De Locis Sanctis - Book 3
I - The city of Constantinople
Arculf, who has been mentioned so often, on his return from Alexandria, stayed for some days in the island of Crete and sailed thence to Constantinople, where he spent some months. This city is, beyond doubt, the metropolis of the Roman Empire. It is surrounded by the waves of the sea except on the north; the sea breaking out from the Great Sea for forty miles, while from the wall of Constantinople it still further stretches sixty miles up to the mouths of the river Danube. This imperial city is surrounded by no small circuit of walls, twelve miles in length; it is a promontory by the sea-side, having, like Alexandria or Carthage, walls built along the sea coast, additionally strengthened by frequent towers, after the fashion of Tyre; within the city walls it has numerous houses, very many of which are of marvellous size; these are of stone, and are built after the fashion of the dwelling-houses of Rome.
II - The foundation of that city
As to its foundation the citizens relate this tradition, which they have received from their ancestors: the Emperor Constantine, having gathered together an infinite multitude of men, and collected from all sides infinite supplies, so that all other cities were almost stripped bare, began to build a city to bear his name on the Asian side - that is, in Cilicia, across the sea which, in these districts, separates Asia from Europe. But one night, while the innumerable forces of workmen were sleeping in their tents ;over the vast length of the camp, all the different kinds of tools used by the artificers of the different works were suddenly removed, no one knew how. With dawn, many of the workmen, troubled and downcast, brought before the emperor Constantine himself a complaint as to the sudden occult removal of the tools; and the King consequently inquired of them: "Did you hear of other things being abstracted from the camp?"
"Nothing," they say,"but all the work-tools." Then next the King commands them: "Go quickly to the sea coasts of the neighbouring districts on both sides of the straits and search them carefully, and if you chance to find your tools in any place in the country, watch over them there meanwhile, and do not bring them back here, but let some of you return to me, so that I may have accurate information as to the finding of the tools."
On hearing this, the workmen follow out the King's directions, and going away did as he ordered, searching the boundaries of the territories next the sea on both sides. And behold, on the European side, across the sea, they found the tools gathered together in a heap in one place between two seas. On making the discovery, some of them are sent back to the King, and on their arrival they announce the finding of the tools in such a place. On learning this, the King immediately orders trumpeters to pass through the camp, blowing their trumpets and ordering the force to move its camp, saying: "Let us remove from this place to build a city on the spot divinely pointed out to us", and at the same time he had ships made ready, and crossed over with his whole force to the spot where the tools were found, as he knew that the place thus shown to him by their removal was that designed by God for the purpose. There he at once founded a city, which is called Constantinople, the name being compounded of his own name and the Greek word for city, so that the founder's name is retained in the former part of the compound.
Let this description of the situation and the foundation of that royal city suffice.
III - The church in which the Cross of the Lord is preserved
But we must not be silent as to that most celebrated round church in that city, built of stone and of marvellous size. According to the narrative of the sainted Arculf, who visited it for no short time, it rises from the bottom of its foundations in three walls, being built in triple form to a great height, and it is finished in a very round simple crowning vault of great beauty. This is supported on great arches, with a wide space between each of the above-mentioned walls, suited and convenient either for dwelling or for praying to God in. In the northern part of the interior of the house is shown a very large and very beautiful aumbry, in which is kept a wooden chest, which is similarly covered over with wooden work: in which is shut up that wooden Cross of Salvation on which our Saviour hung for the salvation of the human race. This notable chest, as the sainted Arculf relates, is raised with its treasure of such preciousness upon a golden altar, on three consecutive days after the lapse of a year. This altar also is in the same round church; being two cubits long and one broad. On three successive days only throughout the year is the Lord's Cross raised and placed on the altar, that is, on the day of the Supper of the Lord, when the Emperor and the armies enter the church and, approaching the altar, after that sacred chest has been opened, kiss the Cross of Salvation.
First of all the Emperor of the world kisses it with bent face, then one going up after another in the order of rank or age, all kiss the Cross with honour. Then on the next day, that is, on the sixth day of the week before Easter, the Queen, the matrons, and all the women of the people, approach it in the above-mentioned order and kiss it with all reverence. On the third day, that is, on the day of the Paschal Sabbath, the bishop and all the clergy after him approach in order, with fear and trembling and all honour, kissing the Cross of Victory, which is placed in its chest. When these sacred and joyful kissings of the Sacred Cross are finished, that venerable chest is closed, and with its honoured treasure is borne back to its aumbry.
