Ere long, the whole of the wide space was like a sea, in which the dark waves flung themselves upwards in fiery sparks, while they rolled and swelled in gloom beneath the surface—or like a spot upon a sky of tempest, into which were gathered all the stars of heaven to form one galaxy of light amid the surrounding gloom. And forth into this place of brightness slowly moved the holy train from the chapel. First came the bearer of the golden crucifix, surrounded by gilded lanterns and gleaming candlesticks; and next the torch-bearers, whose waxen candles, linked together in threes with gaudily-coloured ribbons, represented the Trinity; then moved forward a train of priests, walking two and two, with their flowing robes of saffron-coloured satin, their luxuriant beards sweeping down to their breasts, their brimless caps, and their long locks falling upon their shoulders.
Nothing can be more picturesque than the head-dress of a Greek priest. As they are not permitted to use either scissors or razor from the period of their birth, when they are vowed to the Church by their parents, they reduce the beard by plucking it, according to the old Jewish law; and, being almost universally very fine men, they do this with a care and skill which heighten the effect of their appearance; while their long thick locks are, on ordinary occasions, hidden beneath their caps.
This holy body was succeeded by the Patriarch, supported on either side by two of the Archbishops, who, in the Greek Church, represent the Apostles, as the Patriarch himself personates the Saviour, and followed by the ten others in robes of such dazzling brilliancy that any attempt at description would be idle. Immediately after these came the Bishops, walking two and two; succeeded in their turn by Logotheti and Vogoride, another train of priests, and finally by that portion of the congregation who had not been able to effect an earlier egress from the church.
The junior priests arranged themselves in a circle at the foot of the platform, which was soon filled by the heads of the Church, and the lay dignitaries, among whom stood my father. The Patriarch read a portion of the scriptures, from an ample volume that lay open on the stand before him: the attendant priests chanted a psalm which rose and fell on the night wind in solemn cadences; and, finally, the elder of the Bishops, having placed in the hand of the Patriarch one of the triple candles which I have already named, wherewith to bless the people; and subsequently two linked together, representing the double nature of Christ; the whole crowd bowed their uncovered heads, and crossed themselves seven times, with the collected points of the two fore-fingers and the thumb; after which a passage was with difficulty forced through the crowd for the return of the procession, whose chant gradually died away upon the ear, as it disappeared beneath the portal of the church, and in five minutes more we were alone, gazing out upon the empty enclosure flickered with moonlight.
It was a solemn moment! The pomp and circumstance of human worship had passed away, and we looked only on the uncertain moon, over which the light scud was rapidly drifting; while the only sound that fell upon our ears was the sighing of the midnight wind through the leaves of the tall plane tree. I bowed my head in silence upon the cushion against which I leaned—my excited fancies were suddenly sobered, my throbbing pulses stilled—Nature had spoken to my heart, and my spirit was subdued beneath her influence. It was a sudden and strange reaction; and, could I at that moment have escaped to the solitude of my own chamber, I do not think that one idle memory of the magnificence which I had so lately witnessed would have intruded on my reveries.
Man’s pride, and pomp, and power, had fettered my fancy, and riveted my gaze—But it was night; the still, soft night, with its pale moon, its mysterious clouds, and its sighing voice, which had touched my spirit. In such hours, the heart would be alone with God!
When we re-entered the church, I feared that I should have fainted; thick volumes of smoke were rolling heavily along the roof; the suffocating incense was mounting in columns from the censers—the myriad tapers were adding their heat to that of the burning perfume; and the transition from the light pure atmosphere without was sickening. I persisted, nevertheless, in my determination of remaining until the close of the ceremony, which concluded with the Declaration of Faith, read by Logotheti; and a portion of the Gospel, delivered from the pulpit by a priest, richly dressed in blue and silver.
The grey light of morning was glimmering on the Bosphorus as we returned to the house, where we breakfasted, and then retired to bed with aching heads and dazzled eyes, to prepare for the fatigues of the morrow.