‘Yes; may God pardon him for the wrong he did to Annita and to me.’ ‘That is right, my son,’ said the old man. ‘Such should be your state of mind when you take the vows this night, and may it be that you will find peace within the Church’s fold; for the holy Church alone can offer balm to your wounded heart here on earth, and give to your soul everlasting bliss hereafter.’ CHAPTER VII. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE MONASTERY ON CHRISTMAS EVE, 1589. [5] There was war between John III. of Sweden and the Czar, Theodore Ivanovitsch, and though an amnesty had been agreed upon for four years—from 1585 to 1590—there were during that time slight skirmishes between the people who lived along the coast of Karelen, and the Finns, of Swedish Finland. Early in 1589 the Karelens had, in this irregular manner, made an incursion into Finland, in the direction of Kajana. In revenge for this attack, the Swedish Finns, not long afterwards, made an incursion into Karelen. It is recorded that ‘they came in boats over the river Kovda, seven hundred strong, and invaded and burnt the Karelen towns of Kovda, Umba, Keret, and other places along the coast. After this they made their way southwards in Kemste Volost, and plundered all the habitations. Thence they retraced their steps across the river Kem.’ The inhabitants of Solowetski retaliated, and with a troop of thirteen hundred men made another incursion into Finland, plundering several towns within the Finnish territory. The Finns, on their part, revenged themselves ‘about Christmastide’ by making another invasion; not, however, this time eastwards towards Karelen, but northwards to the less defended coast of Russian Lapland, to Enare, Peisen, Petschenga, Orafjord, and Kola. The troops, whose numbers have not been recorded, marched from the district of Kajana, and it is probable that they first reached Enare, or, as it is called in the old documents, ‘Innier.’ Here they slew, among others, ‘Tykum Thudesen, who yielded tribute to Denmark, Sweden, and Russia,’ and who, from his name, we judge must have been a Norwegian. From Enare they probably went along the Pasvig river, or through its valley to Pasvig, or Klosterfjord, where Boris and Glebs Chapel had been built by the monks of Petschenga. Here they put to death ‘four men, three boys, and one woman.’ Among the boys Mikel Ottesen is mentioned, who was probably a Norwegian, and the woman, who was named Oditte Andrisdatter, was also in all probability a Norwegian woman. It is noteworthy that in this case they spared the chapel, as it is still in existence, but usually they burnt both the churches and the houses. From Peisen they went by sea to Bomeni, or Bumandsfjord, on Fiskerö. They easily obtained boats at Pasvigfjord, where the monks had a shipyard. The number of those who were killed at Bomeni, and the property belonging to the monks which they destroyed, is not known. ‘There was nobody there,’ the letter from