Page:The travels of Macarius, Patriarch of Antioch - Volume I.djvu/143



Wallachia, we came to a large market-town, called and thence we reached a considerable city,  by name, where a Bishop holds his residence, in an episcopal palace, containing a magnificent convent of stone, and a stone-built church, of great size and elevation, with a high tower and lofty cupolas. This church is adorned with a grand Crucifixion, and is dedicated to the Assumption of Our Lady. We here assisted at the Ἀγρυπνία, and afterwards at the mass of the Feast of St. Catherine. Their forms of service, and their singing, are admirable; for the Christians of the province of Wallachia are truly good and religious. Whenever we were about to enter a village or a market- town, the Priesthood, Grandees, and common people came out to meet our Lord the Patriarch, and to receive his blessing: then they took us to the banquet, where we received their visits; and after staying a little while, we resumed our march. This is indeed a populous country; and every farmer's station is as large as a village, supplying a reception to strangers. It is very different from Moldavia; where, when the Patriarch entered the abode of any of the inhabitants, not one of them came to stand before him, nor treated him to a cake of bread; than whom, even the Tartars are more religious. For this reason, so many thousands of them have been slain, and their crops and cattle carried off by the Tartars and Hungarians. How much tyranny did they not endure under the reign of Vasili! to whom they so often proved treacherous; inclining to their new Sovereign, who flattered them with smiles, and promised them that he would Rh