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Pilgrimage in the Holy Land
St John Phocas, tr. Stewart, 1889
Chapter 1
Now wherefore should I, who have enjoyed the sight of the holy places, and have beheld the regions in which God once manifested Himself, when He brought forth His fugitive people out of Egypt by the means of Moses with signs and wonders and with a mighty hand, having struck down the nations and their rulers, Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Basan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan, and with an outstretched arm planted therein a strange people, which He increased, as the Holy Scriptures tell us, and which places He at last hallowed by the holy incarnation of His only begotten Son, and accomplished the wondrous work of our regeneration,—why, I ask, should I alone taste of this blessing, and imitate the manner in which gluttons deal with food? Where shall we find in such conduct that catholic and brotherly kindness by which our love for one another is manifested, and whereby alone the peculiar graces of human nature are expressed? It is, therefore, my duty, as far as lies in my power, to attempt to depict the country by words as though by a map, and indirectly by writing to describe to religious students those things which I have beheld directly with my eyes. To those who have seen these places I shall appear to labour in vain; for if the object of my writing be to imitate the actual spectacle, then, as all imitation is wont to fall short of the original, it is clear that I shall give them less pleasure than that which has its seat in their eyes. What, then, does my book aim at? Those persons who have never beheld with their eyes these most excellent places, but who frequently meet with mention of them, will, I imagine, be more distinctly taught by my book than by those which speak of them without defining what they are. It ought also to be more likely to afford some pleasure even to those who have beheld them, if it be pleasant to listen to accounts of what it is enjoyable to behold.