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T H E S A. C. R. E. D
RITES AND GEREMONIES
OF THE
ARMENIAN CHURCH
B Y ~ T H E
Rd IDr J AMIES ISSA VIEEDIENTS
MEMBER OF THE ARMENIAN INSTITUTION AND ACADEMY
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WENICE
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The right of translation is reserved.

THE SACRED
RITES AND CERE MONIES
OF THE
ARMENLAN CHURCH
17
THE SA, C R E D RITES
O F T H E A R M E N I A N S
Having concluded our historical
sketch of the Armenian Church, some
account of its rites and ceremonies
may not be void of interest; we there-
fore trust that the following brief des-
cription of each of the Sacraments as
there administered may be acceptable
and useful.
THE
S A C R E D R IT E S
OF THE
A R M E N I A N S
THE ARMENIAN RITUAL.
The book containing the regulations for
the administration of the Sacraments is call-
ed by the Armenians Mashdotz, after the
name of its compiler St. Mesrob surnamed
Mashdotz. This eminent man, as we have
already stated, by the invention of the ar-
menian alphabet gave new life to mental
progress among the Armenians.
Before his time the Armenians possessed
no national alphabet, consequently they
possessed no written, stable regulation for
the performance of their religious ceremo-
nies. In reading the few accounts left by
old writers about the performance of the
church service before the invention of the
armenian alphabet we conclude, that the
divine Service was carried on in the arme-
*.
— 382 —
nian churches not only in the armenian
tongue, but also in the Greek and Syriac
languages, in which latter the Bible was
principally read to the people. This was a
great hindrance to the armenian clergy in
their efforts to instruct the people.
But the great invention being once effec-
ted, all the scientific men of the epoch lent
their assistance in compiling the book
which was to fix for ever the regulation of
their church ceremonies. St. Isaac the pon-
tiff and St. Mesrob produced in a short time
the five following works: viz,
1. The Breviary, which was afterwards
completed by their disciples Kewd and John
Mantagumi.
2. The Directory or Calendar, which
was afterwards improved by others.
3. The Liturgy, which was enriched
by John Mantaguni.
4. The book of Hymns, which was
augmented by Moses of Khoren and others.
5. The Ritual or Book containing the
regulations for baptism and other Sacraments
and ceremonies, otherwise called Mashdotz.
This last was completed by St. Mesrob,
who through his disciples collected the pray-
ers and the order of lessons used by the
old Fathers, the which, with his own addi-
— 383 —
tions, formed the armenian Ritual which
was sanctioned by the authority of St. Isaac
the pontiff.
Thus the Armenians were endowed with
that book of religious ceremonies, which
forms the glory of their Church. It however,
in succeeding centuries, was augmented,
and enriched with prayers psalms, lessons
and hymns. And this is proved by the exa-
mination of the old manuscripts of the Ritual,
and principally by one infolio manuscript of
the eighth century, preserved in the Arme-
nian Library of St. Lazaro in Venice, in
which the regulations for the ceremonies
are very short, and many paragraphs found
in later manuscript Rituals are not to be
found in it. We therefore conclude that at
different epochs the armenian Ritual has
received several additions, although preserv-
ing unaltered the regulations transmitted by
St. Mesrob.
— 384 —
KI
CHURCHES.
The Sanctuary. — The Sacristy. — The use of curtains. –
The Niche for the offerings. – Objects placed upon the al-
tar. — NoTA. Respect to Saints and to relics. – The Church,
Choir and Nave. *-
The interior arrangement of armenian
churches differs from that of the Greek and
the Latin. Generally they are built eastward
with the altar to the east. They are divided
into two principal parts: the Sanctuary and
the Church proper.
The Sanctuary is a platform raised above
the general level of the church and is reach-
ed by four, six, and more steps. The roof
above it commonly forms a cupola. This is
the sacred place reserved only for the per-
formance of the Sacrament of the Holy Eu-
charist; wherefore the altar is always erect-
ed in the middle of it, and is again a few
steps higher than the rest of the Sanctuary,
and exposed to view.
In some very old churches however, where
the ancient interior arrangement still exists
in some way unaltered, we find that a screen,
upon which images of Saints are painted, is
• — 385 —
placed before the entrance of the Sanctuary
and hides the altar from view; on each side
of this screen there are two doors allowing
the ministers to enter or leave the Sanctua-
ry. This screen, observed by travellers in
certain ruined churches, makes us conclude
that anciently the interior arrangement of
the armenian churches must have been some-
thing like that of the Greeks, and after-
wards, by the use of curtains, was altered.
Still we find traces of the screen in the doors
placed on each side of the isolated altar,
which enable the deacons to move in pro-
cession round it during the performance of
the ceremony.
The Sacristy is commonly near the Sanct-
uary, into which it opens.
Two curtains are used before the Sanct-
uary : a large one hangs before its entrance,
concealing at certain points of the service,
altar, priest and deacons ".
The second curtain is a smaller one and
is used sometimes to cover the altar and its
ornaments after service. If however there be
present some devotee or pilgrim, the little
curtain remains withdrawn until the act of
devotion is finished.
During the ceremony of the Holy Eucha-
A During lent this curtain is kept drawn for forty days
continually, when the service is performed behind it. This
typcſics the expulsion of our first parents from Paradise.
17%
— 386 — Yºs
rist however, and after the priest has bless-
ed the people, this curtain remains drawn,
while the officiating priest behind takes the
Holy Sacrament.
The introduction of these two curtains in
the armenian Church seems to be very an–
cient, as we find them prescribed in a canon
addressed by Macarius bishop of Jerusalem
to the pontiff Vertanes, about the year 340:
u Canon the 8th . — The altar shall be
“ furnished with a curtain; a curtain shall
“ likewise hang down before the Sanctuary,
“ within which only the ministers celebrat-
“ing the Mass may enter : the other minis-
4 ters present shall take their station out-
* side it, each according to his rank". »
In the Sanctuary and on the left of the
altar there is a Niche, whereon the offerings
are placed until the moment arrives to carry
them in procession to the altar.
The objects placed upon the altar are : a
cross upon which a picture of our Lord is
painted or wrought in enamel, and candle-
sticks are placed on each side of it. Sometimes
the chalice is left covered upon the altar and
before it is placed a richly bound Gospel,
also half covered by an embroidered veil.
4 Issaverdens. Histor. of the armen, Chur, p. 16.
— 387 —
The book of the Liturgy is also kept on one
side of the altar. -
We must not forget to mention that the
Holy Sacrament also is always kept in a
tabernacle upon the altar, before which
lights are continually burning.
In days of festivity, rich shrines, contain-
ing relics of Saints, are exposed upon the
altar, and presented to the devotion of the
people *.
Such is the interior arrangement of the
Sanctuary where no one is allowed to enter,
except the officiating priest and deacons.
The Church is divided into two principal
parts: the Choir and the Nave.
The Choir is raised somewhat higher than
the Nave, and the divine service of the brew-
iary is hereof performed. Herein and on each
side of the Sanctuary there are two and
Sometimes more altars dedicated to Saints,
upon which on Some occasions the Sacra-
ment of the Holy Eucharist is also performed.
4. We may notice here the devotion the armenians profess
to Saints for whose intercession they constantly pray. The
first is the Madonna whose intercession is continually invoked
in all the church services.
Then come St. John Baptist, St. Stephen ‘Protomartyr, St.
Gregory the Illuminator, St. Sergius and many others.
The relics of all the Saints are greatly honoured, and the
people wear them devoutly on the breasi. They also perform
pilgrimages to the tombs and Sanctuaries where the remains
are deposited, and devoutly pray for their intercession, and
frequently miraculous cures are performed through their faith.
— 388 —
During the performance of the Holy Eu-
charist in the Sanctuary, the choristers, com—
posed mostly of boys, stand in the middle of
the Choir, drawn up in a semicircle, and ac-
company the celebrating priest and the dea—
cons with chants and psalmodies. None, .
except the clergymen and clerks, are per-
mitted to enter the choir during the service.
There are no stalls in the choir, but ac-
Cording to the eastern fashion, mats and
Carpets are spread on which they sit cross-
legged; for bishops and dignitaries, how-
ever, seats of honour are placed. *
The Wave is reserved for the people and is
divided into separate parts for men and
women. Sometimes the whole of it is appro-
priated to the men, while a gallery is cons-
tructed destined alone for women, who enter
it by a separate door from outside the church.
The floor of the Nave is covered with mats,
and the people on entering, take off their
shoes, not only in order to keep the place
clean, but also as a mark of respect for the
sacred place, based on the words of God to
Moses : « Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for
the place where thou standest is holy ground *.x
No seats or chairs are in the whole nave
and the people sit cross-legged on the floor,
or on cushions they bring from home. No
4 Exod. III, 5.
— 389 — -
pulpit for preaching is to be found in the
church, for sermons are usually preached
from the choir.
| Such is generally the interior arrange-
ment of armenian churches of both persua-
sions, with the exception that, in those of
the catholic armenians, there are often more
altars disposed as among the Latins, where
low masses are daily celebrated.
The Armenians mostly dedicate their
churches to the Saviour, to the Holy Cross,
to the Holy Virgin, to the Apostles, to St.
Gregory the Illuminator, to St. John Baptist,
and to some other saint of the first centuries
of Christianity.
— 390 —
III
THE HOLY SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM ACCORDING
TO THE AIRMENIAN RITE,
Ceremonies at the porch of the church. — They enter the
church. — The blessing of the water. — Respect of the
Armenians for the holy chrysm. — The act of baptizing.
The Armenians usually administer the
holy baptism with great pomp and Solemnity.
At the eighth day the midwife takes the
child in her arms, and accompanied by the
godfather and some of the relations, goes to
the church. They all stop outside the en-
trance of the porch, where the officiating
priest, accompanied by a deacon and some
clerks meets them. The ceremony begins by
the priest's saying : « Blessed be the Holy
Ghost the true God n : He then recites, al-
ternately with the deacon, the 51 st and the
131 st psalms, and in the meantime a string
of red and white threads is twisted, which
being finished, the priest blesses it and re-
cites upon it some prayers. The use of this
string will be hereafter explained. -
This being done, the midwife with the
child, the godfather and the others of the
retinue, are introduced into the porch;
2. — 391 —-
where the midwife must kneel down as ma-
ny times as the child numbers days. This
being done, the child is placed upon the
threshold of the church ; anthems and
psalms are then recited by the assisting
clergy, and at the same time the godfather
retires aside and makes his sacramental con-
fession, in order that he may fulfil his office
in the state of grace.
The priest, then taking the child, gives it
to the godfather saying : “I was cast upon
thee from the womb : Thou art my God
from my mother's belly. , The godfather,
on receiving it, kneels down three times,
and the priest, placing his hand upon the
child, makes the exorcisms by pronouncing
some devout invoeations, and then recites
some psalms.
