satisfy and content him, but
so that he shall approve of and praise your conduct.

"This we desire and require to be executed, rewarding you with the
Divine and with our blessing.

"(Signed) GREGORIOS, Universal Patriarch.

"Constantinople, 1 (13) July, 1837."

[15] Ridiculous as these pictorial representations of the Last Judgment
appear to us, one of them was the cause of a whole nation's embracing
Christianity. Bogoris, king of Bulgaria, having written to
Constantinople for a painter to decorate the walls of his palace, a monk
named Methodius was sent to him--all knowledge of the arts in those days
being confined to the clergy. The king desired Methodius to paint on a
certain wall the most terrible picture that he could imagine; and, by
the advice of the king's sister, who had embraced Christianity some
years before whilst in captivity at Constantinople, the monastic artist
produced so fearful a representation of the torments of the condemned in
the next world, that it had the effect of converting Bogoris to the
Christian faith. In consequence of this event the Patriarch of
Constantinople despatched a bishop to Bulgaria, who baptised the king by
the name of Michael in the year 865. Before long his loyal subjects,
following the example of their sovereign, were converted also; and
Christianity from that period became the religion of the land.

[16] In the early ages of the Greek church the Epiphany was a day of
very great solemnity; for not only was the adoration of the Magi
celebrated on the 6th of January, but also the changing of the water
into wine at the marriage at Cana, the baptism, and even the birth of
our Lord. On this day the holy water is blessed in the Greek church, by
throwing a small cross into it, or otherwise by holding over it the
cross, with a handle attached to it, which is used by the Greek clergy
in the act of benediction.

[17] The Emperor Leo the First was crowned by the Patriarch of Anatolia
in the year 459. He is the first prince on record who received his crown
from the hands of a bishop.

[18] Mosheim's 'Ecclesiastical History;' Gibbon.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Visits To Monasteries in the Levant, by
Robert Curzon

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