# The Travels of Macarius, Patriarch of Antioch/Volume 1/Part 1/Book 1/Section 3

Sect. III.
Broussa.
Now, we entered Broussa on the evening of the aforesaid Tuesday, being the twenty-eighth of the month Iloul. We alighted at the Yengi Khan, among the natives of Aleppo; the meeting with whom gave expansion to our hearts. With them we passed the night: and in the morning of Wednesday, there came to the Khan all the Clergy and all the Archons of Broussa; and they took us to the quarter Kaya Bashi, where their church is, dedicated to Our Lady. This church is as all their churches. They clothed our Lord the Patriarch in the Mantia (Μανδύα) at the end of the street; where the priests and deacons met us with torches and thuribles; and the singers chaunted all the while, till we entered the church. Here was first mentioned the name of the Sovereign; afterwards, that of the Patriarch of Antioch and of All the East; and then followed ​the whole of the proclamation. They lodged us in a house near the church: and in the morning of Saturday, the second of Teshrin the first, they took us, in company with our hosts from Aleppo, to the warm baths Eski Kablouja; in the hot and refreshing waters of which we bathed, and then went to the garden of Kesenta.
In the evening, on our return, we performed the Ἑσπερινόν (Vesper Service) of the Eve of Sunday, the third after the Feast of the Cross, in the aforesaid church. From this place, Broussa, to Constantinople, and thence as far as Vallachia and Moldavia, including the adjacent countries, the Christians are not in the habit of performing the Ἀγρυπνία (Vigils) as we do in our country: but when it is a great festival, they perform it on the preceding eve, before the midnight prayer, and continually throw incense at the Κύριε ἔϰραξα (O Lord, I have cried), till the time of the Δόξα (Glory, or Doxology): in the mean time the congregation is assembling. They mentioned in the proclamation the name of our Lord the Patriarch first; afterwards the names of their Metropolitans. At the Εἴσοδος, all the priests present took the Κορώνη, and put on their copes after their custom, and walked round in the Εἴσοδος, singing "O Divine Light:" and it is a sign, when a priest walks round in the Εἴσοδος the evening before, that he is coming to perform mass the next day. Remark, that the Principal, or head of the priests, has the duty of repeating the Psalm for Sun-set, and "O Divine Light," and, "Now dismiss thy servant:" and so, in the Morning Prayer, he has to repeat the Morning Psalms, and then "Glory to the Sender of light," &c. On the morning of the before-mentioned Sunday, our Lord the Patriarch said mass in this church. Throughout all the country of Greece they begin with the Κανών first; and after the seventh ᾨδὴ (Hymn) and the Συναξάρια (Martyrology), they say Πᾶσα πνοὴ and the Gospel, and "Save, O God, thy people;" and the officiating priest comes out carrying the Gospel to the ​head priest, that he may kiss it; and then all that are present kiss it likewise. He goes out with it also to the women, that they may kiss it in like manner; and then returns to the thurible. As to the hours, they are altogether neglected by the Greeks, except the first hour, or prime, at break of day; and so they close their service: but the priest, as he says mass, repeats them all in secret. In the country of the Cossacks, however, and at Moscow, they say them loud and publicly, as with us. In the procession with the body, the deacons go out before, and the priests behind it. In all this country, except Moscow, the whole of the persons present in the church go into the sanctuary to take the Ἀντίδωρα (Remunerations) from the hand of the head priest or the officiating minister. He even goes out to the women and children, and imparts the Communion to them.
On Saturday the ninth of Teshrin the first, they took us to the warm baths Yengi Kablouja, which resemble Behram Basha and Mustafa Basha at Damascus and Aleppo. We visited the source of this water; which boils as it springs out of the rock, and throws up a smoke into the misty air. Its smell is sulphureous; and it is impossible for any one to hold in it his hand; for it scalds fowls, and boils eggs, as we ourselves witnessed: on this account three or four cold waters are mixed with it, to bring it to a just temperature. The baths are an immense structure.
On the morning of Sunday, the fourth after the Festival of the Cross, our Lord the Patriarch was invited by the priests and principal inhabitants of the quarter called Balik Bazaar to say mass in their church, which is dedicated in the name of St. John the Evangelist. He went thither accordingly, and performed mass. This church is double (ملفقه), as the others are. On the eve of Tuesday, he was again invited by the inhabitants of the quarter called Damir Gibi to their church, where he performed the ceremony of the Ἁγιασμός, and slept there.
On Wednesday the twelfth of Teshrin the first, and the sixteenth day of our abode in Broussa, we departed, after taking leave of the principal inhabitants; who accompanied us as far as Modanir, from which place the whole population issued forth to meet the Patriarch, at a considerable distance. They took us directly to their High Church, called after the Assumption of Our Lady: and the deacon ​mentioned first the name of the Patriarch of Constantinople; secondly, that of the Patriarch of Antioch: but they omitted any mention of their Metropolitan, Clementus, (God erase his name from the Book of Life!) for his haughtiness of mind, being hated by all the people; particularly at the present time, when he declined coming out to meet the Patriarch and welcome his arrival. For this reason we staid a very short time here, and performed no mass. But the people honoured us much; for they are exceedingly good Christians, and very religious. They lodged us in the house of the Archon Krishi Tourti, upon the sea-shore. In this place are about twenty churches. Within the Metropolitan's palace is a small church, in the name of the Divine Manifestation; and under it is a spring of water. The church is adorned with a painting of the Holy Mountain and all its Monasteries. Hence we went to visit the Church of St. Theodorus, which is very beautiful: and afterwards that of St. George. The rest of the churches we had not an opportunity of visiting, because we were in haste to embark upon the sea, and pass over to Constantinople before the tempestuous season of St. Demetrius.
