It is also to be noted, that the emperor of Constantinoppel himself creates the patriarchs, and also gives all God’s gifts to the church, and is lord of spiritual and temporal matters as far as his territory reaches. I have heard much and often from their learned men, that Saint Constantine came from Rome with many kocken and galleys to Greece, to the place where Constantinoppel lies, and then there appeared to him an angel from God, who said to him: “Here must thy dwelling be; now sit on the horse, and do not look back, and ride to the place from which thou hast begun to ride.” He mounted, and rode quite half a day; and when at night he arrived at the same place where he had mounted, he looked back, and saw a wall of the height of a man spring up from the ground; and from the place where he had looked back, to the place from which he had begun to ride, which is quite twenty paces or more, there was no wall; it has been much tried to build a wall, but it will not stand; but it goes towards the sea, so that they can defend themselves better than if it had been towards the land. I have seen it, because in the same place there is a breakwater,[1][(1)] therefore the Greeks say that the said wall was built by angels; and that the crown with which their emperor is crowned, and which was brought to Saint Constantine by an angel from heaven, is a heavenly crown; and therefore there is no worthier nor more highly born emperor than the emperor of Constantinoppel. And when a priest dies, they put on him everything that belongs to a priest at the altar, and they put him on a seat in the grave, and cover him with earth. The chant, Ayos otheos, which they sing once a year only, they sing upon all other holy occasions; and during Lent they sing the Alleluia every day, when they are in church. They sing Kirieleyson only, in their Mass, and not Xreleyson. They say, there is but one Godhead and no difference, that it is God the Father and God the Son, and therefore it would not be right to sing Christ. They also bow very humbly before their priests. When a layman meets a priest, he takes off his hat, and bows humbly, and says: “Esloy mena tespotha”; which is as much as to say: Bless me, Lord. Then the priest lays his hand on the layman’s head and says: “Otheos efflon essenam”; and that means, God bless thee; and this they do always, men and women, when they meet a priest. When a priest takes a wife, he takes her before he becomes a priest; the reason is, because if he does not beget a child, he cannot be a priest, but so soon as he has got a child, he is consecrated to be a priest. Laymen pray only with the Pater Noster, and do not know the Belief nor the Ave Maria. Many priests wear white garments at Mass.[(2)]
[1]“wann es an der selben stat ein getüll hat.”
61.—How the Jassen have their marriages.
Inter illas gentes, Gargetter et Jassen, nuptiæ explentur hac conditione, videlicet mater puellam suam intactam esse asserit, sed ni reapse sit virgo, conjugium non conficitur. Quando igitur de nuptiis agitur, cantibus comitantur puellam ante thalamum, et ibi se ponere jubent; succedit inde sponsus cum adolescentulis, et gladio stricto percutit thalamum, et prope illum se se ponit una cum adolescentulis, et comedunt et bibunt, et se oblectant inter choreas et cantus. Et quum ita solatia cesserint, sponsum denudant usque ad subuculam suam, et egredientes relinquunt cum sponsa. Postea venit sponsi frater, et nonnullus ex amicis intimis, et ante ostium excubat stricto ense; et quum sponsus sponsam virginem non invenit, hoc matri ejus palam facit. Deinde mater sponsi cum amicis suis ante thalamum adstat, observant panniculos, et si nullum virginitatis signum inveniunt, omnes incipiunt se contristare; quum vero pater et mater sponsi cum amicis suis mane adveniunt, ut festa conjugalia concelebrent, mater sponsi manu regit poculum in una parte perforatum, et implet vino claudens foramen digito, et inde matrem sponsæ invitat ut libat amovens digitum e foramine, et sic vinum extra fluit; tum mater sponsi dicit matri sponsæ: Ita evenit de filia tua. Hoc summo dedecori est parentibus sponsæ, quam tradunt eis ut secum ducant, dicentes, se velle nubere filis intactam puellam, sed non ita evenisse de eorum filia. Then come their priests and the chief [persons] that are there, and invite the bridegroom’s father and mother, and then they go to their son the bridegroom, and ask him whether or no he will have her? If he says, “Yes”, she is given to him by the priests, and the other persons who have interceded for her. But if he says, “No”, then they are in all things separated; and whatever he has brought to her, she gives the whole back to him; and whatever clothes he has given her, she must give back to him; after which, he can take another wife, and she another husband.[(1)] There are many people in Ermenia, who have this custom. The Infidels call the Gorgiten, Kurtzi; and the Jassen they call Affs.
