Journeys In Persia And Kurdistan ( Vol.Ii).

310

JOUENEYS IN KURDISTAN LETTER sxix

I have seen as representing the diaconate look far more
like bandits than deacons. In one large village there are
at present fifty deacons and fifteen priests attached to one
church!!

The Kourlana cannot be celebrated without the

SYRIAN PRIEST AND WIFE.

assistance of a deacon. It is almost entirely confined to
the great festivals and the feast of the patron saint of
each village. After the making of the bread with the
" holy leaven/' and certain preliminaries by the clergy,
the congregation comes into church, summoned by blows
on the wooden sounding-board. The men stand in front,
the women behind, all taking off their shoes and kissing