BULGARIAN CHRISTIANITY.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2573, 6 April 1877, Page 2

BULGARIAN CHRISTIANITY.

« 'A&Mx ;:Barkley?s CreoentTyipußlished book, " Sport -and travel in Bulgaria," she;thus> describes'his visifc,t6;-!ajGjreek Church, in Bulgaria :—!\ Father.^ Vlatt, 11 asked one one day; ' what time is service in the Greek C&rirchatlnjiKeui?' • Service, Tcbellably^-Oh. in the morning. This is Sunday, •Tcheltablyi and, if you ride i off at ionqe; lybulwill be; in tiratf for church; and should the priest have bje--gun--before yon-get -there,- -just stop--and tell him to begin again; he will do it for 1 aglaseof raki.' 4 --f Well, thi«is:dej[ightful.,,j I have knowni country parsonih Eng- 1 land whomever began service till the | squire arrived: but to'whip off and run a foiled scent fora stranger is quite new, so" '1 Twill be roff at oiice.. A gallop uf x quarter of' an •'hour' brought me to :the door of the Church—a good-si£edi well-ibuilt, stone edifice, in* the shat»e of a barn, with £the'whitest of walls and reddest of tiles; but the door was shut, and/if iervice^ras going on, it. was.a, Quaker one, for all .was silent within. ''XI last I saw an old Moldaye, and inquired of him: ' Here, father. liwant tp : know your Church.; when does the service, begin ?.' 'In the morning, Effendi.' ' This is the morning. I hope it is not over/ ' No, Effendi, it is begunyet.' ,'When will it begin?' 'Ah, who knows ? ' with a shrug of his shoulders. ' Why, you should, you old sinner. I am afraid you don't go to Church regularly.' ' Eflfendi, I am a very good man and^juitcpious ; ace, I am hung all over, ,with charms against the evil eye. which the.priestfeellrmei but I don't often go to Church—how.can I wbenjthere is no service ?' "'• You have no resident priest per^ haps ?' 'Oh yes, Effendi, we have, an excel-, lent, "worthy creature I such a good man, 1 Effendi, that every one from far and near 1 comes to buy wax candles and. charms from him, and each week he make* a lot of money, which enables him to-get so drirak on Saturday night that he is like adead man all Sundays. He, is no# lying, among the nettles aff the back of thY drinking shop there, and wilLnot he able to move till.night.' 'Does he often ,do this?' I asked. 'Well, Effendi, I can't exactly say how often, butthis is the fifijh., Sunday he has spent among the nettles,.', I gave the old fellow a cigarette, and, declining a glass of raki he offered me, wended my way home, meditating on the enormous blessing it would:.be if we of the Western Church could amalgamate with the Eastern Christian Church I" ° --