62.—Of Armenia.
I have also been a great deal in Armenia. After Tämerlin died, I came to his son, who has two kingdoms in Armenia. He was named Scharoch; he liked to be in Armenia, because there is a very beautiful plain. He remained there in the winter with his people, because there was good pasturage. A great river runs through the plain; it is called the Chur, and it is also called the Tygris; and near this river, in this same country, is the best silk. The Infidels call the plain, in the Infidel tongue, Karawag.[(1)] The Infidels possess it all, and yet it stands in Ermenia. There are also Armenians in the villages, but they must pay tribute to the Infidels. I always lived with the Armenians, because they are very friendly to the Germans, and because I was a German they treated me very kindly; and they also taught me their Pater Noster and their language, and they call the Germans, Nymitsch.[(2)] In Armenia are three kingdoms; one is called Tiffliss, the other is called Syos, the third is called Ersingen; the Armenians call it Isingkan, and that is Lesser Armenia. They also possessed Babylon for a long time; but they now have it no longer. The son of Tämerlin had Tyfflis and Ersing at the time that I was there. Sifs belonged to the king-sultan, and was won, counting from Christ’s birth, twelve hundred and seventy-seven years; then did the sultan of Alkenier conquer it.[(3)]
63.—Of the religion of the Armenians.
The Armenians believe in the Holy Trinity. I have also often heard their priests preach in their churches, when I had gone to Mass, and been in their churches, that Saint Bartlome and Saint Thaten of the twelve holy apostles, converted them to the Christian faith, but that they have often been perverted again. There was a holy man named Gregory, and the king of Armenia was his cousin, and he lived in the time when Saint Silvester was Pope at Rome.[(1)] The king of Armenia died, and he was a good Christian, and his son was king, and he was named Derthatt; he was very strong, because he had the strength of forty oxen; what they could drag and lift, that he could lift alone. It was this same king who built the large church at Bethleen, as has been already stated.[1] [(2)] And when he became king after his father, he turned Infidel, and persecuted the Christians, and took hold of his cousin Gregory, and told him he must worship his idol. This the blessed man would not do, so he put him into a pit where there were adders and serpents and many other hurtful reptiles, that they might eat him. But they did nothing to him. He lay there twelve years. About the same time, several saintly maidens came to Ermenia from Italy, and preached the Christian religion instead of the Ermenen religion. The king heard this, and ordered that they should be brought to him. There was one amongst them who was named Susanna, who was very beautiful; she was taken to his room, when he wished to urge her to unchastity, but strong as he was, he could do nothing with the young woman, nor win her with all his power, for God was with her. This was told to him in the prison, and he said: “Oh, the wicked pig!” At the same time, the king fell from his throne, became a pig, and ran away to the woods. Then there was great disorder in the land, but the vassals of the country consulted, and took Gregory out of the pit, and asked him if he could help the king. He answered them and said, that he would not help him, unless they and he became Christians. The vassals promised him this, also for the king. Then said Gregory: “Ride into the wood, look for him, and bring him.” They rode into the wood, and brought him to Gregory; and as soon as he saw Gregory, he ran to him, and kissed his feet. Gregory knelt on his knees, and prayed to Almighty God that he would have mercy on the man, and make him whole. The king again became a man, and was, with all his people, again a Christian,[(3)] and went against Babiloni and the Infidels, and conquered Babilonia and the whole country, three kingdoms, and converted them to Christianity, and appointed Gregory over the clergy and all ecclesiastical orders. In this way, their religion was established by the King Derthat and the man Gregory.[(4)] They also took much territory that belonged to the Infidels, and forced them to Christianity by means of the sword; but now they have lost all their kingdoms, although they are a fighting people. It is not long since they lost a kingdom, and a good capital called Siss; it was taken by the king-sultan. It is also their patriarch’s seat, but he must pay great tribute to the sultan. The king of Zypern has many nobles of Armenia at his court, because it is near. Then was Gregory told of the great miracle which Pope Silvester had performed on Constantine, during the time that he was emperor at Rome, because he had made him clean of an eruption, and that he had saved from death the children that had been brought together to be killed, because the doctors informed the emperor that he should wash in the blood of children, so that he might get well of his eruptions.
[1]No such previous statement appears either in the Heidelberg MS. or in Penzel.