Page:The travels of Macarius, Patriarch of Antioch - Volume I.djvu/62

34 see, on your right and left, two large forts. Here again are two other forts; and above them, on the top of the hill, are two ancient castles, of considerable size, and now in ruins, which Alexander is said to have built. Higher up is a convent, dedicated to the Assumption of Our Lady, and called, in Greek, Μοναστήρι τοῦ Μαυρομώλου, or Convent of the Black Rock, which I went to visit. It is upon the top of the hill, is inhabited by forty Monks, and contains a large and ancient church; outside of which is a holy well, with a copious spring of water, very sweet, and a cure for the sick. Over it, upon the wall, is a picture of Our Lady Panzanasa, which works miracles, and is famous for the cure of diseases. Inside the church is another Ἁγίασμα.

We had now mounted on board the ship. The sky was perfectly serene; the stars glittered; and the captain had determined to set sail at midnight: when, of a sudden, there arose a violent wind, and a dreadful storm came on, with a heavy fall of snow, which lasted from that night till the next. In this time four ships, which had ventured out of the Bosphorus, were wrecked; and it was by the guidance of the Almighty, and dextrous manœuvres, that we returned back with our vessel, from the place where it was, to the village called Terapia, above Yeni Keui, where we anchored. Here we found many ships at anchor; and alighted in a house belonging to the Christians, who have one hundred and twenty houses here, and have not a single Turk among them: for in the village is a church dedicated to Saint George, who is a present observer in his miracles; and whenever any one of them departs from his faith, he destroys him. This is the reason no infidel dwells among them.

On Friday, the seventeenth of Canon the first, our Lord the Patriarch said mass in the above-mentioned church of Terapia, and prepared (شال) Μύρον, or Ointment, though it was excessively cold, and there was a severe frost. Also, on the eve of Sunday of the Relation, we assisted at Vigils there, and he performed mass the next day, and made the holy oil. We read four Gospels, according to our custom, in Persian, Turkish, Arabic, and Greek; and there was a multitude of persons present, from the ships at anchor.

On the eve of Friday, and Παραμονὴ (Vigil) of the Feast of the Nativity, Kyr Païsius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, sent to the Patriarch of Antioch,