Photo and copyright by Underwood and Underwood 

 PIOUS MONKS OF THE EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH AT DOOR OP MONASTERY : 



MEGASPELJEOX, GREECE 



"Of all the learned professions theology is the most neglected, the priesthood for the 

 most part being scantily educated and in many cases actually illiterate. The cause of this. 

 probably, is that, except in the higher orders — archimandrites, bishops, and archbishops — the 

 rewards of the priesthood are very meager, it being no uncommon thing for a priest to carry 

 on daily labor in competition with his parishioners on week days, while he contents himself 

 with the mere recital of the offices — frequently by rote, for often he cannot read — on 

 Sundays and saints' days" (see text, page 323). 



ness. Indeed, the Greek of today, espe- 

 cially in the country, is the most hospita- 

 ble of moderns. The best room in the 

 house, the choicest tidbits at the table : 

 all the resources of the family, indeed, 

 are freely at the disposal of the passing 

 stranger, without thought or desire of 

 payment; and it is only by means of 



some subterfuge, such as asking the 



whole family to drink one's health, that 

 one is able with difficulty to press money 

 upon a host who has denied himself to 

 make his guests comfortable. By some 

 it is thought that this generous trait is a 

 survival of the days of the Turkish op- 

 pression, when it was necessary to be 



3i9 