But this also should be carefully noted, that there are not two but three short pieces of wood in the Cross, that is, the cross-beam and the long one which is cut and divided into two equal parts; while from these threefold venerated beams when the chest is opened, there arises an odour of a wonderful fragrance, as if all sorts of flowers had beep collected in it, wonderfully full of sweetness, satiating and gladdening all in the open space before the inner walls of that church, who stand still as they enter at that moment; for from the knots of those threefold beams a sweet-smelling liquid distills, like pressed-out oil, which causes all men of whatever race, who have assembled and enter the church, to perceive the above-mentioned fragrance of so great sweetness. This liquid is such that if even a little drop of it be laid on the sick, they easily recover their health, whatever be the trouble or disease they have been afflicted with.
But as to these, let this suffice.
IV - St George the Confessor
Arculf, the sainted man, who gave us all these details as to the Cross of the Lord, which he saw with his own eyes and kissed, gave us also an account of a Confessor named George, which he learned in the city of Constantinople from some well-informed citizens, who were accustomed to narrate it in this form:
In a house in the city of Diospolis there stands the marble column of George the Confessor, to which, during a time of persecution, he was bound while he was scourged, and on which his likeness is impressed; he was, however, loosed from his chains and lived for many years after the scourging. It happened one day that a hard-hearted and unbelieving fellow, mounted on horseback, having entered that house and seen the marble column, asked those who were there, "Whose is this likeness engraved on the marble column?" They reply, "This is the likeness of George the Confessor, who was bound to this column and scourged.",/p>
On hearing this, that most rough fellow, greatly enraged at the insensible object, and instigated by the devil, struck with his lance at the likeness of the sainted Confessor. The lance of that assailant penetrating the mass in a marvellous manner, as if it were a ball of snow, perforated the exterior of that stone column, and its iron point sticking fast was retained in the interior and could not be drawn out by any means. Its shaft, however, striking the marble likeness of the sainted Confessor, was broken on the outside. The horse also of that wretched fellow, on which he was mounted, fell dead under him at that moment on the pavement of the house. The wretched man himself too, falling to the ground at the same time, put out his hands to the marble column, and his fingers, entering it as if it were flour or clay, stuck fast impressed in that column. On seeing this, the miserable man, who could not draw back the ten fingers of his two hands, as they stuck fast together in the marble likeness of the sainted Confessor, invokes in penitence the name of the Eternal God and of His Confessor, and prays with tears to be released from that bond. The merciful God, who does not wish the death of a sinner but that he may be converted and live, accepted his tearful penitence, and not only released him from that present visible bond of marble, but also mercifully set him free from the invisible bonds of sin, saved by faith.
Hence it is clearly shown in what honour George has been held with God, whom he confessed amid tortures, since his bust, which, in the course of nature, is impenetrable, was made penetrable by penitence, which also made the equally impenetrating lance of his adversary penetrating, and made the weak fingers of that fellow, which in the same course of nature were impenetrating, powerfully penetrating, which at first were so fastened in the marble that even that hard man could not draw them back, but which, when in the same moment he was so terrified and thus softened into penitence, he drew back by the pity of God. Marvellous to say, the marks of his twice five fingers appear down to the present day inserted up to the roots in the marble column; and the sainted Arculf inserted in their place his own ten fingers, which similarly entered up to the roots. Further, the blood of that fellow's horse, the haunch of which, as it fell dead on the pavement, was broken in two, cannot be washed out or removed by any means, but that horse's blood remains indelible on the pavement of the house down to our times.
The sainted Arculf told us another narrative, as to which there is no doubt, about the same George the Confessor, which he had learned from some eye-witnesses of sufficient trustworthiness, in the above-mentioned city of Constantinople, who were in the habit of telling incidents connected with that sainted Confessor: A layman, entering the city of Diospolis on horseback at a time when many thousands were gathering there from all sides for an expedition, came to that house, in which is the above-mentioned marble column with the impression of the sainted Confessor George imprinted on its front, and entering it, began to say to the likeness as if he were speaking in the presence of George himself: "To thee, George the Confessor, I commend myself and my horse, in order that we may both be preserved by the virtue of thy prayers from all dangers of war and disease and water, and may return in safety to this city after the close of the expedition; and if a merciful God will grant thee our prosperous return, in accordance with the offering of our poverty, I will offer in return to thee this my horse which I greatly love, and will make it over to thee in the sight of thy likeness."
Speedily ;finishing these few words, the fellow left the house and, with his comrades, joined the multitude of the army and entered on the expedition. After many varied dangers of war and among many thousands of wretched fellows who were scattered and perished, he returns in safety to Diospolis, by the favour of God to George the Christ-worshipper, mounted on the same beloved horse, having purchased deliverance from all grievous misfortunes by that committal, and he joyfully enters that house in which was preserved the likeness of that sainted Confessor, bringing with him gold to the value of his horse, and addresses the sainted George as if he were present: "Sainted Confessor, I give thanks to Eternal God who has brought me back in safety through thy exalted constancy and prayer. Wherefore I bring to thee twenty solidi of gold, the price of my horse which I at the first committed to thee and which thou hast preserved down to the present day." Saying this, he lays down the above described weight of gold at the feet of the sainted likeness of the Confessor, loving his horse more than the gold, and then leaving the house, after kneeling down, mounting his beast he urges it to go forward, but it could not be moved at all.
