212 Burning of Abbot Spiridion
Wherefore, in a grassy bay of the land by

_the river a great pile of faggots was reared,
dry and quick for the touch of flame. And
the Abbot broke down the shrine and
opened the tomb. .

When the stone lid of the coffin had been
lifted, the religious saw that, though it had
been long buried, the body showed no sign
of decay. Fresh and uncorrupted it lay in
the sacred vestments; youthful and comely
of face, despite a marvellous old age and
years of sepulture.

With many tears they raised what seemed
rather a sleeping man than a dead, and bore
him to the river; and when they had heaped
the faggots about him, the Abbot blessed
the body and the fuel, and with his own hand
set fire to the funeral pile.

The brethren restrained not their weeping
and lamentation as they witnessed that hal-
lowed burning; and the Abbot, with heavy
eyes, tarried till the last ember had died out.
Then were all the ashes of the fire swept to-
gether and cast into the fleeting river, which
bore them through lands remote into the
utmost sea that hath no outland limit save the
blue sky and the low light of the shifting stars.