They hired for us a boat, at eight hundred othmanis; and we left Modanir on Friday the 16th of Teshrin. Having rowed us about twelve miles, till the evening, they cast anchor; and at midnight they again started. We had scarcely got out into the middle of the sea, when, of a sudden, there sprung up a violent gale, and the waves were agitated. The storm increased to such a degree, that the boat was near sinking with us, from the attack of the huge foaming billows; and our sense fled from us, so that we cried and sobbed like children. Giving ourselves up for lost, we bade adieu to each other, and openly confessed our sins; and our Lord the Patriarch read over us the Prayer of forgiveness, absolution, and remission, whilst we were in momentary expectation of approaching death. But the Creator, exalted be his name! who neglecteth not his servants, did not abandon us; and by the intercession for us of the Virgin his Mother, the preserver and refuge of all who are in distress—of St. Nicholas—of St. Simeon the Wonder-worker, the seaman, the Aleppian—of St. George, the rider upon sea and land—and of St. Demetrius, whose festival was approaching (for both before and after it this storm is dreaded by navigators)—the waves subsided; and after ​immense fatigue and mighty fear, our sailors succeeded in rowing us to land; where they lowered the sail, after the mast had narrowly escaped being broken by the furious gale that blew. At first we could not believe that we were safe; till the men leaped on shore, and we had leisure to contemplate our pitiable condition. In the morning they rowed us to the famous Khan Bouzbouroun, and here cast anchor. We found many ships at anchor in this place, from dread of the weather. We staid at Bouzbouroun from the morning of the Saturday before mentioned, till midnight preceding Tuesday; when the weather having become favourable, they set sail with us, and arrived in the morning at a village called the Katerli. We landed for the purpose of visiting its church, which is dedicated in the name of Saint Kyriaki. In the evening we came to a populous town on the beach of the island, cited in the Συναξάρια (Martyrology), and in History, by the name Πρώτη, that is, the First. Its present name is Birigi. It contains the monuments of the Patriarchs of Constantinople up to this day. In it are three churches; one dedicated to our Lady, another to St. Demetrius, and the third to St. George. At midnight we re-commenced our journey; and in the morning came to Escudar. We had passed by the city of Chalcedonia, and كرم الارمله The Widow's Vineyard, which John the Chrysostom carried away. It is up to the present time (كشبه جزيرة) in semblance of an island. The city is now called Kadi Gun, that is, almost in sound, Chalcedonia.
* ↑ Μανδύα, the Pallium, or Pall.
* ↑ "The Εἴσοδος."] The Introit, the solemn entry of the priests into that division of the church where the altar stands, and which is separated from the body of the church by a lofty screen adorned with paintings of our Saviour, the Virgin, and the Saints. In this screen are three doors. The priests and deacons, at certain periods of the service, come forth from one of the side doors, make the circuit of the church, and re-enter the sanctuary by the great middle door; which entrance of theirs is called "the Εἴσοδος."
* ↑ "The Κανών" is a particular psalm, sung at this part of the service.
* ↑ "The Συναξάρια," a Compendium of the Lives of Saints and Martyrs, read in the church to the people.
* ↑ "Πᾶσα πνοὴ," Every breath; with which words a portion of the Greek Service just preceding the Gospel commences.
* ↑ The Ἀντίδωρα consist of holy bread, which is sanctified during the service of the mass, and at the close of it is distributed to the people. This bread is however quite distinct from the consecrated, or as the Greeks consider it the transubstantiated, bread of the Eucharist. The Sacrament is administered to the laity four times a year, but this holy bread is distributed after every celebration of the mass.
* ↑ The Ἁγιασμός, the Purification, or Sanctification: but to what particular ceremony it alludes, I am not aware.—H. D. L.
* ↑ I can bear testimony to the uncertainty of the navigation of the Sea of Marmora; having, in a similar passage from Moudania (in the Arabic text written Modanir) to Constantinople, in an open boat, experienced just such a storm as assailed the Patriarch. I never felt myself in greater peril. Boats are often lost in this passage; as these gusts of wind come on in the Sea of Marmora with great violence, and often with scarcely any warning.—H. D. L.
* ↑ Birigi is merely the Turkish word for Πρώτη (Prote), or the First. The Turks call it by the former name; the Greeks by the latter. There is a cluster of islands in the Sea of Marmora, about twelve miles from Constantinople; of which the first you approach from the city is called Prote. From the description however of the island at which the Patriarch touched, it could not have been Prote, which has no town on it, and no habitation but a monastery; but was probably Prinkipo, the largest island of the cluster, and the first he would arrive at, on coming from Moudania.
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