56.—How long ago it is since Machmet lived.
Item, it is to be noted, that the time Machmet was born counts from Christ’s birth, six hundred and nine years, and the Infidels say, that on the day he was born, one thousand and one churches fell of themselves, and that happened as a sign of the injury he would do to Christianity in his time. It is also here to be noted, how many tongues there are in the Greek faith. The first is the Greek tongue, in which their books are written; the Turks call them Vrrum. The other is the Rivssen tongue, which the Infidels call Orrust. The third, Pulgery, which the Infidels call Wulgar. The fourth, the Winden tongue, which they call Arnaw.[(1)] The fifth, the Walachy tongue, which the Infidels call Vfflach. The sixth, the Yassen tongue, which the Infidels call Afs.[(2)] The seventh, the Kuthia tongue, which the Infidels call Thatt.[1] The eighth, the Sygun, which the Infidels call Ischerkas. The ninth, Abukasen, and the Infidels call them Appkas. The tenth tongue, Gorchillas, and the Infidels call them Kurtzi. The eleventh, the Megrellen tongue, also so called by the Infidels. Item, between the Zurian and Greek faith, there is but one difference, therefore they say the Schurian tongue is also of their faith; but the Schurians are of Jacob, and have the faith of Saint Jacob, and have it that each must make the wafer with his own hands, into which God’s body will be changed. And when he has made the paste, he takes a hair from his beard and puts it in the wafer, and changes it into God’s body. And there is a great difference between what the Greek and what the Schurian priest reads, or sings, in the church, because it is the Schurian and not the Greek tongue.[(3)]
[1]For this name, see chap. [36], [note 9.]
57.—Of Constantinoppel.
Constantinoppel is a fine large city and well built, and is quite ten Italian miles in extent at its walls, about which it has fifteen hundred towers. The city is triangular, having the sea on two sides. The Greeks call Constantinoppel, Istimboli, but the Turks call it Stampol; and opposite to the city, is a city called Pera, which the Greeks call Kalathan, and the Infidels call it the same.[(1)] Between the two cities is an arm of the sea, quite three Italian miles in length, and half or more in breadth; and the arm is crossed from each side, because the distance by land is far. The said city belongs to Genaw. The great Alexander cut through high rocks and mountains fifteen Italian miles in length, and caused two seas to flow into each other;[(2)] and that which flows is called and is the Great Sea, and it is also called the Black Sea, and the Tunow and many other great rivers flow into it. In the said sea one goes to Caffa, to Alathena, to Trabessanda, and to Samson, and to many other cities and countries that lay around. The arm of the sea [at] Constantinoppel is called Hellespant by the Greeks, and the Infidels call it Poges. The Turks also have a shore across the sea, opposite to Constantinople, which they call Skuter; there, the Turks cross the sea. Also not far from Constantinoppel by the sea, was Troya, on a fine plain, and one can still see where the city stood.[(3)] The emperor of Constantinoppel has two palaces in the city; one is very beautiful, and is much decorated inside with gold, lapis-lazuli, and marbles. In front of the palace is a fine square for tilting, and for all [kinds of] pastime that might be desired in front of the palace.[(4)] In front of the palace is the statue of the emperor Justian on a horse; it is placed upon a high piece of marble, which is a pillar. I asked a burgher of the city of what this statue was made; he told me it was of bronze, and that both the horse and the man was entirely of one casting. Some people of the country say that it is of leather, and yet it must have stood there quite a thousand years; had it been leather, it would not have stood so long, it would have rotted. At one time the statue had a golden apple in the hand, and that meant that he had been a mighty emperor over Christians and Infidels; but now he has no longer that power, so the apple has disappeared.[(5)]
58.—Of the Greeks.
