race impiety. Woe unto you in
the day of judgment.' The words spread like wildfire and enflamed the
excited crowd within and around the monastery. Anathemas, cursing all
supporters of the union in the past, in the present, and in the future
resounded on every hand. The answer of Gennadius was carried through the
city and found an echo among all classes of the population. Men ran to
the taverns to drink undiluted wine, in derision of the Roman practice
of mixing water with the wine of the Holy Communion; they shouted
themselves hoarse with maledictions on the unionists; they drank to the
honour of the Theotokos, invoking her aid as in the days of old, when
she delivered the city out of the hands of the Persians, the Avars, and
the Saracens. Far and wide rose the cry, 'Away with the help and the
worship of the Latin eaters of unleavened bread.'[398] The two scenes
witnessed, on the 12th December 1452, in S. Sophia and at the
Pantokrator displayed a discord that hastened the downfall of New Rome.
That day the party with the watchword, 'Better the turban of the Turk
than the tiara of the Pope,' gained the victory.

Upon the capture of the city, the Greek community, owing to the recent
death of the Patriarch Athanasius, found itself without an
ecclesiastical chief. The conqueror, anxious to conciliate his Greek
subjects, proclaimed complete religious toleration, and gave orders that
they should forthwith proceed to the free election of a new patriarch.
Under the circumstances there could be no question as to the right man
for the place. Gennadius, who had opposed the unprofitable Latin
alliance, and saved the national Church notwithstanding the ruin of the
Empire, was unanimously chosen to be the first guide of his people along
the strange and difficult path they were now to follow. The choice being
confirmed by the Sultan, Gennadius left the Pantokrator to do homage to
the new master of the realm. Every mark of honour was paid to the
prelate. He was invited to the royal table and granted a long audience,
at which, following the practice of Byzantine emperors, the Sultan
presented him with a magnificent pastoral staff, and promised to respect
all the ancient privileges of the patriarchal see. When Gennadius took
leave, the Sultan accompanied him to the foot of the stairs of the
palace, saw him mounted on a fine and richly caparisoned horse, and
ordered the notables of the court to escort him to the church of the
Holy Apostle