worthy minister of the Lord supposed that in a
Mahommedan country, where the laws of the priesthood and the functions of
a confessor are either unknown or disapproved, no examination would be
made into the source of his information, and that his evidence would have
the same weight as any other accuser's. So he resolved to make a profit
and gratify his own avarice. Several times he visited the husband and
wife, always borrowing considerable sums, and threatening to reveal their
crime if they refused him. The first few times the poor creatures gave
in to his exactions; but the moment came at last when, robbed of all
their fortune, they were obliged to refuse the sum he demanded. Faithful
to his threat, the priest, with a view to more reward, at once denounced
them to the dead man's father. He, who had adored his son, went to the
vizier, told him he had identified the murderers through their confessor,
and asked for justice. But this denunciation had by no means the desired
effect. The vizier, on the contrary, felt deep pity for the wretched
Armenians, and indignation against the priest who had betrayed them. He
put the accuser into a room which adjoined the court, and sent for the
Armenian bishop to ask what confession really was, and what punishment
was deserved by a priest who betrayed it, and what was the fate of those
whose crimes were made known in this fashion. The bishop replied that
the secrets of confession are inviolable, that Christians burn the priest
who reveals them, and absolve those whom he accuses, because the avowal
made by the guilty to the priest is proscribed by the Christian religion,
on pain of eternal damnation. The vizier, satisfied with the answer, took
the bishop into another room, and summoned the accused to declare all the
circumstances: the poor wretches, half dead, fell at the vizier's feet.
The woman spoke, explaining that the necessity of defending life and
honour had driven them to take up arms to kill their enemy. She added
that God alone had witnessed their crime, and it would still be unknown
had not the law of the same God compelled them to confide it to the ear
of one of His ministers for their forgiveness. Now the priest's
insatiable avarice had ruined them first and then denounced them. The
vizier made them go into a third room, and ordered the treacherous priest
to be confronted with the bishop, making him again rehearse the penalties
incurred by those who betray confessions