The priest then turns himself towards the
east, and by So doing causes the godfather
with the child to look westward, when he
directing his words to the child makes him
Say :
— We renounce thee, Satan, and all thy
frauds, thy deceptions and thy worship, thine
inspiration, thy ways, thy wicked will,
thy wicked angels, thy wicked ministers,
thy wicked agents, and all thy wicked
power.
— 392 —
The priest then replies three times ques-
tioning the child : -
— Dost thou renounce P Dost thou re-
nounce 2 Dost thou truly renounce?
At which question having received three
times a positive answer, he causes the god-
father and the child to turn eastward, and
gives the godfather a lighted candle saying:
— Turn to the light of the knowledge of *
God.
The priest then questions the child about
the following articles of faith :
— Dost thou believe in the Holy Trinity
in the Father, in the Son and in the Holy
Ghost, in the three persons and in only one
nature ? Dost thou believe in the incarnation
of Christ, in the annunciation of Gabriel, in
the conception without seed of the holy
Virgin Mary, in the virginal birth of Christ,
in the baptism, in the doctrine, in the be-
trayal, in the Cross, in the burial, in the re-
surrection after three days, in the divine
ascension, in the siting down at the right
hand of the Father, in the future coming, in
the holy catholic and apostolic Church, in
the remission of sins, in the resurrection of
the dead, in the judicial authority, in the
recompense according to the deeds done in
- — 393 — .
the body, and in eternal life? dost thou be-
lieve P
The godfather answers saying:
— I do believe.
The priest again says:
— Dost thou believe in the Father true
God? Dost thou believe in the Son true
God? Dost thou believe in the Holy Ghost
true God P
At each of these questions the godfather
anSWel:S :
— I do believe.
The priest then reads that portion of the
Gospel according to St. Matthew in which
question is made about baptism; this being
finished, he, together with the godfather,
recites the Nicean Creed. -
While these ceremonies, preparatory to
the administration of baptism, are performed,
the clerks shut the doors of the church, which
remain closed until they, reciting alternati-
vely the 118th psalm, arrive at the 20th verse:
4 This gate of the Lord, into which the
righteous shall enter. n The doors of the
church are them opened, and all, continuing
to recite the psalm, enter it, except the wo—
A Ch. xxvii.1, 16-20.
— 39|| –
men who remain in the porch. The psalm
being finished, they recite the 100th , and
while they walk towards the font, they re-
cite Some prayers and chant a hymn adapt—
ed to the circumstance.
The water for the baptism, which is warm,
being ready, the priest proceeds to bless it,
by reciting peculiar prayers, and by invok-
ing upon it the virtue of the Holy Ghost;
he then pours it into the font in form of a
cross, and the clerks in the meantime chant
hymns and psalms. They then read two pro-
phecies 4 and a lesson from the epistle of St.
Paul to the Galatians”, after which the
deacon reads the Gospel according to St.
John 3.
The deacon, having finished the Gospel,
exhorts the people present to pray for the
peace of all the world, for the prosperity of
the church, for the life and eternal salvation
of the patriarch, for the worthy administra-
tion of the baptism which they are about to
confer, for the spiritual regeneration of the
child, and for all the faithful.
This being finished, the priest causes the
child to approach the font, and recites upon
the water a beautiful prayer worthy of ci-
tation here :
4 Isaiah, 55, 4. – Ezekiel, 56,25.
2 Chap. 5, v. 25.
5 Chap. 3, v, I-8.
— 395 —
— Thou, Lord, through Thy great power,
didst create the sea and the earth, and all
the creatures that are in them. Didst divide,
and establish the waters in heaven, which is
the residence of Thy celestial hosts, who glo-
rify Thee incessantly. Didst send Thy holy
Apostles, ordering them to preach to and
baptize all the infidels, in the name of the
Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Didst decree, also, by Thy unerring word,
that those who are not regenerated, through
the water, should not enter into Paradise. Of
which thing being afraid, this Thy servant,
desiring Thee, who art the eternal life, came
willingly to be baptized, spiritually, with this
water. We pray Thee, Lord ; send Thy Holy
Spirit into this water, and bless H and pu-
rify it, in the same manner that Thou didst
purify Jordan by descending into it, Thou,
our Lord Jesus Christ, who wast all-pure
from sin, typifying thereby in this fountain
of baptism, the regeneration of all men.
Grant unto him through this water, by
which now he is baptized, that he may ob-
tain pardon for his sins, receive Thy Holy
Spirit, be numbered with those who are af-
filiated with Thee heavenly Father, and be
worthy of an inheritance in Thy celestial
kingdom. In order that, purified from sin,
he may live in this world according to the
pleasure of Thy will, and, in the future life,
— 396 —
may receive, with all Thy Saints, the infinite
good blessings, and gladly glorify the Fa-
ther, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, now and
throughout all ages.
Then follow other prayers preparatory to
the pouring the holy chrism, which is u-
sually blessed by the pontiff, into the water.
The respect of the Armenians for the holy
chrism is however to be remarked; before
opening the box in which it is preserved,
they light candles, and the priest taking
successively in his hand the cross, the book
of the Gospels and the box of the holy
chrism, three times makes the sign of the
cross upon the water, and while he blesses
it with the holy chrism, pours in it three
drops of the holy oil chanting and saying:
— Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. May
this water be blessed and purified through
the sign of the holy Cross, of the holy Gos-
pel, and of the holy chrism; in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost.
And the deacon answers thrice :
— Hallelujah.
This being done the priest orders the child
to be unclothed; the godfather immediately
unclothes and presents him to the priest,
. — 397 —
who recites upon him the following prayer:
— O Lord, who didst call this Thy servant
to the purification and to the light of bap-
tism; we pray Thee, to make him worthy of
Thy eminent graces; efface from him the
corruption of sin, and restore in him new
life; fill him with the graces of the Holy
Ghost and number him among those affiliat-
ed to Christ; to whom belongs glory, power
and honour, now and throughout all ages.
The priest then asks the child:
— What dost thou demand?
And the Godfather answers:
— I demand to be baptized.
And the priest :
— Dost thou truly demand it 2
The Godfather answers :
— I demand with faith to be baptized and
purified from sin, to be released from the
demons and to serve God.
Whereupon the priest says: .
— Be it unto thee according to thy faith.
The priest then asks the name they desire
to give the child and, with his left handhold-
ing him cautiously by the neck, he takes
— 398 —
him with his right hand by the feet, and
thus he dips him into the font; in such a
manner that the top of his head be turned
towards the west, the feet towards the east,
and the face be towards heaven; thus plac-
ing his feet at the bottom of the font, and
holding the head out of the water, he says:
— N... servant of God coming by his own
will to the state of a catechumen and thence
to that of baptism, is now baptized by me,
in the name of the Father — at ºvhich name
he pow's a handful of water upon the head of
the child, – and of the Son, — he again
pours a handful of mater upon the child’s head;
then says, – and of the Holy Ghost. — a
third time he pours a handful of water upon
the child’s head. -
After this the priest thrice dips him under
the holy water and at each time he says:
— Redeemed by the blood of Christ from
the servitude of sin, receiving the liberty
which arises from affiliation with Thee,
heavenly Father, he becomes coheir with
Christ, and a temple of the Holy Spirit.
These three immersions into the holy wa-
ter, says the rubric, signify the three days .
burial of Christ. Then the priest washes the
whole body of the child and says:
— 399 —
— Ye that were baptized in Christ, have
been clothed in Christ, hallelujah. And ye
that were illuminated in God the Father,
may the Holy Ghost rejoice in ye, halle-
lujah.
The priest then recites alternately a few
verses of the 34th psalm with the deacon,
then he reads a lesson from the Gospel ac-
cording to St. Matthew', in which our Lord's
baptism in the Jordan is narrated, and when
he arrives at the words: “And Jesus being
baptized, forthwith came out of the water, n he
takes out from the font the child and gives
him to the Godfather, and then continues to
read the last verse of the Gospel. Afterwards
he recites some prayers, and thus the rite of
the administration of baptism is completed.
1 Chap. III, 15-47.
— 400 —
IV
SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION.
The real Confirmation. — Conclusion of the Confirmation. —
Communion of the new baptized child. — Ceremony at the
fortieth day of the child's baptism.
Immediately after baptism, the same priest
administers to the child the holy Sacrament
of confirmation, such being the custom of
all the Eastern Churches.
At first a hymn is chanted called the hymn
of the holy chrism, which being finished,
the priest dips his right thumb in the holy
oil, and in the form of a cross he anoints
the body of the newly baptized in nine diff-
erent parts as follows:
First on the forehead, saying :
— May this sweet oil which is poured
upon thee in the name of Christ, be a seal of
the celestial gifts.
And this, says the rubric, is properly the
eonfirmation or Sacrament of the Chrism ;
all the other unctions are merely ceremonies
and Sacramental acts,
— 401 —
After the unction of the forehead succeeds
that of the eyes, at which the priest says:
— May this seal, which is offered to thee
in the name of Jesus Christ, illuminate
thine eyes lest thou sleep the sleep of death.
Thirdly, the priest anoints the ears say-
ing :
— May this anointment of sanctification
make thee obedient to the commandments of
God.
Fourthly the nose saying:
– May this seal in the name of Jesus
Christ, be to thee as a sweet savour of life
unto life.
Fifthly, the mouth saying :
— May this seal in the name of Jesus
Christ be to thee as a watch and as a solid
door to thy lips.
Sixthly, both the palms saying :
— May this seal in the name of Jesus
Christ be to thee the cause of good works,
of virtuous deeds, and of life.
Seventhly, the heart saying :
— May this divine seal in the name of
Jesus Christ create in thee a clean heart and
renew a right spirit within thee.
18
— 402 —
Eighthly, the spine, saying :
— May this seal in the name of Jesus
Christ, be to thee a shield of safety; where-
with thou mayest be able to quench all the
fiery darts of the wicked.
Ninthly, the feet, saying:
— May this divine seal in the name of
Jesus Christ direct thy steps to eternal life,
and keep thy feet from erring.
At the end, the priest makes the sign of
the holy cross upon the newly baptized and
confirmed, and says:
— Peace be with thee, saved through
God.
This being done the priest blesses the
garments of the child, and clothes him. Then
he binds his forehead with the red and white
string, which was twisted in the beginning
of the ceremony of baptism, and at the end
of which is fastened a small cross. Then cov-
ering him with a white coat, he places in
his hands a wax candle, painted red and
green, and says:
— Reccive the lamp of faith and of good
works, so that when the bridegroom shall
come, thou mayest be worthy to enter unto
the wedding of light and enjoy eternal life.
