Book I.
Sect. I.
Aleppo.—Antioch.
Our Father and Lord the Patriarch, with the fairest purpose and upright intent, having fixed his determination upon turning his face and travels towards the city of Constantinople, we prepared accordingly, and took what was necessary for presents and offerings, and provided ourselves with other requisites; confiding in Almighty God, and trusting to his protection.
On the evening of Thursday the ninth day of the month Tamouz, he (may God prolong his existence!) went up from Aleppo towards Ladikia and Gebileh, to collect his dues in those parts, and then return to Antioch. I, his poor historian, and the rest of his companions, went forth on the Tuesday morning, the Feast of the Prophet Elias, and came in the evening to a town called Maarethwan. The next morning we arose and came to Hadim and Gotrarin; which last is a town in the neighbourhood of the new bridge, Jisr al Jadid, on a bank of the Aasi, where we slept, We entered Antioch on Thursday the twenty-second of Tamouz; and there assisted at mass, on Sunday, the seventh after Pentecost. We then set off on a visit to the Convent of Saint Simeon, the Worker of Miracles, the Sailor, by the straight old Roman road, which they have opened anew within these few years, after it had been entirely forgotten for a length of time. How often, in former years, when we started for a visit to this convent, were we taken along the Soueidieh road, by the Church of Saint Spiridion, built on the spot where his enemies cut off the heads of his asses; and having passed a night in the town Zeitounieh, continued our pilgrimage to the convent on the following day, over a very difficult road, through an immense forest! This road, on the contrary, is smooth, straight, and near; and our Lord the Patriarch, from the information he drew of it from the history of the Saint, had frequently inquired about it. Till the present year, however, it was not discovered nor opened. But now, thanks to God! we enjoyed it exceedingly: for on the evening of the same day we passed on to the Great Convent of the Saint, and performed Ἀγρυπνία (Vigils) and Παράϰλησις
