I Can Strongly Recommend All Young Curates Who Are
Waiting In Vain For Livings To Come And Work Upon The
Holy soil of
Trooditissa at one shilling per diem; and should they (as curates
frequently are) be poor in this
World's goods, but nevertheless strong
in amorous propensities, and accordingly desirous of matrimony, they
will find a refuge within the walls of this monastery from all the
temptations of the outer world, far from garden-parties, balls, picnics,
church-decorations assisted by young ladies, and all those snares of the
Evil One; and the wholesome diet of the monks, including a course of
soaked broad-beans and barley bread, with repeated fastings upon
innumerable saints' days, will affect them sensibly, both morally and
physically; under this discipline they will come to the conclusion that
a wife and large family upon an income of 500 pounds a year in England
would not confer the same happiness as one shilling a day with the
pickaxe, broad-beans and independence, at Trooditissa, which is true
"muscular Christianity."
It was extraordinary to see the result of a life-long diet of beans and
barley-bread in the persons of the monks, who very seldom indulged in
flesh. The actual head of the monastery was a handsome man of seventy,
perfectly erect in figure, as though fresh from military drill, and as
strong and active as most men of fifty. The younger priests were all
good-looking, active, healthy men, who thought nothing of a morning's
walk over the fatiguing rocky paths to Troodos and back (twelve miles),
to be refreshed on their return by an afternoon's work in their gardens.
The head of the Church was an especial friend of ours, and was a dear
old fellow of about seventy, with a handsome face, a pair of greasy
brass spectacles bound with some substance to retain them that was long
since past recognition, and swelled feet that prevented him from walking
beyond the precincts of the monastery, which he had never quitted for
twelve years.
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