i82 ST. TRIPHON'S MONASTERY 



the monastery for a long time, but were afraid to do the deed ; and 

 did not know their way to it. Their chieftain promised Ivan fifty 

 silver coins in Swedish money, and also gave him twenty in advance ; 

 the robbers armed themselves, harnessed a whole train of sledges, and 

 started off. They reached the Pechenga on Christmas Day. About 

 a couple of hours before their arrival, fifty-one members of the 

 brotherhood and sixty-five lay brothers had sat down at their tables 

 in the dining-hall after mass ; and the Father Superior, before blessing 

 the victuals, took up the Holy Book, and had just opened it to read 

 the lesson where he had left his bookmark, when he paled, began to 

 reel and fell to the ground. The brethren thought that he had 

 fainted through fasting, and one of them hurried to raise him from 

 the ground. The brother commenced to read in his stead, when 

 with a shriek, he covered his face in terror. All rose and saw with 

 horror that, where the Father Superior's bookmark was, letters written 

 with blood gave a list of those who had been recently murdered ; and 

 then followed a list of their names beginning with that of the Father 

 Superior. All was confusion and weeping, but the Father Superior 

 firmly ordered all to go into the church ; and there, with the whole 

 brotherhood, he knelt before the holy images. Meanwhile the robbers 

 had approached ; and while some tried to force the doors of the Holy 

 Temple, others surrounded the wooden monastery and set fire to it 

 on all sides. One of the monks was a powerful giant who had been 

 a warrior ; and seeing through the windows only fifty robbers, he 

 begged the Father Superior to bless him and others of the youngest 

 and strongest monks, so that they might defend the monastery with 

 their axes and crowbars. But the Father Superior replied : * No, it 

 is the will of God, as foretold by the Holy Triphon, although he said 

 not when ; and therefore we must not go against His will, but must 

 without murmur prepare to win the crown of martyrdom.' After 

 these words the brotherhood calmed down and became silent. They 

 fell down before the altar in fervent prayer, and at that moment 

 the robbers rushed in ; but not one of the monks moved or answered 



