sent at the time another person
besides the writer who had heard the previous statement as to the
blindness of the archbishop, and on their both questioning the general
if he were sure that the archbishop's arm was paralyzed, as stated, he
declared that he could not doubt it, as he had it directly from persons
entirely trustworthy, who were cognizant of all the facts.

Some time later, the present writer, having an interview with the most
eminent lay authority in the Greek Church, a functionary whose duties
had brought him into almost daily contact with the late archbishop,
asked him which of these stories was correct. This gentleman answered
immediately: "Neither; I saw the archbishop constantly, and no such
event occurred; he was never paralyzed and never blind."

The same gentleman went on to say that, in his belief, Father Ivan had
shown remarkable powers in healing the sick, and the greatest charity in
relieving the distressed. It was made clearly evident that Father Ivan
is a saintlike man, devoted to the needy and distressed and exercising
an enormous influence over them--an influence so great that crowds
await him whenever he visits the capital. In the atmosphere of Russian
devotion myths and legends grow luxuriantly about him, nor is belief in
him confined to the peasant class. In the autumn of 1894 he was summoned
to the bedside of the Emperor Alexander III. Unfortunately for the peace
of Europe, his intercession at that time proved unavailing.

These examples will serve to illustrate the process which in thousands
of cases has gone on from the earliest days of the Church until a very
recent period. Everywhere miraculous cures became the rule rather than
the exception throughout Christendom.

III. THE MEDIAEVAL MIRACLES OF HEALING CHECK MEDICAL SCIENCE.

So it was that, throughout antiquity, during the early history of the
Church, throughout the Middle Ages, and indeed down to a comparatively
recent period, testimony to miraculous interpositions which would now
be laughed at by a schoolboy was accepted by the leaders of thought. St.
Augustine was certainly one of the strongest minds in the early Church,
and yet we find him mentioning, with much seriousness, a story that
sundry innkeepers of his time put a drug into cheese which metamorphosed
travellers into domestic animals, and asserting that the peacock is so
favoured by the Almighty that its flesh will not decay, and that he has
tested it and