Soon After This William Bouchier Was Grievously Sick, And When Recovering,
The Monk Sergius Visited Him, And Gave Him So Great A Doze Of Rhubarb As
Had Almost Killed Him.
On this I expostulated with the monk, that he ought
either to go about as an apostle, doing miracles
By the virtue of prayer
and the Holy Ghost, or as a physician, according to the rules of the
medical aid, and not to administer strong potions to people who were not
prepared. About this time the principal priest of the Nestorians, who was a
kind of archdeacon over the rest, became sick $ and when I endeavoured, at
the request of his family, to prevail upon the monk to visit him, he said,
"Let him alone for he and three others intend to procure an order from
Mangu-khan to expel you and I." And I learnt afterwards, that there was a
dispute between them, as Mangu-khan had sent four jascots on Easter eve to
the monk, to distribute among the priests; and Sergius, keeping one to
himself, had given three to the priests, one being a counterfeit, and the
priests thought Sergius had kept too great a share to himself. Finding the
archdeacon in a dying way, I administered to him the Eucharist and extreme
unction, which he received with great humility and devotion; but, by the
advice of the monk, I quitted him before he died, as otherwise I could not
have entered the court of Mangu-khan for a whole year.
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