fpPn^aill;0.f medicine. ^. Many miraculbus cures were performed.
The fame of the faint was propagated, , Hjs? cell was converted
into a handfome oratory, in the fhape.. of a crofs j and numbers
repaired to his tomb, as to another Siloe.
C H A P. LXIII.
The monaftery o f Luke-— The founder — The1 ciburcfi-— The\
rehques o f Si. Luke — The tombs o f the emperor Romanus and
his queen^T-Tfe hermitage.
T H E mqnaftery of St. Luke is a barbarous edifice, and.of
an ordinary appearance. .. .Npar it by the road-fide is erected a
wpodep croft. It is reckoned two hours from the fea* and four
weft of Lebadca. The apartments or. cells are very mean.^
The number of monks was then an hundred and twenty,, .moft
flocks pr employed in agriculture.
We were entertained by the hegumenos or abbot, who toldj Ua
that the?cpn„yent ,wa? greatly in debt, and that they fuftfered
tpw-b frppv exjt^ions^Jliefl.des,, paying to the amount 'of an
and feyenty-five pounds fterling yearly tributie tojh©,1
Turks. The air is bad, and water diftant. It is likely-they g o
to the fountain, which fupplied the inhabitants of.Stiris.
In the church is a copy of Iambic verles in. two columns, in
an antiquated hand, hung up in a frame* and containing a
panegyric on the monaftery written .foon after it was b.uilt.. I
copFed them from a tranfeript produced by the abbot, which
had j a prqfe-cspofition in more modern Greek,, placed pp-
,, The author, informs us, that Romanus Porphyron
itirf^frlf^fi founder. This emperor was the fpji of
Conftantme Porphyrogennetus, who was defeended from. Fla-,
viqs
vius Bafilius a s Macedonian- of Armenian brigm, and of the
race of the Arfacidae; § He' Was crowned in 945, or about the
time when Luke died, by his. father, and, at the inftigation o f
his wife,' endeavoured to deftroy him by poifon, but he furvived
until 960, Romanus died; in 963, about, two years after the
taking, of.,Crete. Theophano was. made, regent, for her ions,
and lived feveral years. A. firm attachment to Romanus is recommended
in the Iambics./ St* Luke was faid to have foretold,
that Crete would be fubdued under an emperor, of that name.
His biographer,obferves, that this ,prophefy haci beenfulfilled -r
but, it is remark-able, does not meprfön thé regard ihownby
Romanus to his favourite faint.
. T h,e monaftery o f ÉKÊ -Luke is ftyjed by its panegyr|ft ,|he
glory of Hellas and the queen of all monaftetïéS ‘ bn account o f
itsbehiöfch^ which for' magmffcei^>and‘~ # e^ ^ ^ d e^ 1of'ii&
proportions is not equalled perhaps in all Gréëee.' This fiimp-
tuousTabrk within retains the ihape o f the oratory, 'into which
the cell of Luke was changed. It has fuffered greatly,'as might
be expedted, from age and earthquakes^ add the4 outfide is much
encumbered and deformed by the addition of hüge' buttrefles to
fupport the walls, and by the flopping up bf feveral windows,
particularly thofe o f the principal dome'. The infidels lined
With polifhed marble, impannelled j but ibrhe o f the chapels
have been ftripped. The pavement is inlaid with variouscoTours
artfully difpofed. The domes are decorated with painting and
gilding in Mofaic, well executed j reprefen ting holy perfonages
and fcriptural ftories. The gallery is illuminated with pieces o f
the tran^arent marble called.Thengites, fixed in the wall in
fquare compartments, and fhedding a yellow light j .but with-'
oüt^ föfembling ébmmom ftone and rudely cafVed. A fabric,
thus l^leödid in dëchyV muft have been, wheh ;ïéeënïly finïfliéd^
exceedingly glorious. The eiicomiaft extols it. as 'the rival’o f
St. Sophia at Conftantinople, and the crown, of the beaimes o f
Hellas.
T he