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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where is the chief monastery of the Essene Brotherhood situated?
(a) not far from the shores of the Dead Sea
(b) in Nazareth
(c) near the sea of Galilee
(d) near Jerusalem

2. What language did the bards sing when they competed in contests?
(a) Turko-Tartar
(b) Turkish
(c) Turko-Russian
(d) Russian

3. According to Gurdjieff, contemporary literature falls into which three categories?
(a) science books, magazines and newspapers
(b) non-fiction, newspapers and travel books
(c) the scientific field, narratives (novels) and descriptions
(d) non-fiction, poetry and journalism

4. Why did the subject of spiritualism make a strong impression on Gurdjieff?
(a) because he wanted to believe in immortality
(b) because his dead sister appeared to him in a dream
(c) because of the recent death of his favorite sister
(d) because he wanted to take part in a seance

5. What would Gurdjieff's father do on evenings before Sundays and holidays?
(a) tell stories to his children
(b) lay out his clothes for Sunday
(c) write letters to his friends
(d) go to bed late

6. What was Gurdjieff's youngest niece supposed to do for him?
(a) see that his Arabian coffee did not become cold in the cup
(b) bring him cold drinks
(c) sing to him while he sat under the trees
(d) fan him with a palm fan while he was working in the heat.

7. How did Gurdjieff's father lose his fortune as the richest cattle owner in Armenia?
(a) He was a bad breeder and couldn't care for his cattle
(b) a widespread cattle plague
(c) A rival cattle owner stole most of his cattle
(d) He lost his cattle gambling

8. What did the Yezidis believe?
(a) they will some day take over the world
(b) they are suseptible to many diseases
(c) they cannot leave a circle that is drawn around them
(d) they are the chosen-ones and have special powers

9. How old was Dean Borsh when he first taught Gurdjieff and visited his father to discuss religious and historical subjects?
(a) sixty-eight
(b) seventy
(c) seventy-two
(d) seventy-five

10. With whom did Gurdjieff's father carry on long conversations about philosophy and theology?
(a) with his close friend, Ivan Ivanovich
(b) with Gurdjieff's first tutor, Dean Borsh
(c) with his brother, Gurdjieff's beloved uncle
(d) with Gurdjieff himself

11. Between what ages did Father Borsh feel females were fully developed?
(a) between the ages of fifteen and nineteen
(b) between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one
(c) between the ages of fifteen and twenty-one
(d) between the ages of sixteen and twenty

12. What did Pogossian's parents do for a living?
(a) His father was a dyer, his mother an embroideress in gold
(b) His father was a teacher, his mother a laundress.
(c) His father was a merchant, his mother a housewife.
(d) His father was a potter, his mother a seamstress.

13. Where did Gurdjieff''s father come from?
(a) from an Egyptian family who moved to Alexandropol
(b) from a Greek family who had fled from the Turks in Byzantium
(c) from a Russian family who fled from Russia during hard times
(d) from a Persian family living in Armenia

14. In what town did the first of the ashokh contests which Gurdjieff witnessed take place?
(a) Van in Turkey
(b) Viestock in Persia
(c) Tabul in Turkey
(d) Istanbul in Turkey

15. Where did Captain Pogossian spend his childhood?
(a) in Transcaucasia, in the town of Kars
(b) in Turkey, in Ephesus
(c) in Russia, on the Black Sea
(d) in Greece, on the island of Patmos

Short Answer Questions

1. How did Gurdjieff and Pogossian secure passage on a ship to Egypt?

2. What did Father Borsh look like?

3. What state did Gurdjieff experience, according to Mullah Nassr Eddin's words, after many sleepless nights?

4. What did Gurdjieff and Pogossian pursue together?

5. How does Gurdjieff first meet Dean Borsh?

(see the answer keys)

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