DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9841#0194
XXXIV.] RELIGIOUS ENTHUSIASM OF THE CHRISTIANS. 175
of the Lord Christ:" whose every banner was accom-
panied by a priest, often one of the bravest combatants:
who celebrated, with an unheard of frequency, the most
solemn ordinances of their religion: and who were thus
raised to so exalted a pitch of religious fervour and
enthusiasm, that, in their zeal for God's honour and
service, they could, one and all, subdue even their
dearest affections, when they believed that, by indulging
them, they would be rendered unworthy champions of
the holy cause which they had espoused3-.
An ascent of about forty minutes from Krapi, brings
us to the highest point of the path, and, in a few minutes
more, we see the plain of Askyfo, spread out before and
below us. We are rather more than a quarter of an
hour in descending to it. The villages classed together
under the common name of Askyfo, are situated in a
plain of about three to four miles in circumference, so
surrounded by lofty mountain-summits, that it has some-
what the appearance of a large amphitheatre33.
Manias being still unmarried, his mother keeps house
for him : we find, however, that the door of his dwelling
at Askyfo is closed, the old lady not having yet come
up into Sfakia, from their winter residence at Dhramia34.
I therefore lodge with a neighbour and nephew of Manias.
My host's wife is extremely beautiful: she was born at
Andpolis, and never left her native place until she mar-
ried, three years ago: since that event she has not
stirred out of Askyfo, except once to visit her mother
at Andpolis.
The difference in temperature between the plain of
Apokdrona this morning at ten, and these lofty summits
38 The Christian husbands of Crete, on thus becoming soldiers of the
Cl»ss, shrunk from the caresses of their wives, as from a pollution, which
would most probably be punished by their falling in the next engagement.
This singular piece of religious self-denial lasted, with most of them, for the
greater part of the first year. I believe this feature is one of several peculiar
to the war in Crete. The religious principle was certainly stronger here than
elsewhere: see above, Vol. i. pp. 66-67-
33 See the engraving below, at p. 188. 34 See above, Vol. i. p. 73.
M 2
of the Lord Christ:" whose every banner was accom-
panied by a priest, often one of the bravest combatants:
who celebrated, with an unheard of frequency, the most
solemn ordinances of their religion: and who were thus
raised to so exalted a pitch of religious fervour and
enthusiasm, that, in their zeal for God's honour and
service, they could, one and all, subdue even their
dearest affections, when they believed that, by indulging
them, they would be rendered unworthy champions of
the holy cause which they had espoused3-.
An ascent of about forty minutes from Krapi, brings
us to the highest point of the path, and, in a few minutes
more, we see the plain of Askyfo, spread out before and
below us. We are rather more than a quarter of an
hour in descending to it. The villages classed together
under the common name of Askyfo, are situated in a
plain of about three to four miles in circumference, so
surrounded by lofty mountain-summits, that it has some-
what the appearance of a large amphitheatre33.
Manias being still unmarried, his mother keeps house
for him : we find, however, that the door of his dwelling
at Askyfo is closed, the old lady not having yet come
up into Sfakia, from their winter residence at Dhramia34.
I therefore lodge with a neighbour and nephew of Manias.
My host's wife is extremely beautiful: she was born at
Andpolis, and never left her native place until she mar-
ried, three years ago: since that event she has not
stirred out of Askyfo, except once to visit her mother
at Andpolis.
The difference in temperature between the plain of
Apokdrona this morning at ten, and these lofty summits
38 The Christian husbands of Crete, on thus becoming soldiers of the
Cl»ss, shrunk from the caresses of their wives, as from a pollution, which
would most probably be punished by their falling in the next engagement.
This singular piece of religious self-denial lasted, with most of them, for the
greater part of the first year. I believe this feature is one of several peculiar
to the war in Crete. The religious principle was certainly stronger here than
elsewhere: see above, Vol. i. pp. 66-67-
33 See the engraving below, at p. 188. 34 See above, Vol. i. p. 73.
M 2