~ 403 —
The priest then takes the child in his
arms and brings him up the steps of the
altar, makes him adore before the holy cross
and approach the lips in the act of kissing
it, as well as the altar on three sides and
Says :
— N... servant of Jesus Christ, coming
by his own will from the state of a catechu-
men to that of baptism, and from baptism
to adoration, worships before this holy
altar; he strips iniquity from his person
and clothes himself with the light of the
knowledge of God; in the name of the Fa-
ther, etc.
He then gives the child into the arms of
the godfather and opening the tabernacle
where the Sacrament is kept he administers
the communion to the child, and with this
the holy rite is finished ".
They afterwards accompany the child to
the door of the church, reciting, alternately,
4 The communion is thus administered to newly baptized
children:
Baptism is usually administered during the service of the
holy mass 5 wherefore the inſant is brought to the altar at the
Inoment the celebrant communicates; and he, after dipping
his finger into the holy chalice, puts it into the mouth of the
baby, saying:
— Plenitude of the IIoly Ghost.
- If however the ceremony of baptism be performed at a time
when no mass is celebrated, then the priest takes the holy
—- 404 —
the 324 psalm and a prayer, at the end of
which they chant a hymn in honour of the
holy Trinity. The child is then conveyed
home, where, eight days after, the priest re-
pairs and takes off the string, with which
the forehead of the child had been bound at
the end of the confirmation. And in doing
this he recites prayers adapted to the cir-
Cumstance.
When the child attains his fortieth day,
he is carried to the door of the church ac-
companied by his mother, and the priest
then pronounces upon both of them particu-
lar prayers. They are then brought into the
church, and the priest taking the child in
his arms, places him upon the step of the
altar, as if in order to make him adore, then
returns him to his mother. They then chant
a hymn in honour of the blessed Virgin,
which being finished, the priest blesses them,
and the ceremony is over.
Sacrament preserved in the Tabernacle and signs with it the
mouth of the baby, in the form of a cross, saying the above-
named words, then replaces the holy Sacrament in the Ta-
bernacle.
This is called by the Armenians & Communion by the lips. *
— 405 —
V
THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE.
The penitent's form of confession. — The formula of absolu-
tion. — Times of confession in the year.
The Sacrament of Penance or Confession
is administered in the armenian Church
nearly in the same way as in the Latin. It is
auricular, and has been always so, as is prov-
ed by the 22d canon of the first national
assembly held in Wagharshabad during the
time of St. Gregory the Illuminator. This
Canon says: *
* If any priest publish or betray the sins
made known in confession, he shall be de-
prived of orders and expelled from the mi–
nistry, and the sins of the penitent shall
be imputed to him. "
The penitent having finished the exami-
nation of his conscience, kneels down before
the confessor and says:
— I have sinned before the all-holy Trin-
ity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost : I have
sinned before God. I confess, before God and
before you holy father all my sins; for I
— 406 —
have sinned before God in thoughts, words
and deeds, willingly and unwillingly, con-
sciously and unconsciously.
Then he confesses distinctly, one after an
other, all the sins he has committed, after
which he adds :
— Holy Father, I have you for concilia-
tor and intercessor with the Only–Begotten
Son ; I pray you that through the power
which is given you, you loose me from the
bonds of my sins.
The priest then, according to the rubric,
shall counsel the penitent and inflict some
penance, after which he shall pronounce the
absolution according to the following for-
mula :
— May the merciful God have mercy
upon you and grant you the pardon of all
your sins, both confessed and forgotten. And
I, in virtue of my order of priesthood, and in
force of the power granted by divine com-
mand, whosesoever sins you remit on earth
they are remitted unto them in heaven ;
through the same word I absolve you +
from all participation in sin, by thoughts,
words and deeds, in the name of the Father,
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. And a-
gain restore you to the sacraments of the
holy Church; whatever good you may do
— 407 —
shall be counted to you for merit and for
glory in the life to come. So be it. May the
shedding of the blood of the Son of God,
which he shed upon the cross, and delivered
human nature from hell, deliver you from
your sins. So be it.
The priest then recites the Lord's prayer,
and the penitent departs in peace.
All Armenians are bound to approach the
Sacrament of penance five times a year ;
these are the great christian festivities which
are called by the Armenians by the general
denomination of Daghavark, i. e. Tabernacles,
and are the Epiphany, with which the
Armenians feast also the Nativity of our
Lord or Christmas day, Easter, Transfigura-
tion, Assumption of the blessed Virgin and
Exaltation of the holy Cross.
The two first festivals are obligatory to
all Armenians; so that if any one neglects
to perform the duty, he is reputed an infidel.
The people, on the eve of these two fes—
tivities, which are reputed the greatest, fast
the whole day, when having confessed and
communicated, they return home and break
their fast only with milk-diet and fish.
On the other three occasions confession
is not so strictly obligatory ; wherefore the
people are merely exhorted to it.
— 408 —
VI
THE SACRAMENT OF COMMUNION.
Confession being over, the service of the
high mass begins, when the celebrating
priest, at the end of the ceremony, having
communicated, the protodeacon invites the
people to approach and partake, saying:
— Approach ye with fear and faith and
communicate holily.
And the people accordingly do so. But
here it is necessary that we give an account
of the armenian Liturgy.
— 409 —
T H E
ARMENIAN LITURGY
National customs and rites which the officiating priests are
bound to observe in the celebration of the mass. – Days
for the celebration of mass. – Discipline concerning the
celebrating priest. — Preparation of the wafer for the holy
Eucharist. — Blessed bread for distribution at the conclu-r
sion of the mass.
Among the greatest glories of the Arme-
nians are doubtless their religious ceremo-
nies. Their national Liturgy may be ranked
among the most ancient and the most beau-
tiful of all the Liturgies of the Eastern
Churches. To trace its origin we must go
back to the commencement of the fourth
century, to the time of St. Gregory the Illu-
minator, when it was formed on the model
of the Liturgies of St. Basil and St. Athana-
sius. In latter times and principally at the
beginning of the fifth century, the armenian
Liturgy was better arranged and augment-
ed, and the later Armenians, proud of what
18*
— 410 —
their ancesters had transmitted to them,
have always preserved it in all its integrity.
It is an ancient national custom with the,
Armenians to celebrate the holy mass with
pomp and many hymns. They have not the
Latin practice of celebrating low mass,
though the Romanist Armenians differ in
this point, having admitted that Latin prac-
tice in their churches.
Only one high mass a day and on the
same altar is celebrated. If however there
are other altars in the same church, and it
be necessary, other high masses are also
successively celebrated.
Mass is celebrated only on Sundays and
on Saint's commemorative days and during
lent, only on saturday and Sunday. Neither
is mass celebrated during some fasting
weeks, nor even every wednesday and fri-
day, in which days no commemoration of
Saints is made.
The Armenian clergy is composed of reg-
ular priests or monks, and of lay or married
priests.
A regular priest, according to the canon
ordered by St. Thaddeus, must prepare him-
self to celebrate the holy Eucharist by pass-
ing the night in prayer and by fasting; for
he has to enter in conference with God.
As for the married priests, it is ordered in
— 411 —
the canons of the same Apostle, to separate
themselves from their wives three days be-
fore and then to celebrate mass. The present
custom however is that they should leave
their wife and home eight days before and
retire to the church.
The time of their remaining in the church
is nevertheless modified according to the
place and to the number of the priests. Some—
times their duty lasts eight days; at other
times a fortnight, and when the number of
priests is very small, a month. Others then
go to replace them, and they return home to
their occupations.
When confined in the church their duty
is to rise early in the morning and to begin
by reciting the psalms until the people come
to the church, when they commence the
performance of the divine service by recit-
ing the canonical hours, which are seven in
number.
The preparation of the wafer for the holy
Eucharist is the priest's duty; laymen are
forbidden by the 22" canon of the armenian
pontiff Sion to interfere in such matters.
The priests themselves prepare the best corn
and reduce it into flour; the same do they
for the wine, as they gather the best grapes
and while reciting prayers they press from
them the juice, which is kept for the use of
the sacrament alone. f
— l; 12 —
The bread or the wafer for the holy, Eu-
charist is daily prepared in the sacristy of
the church by the officiating priest. He pre-
pares it as large as may be necessary for
the communicants also, if there be any. For
in the mass they consecrate only one wafer,
the size of which varies according to the
number of the faithful present. It always
bears impressed on one side a crucifix or the
lamb of God.
Other wafers are also prepared by the
officiating priest, which being blessed, are
distributed, at the end of the mass, to the
people present, and principally to those who
by giving alms recommend themselves to
the celebrating priest to be commemorated.
— 413 —
CHURCH WESTMENTS
When the time arrives for beginning the
mass, the celebrant retires to the sacristy
and makes his preparation reciting the 132d
psalm and some other prayers; which being
finished he begins to clothe himself with the
priestly vestments.
Very gorgeous and majestic are the gar-
ments which the Armenians make use of in
their religious ceremonies.
The deacon, who assists the
celebrating priest to array
himself in the sacerdotal west-
} ments, begins by putting upon
% his head the saghavard or
helmet, which is a round bon-
net crown, richly embroidered
with gold and pearls, at the top of which
there is a figure of the world made of gold
or other metal, and surmounted by a small
Cl’OSS.
The bishops wear the latin mitre. This
was introduced in the twelfth century when
a correspondance ensuing between Gregory

– 414 —
the armenian pontiff and pope Lucius, the
łatter sent the former a splendid mitre and
a pallium. The armenian bishops until this
time used to wear the helmet or greek
crown; but on their beginning to make use
of the latin mitre they left the greek crown
to the priests. -
The deacon then vests the celebrant with
the shabig or alb which usually is not so
broad as that of the Latins, and sometimes
is of wollen stuff, though generally of linen.
He then puts on each of his
arms the pasbahs or sleeves,
which cover the arms to the el-
bow and are made of the same
material with the rest of the west-
ments.
Then the deacon puts round the
neck of the celebrant the ourar or
stole, which is embroidered with É
crosses, and, contrary to that of
the Latins, is united in such a way
as to leave only a space to pass it
round the neck ; it hangs down
before to the feet.

- – 415 —
Then this stole,
as well as the Alb, -
is fastened by the
belt, or girdle.
If the celebrant be a bishop, he
Wears on the right side an ornament
attached to the belt, something in
the shape of a shield, called gonker".
After this he puts
On his shoulders the
Superhumeral called in
armenian vagas, which
is a large collar of pre-
cious stuff, to which is fi
attached the amice, and which rests on the
shoulders.
At last he puts round the body
& a flowing and long cope, which
\ envelopes his whole person and
§ which is not closed before like
|} that of the Greeks. Its form is a
Semicircle.
A This pontifical ornament seems to be the emblem of the
towel with which our Lord girded himself, when he washed
his disciples’ feet; wishing to signify by that action that al-
though a man be great by his dignity, he must not forget that
he is also the servant of all. g
This ornament is generally used in all the eastern churches.





