_ 165 _ It seems that these remained after the capture of Babylon, which is known here as Baghdad, and which shares a common border with us and many other nations. Here I came across many Jewish refugees from Portugal, and Spaniards converted to Judaism. Some become converts and others hardened in their error. Every day I hold debates with them as well as with the Moors. There is a rumour here that a countless host of them assembled on Mount Sion near Jerusalem and have been waiting three years for the Messiah. Each day they confess their faults, but it is still not possible to rescue them from their blindness. Great rabbis assemble from various places to expound their lies in debate, but Christ Our Lord answers through me, quia caeci corrupti, et abominabiles facti sunt in studii suis [“because the blind, in their eagerness, become corrupt and detestable”]. It would take too long to relate everything that befell them. I hope that some of them, in a short while, will accept our holy faith. I also deal with many Armenians, local Christians who lived among large concentrations of Moors. In spite of this, they perform great penances like those of the holy men in the Armenian wilderness. I try as best I can to give them
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