The Sunday following, the bridegroom proceeds to his father-in-law's house, to acknowledge his gratitude for the possession of such a charming treasure, etc., all which is expressed by the ceremony of kissing the hands of the parents of the maiden, and this Sunday is called, par excellence, the "Kissing Sunday."
These are the real Armenians; but about a hundred and fifty years ago there was a secession in favor of Catholicism. The Catholic Armenians, of whom there are about fifteen thousand in the metropolis, and seventy-five thousand throughout Turkey, although distinct from the Roman Catholics, have assimilated themselves, in many respects, to European habits; forgetting their nationality and language, and aping customs and usages they do not even understand; so much so, that a very amusing work has been written in Armeno-Turkish under the title of Acaby, as a burlesque upon such inclinations. They are not, therefore, to be confounded with the orthodox Armenians.
The Greeks, who sent the trophies of their versatile genius, their graceful architectural adornings, and exquisite paintings to the temples at Rome, and over the western world, whose classic lore is yet the theme and model of the learned, once gloried in the possession of the proud Stamboul.
About a century after its foundation by Constantine, it is said to have possessed "a capital, a school of learning, a circus, two theatres, eight public and one hundred and fifty-three private baths, fifty-two porticoes, five granaries, eight aqueducts of water, four spacious halls of justice, fourteen churches, fourteen palaces, and four thousand and three hundred and eighty-eight houses, which, for their size and beauty, deserved to be distinguished from the multitude of plebeian habitations."
The magnificent temple Ayia-Sophia, dedicated to the Goddess of Divine Wisdom, rose like a Phoenix from its ruins, under the liberal patronage of Justinian, and the assiduous labors of ten thousand workmen during five years, eleven months, and ten days.
This was the shrine of the Greek Faith, and those walls glittering with golden mosaic and precious stones, re-echoed the Kyrie eleêson of the adoring Christians. The magnificent altar of precious metals and glittering gems witnessed the prostrations of patriarchs and their acolyths--and the impenetrable veil was suspended before the Holy of Holies.