– 416 —
The priest whilst putting on these diffe-
rent objects, recites prayers adapted to the
mystical signification of each.
The bishops wear also the long mantle or
pallium, which hangs down before and be-
hind passing across the shoulders.
With the exception of black all colours
are used in the armenian Church, without
any distinction of days.
The bishops carry a crosier like that of
the Latins.
The Vartabieds or priests, doctors in
divinity, have a particular crosier
formed of two serpents intertwined,
at the end of a long stick; the serpent
is the emblem of prudence, a virtue
very necessary to those who preach
the word of God.
Besides these two crosiers there are
the cross and an emblematic sign of
the diocese, which are carried before
the celebrant bishop when he goes to
the altar and when he descends to in-
cense the people; the young clerks who
carry them, together with those who carry
the pallium and the mitre, are ranged on
the steps of the altar during the mass.

— 417 —
During the Liturgy many tapers and
lamps are lighted, of which one constantly
burns before the sanctuary.
Usually, and
7 according to the
rank of the cele-
brant, and the
festivity of the
day, there are
two , four, six
and more dea—
cons who accompany the celebrant to the
altar. They wear albs made of precious stuff,
which fall to the heels, and have embroider-
ed crosses on the back and on the chest as
well as on the shoulders.
Over this they wear also a stole,
embroidered with crosses, which they
put on obliquely, making it pass from
the left shoulder under the right arm.
The underdeacons and the clerks
wear only the alb.
No instruments, or rather no organ is us–
ed in the armenian Church. The vocal mu-
sic is so natural and harmonious that many


— 418 —
travellers have found it very agreeable . The
Armenians however sometimes accompany
their religious chantings with certain me–
tallic instruments called keshoff, zinzgha, etc:
The first is a cherubim with many wings
loaded with small bells and is fastened to
the end of a long stick, which they agitate
at different parts of the mass. The second
instrument is composed of two plates of
bronze, like the cymbals in military bands,
which struck one against the other give an
inspiriting sound.
1 The music of the armenian Liturgy has been published
in the european notation by the Mekhitarian Gongregation of
31, Lazaro, Venice,
— 419 —
INTRODUCTION
TO T H E H O L Y M A SS
smºsºmsº
While the celebrant minister is occupied
arraying himself in his sacerdotal vestments,
the clerks, dressed in rich albs, form a semi-
circle in the choir and sing that excellent
hymn which was composed by Vartabied
Chatchadour about the year 1205, beginning:
& O profound mystery, incomprehensible and
without beginning, m etc., relative to the
priests putting on the Sacerdotal robes.
When the celebrant has prepared himself,
preceeded by the proto-deacon, he approach-
es the choir before the altar to begin the
Liturgy. The deacons present him water to
wash his hands, while doing which he re-
cites alternately with the proto-deacon the
2 tº psalm. Then the Liturgy commences.
BEGINNING OF THE LITURGY.
The armenian Liturgy like that of the
Latins, as well as that of the Greeks, is di-
vided into three parts; viz: Preparation, Can-
on and Conclusion.
— 420 —
PREPARATION.
This first part is also called the Catechu–
mens' Liturgy, which goes as far as the
washing of the hands when the Catechu-
mens are ordered by the deacon to go out
of the church.
The celebrant begins by making the sign
of the cross and by reciting some prayers
to implore the intercession of the blessed
and Immaculate Virgin Mother of God; then
turning towards the people he, in a clear vo-
ice, makes his confession. The principal dig-
nitary of the choir then advancing recites,
in the name of all, the prayer of the absolu-
tion of the celebrant, and the latter again
repeats an other for all the people present;
which being done he ascends to the altar
step by step, repeating in the meantime al-
ternately with the deacon the 42d psalm. At
the end of which celebrant and ministers
having entered the Sanctuary 4, the large
curtain, which we have already mention-
ed, is drawn and the celebrant receives from
the deacon the bread and wine to be conse-
A At this point, if the celebrant be a bishop he kneels bc-
fore the altar with his deacons, and two of these latter com-
ing behind to raise the mitre, he recites in a low voice two
prayers addressed to the Holy Spirit. And these finished the
Jarge curtain is drawn.
— 421 —
crated, and places the one on the paten and
the other he pours into the chalice ", recit-
ing some appropriate prayers.
In the same time the choir sing some
hymn, which differs according to the day or
the festivity. This finished the curtain is
withdrawn and the celebrant incenses the
altar and the oblations repeating a prayer.
He then descends from the Sanctuary and
incenses all the other altars, if there be any,
and the people present, which finished he
again ascends the sanctuary and stands on
its highest step or entrance *.
4 The romanist armenians following the latin custom, add
to the wine also a few drops of water.
2 This preparatory portion of the armenian Liturgy, such
as it is now used in the armenian Church, was introduced
after the twelfth century by introductions from the Latin Li-
turgy. For St. Nierses Lampronensis, a saint of the twelfth
century, in his commentaries of the Liturgy gives to us the
true commencement of the national Liturgy, as used in his
time. Such is the following : « When the celebrant has to
perform the holy mass , he and his deacons enter the
sacristy, and these latter having arrayed themselves, he beg-
ins to recite alternately with them the psalm : Lord remem-
ber David, and then the other preparatory prayers; which
finished, he begins to put on his own sacerdotal vestments,
saying for each of them the symbolical adapted prayers. *
If he be a bishop, he approaches the altar, kneels down
and recites the two prayers addressed to the Holy Ghost. But
if he be a priest, he proceeds to the altar, takes the wafer,
which is bread, from the hands of the deacon and puts it on
the paten , saying : « Commemoration af our Lord Jesus
Christ. " Then taking the wine he pours some in the form of
a cross into the chalice saying : « In memory of the salutary
Incarnation of the Lord our God and Bedeemer Jesus Christ.”
Then he recites over the oblations a prayer of St. John Chry-
— 422 – *
The deacon now says:
— Lord priest — or bishop — give the
blessing.
And the celebrant adds:
— Blessed be the reign of the Father, the
Son and the Holy Ghost, now and through-
out all ages. So be it. -
One of the clerks says the Introit proper
to the day and the celebrant repeating a
prayer attributed to St. John Chrysostome,
proceeds to the altar. The choir sing a hymn
for the day, and the celebrant recites other
prayers, when invited by the deacon to give
the blessing he repeats:
— For thine is the power the virtue and
the glory to all eternity. So be it.
The deacon adds:
— Proschume. —Which means in Greek:
Jet us be attentive.
At which the clerks sing the Trisagion:
— Holy Lord, Holy and powerful, Holy
and Immortal, have mercy upon us".
sostome, at the end of which he covers the chalice, takes the
censer, incenses the altar and the oblations. He then descends
to the church and incenses the people, again ascends to the
altar, when the deacon says, etc.
A The Trisagion is addressed by the Armenians to Jesus
Christ, the divine author of the holy Gospels. Wherefore the
w
{
— 423 —
Meanwhile one of the deacons holding up
with his two hands the Gospel, goes round
the altar, preceded by the proto-deacon who
incenses it constantly, and accompanied by
two others who wave the ſlabellum or keshoff:
of little bells. Thus processionally they come
before the altar where one of the chief people
is invited to kiss it, and to receive the cele-
brant's blessing.
The Trisagion being finished, the deacons
and the clerks alternate between themselves
devoute invocations of peace and mercy for
all the orthodox bishops, for the patriarch,
for all the orders of the ecclesiastical hier-
archy, for the kings, princes, army, for all
the people and the souls of the departed, for
the unity of the holy Church, and for them-
Selves, exclaiming three times:
— Lord have mercy upon us.
After this the prophecies and epistles for
the day are read, which being finished, the
deacons command the people to stand up,
Armenians at this very point, and according to the festivity of
the day add : « Thou who hast been crucified for us, a or
& Who didst rise up from the dead, or a who didst glorious-
ly ascend up to heaven unto the Father ; ) or some other ex-
pression. But being by some ignorant person accused at Rome
as if these additions contained a heresy, the trisagion being er-
roneously supposed by them to be addressed to the Trinity,
they were ordered to suppress the additional words: There-
fore the romanist armenians conform themselves to the or-
der issued from Rome.
— 424 —
to hear the words of the holy Gospels, and
to be attentive and respectful for it is God
who speaks. *
The deacon then , turned towards the
people, and holding the Gospel with a pre-
cious veil, repeats its holy words, while an–
other deacon standing in the choir incenses
continually the holy book.
The Gospel lesson finished the same dea—
con turns himself towards the altar and re-
peats aloud the Niceme Creed. At the end of
which the prayers of the oblation begin, the
holy gifts, – i. e. the bread and wine pre-
pared in the chalice and placed in the Niche
on the left of the Sanctuary, as we have
described in the description of the church,--
are carried processionally with incensings,
chantings and ringing of the bells to the al-
tar, the clerks chanting meanwhile as fol-
lows:
— The body of our Lord and the Blood
of our Redeemer are before us. The heavenly
powers invisibly sing and proclaim with un-
interrupted voice : Holy, holy, holy, Lord
God of Hosts.
The celebrant who until this point had
A If he be a bishop, at this point the large curtain is drawn
and he takes off the vestments of honour, such as the mitre,
pallium cross and ring, and then the curtain is again opened
when the bishop presents himself to the people in the garb of
a simple priest.
— 425 —
kept his head covered with the sacerdotal
crown, now takes it off, and receiving the
offerings from the hands of the deacon, he
places them upon the altar, incenses them,
and then having washed his hands, with ex-
tended arms recites a prayer attributed to
St.Athanasius, in which he supplicates that
the offerings may be changed into the true
body and blood of Jesus Christ.
Meanwhile the paa is given, the deacon
carries it to others, the cathechumens and
those unworthy of assisting at the sacred
mysteries are ordered by the deacons to go
out of the church, and the clerks sing the
agiology : **
— Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts.
Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of
Thy glory : Blessing in the highest. Blessed
be Thou who art come and art to come in
the name of the Lord. Hosannah in the
Highest. *
THE CANON,
At the end of the agiology, deacons, clerks
and people kneel down, and the celebrant
having, in a low voice, recited the follow-
ing words:
— Then taking the bread in his holy,
divine ; most immaculate and venerable
19 &
— 426 —
hands, He blessed -H, it, gave thanks, brake
it and gave it to his chosen and holy disci-
ples seated at table with him saying:
Jºſe repeats aloud the sacramental n:ords:
— Take, eat ; this is my body which is
given for you and for many, for the expia-
tion and remission of sins. *
CLERKS. — Amen.
PRIEST (in a low voice):
— In like manner, having taken the cup,
He blessed it -H, gave thanks, drank, and
gave it to his holy and chosen disciples seat-
ed at table with him, saying :
Aloud : — Drink ye all of this; this is my
Blood, of the New Testament which is shed
for you and for many, for the expiation and
remission of sins".
