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A TRADITION OF TIMUR 157
direct strokes, their real purpose not apparent at the
moment, he gradually sketched the Gregorian Church.
There was a passing reference to its antiquity, others
to its traditions, to its old churches, some of them
now, alas ! in use as mosques ; to its relics, its ancient
MSS., its old furniture and vestments. He also referred
to the Mekhitharist Monastery among the
lagoons of Venice, not as a Gregorian foundation,
for it is Roman Catholic, but as an Armenian monastery
and seat of learning in Europe. He mentioned,
too, that Mekhithar, the founder of the
Order, was born in Sivas three centuries ago. In
half an hour of broken talk, during which many
subjects came up, the Bishop had created the impression
that his people and Church, though now
oppressed, were much in being and had not given
up hope.
A tradition in Sivas tells that when Timur captured
the city he buried alive 4000 Armenian warriors who
had helped the Turks in the defence. Armenians
still show this spot with pride, and call it the " Black
Earth." When I asked if the Bishop had any further
information than the bare tradition gave, his interest
deepened, he stirred with a touch of impatience ; and
then, in manner if not in words, seemed to wave the
story aside as a thing of worldly vanity. He had the
true version, something more spiritual, more creditable
to the Church, something much more damning
to
Timur.
The truth was, the Bishop said—and again he
seemed gently impatient—that when the city fell the
Church had arrayed 4000 children in white, and sent
them, bearing relics, to soften the conqueror's heart.
It was these 4000 children, together with the relics,
whom Timur had flung alive into a pit and covered
up, so creating the place of the Black Earth. I
thought the Bishop's version inferior to the secular
one. It sounded artificial, even when stated with
the authority of an earnest bishop. In his zeal for
the Church he seemed to do an injury to his people.