Not far from Constantinoppel there is an island called Lemprie; in it is a mountain that is so high, it reaches to the clouds.[(1)] At Constantinoppel is the most beautiful church, so that nothing like it can be found in India; it is called Sancta Sophya, and is covered all over with lead, and one can see one’s self on the walls inside the church as if in a mirror, because the marble and lapis-lazuli on the wall is clear and clean. In this same church is their patriarch with his priests, and the Greeks and all those who are under the patriarch go in pilgrimage, as we, for our sins, go to Rome. When Constantine had finished the churches, he placed as an improvement in the church, high up in the middle of the dome, five golden discs, and each disc is as wide, large, and thick as a mill-stone;[(2)] but the emperor took down two during the great war which the Turkish king Wyasit had with him, when he besieged Constantinoppel for seven years. I myself was at that same time with the king in Turkey,[(3)] and I have also seen the three discs [left] in the church. The church of Sancta Sophia has three hundred gates, which are all of brass. I was III months at Constantinoppel in the house of the patriarch, but I and my comrades were not allowed to walk about the city, because they were afraid that the Infidels would recognise us, and would take us before the emperor. I would gladly have seen it (the city), but it could not be, because the emperor had forbidden it, but even then we sometimes went out with the patriarch’s servants.
59.—Of the Greek religion.
It is to be noted, that the Greeks do not believe in the Holy Trinity; they do not believe in the Chair at Rome, nor in the Pope. They say that their patriarchs have as much power as the Pope at Rome. The sacrament they make of leavened bread, and take it with wine and warm water; and when the priest changes the body of God, they all fall down on their faces and say: “No man is worthy to look at God.” And when the priest has finished the Mass, he takes the bread that remains, of which he had prepared the sacrament, and cuts it into small pieces on a dish, and then men and women sit down. Then the priest or his assistant takes the bread round, and so every one takes a piece and eats it, and this bread they call prossura. This bread is not baked by any man or woman, only by a virgin or a nun. They also give the sacrament to young children, but they do not give the sacred oil to any body; and they also say that nobody is wise, and that no one goes into heaven or hell before the day of judgment; then each man will go into heaven or into hell as he has deserved. They have no Mass, unless it is asked for. They say that only one Mass is to be celebrated at the same altar in the day, and they do not let Mass be said at their altars in Latin, and Mass must not be said in any language but in the Greek language, because the Greek language is of their faith. They say also that their faith is the true Christian faith, and the others are not true. They also have the Mass on feast days only, and not on week days, because all their priests are craftsmen and must work, and all have wives and children, and their priests take one wife only; and when she dies he cannot take any more, either in marriage or otherwise. If he has anything to do with a woman, and the bishop becomes aware of it, he takes away from him his priestly charge, so that he cannot say the Mass any more. And when a bishop consecrates a priest, he girds him with a girdle, and when the priest does anything against his priestly order, the bishop takes away the girdle, so that he cannot say Mass any more, and is fallen from his office. The best and the richest marry the priests, and when they are in a house, the priests’ wives sit at the upper [end] of the table, and when women walk together, the priests’ wives go first. Their churches are not independent. When a man builds a church and dies, his heirs inherit the church like other property, and sell it as any other house. They say, it is not a sin to have to do with unmarried women, because it is not a deadly sin, as it is natural. They also say, that when one takes a monthly profit of two pfennings for one hundred pfennings, it is goodly gain, and not usury. On Wednesdays, they do not eat meat; and so, on Friday, they eat fish and oil only, and say that Saturday is not a fast-day, and one may well eat meat on that day. In the churches, the women stand separately, and neither men nor women dare to go near the altar. And when they make [the sign of] a cross, they do it with the left hand. And when one is about to die, they baptise him again, and there are many who are baptised every year. They have no font in their churches; and when their bishop stands in the choir, he stands in the middle of the church and in the choir, and the priests stand around him. Their bishop eats no meat throughout the year, and during the fasts he eats no fish nor anything that has blood, and all their clergy do the same. When they baptise a child, they have X or more godfathers; men and women bring to the child a christening shirt or a candle. They also say, that our priests sin if they have a Mass every day, because they cannot always be worthy. They also say, that our priests commit mortal sin when they shave their beard, because it is not godly, because it happens from unchastity, and to please the women. And when one dies, and prayers for the dead are sung for him, boiled wheat to eat is given to the priests and to the people, after an old usage, and this same wheat they call coleba. They wash their dead before they bury them. Their priests sell and buy like other merchants. They fast during Lent for fifty days; and the priests and the laity also fast forty days in Advent, and for the twelve holy apostles they fast thirty days; they also fast fifteen days for our Lady’s Assumption; they have only three days in the year for our Lady, because they do not keep Candlemas. Item, the Greeks do not keep the resurrection of Jhesus xpi at the same time with us; they keep it on the next Friday after Easter. Then they sing Xristos anesti, which is as much as to say, Xristus is risen.[(1)]