CLERKS. — Amen. O Heavenly Father
who for us hast delivered up to death Thy
Son, as the debtor of our debts; for the sake
of his blood, which has been shed, we im—
plore Thee to have mercy on us Thy ration-
al flock.
The celebrant then recites some prayers
A With regard to transubstantiation the belief of the ar-
menian Church is the same with the Latin and Greck Church-
es. By virtue of these words, pronounced by the celebrating
priest, she believes the bread to be changed into the real body
f our Lord, and the wine into his true Blood.
*:
— 427 —
by which he invokes the Holy Ghost, the
clerks answer with hymns, and then the
deacons make commemoration of the princi-
pal Saints, beginning with the Apostles and
continuing to the virgins and hermits. Then
the celebrant prays aloud for the supreme
Patriarch of the Nation that God may grant
him long life and right doctrine; to which the
deacons add another prayer in which they
likewise ask holiness of life, charity, con-
stancy and peace for all the world, for the
holy catholic Church, for their patriarch, for
all the orthodox bishops, and for the dioc-
esan archbishop or bishop, and for the cele-
brating priest.
Then the choir and the people with great
solemnity chant the Lord’s prayer, after
which, and at the end of some short prayer
by the celebrant, they proceed to the eleva-
tion of the Sacrament.
DEACON. — Proschume, which means be
attenſive.
The priest taking the sacred Host and
raising it, says:
— To the Holiness of the Saints.
CLERKs. – Alone holy, only Lord Jesus
Christ in the glory of God the Father, so
be it. -
DEACON. — Lord priest, give the blessing.
— 428 —
prºTest. — Blessed be the Holy Father
very God.
CLERKS. — Amen.
DEACON. — Lord priest, give the blessing.
PRIEST. — Blessed be the Holy Son very
God.
CLERKS. — Amen.
DEACON. — Lord priest, give the blessing.
PRIEST. — Blessed be the Holy Ghost,
very God.
CLERKS. — Amen.
DEACON. — Lord priest give the blessing.
*
Then the priest, raising the cup says:
— Blessing and glory be to the Father,
to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, now and
throughout all ages.
CLERKs. – Amen. Holy Father, Holy Son,
Holy Spirit: blessing be to the Father, to
the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, now and
throughout all ages.
While the clerks chant, the celebrant re-
cites prayers in a low voice, and then, invit-
ed by the deacon to give the blessing, he
takes the holy Sacrament in both kinds, and
turning towards the people, elevates it,
makes the sign of the cross over the con-
gregation and says aloud :
— Let us partake holily of the holy, holy
and precious Body and Blood of our Lord
w — 429 —
and Redeemer Jesus Christ, who, descend-
ed from heaven, is distributed among us.
#
He is the life +, the hope, the resurrection,
the expiation and pardon of sins. Sing unto
the Lord our God, sing a psalm to our im–
mortal and heavenly king, who sitteth on
the chariot of the cherubim.
All bow down with humble respect and
adore the all holy Sacrament, and the dea—
cons immediately add : .
— Sing, o clerks, to the Lord our God,
in the sweetest tones sing spiritual Songs;
for to Him are due psalms and benedictions,
allelujahs and spiritual songs. Sing psalms,
o ministers, and bless the Lord of Heavens.
And the choir responding to the invita-
tion of the deacons, chant:
— Christ sacrificed is distributed among
us. Allelujah
He gives us his body as food, and He
sheds His Holy Blood upon us. Allelujah!
Approach the Lord and fill yourselves
with His light. Allelujah!
Taste and see how gracious the Lord is.
Allelujah!
Bless the Lord in the Heavens. Allelujah!
Bless Him in the highest Heavens. Alle-
lujah!
— 430 — \ _. . "
Bless Him all ye His angels. Allelujah I
Bless Him all ye His powers. Allelujah!
fl. -
C O M M U N I O N.
While the clerks begin to sing the last
hymn, the small curtain is drawn, and the
celebrant dividing over the chalice the sacr-
ed Host into four parts, dips three into
the chalice and holding the fourth over it,
he recites some prayers in a low voice. Then
says:
— I firmly believe in the All–Holy Trin-
ity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
And so saying he communicates with that
part of the sacred Host which he holds in
his hands, adding to the action these words:
– With faith I taste thy holy and vi–
vifying Body, O my God Jesus Christ, to the
remission of my sins. -
He then drinks a portion of the divine
Blood saying:
— With faith I drink thy vivifying Blood,
O Jesus my God, to the remission of my
sins.
Then he makes the sign of the cross upon
his mouth and continues to say :
– May thine incorruptible Body be unto
-" – 431 – - *
me for life, and thy holy Blood for the cleans-
ing and remission of my sins. -
He then divides the remainder of the
Sacred Host in the chalice into small pieces
and the curtain being opened, he turns him-
self, holding the holy Sacrament, towards
the people, while the deacon says aloud :
— Approach ye with fear and faith, and
communicate holily. w
CLERKs. – Our God and our Lord, hath
appeared to us. Blessed be he who cometh
in the name of the Lord. -
COMMUNION OF THE PEOPLE.
The clergy and those of the people who
are prepared for the Communion, advance
to the altar and kneel down at the entrance
of the sanctuary. The celebrant advances to—
wards them and taking particles from the
phalice, dipped in the precious Blood, he
puts them upon the tongues of the laymen.
To the deacons however he places them
on the palm of their hand according to the
rite of the first christian centuries. As for
the priests, if there be any to communicate,
they take the particle from the chalice with .
their own hands, and likewise drink some
drops of the holy Blood. .
— 432 —
During the Communion of the people the .
choir sing a beautiful hymn beginning : ,
— O Church, mother of the faith, asylum
of holy mariage, etc., which with proper
precision indicates and praises the principal
effects of the divine Sacrament.
The Communion of the people being fin-
ished the celebrant makes the sign of the
cross over them saying aloud :
— O Lord, save H- thy people, and bless
thine inheritance, conduct them, exalt them,
now ahd evermore.
C O N C L U S I O N.
The large curtain being drawn, the cele-
brant, if a bishop, resumes the robes of hon-
our which he had taken off at the moment
of the offertory. If a priest, he puts anew on
his head his sacerdotal crown, recites some
prayers of thanks, then the curtain is reo-
pened and the celebrant, having on each side
his deacons, presents himself to the people
reciting a prayer. This finished the clerks
sing thrice:
— Blessed be the name of the Lord now
and evermore.
CELEBRANT. — Accomplishment of the
Law and the Prophets, Christ our God and
— 433 —
Redeemer, who hast fulfilled all the prescrip-
tions ordained by the Father, fill us with
thy holy Spirit.
The deacons now ordering the people to
listen with fear, the celebrant reads the Gos-
pel of St. John ", chap. 1, 1–18. Which fin-
ished the clerks say:
— Glory be to thee, o Lord our God.
DEACON.— Let us pray God, that by the
holy cross he may deliver us from sin, and
save us by his merciful grace, O Lord our
God almighty, save us and have mercy
upon us.
CELEBRANT, thrice. — Lord have mercy
upon us.
Then he continues:
— Keep us in peace, o Christ our God in
the shadow of thy holy and venerable cross;
deliver us from the enemy, visible and invis-
ible; make us worthy to thank and to glor-
ify thee with the Father and the holy Spir-
it, now and throughout all ages. So be it.
A This portion of the conclusion however was taken from
the Latins and introduced into the armenian Liturgy after the
XII th century. The Liturgy, before that epoch, ending, after
the last prayer of the celebrant, by that of the clerks : « I will
bless the Lord always, etc., without the lesson of the Gos-
pel, etc.
19*
— 434 —
CLERKs. – I will bless the Lord always:
may his blessing be ever on my lips.
CELEBRANT. — Be blessed ºf by the grace
of the holy Spirit; go in peace, and may
the Lord be with you all. So be it.
DISTRIBUTION OF THIE BLESSED BREAD.
So ends the Liturgy. But it is the custom
in the armenian Church, as well as in all
the eastern Churches, to distribute blessed
'bread to the people. *..
This blessed bread is also prepared by the
officiating priest, as we have above mention-
ed, together with the wafer for the holy
Eucharist; and when in the beginning of
the holy mass the celebrant approaches the
niche on the right of the altar where the
chalice is placed, in order to prepare the
bread and wine to be consecrated, the dea—
con presents him , in a silver plate, the
wafers which he blesses all together, takes
the one for the purpose of consecration and
the others he leaves in the plate to be dis-
tributed to the people.
This custom arose in the early centuries
of christian fervour. In those days all the
congregation present at the sacred ceremo-
ny were accustomed to partake of the holy
Sacrament , and it was to the Catechu-
mens that a piece of blessed bread only was
*
— 435 —
distributed in order to prepare them for the
holy communion. In the succeeding centu-
ries the fervour of the faithful continually
diminishing, very few were worthy to par-
take of the holy Sacrament. Wherefore the
Church, in remembrance of So pious a cus-
tom, began to distribute it to all the congre-
gation present, thus expressing her wish to
have all the Faithful present, partakers spir-
itually, of the holy ceremony.
— ſi36 —
WII
THE SACRAMENT OF EXTREME UNCTYON.
The doctrine of the armenian Church is
that Extreme Unction is one of the seven
Sacraments of the Church.
This Sacrament, as we find transmitted
to us in the old armenian manuscript rituals,
was administered until the XIVth century in
the following way.
Seven priests assembled in the room of the
sick all dressed in their Sacerdotal garments,
and a lamp with seven wicks filled with ol-
ive oil was placed on an altar. A hymn was
chanted invoking the holy Spirit, then each
of the priests recited upon the oil a prayer,
after which they recited alternately the
51st and 41st psalms.
At the end of these they read that portion
of St James epistle in which he speaks of
the institution of this Sacrament *. To this
the 6th psalm was added and then they read
that lesson of the Gospel of St. Mark, which
Inarrates the cures operated by the Apostles
by anointing the sick with oil”.
4. Chap. v., All-20.
2. St. Maik Y1, 7-15.
— 437 —-
This ended, the senior priest recited a
prayer and the Creed and then lighted one
of the seven wicks of the lamp. The remain-
ing six priests followed, each lighting a wick
and reading each time, a lesson from the
epistles, another from the Gospels, a prayer
and the Creed.
The blessing of the oil being thus finish-
ed, they approached the lamp to the sick
person, and three of the pricsts placed them-
selves on the right of the sick, while the
other three took their place on his left. The
seventh then, the senior, approaching him
placed upon his head the book of the Gos-
pels and with the blessed oil of the lamp he
anointed his forehead, breast and hands,
saying to him :
— Thy succour will come from the Lord,
which made heaven and carth ".
All the priests did likewise, and at the
end, the senior among them recited two
prayers expressly ordained for the adminis–
tration of this Sacrament in the national as-
sembly held at Duin in the year 719, under
the pontiff John Otsniensis. With these the
rite was completed, as we find in the old
Ritual manuscripts still preserved.
