The walls of the monastery were not thick enough to keep the breath of scandal from reaching the abode of the recluses. I was told of a former governor of Sivas, who had been extremely popular throughout the district, and who in forty days had actually established order in the town and neighbourhood. It appeared that this Pacha was a very good-looking man. One day, when he was at Constantinople, a sister of the late Sultan Abdul Aziz chanced to see him. She wished to marry the Adonis; "but unfortunately," added my Armenian informant, "he was in love with his own wife, a pretty woman. He declined the Sultan's offer to take his sister, who was not good-looking, as chief lady in the harem. Soon afterwards the Pacha died at Smyrna under very suspicious circumstances. It is generally supposed that he was poisoned."
"His Eminence is freed from all such dangers," whispered another of the guests, as he called my attention by a nudge with his elbow.
"How so?" I asked.
"Why, he cannot marry. Our bishops are not allowed this indulgence. Should a priest take unto himself a wife, he can never become a bishop."
"How does your system answer?" I inquired.
"Answer! very badly. They are not allowed to have wives of their own; but they look after the welfare of the ladies in their congregation. Are your Protestant bishops allowed to marry?"
"Yes."
"Well, it would be a good thing for the married people in Armenia, if our bishops had the same permission."
I now went to see the chapels belonging to the monastery.
An altar in one of them was profusely decorated with gold and other ornaments. It was erected to the memory of the four martyrs of Sivas who were torn to pieces by the Pagans about 1500 years ago. It is said that our Saviour shortly afterwards appeared to the inhabitants of the town in the form of a bird, and alighted upon a large stone near the place where the four Christians had been murdered. The stone was subsequently taken to the monastery, and this altar had been erected upon it. In another chapel, there was a picture of one of the kings of Armenia in the act of being consecrated by an archbishop of Sivas. The holy father who called my attention to this picture pointed to the suppliant form of the king, who was kneeling before a priest, and to a monk who was writing the date of the coronation on a scroll of parchment, and looking down upon the sovereign.