Seeing this, the fellow dismounts and re-enters the house and brings another ten solidi, saying: "Sainted Confessor, a gentle guardian hast thou been for me to my horse, among the dangers in the expedition, but I see thou art hard and greedy in the sale of the horse."
Saying this, he lays the ten solidi above the twenty, saying to the sainted Confessor: "These also I give thee in addition, so that thou mayest be appeased and release my horse for the journey." With these words he returns, and again mounting his horse, urges it forward, but it remained standing as if fixed in the spot, nor could it move even one foot. What more? After mounting and dismounting four several times, entering the house with ten solidi and returning to his immovable horse, he kept running hither and thither; but by all his urging he could not move his horse, until a mass of sixty solidi was gathered there. Then at length he repeats the above-mentioned speech about the gentle humanity of the sainted Confessor and the safe guardianship in the expedition, and he also mentions in similar terms the hardness and even the greediness in the sale, as is said, and after four several times returning to the house he at last addressed the sainted George in this manner: "Sainted Confessor, now I see clearly what thy will is. All this weight of gold, the whole sixty solidi, which thou desirest, I offer to thee as a gift, and also my horse itself which I promised to make over to thee before, on account of the expedition; now I make it over to thee, although bound with invisible bonds, which will however, as I believe, be soon released through the honour thou hast with God."
Having finished this speech, he goes out from the house and finds the horse released on that very moment, and he brings it with him into the house and makes it over to the sainted Confessor in the sight of that likeness, and departs joyfully praising Christ.
Hence it is plainly gathered that whatever is consecrated to the Lord, whether it be man or animal, according to what is written in the book of Leviticus, cannot be redeemed or changed in any way: for if "any one shall change it, both that which was changed, and that for which it was changed, shall be consecrated to the Lord", and it shall not be redeemed.
V - The picture of St Mary
Arculf, who has been so often mentioned, gave us an accurate account, obtained from some well-informed witnesses in the city of Constantinople, as to the bust of the holy mother of the Lord. In that metropolitan city there used to hang on the wall of a house a picture of Blessed Mary, depicted on a small wooden tablet, as to which a certain stolid and hard-hearted man, on inquiring whose the picture was, learned from one who answered him, that it was the likeness of Saint Mary, ever Virgin. That unbelieving Jew, hearing this, at the instigation of the devil, took that picture in great wrath from the wall, and rushed to a neighbouring privy; and there, to dishonour Christ, born of Mary, he cast the picture of His mother through a hole upon the filth that lay below, and having dishonoured it by every means in his power, he departed. Now what he did afterwards, or how he lived, or of what sort the end of his life was, is not known. But, after the wretch's departure, another fortunate man of the common people, a Christian, who was very zealous in religious matters, coming in and knowing what had happened, searched for the image of St Mary, and rescued it from the human filth amidst which he found it, and washed it clean with the purest water, and taking it home with him, treated it with great honour. Marvellous to say, there always distils from the wood of that picture of Blessed Mary a true boiling oil, which, as Arculf used to say, he saw with his own eyes. This marvellous oil proves the honour of Mary the mother of Jesus, of whom the Father says, "In My holy oil, have I anointed Him". The same Psalmist says to the Son of God Himself, "The Lord Thy God hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows".
This narrative, which we have written about the situation and the foundation of Constantinople, and also about that round church in which the wood of salvation is preserved, etc., we learned carefully from the mouth of the sainted priest, Arculf; who remained in that city, by far the greatest of the Roman Empire, from the Paschal feast to that of the Lord's birth. Afterwards he sailed thence to Rome.
VI - Mount Vulcan
There is an island in the Great Sea towards the east, twelve miles from Sicily, in which is Mount Vulcan, which sounds so loudly, like thunder, all day and night, that the ground of Sicily, though so far away, is thought to be shaken by the terrific tremor, but it seems to sound more loudly on the sixth day of the week, and the Sabbath; it appears always to burn by night, and to smoke by day. This Arculf told me about that mountain as I was writing; he saw it with his own eyes, burning by night, but smoking by day; its thunder-like sound he heard with his own ears, while he was staying in Sicily for some days.
VII - Epilogue
Therefore I beseech those who shall read these short books, to pray for the divine clemency, on behalf of the sainted priest Arculf, who most willingly dictated to us these facts of his experience of the holy places which he visited, which I have, in however unworthy words, described, although placed in the midst of laborious and nearly insupportable ecclesiastical cares, which come upon me the whole day from all sides. Therefore I charge the reader of these experiences that he neglect not to pray to Christ, the judge of the ages, for me, a miserable sinner, the writer of them.