The administration however of this Sa-
1 Psalm. 121st, 2. aceording to the arm. tcxt.
— 438 —
crament was abandoned by the armenian
clergy after the XIVth century: the cause of
such an omission is reputed to be the heresy
of those who preached that the Sacrament
of penance was substantially equal to that
of Extreme Unction; so that for the remis-
sion of all kinds of crime it was quite
enough to cause oneself to be anointed with
the oil of the sick, without any need of sa-
cramental confession. Wherefore the dioc-
esan bishops seeing that in the hope of meet-
ing a full remission of sins, through Ex-
treme Unction at the end of life, the pen-
itential tribunals were deserted, and finding
no other measure sufficient to extirpate the
error, took a general determination no long-
er to administer Extreme Unction.
The effect was that the people repenting
of their error, began to seek for confession ;
but the administration of Extreme Unction
was put aside. So that now only the roman-
ist armenians confess it a necessary sacra-
ment and administer it to the sick. The ar-
menians of Etchmiadzin however, though
they confess it to be a Sacrament of the
Church, yet they do not deem its adminis—
tration so necessary as that of the other Sa-
craments; they therefore omit it.
The romanist armenians on their side do
not quite follow the former manner of admin-
istering this Sacrament. The ceremony is a
— 439 —
little shorter and it is done by only one
priest, who taking the oil with his right
thumb, anoints these seven parts of the
patient's body : The eyes, ears, nose, lips,
hands, feet and heart if a man, saying at
each time :
— I anoint thine eyes with holy oil, so
that whatever kind of sin thou hast com-
mitted through the sight, thou mayest be
saved by the anointing of this oil, through
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And so he continues to anoint the remain-
der of the seven parts by adding a pecu-
liar formula adapted to the meaning of each
part.
If however the sick be near to his last mo-
ment the ceremony is shortened ; the priest
anoints immediately the five senses, saying:
— Through this ointment and His most
plentiful clemency, may God remit thee
whatever thou mayest have sinned through
thine eyes, ears, mouth, nose and hands;
and may the Lord Jesus Christ save thee
from all evil.
The oil for the sick is usually blessed by
the bishop, and is always kept ready in the
church.
— 440 —
**.
VIII
T H E H O L Y O R D E R S.
Conditions required in a candidate for holy orders. — Cere-
mony on the day before that appointed for the ordination.—
The ordination.
The armenian, among all the eastern
Churches, is the most remarkable for the
great solemnity she makes use of in the
occasion of the laying on of hands. It would
be too long to enumerate here all the parti-
culars, ceremonies, prayers, lessons taken
from the prophets, epistles, gospels, and
the magnificent decorations with which the
church is furnished. Briefly, the rite is the
most solemn of all, and the day chosen for
the ceremony is usually Sunday.
Before the conferring of any order the
bishop examines the aspirants whether they
possess all the conditions required in those
who wish to embrace the ecclesiastical
career. These conditions are ten, viz:
1. Necessary knowledge.
2. Catholic and orthodox faith.
3. Good conduct and virtuous life.
4. Competent age which according to the
canons is the 30th year.
— 441 —
5. Legitimate birth.
6. Favorable testimony of preceptors.
7. An intimate persuasion of the sublim-
ity of the Christian priesthood.
8. Assurance that the aspirant is not
moved, in his wish for the sacred orders, by
any dishonest interest, either for vanity of
command or for any human object.
9. A true disposition to be subject to all
rigour, watchings, fastings and other penal-
ities proper to a life of mortification.
10. Constancy to persevere in that regu-
lated, sober and exemplary system of life,
which is necessary to such persons as wish
to be a light to the world, salt to the earth,
a guide to the people and a stone of the
Sanctuary.
All these being examined, the day before
that of the ordination, the bishop, arrayed
in his episcopal vestments and accompanied
by the clergy, goes to the door of the church,
where the aspirants kneel down ; and there
he sits on his throme, blesses them by mak-
ing the sign of the cross upon them, and
asks them to which of the different orders
they aspire. The Senior priest who introdu–
ees the aspirants to the bishop, answers for
them indicating the Orders aspired to,
— 442 —
The bishop then, admonishing them and
explaining the gravity of their aspiration,
asks the present Congregation to witness if
they know any thing about the aspirants
which may make them unfit for such a holy
ministry.
The examination being ended on the fol-
lowing day — usually a sunday, as we have
said — destined for the ordination, the bish-
op comes to the church, arrays himself in
his episcopal vestments, and followed by all
his clergy, dressed likewise in rich eccle-
siastical robes, a vances towards the altar
and begins the holy Liturgy. Then, accor-
ding to the order to be conferred, the aspi-
rants advance. And the rule they observe
beginning from the Minor Orders, is this.
Psa/mists and cleaners.
The bishop, having recited the prepara-
tory prayers and incensed the altar and the
people, after the Introit is said, advances
and ascends his throne. The aspirant kneels
before him, and after an exhortation from
the deacon, and two prayers pronounced by
the bishop, the latter cuts the hair from the
head of the aspirant in the shape of a cross,
Tyresents him with the book of psalms and
Says .
— 443 —
— Take heed and endeavour with all
your heart, that, that which you sing with
your mouth you believe in your heart, and
that which you believe in your heart you
practise in your works; and with the cut-
ting off of your hair may you be cut off from
all the desires of the world, in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost. Amen.
Likewise he presents him with a broom
and says:
— Be ye henceforth authorized to sweep
the house of the Lord and to cleanse his
temple. And may the Lord cleanse you from
your besetting sins; in the name of the Fa-
ther, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
The choir then sing a hymn appropriate
to the ceremony, meanwhile the bishop
clothes the aspirant in a clerk’s habit.
By this ceremony, which is the first step
to the Minor Orders, the candidate is intro-
duced to the church service.
FlBST ORDER.
D00) keeper.
The bishop, proceeding to the ordination
of the Doorkeeper, after the usual exhorta-
– 444 —
tions by the deacon, recites a prayer, then
placing the key of the church in the aspi-
rant's hands says:
-— Let the remembrance that you have
to answer to God for this office, and for e-
very thing that is locked up by these keys
which I now give to you, pervade and in-
fluence all your actions. Be watchful and al-
ways pray when you open or close the doors
of the church.
Then turning to the deacon he says:
— Instruct him in the duties he has to
perform in the house of God.
The deacon conducts the Doorkeeper to
the principal door of the church, and makes
him put the key into the lock, while the
choir chant a hymn.
SECOND ORDER.
The Reader.
The Reader is ordained as follows.
The bishop after praying, as in the pre-
ceding orders, presents him with the book
of the epistles saying:
— Take this book and be a preacher of
God’s word, instructing thyself in it, and if
thou fulfilest thy duties with a pure mind
– 445 —
and heart, thou shalt have thy portion a-
mong the saints, and those who have loved
God. Brother thou hast become a Reader in
the house of the Lord. This dignity implies
duties which thou art bound to fulfil ; may
God, who is liberal, grant thee his mercy;
through our Lord Jesus Christ his Son, and
through the power of the Holy Spirit, now
and ever. Amen.
THIRD ORDER.
The Ea:orcist.
After the prayer, the bishop presents him
with the book of the Ritual in which is
transcribed the exorcisms used at holy bap-
tism, and says: *
, — Take this and treasure the words
written there in your mind. I now give you
authority to place your hands upon the pos-
sessed, and cause those about to be baptised
to renounce the evil one. So that they may
thankfully offer praise to the Father, to the
Son and to the Holy Ghost, both now and
ever. Amen.
FOURTH ORDER.
The Acolyte.
After the exhortations of the deacon, and
two prayers recited by the bishop, the latter
— 446 —
presents the aspirant with a candle and
candlestick and says:
— Take this candle and candlestick, and
with it receive authority to light the candles
and lamps of the holy church.
He then delivers into his hands an empty
flagon and says:
— Take this flagon in order to pour the
wine into the chalice for the blood of Christ,
in the name of the Father, of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
A hymn is chanted by the choir, as in all-
the former Orders, an exhortation is made
by the deacon, a short prayer is recited by
the bishop, then the Liturgy continues to
the end. The newly-ordained communicates,
and remains seven days in the church to
perform the duties of his order.
Thus are conferred the Minor Orders in
the armenian Church. The Ritual contains
the following rubric :
— Clerks in Minor Orders are alone per-
mitted to maºry.
— 447 —
R U L E S FOR T H E M ATR IMI O NY
OF THIL
A R MEN IAN CLER GY.
cºmme
Here we may remark that under the fol-
lowing conditions the armenian secular
clergy is not, according to Eastern custom,
bound to celibacy.
If any married man wishes to be admit-
ted to Holy Orders, the ecclesiastical law
does not oppose his wish, therefore he is free
to enter the Sanctuary; and, being once in-
vested with the higher holy orders, his mar-
riage is blameless.
Likewise, a person who has received the
Minor Orders, may be lawfully married, and
his matrimony being valid, cannot be reput-
ed an obstacle to his being admitted to the
higher holy orders.
If any unmarried man is promoted to the
higher holy orders, he is bound by the law,
to celibacy and can never marry. If ever he
attempts to contract matrimony, not only
is it reputed unlawful, but also invalid.
Wherefore, if a secular priest lose his wife
he cannot take another.
— 448 —
All this regards the secular priests. As
for the regular clergy, they are indispen-
sably bound to celibacy; so that only an un-
married man can become a monk.
Likewise, no married priest can become a
bishop, unless his wife dies. Wherefore, in
the armenian Church, all the high ecclesias-
tical charges are bestowed upon the regular
clergy, or upon such among the secular
clergy, as are widowers.
— 449 —
IX
CONFERRING OF SUPERIOR ORDERs.
*
FIFTH ORDER.
Subdiaconate.
The order of Sub-Deacon among the Ar-
menians is a superior order, the same as
with the Latins. It is conferred in the fol-
lowing manner.
The bishop, having begun the service of
the Liturgy, sits on his throne, and the
deacon presents the candidate, imploring
his consecration. The bishop makes the
sign of the cross upon him, and the choir
having recited the 1224 psalm, lessons are
read taken from Isaiah, from the Hebrews,
and from St. Mark. Then the deacon repeats
some exhortations, and the bishop, placing
his hands upon the head of the candidate
prays; he then clothes him according to his
rank, and placing the maniple on his left
arm he says:
— Accept the maniple for the preserva-
tion of thy soul, that thou mayest serve with
20
— 450 —,
pure hands in the house of Our Lord Jesus
Christ.
He then gives him an empty chalice with
the paten and says:
— Take this holy chalice and be author-
ized to carry it to the holy altar of the Lord,
for the great and precious mystery of Christ
our God, to whom belong glory, power and
honour, now and evermore.
