administer both the elements at the same time, by means of a spoon. Whether the celebrant was drunk or not I cannot tell, but this much is certain, that whilst about to put the spoon into the mouth of a communicant kneeling in front of him, somehow or other he spilled its sacred contents. They fell on to his foot, made a hole right through it, and a mark on the flagstone beneath. The wound which the body and blood of the Saviour made in the foot of the priest never healed, but was the cause of his death. Some time afterwards, however, a man afflicted with a grievous disease visited this same church of Mar Jiryis, and, without being aware of the fact, knelt down on the flagstone which had received a mark from the falling upon it of the consecrated bread and wine, and prayed for recovery. To his great joy, and to the surprise of all present, he was healed on the spot. The fame of his cure brought many others who were stricken with incurable maladies to El Khudr, and, as soon as they knelt on the sacred stone, they were cured, to the glory of God and of Mar Jiryis; so that the reputation of the church became widely spread, and even reached the ears of the Sultan of the Muscovites, who, jealous that so holy a stone should be kept in such an out of the way village, coveted it for the benefit of himself and his people. He sent a man-of-war to Jaffa, bearing a letter to the Patriarch of Jerusalem, saying that the slab should be taken up at once and transported to Jaffa. As the Sultan of the Muscovites was a good friend, benefactor, and protector of the Church, the Patriarch did not
