piece of it and places it in the wine, and when it is well soaked he hands it to the sick person, and then adds a little warm water.

No monk or priest prays the canonical hours, as they are called, except in the presence of an image, which nobody touches without great reverence; and he who carries it in public, bears it in his hand high raised in the air, and all who pass by it cover their heads, crossing themselves and bowing with the greatest reverence. They only place the books of the gospel in places of honour, regarding them as a sacred thing; nor do they touch them with the hand, unless they have previously protected themselves with the sign of the cross, and then they manifest their devotion by bowing with the head covered, and after that, with the greatest reverence, they take the book in their hands. The bread also, before it has been consecrated as with us, with the usual words, is carried round the church, and they worship and adore it with words conceived in their own minds.

Men of superior rank observe the feast days by indulging, when the service of the church is over, in banquets, drunkenness, and elegant attire; the common people, the domestics, and the serfs, for the most part, work, and say that it is for their masters to make holiday and abstain from labour. The citizens and mechanics are present at the service, after which they return to their work, thinking it more holy to