A hymn is chanted by the choir, some
exhortations are made by the deacon, the
ceremony finishes with the Lord’s prayer,
and the Liturgy goes on to the end. The
newly-ordained Sub-Deacon communicates,
and remains fifteen days in the church to
learn his duties.
SIXTH ORDER
The Diacomate.
The Order of the Diaconate is however
conferred with more solemnity, many hymns
and psalms are sung and many exhorta-
tions, from the prophets, epistles, gospels and
prayers, read.
After the beginning of the liturgy the
bishop seats himself on his throne, the
deacon presents the candidate and says:
– Holy Father, our mother the Church
— 451 —
presents unto you the subdeacon N... and she
requires of you to confer on him the order
of Deacon.
And the bishop asks:
— Do you know if he is worthy, who he
is, what his character and conduct, whether
he be born in lawful matrimony, and if his
life is one of purity and wisdom P
To this demand the deacon replies:
— As far as our human fragility allows
us to judge, we know and bear witness, that
he has led a life of wisdom and purity, and
that he is worthy to wear the yoke of this
order.
The candidate then approaches the altar
and kneels before the bishop, who after some
exhortations by the deacon, places his right
hand upon the aspirant's head and prays.
The choir then recite the 119th psalm, and
the bishop again placing his right hand up-
on the candidate's head recites another
prayer, when the assistant deacons make
the new deacon turn and kneel westward,
before the people, holding up his hands in a
supplicating form, while standing behind
him they repeat three times:
— The divine and heavenly gift, that
ever fulfils the holy necessities of the apos-
— 452 —
tolic Church, now calls (N...) from the sub-
diaconate to the diaconate, for the service of
the holy Church, according to his own and
to all this people's testimony.
And the people say three times:
— He is worthy.
The people having borne testimony, the
new deacon turns again towards the bishop
and kneels before him. An attendant priest,
behind, places his hands upon his shoulders,
when the bishop, placing his right hand up-
on his head, repeats the following formula
of ordination:
— The divine and heavenly gift, that
ever fulfils the holy necessities of the apos-
tolic Church, now calls (N...) from the sub-
diaconate to the diaconate, for the service of
the holy Church, according to his own and
to all this people's testimony.
I place my hands upon him; let every one
pray that he may worthily and holily per-
form the duties ot the diaconate, before this
holy altar of God.
The bishop then implores God to grant
that the new deacon may be steadfast in
his vocation, and, through the Holy Spirit,
may worthily perform the duties of his or-
— 453 —
der. Lessons from the psalms, prophecies,
epistles and gospels follow and the liturgy
continues. The Creed being repeated, and
the sacred gifts carried to the altar, the
bishop again seats himself on his throne and
places a fourth time his right hand upon the
head of the new deacon, repeating prayers;
then he places the stole over his left shoulder,
saying: f
— Take this pure and holy stole from
the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
be pure from all the deceits of sin. Let thy
life and conversation be an example to the
people who are holy through their faith in
Christ; that they may see thee doing that,
through which thou mayest be able to at-
tain to everlasting life, in Christ Jesus our
Lord, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
Immediately after he delivers to him the
Book of Gospels saying:
— With this I give thee authority to
read the holy Gospel in the Church of God,
in the hearing of the living, and for the
commemoration of the dead, in the name of
our Lord. Amen.
The new deacon then incenses the altar
three times saying:
— Let us again make our supplications
— 454 –
unto the Lord for peace; receive, O Lord,
save and have mercy upon us.
Lord bishop, give the blessing.
And each time the bishop replies:
— Blessing and glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; now
and ever. Amen.
Peace be with all.
The Lord's prayer is repeated by the bish-
op, and the ordination being completed, the
new deacon takes his rank among the as-
sistant deacons, the bishop resumes the li–
turgy, at the end of which the new deacon
communicates, remaining twenty days in
the church and performing his duties.
— 455 —
X
T H E P. R. I E S T H O O D
SEVENTH OBE)ER
This being the chief among holy orders
the Armenians observe still more solemnity
in the performance of the ceremony. The
evening previous to the day destined for or-
dination, the bishop arrayed in his episcopal
robes, and followed by his clergy, seats him-
self upon his throne. Some of the chief priests
enter the church bringing with them the
candidate, and kneeling down three times,
and at different distances, from the bishop,
receive permission to speak. One of them
presenting the candidate, begs him in the
name of the Church and of all the clergy,
to confer upon him the order of the Priest-
hood.
The bishop examines minutely, enquiring
about the legitimacy of birth, his behaviour,
knowledge, purity of life, and all particulars
necessary to the pure ministry of so holy an
order.
The priest having produced testimony in
his favour, the bishop requires him to repeat
his confession of faith, which being done,
— 456 —
the former, having signified his approval
and implored the Holy Ghost to diffuse his
gifts upon the candidate, blesses him and
retires.
Ceremony of the Ordination.
The day after, usually a Sunday, the bish-
op goes at the destined hour to the church,
enters the sacristy and having arrayed him-
self in all his episeopal vestments, preceded
by his clergy, with hymns and psalms ad–
vances to the altar and begins the holy
mass; incenses the altar and the people, re-
peats the prayers for the day, then takes his
seat on his throne.
Two of the senior priests, who usually are
the first dignitaries among the clergy, take
the candidate, and present him to the bish-
op, to whom he kneels kissing his feet. One
of the priests says:
— Holy Father, our mother the Church
presents this Deacon N..., and she requires
of you to confer on him the order of the
Priesthood.
BISIOP. — And do you know that he is
worthy, who he is, or what has been his
walk and conversation ? Whether he be born
of lawful marriage and whether he is fam-
ed for wisdom and purity ?
— 457 —
THE PRIEST ANSWERS. — As far as our
human fallibility allows us, we have ascer-
tained these things and we bear witness,
that he is worthy to wear the yoke of this
order and that he is known for his wisdom
and purity.
And the bishop makes the sign of the
cross upon him and says:
— Through the grace of God the Father,
and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, I call
this deacon N... to the Priesthood. Therefore
let us make our supplications unto the mer-
ciful God, that He may illuminate him with
the gifts of his sanctity through our Lord
Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory, power
and honour, now and evermore. Amen.
The candidate is then conducted to the
altar where he performs the act of adoration,
while the choir and deacons repeat psalms
and exhortations. The assisting priests mak-
ing the candidate "again kneel before the
bishop place their hands on his shoulders,
and the deacon, having repeated a short ex-
hortation, the bishop places his right hand
upon the candidate's head and repeats two
prayers; when the assistant priest makes
the candidate turn westward and kneel down
towards the people, holding up his arms in
a supplicating manner; meanwhile they re-
peat three times:
20*
— 458 —
— The divine and heavenly gift, that
ever fulfils the holy necessities of the apos-
tolic Church, now calls N... from the diaCO-
nate to the Priesthood for the service of the
holy Church; according to his own testimo-
ny and to that of this congregation.
The people reply thrice:
— He is worthy.
The candidate then rises and kneels be-
fore the bishop, who placing his right hand
upon his head, repeats the formula of ordi-
nation as follows:
— The divine and heavenly gift, that
ever fulfils the holy necessities of the apos-
tolic Church, now calls N... from the diaco-
nate to the Priesthood, for the service of the
holy Church; according to his own and to
all this people's testimony. *
I place my hands upon him ; pray ye all
that he may be worthy to perform holily the
duties of the Priesthood before the holy altar
of the Lord our God.
The attendant priest says twelve times:
— Lord have mercy.
The bishop having been requested by the
deacon to give the blessing, places his right
hand upon the candidate's head, repeats a
— 459 —
prayer, removes the stole from the left shoul-
der to the right of the newly ordained priest,
and places it round his neck saying:
— Take the yoke of our Lord Jesus
Christ, for his yoke is easy and his burden
is light.
The 132d psalm is then repeated by the
choir, several lessons taken from the prophe-
cies 4, epistles * and gospels” are read, the
creed is repeated, the liturgy continues and the
offerings are brought to the altar, when the
bishop turns again to his throne, places his
right hand upon the head of the new priest
and repeats two long prayers, beseeching
God to pour down upon him the sevenfold
gifts of the Holy Ghost, that he may per-
form holily the duties of his order, preach
the right doctrine, live spotless, and through
his virtuous life may honour the Church and
the holy order of Priesthood.
The deacons bring the ecclesiastical or—
naments and robes, and the bishop blessing
them, recites a prayer imploring God to fill
them with such blessings as filled the robe
and diadem of Aaron, the tunic of Joseph,
the mantle of Elijah, and the seamless coat
of our Lord.
i Ezek. 55, 7-9; — Malachi 2, 5-7 ; – Jsaiah 64, 1-6,
2 Ist Peter 5, 4–4; – I Timothy A, 12-47.
5 Luke A, 1ſt–22.
— 460 —
At the end of the prayer the bishop beg-
ins to clothe the newly-ordained priest, first
putting his arms, up to the elbow, into two
half sleeves or maniples, called in armenian
pazban *. Then placing round his neck the
ourar or stole — which, contrary to that of
the Latins, is united, leaving only a space
for the head to pass, and hangs down to the
feet before, — he says:
— Receive authority from the Holy
Ghost; for thou art able to bear the yoke
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then placing on his head the saghavard
or Sacerdotal crown, says:
— Take thou the helmet of salvation
from the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ.
After this he places behind the neck the
oaga's or superhumeral — a sort of collar to
which is attached, as we have before said,
the almice, called in armenian varshamag, and
which falls upon the shoulders — and says:
– Take thou the breast plate of right-
eousness from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then he puts round his body the shourt-
chia", or cope, and says:
— Our Lord Jesus Christ clothes thee
3 See figures page liá and following.
— 461 —
with the garment of salvation and with a
newly-made vesture of gladness, in conform-
ity with a new and spiritual life.
He then girds him with the girdle, and
placing his two hands upon his head says:
— Take thou authority from the Holy
Ghost to loose and bind men as our Lord
gave authority to the holy Apostles saying:
whose sins ye shall retain on earth, are re-
tained in heaven; and whose sins ye shall
forgive on earth, shall be forgiven in heaven.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Immediately after he anoints with the
holy chrism the inside of both hands, which
he holds joined together, palms uppermost.
The bishop takes some of the holy chrism
- and beginning from the thumb of the right
hand, to the tip of the fore finger on the
left hand, and from the thumb of the left
hand to the tip of the fore finger, on the
right hand, makes the form of a cross and
says:
— May the unction of the gifts of the
Holy Ghost sanctify thy soul and body, in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Likewise he anoints him on the forehead
and says:
— 462 —
— May the seal of this unction streng-
then thee to fight against the enemy. Amen.
He adds :
— O Lord our God who hast anointed
these hands with holiness and blessing;
bless all that he may bless, and confirm and
fulfil whatever his hands may sign in thy
name, so that he may be strengthened
through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to whom belong glory, power and honour,
now and ever. Amen.
