Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/148

120 the priest kissed his hands. After the robing, the Archbishop sat on his throne, aud the hierokeryæ, or preacher, who forms part of the episcopal retinue, ascended into a lofty pulpit and delivered an extempore discourse in very fluent and classical Greek in praise of the Archbishop. This gentleman wore a most picturesque black veil or coif, and a gown of the same colour; his action was rather singular, with very much more gesticulation than is practised in our northern climes. Then the Archbishop made a parting speech in very beautiful language; shedding tears, which I really believe to have been genuine, if anything of the kind can be warranted genuine in the Levant. At the close he begged his flock to forgive him, if, in the course of his ministry, he had failed in his duty; and descending from the pulpit at the close of his discourse into the dense crowd of listeners, he bowed to the ground three times, turning his body in different directions, and said, "My brethren, my brethren, forgive me," three times. After the Archbishop had with great dignity gone through this parting ceremony, he retired with the whole body of priests into what we should call the chancel, where the sacrament was administered to him. A long procession, flanked by torches and silver crosses, conveyed the elements into this inner sanctuary, where no layman is admitted. The bread was borne on the head of a priest, the cup in the hand of another, both concealed from the gaze of the multitude by a blue cloth spangled with gold.