A Collection of Curious Travels and Voyages, Volume 1 · Part 3 · Chapter 11 – Chapter 13
CHAP. XI
Of the GREEKS.
AS the ancient Greeks in former days did excel almoſt all other Nations in Wiſdom and Underſtanding, and uſed to have their Children inſtructed at home in thir own Univerſities in all manner of Learning; ſo in our times we find the contrary; for in all Greece there is not one Univerſity to be found, where ſuch Diſcipline and Learning flouriſhes as did anciently: juſt ſo is the deſire of Learning, and inſtructing their Children extinguiſhed in them. They take greater delight in idle Diſcourſes, and rather love Idleneſs, which they have learned very well, ſince they truckle under the Turkiſh Yoak. 'Tis true, they write the Greek Language, but which is as corrupt and different from the Ancient, as the Italian is from the Latin. The Turks deſpiſe them for their Lazineſs and Cowardize, and on the contrary they love the Germans, French and Italians, and praiſe them, ſaying, That they are ſtout and courageous Soldiers; they call them all by the ſame Name Franci, becauſe the Diviſions of our Country are unknown to moſt of them.
In former Ages they had here and there in large and eminent Towns, inſtead of the Pope (whom they will not obey, nor be ſubject unto) their Patriarch, Archbiſhops and Biſhops, whereof ſome are ſtill kept up: but after the Turks did take and poſſeſs themſelves of their Country, there is fewer of them in number, and they have ſmaller Revenues.
Without their Country, they have in great trading Cities, as Cayro, Alepo, Antiochia of Syria, Venice, &c. their peculiar Churches, and chiefly in ſome holy places in the Land of Promiſe. As at Jeruſalem the Temple of Mount Calvaria, the place of Sculls whereon Chriſt was Crucified: and alſo the beautiful Chancel that is in the middle of the Church: wherein is a round hole about a ſpan over in a ſtone, which is, as they pretend, the middle of the Earth, according to the Words of the Kingly Prophet David, when he ſays: God, who now is my King from the beginning, has wrought our ſelves on the middle of the Earth. Beſides theſe, they have another called the Holy Croſs, about an Engliſh Mile out of Town, which, as they pretend, is built on the ſame place where the Tree did grow, whereof they made the Croſs of Chriſt. Beſides this they have a great many more which I reckon unneceſſary to mention here.
Some of their Church-Doors are ſo low, that you muſt ſtoop when you will go through them.
They believe that the Holy Ghoſt doth proceed only from the Father, and not from the Son. They keep yearly two great Faſts, and they eat Fleſh upon the Sabbath, or Saturday, at pleaſure: they ſing the Maſs in their own Language, that every Body may underſtand it. In their Churches they ſuffer no emboſſed Work, nor carved Images, but have plain Pictures on Boards, or on the Walls. They do not believe a Purgatory (as the Papiſts there called Latini) nor that our Praying, Faſting or Offering, for the Dead, can do them any good. And they are mightily diſpleaſed, that the Roman Prieſts do not, according to the plain words of St. Paul, marry as well as they, nor give the Lords Holy Supper in both kinds, as our Lord himſelf did inſtitute it. Wherefore they condemn ſuch Errors of the Popiſh Church, and excommunicate the Pope and his Adherents on the holy Friday yearly. And becauſe they reckon them to be ſuperſtitious, they will not permit them to ſay Maſs upon their Altars; but if they ſhould do it, they accuſe them before the Turkiſh Magiſtrates.
So it happened when I firſt came over, that they were very angry with a Papiſt that had ſaid Maſs upon their Altar, and ſo had profaned it, wherefore they did immediately conſecrate the Altar again, and had the Prieſt before the Cadi: and they brought it ſo far, that he was mulcted Five hundred Ducats, to pay in a ſhort time. When he thought that the Puniſhmenr was greater than the Treſpaſs or Tranſgreſſion, he did ſeek for help at Alepo and Tripoli by the French and Italian Conſul, but did obtain no great matter, ſo that he was ſtill in election to pay the Forfeiture.
CHAP, XII.
Of the SURIANS that eſteem themſelves to be Chriſtians.
AMong the Eaſtern Chriſtians we alſo find them that are called Surians, whereof there is a great many, but chiefly in Syria. They have like unto the Jews in ſeveral Towns their peculiar Churches. In Jeruſalem they live in the Church of St. Mark, which ſtands in the place, where the Houſe ſtood formerly, at the Door whereof St. Peter the Apoſtle did knock, when the Angel had delivered him out of Priſon.
In their Religion they follow for the greateſt part the Greeks; they Adminiſter the Sacrament in Leavened Bread: and they ſay their Maſſes like unto them in the vulgar Arabian Tongue. They are a ſort of poor, naked, covetous and helpleſs People; their Gowns reach only to their Knees, as thoſe of the Maronites, ſome whereof are wrought of courſe Goats Hair, ſtriped black and white, ſuch as the Arabians make uſe of commonly, and almoſt alike unto their Meſcha, which they uſe for Sacks and Tents, and they wear nothing underneath them, but Shirts without Neckbands, as is uſual in all the Eaſtern Countries, they wear High Shoes, which ſerve them for Stockings and Breeches alſo, being tied up with Straps. They are ſubject unto the Turks, who make uſe of them as Labourers, both by Water and Land. They alſo mind their Trade more than their Religion; wherefore having lived ſo long among the Turks, they have already aſſumed their Cuſtoms and Manners in Temporal and Spiritual Affairs, and are thereby become ſo confident and ſecure, that now adays the Difference between theſe two Religions are eſteemed by them to be ſmall and frivolous. If a Chriſtian hath to deal with them, and deſireth to buy ſomething of them, either Opium, Scammony, or any other the like Drug, which they commonly falſifie, he muſt look to himſelf as if he had to deal with Jews.
CHAP. XIII.
Of the GEORGIANS.
NEar unto the glorious City of Trapozinta, ſituated on the Euxine Sea, beginneth the Country of the Georgians, and butts toward the South upon Armenia. Theſe are very civil and ſimple People, but yet ſtrong and brave Warriors; they eſteem and honor among other Saints, but chiefly for warlike Buſineſſes, as their Patron, the Knight St. George, from whom they take their Denomination. Their Merchants come very often in great Caravans to Alepo, and are, according to all appearance in their ſhape and poſture like unto the Perſians, only that theſe are more whitiſh, and the others more tawny and browner: they wear alſo like them ſhort flying Coats, and long and wide Drawers, &c. They have, as the reſt, their Patriarchs and Biſhops, who altho they are differing and diſſenting in ſome points; yet for the moſt part they follow the Doctrine and Errors of the Grecians, and ſo they have and uſe the ſame Writings and Offices. Their Prieſts are, as well as thoſe of the Armenians, allowed to be married; but yet if either of them ſhould happen to die, they muſt not marry again. In Jeruſalem they are alſo poſſeſſed of their peculiar places, wherein they ſing and exerciſe the Offices, and chiefly of one in the Church of Mount Calvaria, in the place near the Sepulchre of our Lord Chriſt, where he did firſt appear unto Mary Magdalen in the ſimilitude of a Gardener, after his Reſurrection.