The robes are of gold or silver brocade, very rich in itself, and ornamented, some by borders ofgold work, others withdeepbordering ofpearls and precious stones of every description. I should in vain attempt to give any idea of their magnificence : one was valued at 250,000 rubles, when the rublewas attwoshillings andsixpence ; others at 150,000 rubles, at 100,000 rubles, &c. valuable crosses are also exhibited ; and testaments in covers of solid gold, silver, brass, or some other curious or valuable materials. The whole riches of the convent treasury was estimated at twenty-five millions of rubles, when the ruble was half a crown.
At this monastery are also the famous catacombs, which so many thousands of infatuated people in the Russian empire, go on foot to visit every year. The preparation for descending into this repository ofthedeadwas more solemn than the scene itself; for themonk accompanying us, related such incredible and ridiculous stories of the saints whose relics lay there, that we must have had a more than common share of credulity to have believed them. Every person going down into these vaults purchases a wax taper, and having lighted it, in solemn silence follows the monk, who, as he conducts the visitors through these vaulted sepulchres of the dead, opens the coffin lid, unfolds the shroud, and tells the name of the saint enshrined in that repository : no part of the body is to be seen, of course the flesh is all wasted, and the bones only remain perfect, from having been completely kept from the air ; the face and hands are commonly covered with gold or silver tissue, or brocade, or some kind of silk : a cap is placed on the head, of the same material. The coffins are generally of Cypress wood, but some of massy silver, very richly engraved. There are two or three handsome little chapels in these subterraneous passages, built by some of their saints, and consecrated for their hours of private devotion. Several cells are shewn, where they say monks, in avow of penance, have had themselves walled up, and only a little window left, at which they received daily their bread and water, and there remained until their deaths : in one of the cells are the twelve masons who built the church, and then entered as monks into the Monastery.
In another place you are shewn the body, or rather the head and shoulders of a man stuck in the ground : in avow ofpenancehedug a hole, in which he placed himself, standing with his hands by his sides, and then had the hole filled, so that only his head, and a little below the shoulders, could be seen : here he lived (they say) fifteen years, having food and drink brought to him, and a lamp constantly burning by his side : they still allow him alamp, which,burns dayand night continually, though he hasbeen dead six or seven hundred years ; this, however, they can well afford to do, as he brings a considerable share ofthe riches ofthe Convent. The cap he wears is supposed to work miracles, and restore the sick ; accordingly, hundreds come to visit St. Antonio, and wear his cap, which is frequently the undoubtedmeans of restoring health, though not in the way that enthusiasm and credulity imagine, but by the simple process of being the cause of their taking unusual exercise in the open air, and exercising also a temperance not habitual to them. I should not omit to mention that St.Antonio is said to sink a little lower in the ground every year, and that the world is to be at an end by the time he entirely disappears. Amongst the wonders which they relate, this can scarcely be classed as the greatest ; and iftime in its mighty changes does not annihilate the Monastery of Pestcherskey, St. Antonio will probably not disappear, while he continues so instrumental to the well-doing of his brethren.
Having so particularly mentioned the merits of this saint, let me do justice to the others also, and state, that all have their votaiies, and that money lay scattered in every coffin, as if the golden age had returned, and man no longer continued to heap sordid gold, or required its aid to help him to the comforts of life. It is reckoned that from sixty to a hundred thousand pilgrims, from all parts of the Russian empire, visit the Monastery at Kiev, in one year ; and the revenue the monks derive from the sale of wax candles, is alone sufficient to furnish food for the establishment.
The splendour and ceremony of the Greek Church is very imposing ; and it is not much to be wondered at, that over minds so barren and uninformed, the craft of priesthood has attained such sway ; but it is lamentable to see the ill effects of a religion built on so good a foundation, so shamefully perverted, in the moral practice and doctrines of its professors.