An Armenian Monastery—A large garden—Farms belonging to the
Monks—The Bishop—A fast day—The Turkish finance—The Armenian
merchants in Sivas—The telegraph employed by them—The rise
and fall in _caime_—The breath of scandal—A former Governor
of Sivas—A suspicious case—His Eminence cannot marry—Are
Protestant Bishops allowed to marry?—The Chapels belonging
to the Monastery—A curious altar—A strange tradition—The
Martyrs of Sivas—A picture of one of the Kings of Armenia—The
Kings and the Church—Things are very different now—Privileges
of the Monks—The Russian war with Persia—An Armenian
General—Hassan, Khan of Persia—Sugar—How to make a large
fortune.
The following day I rode to an Armenian monastery, which is known by
the name of the Monastery of Nishan or of the Cross. It stands on a
rising slope, about two miles from Sivas. Its Gothic towers, more than
500 years old, look down upon the town and neighbouring villages, and
can be seen for many miles around.
A large garden, over thirty acres in extent, enclosed by a high wall
made of dried clay, supplies the monks with fruit and vegetables. It
bounds the monastery upon one side; on the other there are several
farms, which furnish cattle, sheep, and such other live stock as may be
required.
A long low passage with damp walls led the way, with many a winding
turn, to the apartment which had been reserved for my use.
Here I found the bishop and several other priests belonging to the
community. The ceiling of the room was of handsomely-carved oak, and
divans, as in the Turkish houses, supplied the place of chairs. Some
Armenian merchants now arrived, and shortly afterwards dinner was
announced.
It was a fast day. The bishop himself could not partake of the dishes.
However, he gave permission to the other guests to break the fast, and
a turkey stuffed with apples—the _pièce de résistance_—was nothing to
the hungry visitors; the dinner being in the Turkish style, made up of
a series of surprises to our stomachs.
According to one of the Armenians, the Turkish finance was in an
utterly hopeless condition.
"Our Government," he remarked, "first said that it would only issue
paper money to the amount of 3,000,000 liras, and we have caime to the
value of 11,000,000 liras in circulation!"
"Yes," said another merchant, "the lira is now at 160 piastres, but if
there is a war it will rise to 500."
"The Government will be the loser in the long run," he continued,
"every one is speculating for the fall, and we are buying up all the
gold we can."
I now learnt that the Armenian merchants in Sivas employed the
telegraph very freely in their monetary speculations. The inhabitants
in general only knew of the rise or fall in the value of their paper
money by the post, which arrived once every fortnight. The value of
caime in proportion to gold was reckoned according to the date of the
post's delivery. But, as the Turkish bank-notes were becoming more and
more depreciated every day, the Armenian merchants who employed the
telegraph were able to make large sums by buying up all the gold in the
district, and pocketing the difference between the actual exchange and
that which passed current at Sivas.
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.
"Things are very different to what they were then," remarked the
priest. "In those days even kings had to obey the holy Church. They
do not think anything of us now," he added, with a sigh; "instead
of giving presents to the Church, they take away from it the few
privileges and the little wealth it has left."
"Have you any privileges belonging to your order?" I asked.
"Only one; we have not to pay any duty upon salt, and I suppose that
even this slight exemption from taxation will be taken away from us ere
long."
A throne belonging to a former king of Armenia was next produced. It
was made of ebony, and in form much resembled a shut-up garden-chair,
but one of gigantic dimensions. The sovereign for whom this throne had
been made, died several hundred years ago at Sivas. The worthy fathers
differed a few hundred years as to the date of the monarch's decease,
and so it is impossible for me to give it. His bones were taken to
Van, and interred there; however, his sons reigned for many years
afterwards, and held their court at Sivas.
"Our nation has had a great many reverses," said the bishop; "but who
knows what is in store for us?"
"We do not want any Russian rulers!" said an old Armenian merchant.
"When I was a child," he continued, "the Russians made war upon the
Persians. A general, second in command of the Russian forces, was
an Armenian. The head of our Church helped the Russians, and 25,000
Armenians were levied to aid them in the war against the Shah. The
Persian army was annihilated; twenty-five cities were destroyed; the
invading forces advanced towards Teheran. The Shah then made a treaty
with Russia."
"What has that got to do with your dislike of the Russians?" I inquired.
"Listen!" said the old man. "After the war was over, the Russian chief
was alarmed lest the Armenian general, who was a very skilful officer,
might make himself King of Armenia. He accused him of treason, had his
eyes taken out, and sent him a prisoner to Russia."[18]
"The Russians would not have been pleased if we had been made
independent at that time," said a priest. "They have always looked
upon us as a certain inheritance, all they want to do is to take our
territory without having to fight for it."
"We revenged ourselves upon Hassan, Khan of Persia, who had defiled one
of our churches near Ararat," remarked the old merchant. "He was taken
prisoner and transported to the church which he had desecrated. He was
afterwards tied face to face with a dog, and given the same food as
that animal. The Persian soon died of shame or starvation."
There is but little export trade from Sivas. Tobacco is the staple
produce of the country. All the articles imported are very dear, owing
to the expense of transport from Samsoun, the roads between Sivas and
that port being very bad.
Sugar, I was informed, costs eighteenpence a pound. If an enterprising
inhabitant were to start a manufactory of this article of consumption,
he would speedily make an immense fortune. Beetroot and a peculiar sort
of sweet carrot abound throughout the district. The first-mentioned
vegetable can be bought for eight shillings a ton. It might be grown
for very much less. Any amount of water power could be brought from the
neighbouring mountains to bear upon machinery. Coal is also to be found
in the neighbourhood. This part of Anatolia is supplied with sugar
from Constantinople. If it were manufactured on the spot, the profit
would be very great, for the cost of carriage would be saved; in all
probability it would utterly supplant the Constantinople sugar, and
soon find a market throughout the whole of Asia Minor.