DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12664#0304
THE CONVENT.
287
animated the crusaders, to search out the holy
places referred to in the Bible, and when she found
one, she erected a monument to mark it, for the
guidance of future Christians ; and the pilgrim may
see the fruits of her pious labours from the moun-
tain where God spake in thunder, down to the place
where the cock crew when Peter denied his mas-
ter. The convent is capable of containing several
hundred people. It was originally built as a place
of defence; but the necessity of keeping it fortified
has passed away ; a parcel of rusty guns are lying
in a sort of armory, and a few small cannon are
frowning from the walls. The cells of the monks,
compared with any thing else I had seen in the
East, are exceedingly comfortable ; on one side,
raised about a foot from the floor, is a stone plat-
form, on which the monk spreads his mat and cov-
erlet, and the furniture includes a table, chairs,
sometimes two or three books, and the fragment of
a looking-glass. There are twenty-four chapels
erected to different saints, in which prayers are said
regularly in rotation. I went through them, but
saw nothing to interest me until I came to the
church of the convent. Here I was surprised to
find the handsomest Greek church I had seen, ex-
cept in Russia ; the floor and steps were of mar-
ble ; and distributed around in various places were
pillars and columns, the works of ancient artists,
plundered from heathen temples, and sent to this
lonely spot in the desert by the active piety of the
early Christian emperors. The convent was
raised in honour of the transfiguration, and the
287
animated the crusaders, to search out the holy
places referred to in the Bible, and when she found
one, she erected a monument to mark it, for the
guidance of future Christians ; and the pilgrim may
see the fruits of her pious labours from the moun-
tain where God spake in thunder, down to the place
where the cock crew when Peter denied his mas-
ter. The convent is capable of containing several
hundred people. It was originally built as a place
of defence; but the necessity of keeping it fortified
has passed away ; a parcel of rusty guns are lying
in a sort of armory, and a few small cannon are
frowning from the walls. The cells of the monks,
compared with any thing else I had seen in the
East, are exceedingly comfortable ; on one side,
raised about a foot from the floor, is a stone plat-
form, on which the monk spreads his mat and cov-
erlet, and the furniture includes a table, chairs,
sometimes two or three books, and the fragment of
a looking-glass. There are twenty-four chapels
erected to different saints, in which prayers are said
regularly in rotation. I went through them, but
saw nothing to interest me until I came to the
church of the convent. Here I was surprised to
find the handsomest Greek church I had seen, ex-
cept in Russia ; the floor and steps were of mar-
ble ; and distributed around in various places were
pillars and columns, the works of ancient artists,
plundered from heathen temples, and sent to this
lonely spot in the desert by the active piety of the
early Christian emperors. The convent was
raised in honour of the transfiguration, and the