"He is All powerful; he can do what He likes," observed the Imaum excitedly.
Later in the day I walked into an Armenian church. This was a large building, with red carpets, and rather reminded me of a mosque. It must sometimes have been bitterly cold inside, for there were no stoves in the building. I was informed that the upper classes who came to pray, all wore furs. As the lower orders are not able to pay for any such warm garments, they must occasionally be half-frozen when listening to their priest's oration.
A raised platform at one end of the church was enclosed by trellis-work. It was so constructed that the occupants of the gallery could see the clergyman, without their attention being occupied by the congregation.
"This gallery is for our women," said an Armenian, who showed me over the building; "and the trellis-work is to prevent them from staring at the men."
"Or rather to prevent the men from staring at them!"
My companion laughed at the remark.
"It answers both purposes!" he exclaimed. "But if you look at the screen, you will see that it is broken in several places, three or four of the holes in the trellis-partition have been made into one. The women have done this to obtain a better view."
"Do you not separate the women from the men in your churches?" he inquired.
"No."
"Then if the ladies are as pretty as they are said to be, your clergyman must find it rather difficult to keep the attention of his flock."