Meanwhile the choir sing a devout hymn
which begins:
— O Lord Jesus, thou wast given to us
as the immortal bread of life, and hast ex-
piated the fault of our father Adam, etc.
The bishop at the end of the unction
washing his hands seats himself again on
his throne, and taking a chalice and paten
with unconsecrated oblations, delivers them
into the hands of the newly-made priest
Saying : *
— Receive these because thou hast re-
ceived power through the grace of God to
consecrate and to complete the holy sacrifice
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, for
the living and for the dead.
Having Said this, he incenses him thrice
—- ſº 63 —
with the censor and commands him to give
the benediction. Accordingly, bowing before
the altar and the bishop, he blesses the
people in the name of the Father, Son and
Holy Ghost, adding:
— Peace be with all. -
The bishop then blesses the newly or-
dained priest; prayers and lessons from the
Scriptures are repeated, and the Liturgy con-
tinues. At the time of the holy communion,
the newly-ordained takes with his own hands
both kinds and communicates.
The clergy salute the newly-ordained
priest with the kiss of peace, then the people
advance and respectfully kiss his hands. He
remains forty days in the precincts of the
church, to learn his duties, and consider the
sublimity of the order to which he is called.
Such are the rites made use of in the Ar-
menian Church for the conferring of the
high holy orders.
— 464 —
XI
CONSECRATION OF BISHOPS.
Examination of the proposed bishop. — The Pontiff's examin-
ation of the proposed bishop.
The Armenians consecrate new bishops
to the episcopal sees, in case of vacancy, as
follows.
The secular and regular clergy of the
diocese, together with the chief laymen,
propose one who is looked upon as the wor-
thiest, and who, by a plurality of votes, is
elected to be their pastor. Accompanied by
certain of the clergy, with certificates of
merit, he is sent for consecration to the high
Pontiff or Catholicos, who, alone, has the
right to consecrate bishops. .
The Pontiff then appoints, twelve, six or
three, bishops to examine the newly-elected
as to his intellectual and moral qualities.
These appointed bishops, assembled in the
church, placé the book of the Gospels before
them, receive the proposed pastor, and ve-
rify the authenticity of his certificates. They
ascertain if he is of the age required, which
for bishops is about fifty, if he is learned in
the Sacred Canons, versed in theology and
— 465 —
exercised in the knowledge of the holy
Scriptures, and if his faith is firm, pure and
orthodox, corresponding to that of the uni-
versal Catholic Church.
They then examine his private life ques-
tioning the witnesses if his conduct is pure
and holy, if he is humble, and compassion-
ate towards the poor;-chaste, a lover of
prayer; exempt from avarice, from covetous-
ness of gifts, from drunkenness, from all
suspicion of murder, fornication, adultery,
bigamy, etc.; if he is born of lawful matri-
mony, and descended from three chaste, ho-
nest, lawful generations, by father and mo-
ther.
Being found endowed with all the neces-
sary gifts and requisites exacted by the ca-
nons, they approve him, and give notice
thereof to the Pontiff.
The Pontiff appoints the Sunday destined
for the consecration. The day before, at the
hour of Vespers, he goes to the church, and,
half arrayed in the episcopal robes, seats
himself on his throne, wearing his mitre, his
ring, and holding the pastoral staff. Then
the deputation from the vacant see, advan-
ces towards the Pontiff, making genuflex-
ions, and imploring a blessing, approaches
him.
The Pontiff enquires of them the object of
their presence. They answer that they are
— 466 —
sent expressly to obtain from him a good
bishop, to govern their church.
Being asked if the one elected is with
them, they answer in the affirmative ; on
which he enquires if he is a son of their
own church or of some other, a secular or a
regular priest; married or unmarried; if he
has well ruled his own house, how many
years he has exercised the priesthood, and
what the public opinion is with regard to
his honesty.
Having answered truthfully and satisfac-
torily, the Pontiff then asks whether they
have brought with them letters and certifi-
cates from their church ; which being pres–
ented, he orders them to be read aloud. This
done, he orders the elect to be presented to
him. Whereupon the most honourable among
the clergy bring the candidate before the
Pontiff, whom he approaches making three
genuflexions and asking his blessing.
He is again questioned, as were the dele-
gates, after which he is asked what is read
in his church. Whereupon he declares that
in his church the vacant see nothing clise is
read but the Old and New Testaments
The Pontiff then admonishing the candi–
date about the duties of his vocation, prom-
ises him that on the next day, by God’s
help, he will consecrate him; he then loaves
the church.
— 467 —
XII
THE CEREMONY OF THE CONSECRATION
OF BISHOPS.
Introduction to the ceremony. — The symbolical figures. –
Respect paid to the Pontiff. — Presentation of the candi-
date. — Interrogation of the candidate. — The Promotion.
— The Anointing.
After morning service, on the following
day, the Pontiff, accompanied by his clergy,
goes to the church and arrays himself in his
most splendid vestments. The assistant bi-
shops, priests, deacons and all the inferior
clerks, do the same, and proceed, from the
sacristy to the church, in the following
order.
First advance the psalmists, dressed in
the clerk’s habit made of fine linen, and car-
rying psalteries and other books of songs
and hymns.
Next come the doorkeepers similarly dres-
sed and carrying the keys of the church,
small bells, and the sacred light or pontif-
ical torch.
Then come the readers in purple west-
ments, some carrying the book of the prophe-
cies, others the pastoral staff of the pontiff,
— 468 —
and others the crosiers of the assistant bi-
shops. a
The exorcists follow in purple silk albs
with narrow sleeves, like those of the sub-
deacons, holding the books of exorcism, and
carrying crucifixes.
The acolytes follow in red albs, some car-
rying lighted tapers on silver candlesticks,
some flagons with wine, and others pitchers,
basins, and towels for washing hands.
Then come the subdeacons dressed in silk,
according to their order, with narrow sleeves
and maniples. Some carrying the book of
the acts of the Apostles and the epistles,
some the book of the Liturgy, others corpo-
rals, empty patens and chalices.
The deacons follow, dressed in albs of rich
stuff, with stoles hanging before and behind
from their left shoulder, and carrying the
book of the Gospels, and burning censers.
After the deacons come the priests in their
sacerdotal vestments, holding crucifixes and
relics of Saints.
These are followed by the bishops in their
episcopal vestments, and last appears the
Pontiff, arrayed in his pontifical robes, and
surrounded by his archdeacons.
After a procession from right to left they
form a circle and surround the Pontiff, who
ascends his throne up Seven steps.
Before the throne on the floor, or on a
— 469 —
rich carpet is represented an eagle with ex-
tended wings; behind it farther from the
throne three rivers are represented. These
symbols the Armenians have taken from the
Greeks, who by the rivers symbolize the
sacred doctrine necessary to a bishop, and
by the eagle, the gifts of theological know-
ledge and divine grace. *
The Pontiff having seated himself on his
throne, the proto-deacon, in a loud voice,
first invites the singers and doorkeepers to
pay homage to the supreme dignitary of
their church : accordingly, they advance,
singing the Trisagion ; they kneel before the
figured eagle, place their hands on the floor,
and bow down before the Pontiff, saying:
Is pola eti dhespota, which in Greek means:
Long live the Pontiff / Then two of the se–
niors rise, go up to the throne, and kiss the
hand of the Pontiff, who blesses them saying:
— May the Lord, H. He who dwelleth in
Jerusalem, bless ye from Zion.
They then all rise, and separating on both
sides of the throne, give place to the succes-
sive choirs of readers, exorcists, acolytes and
subdeacons.
Then come the deacons, with the proto-
deacon, whose office it is to give the invita-
tions. He walks up to the throne, kisses the
hand of the Pontiff, and having received the
— 470 —
blessing, all the before said choirs descend
from the tribune where the throne is erected,
and range themselves in the choir.
The proto-deacon then invites the priests;
the first, with the same ceremony approaches
the throne, kisses the hand of the Pontiff,
and after having received his blessing, they
all rise and follow the chief priest to the
choir, where they resume their seats.
The chief priest invites the bishops to
perform the same ceremony; they advance
and singing the Trisagion, bow down res-
pectfully, receive the blessing, then divide
themselves on both sides of the throne, and
seat themselves in their places.
The proto-deacon invites the grandees,
the chief laymen, the people and, finally,
the poor, to advance and perform the same
ceremony, and all receive the blessing.
The Pontiff then says:
— Salvation belongeth unto the Lord ;
thy blessing is upon thy people.
Then the chief among the clergy, accom-
panied by the secretary, bring before the
throne the newly-elected dressed in his sa-
cerdotal vestments. He, advancing to the
first of the three painted rivers, stops,
kneels, and placing his hands upon the
floor, humbly-bows down saying:
— 47 1 —
— Pray Father bestow thy blessing.
And the Pontiff answers :
— May our Lord preserve us, and may
he defend and protect us.
The bishop-elect then rises, advances, and
stops again at the second river, kneels, mak-
es the same reverence as before, and repeats
the same words.
The Pontiff blessing him answers:
— May he who sitteth in heaven grant
us heavenly bliss.
Then the two chief dignitaries who ac-
company the candidate, make the presenta-
tion and say in the name of the church of
the vacant See :
— Receive, Lord Pontiff, through divine
grace, this our brother N..., a holy priest,
whom we present to you as worthy to be
appointed to the episcopal see of . . . .
The Pontiff asks :
— Brethren, is your petition right?
They answer:
— Our petition is that God, and you our
father, would appoint over us a good rector
such as this our brother.
— 472 —
The Pontiff then asks if the newly-elec-
ted has ruled well his own house; if he has
the public opinion as a man of virtuous and
holy life; if he has with him the certificates
of his election, and orders that such letters
be read aloud. Afterwards the Pontiff orders
the candidate to proceed to the third river.
Which done he kneels and repeats the re-
Weren:CC.
The Pontiff interrogating him says:
— Brother, are you worthy of such high
honour?
The bishop-elect answers:
— My Lord, I am not worthy of such a
gift, but my brethren have elected me to be
their pastor.
Here the Pontiff repeats several of the
previous interrogations and having received
the answers says:
— See to observe diligently and with all
your power, the precepts of God, and the
canons of the holy Church, and to believe
according to the old and new Testaments of
God, so that you may govern strenuously
your church, and judge rightly your people,
without haughtiness and covetousness of
bribes; visit the orphans and widows, and
— 473 —
-
help the poor of your people according to
your power.
The bishop-elect answers:
— I will with all my heart do all those
things, and confide in the grace of God and
your prayers, to be enabled so to do.
The Pontiff says:
— This being the case, let him advance
to the eagle, which teaches him to fly up to
heaven through good works, that he may
not forget his promises.
Being led to the eagle, the Pontiff enquires
if he truly intends to occupy himself with
his own Sanctification, to meditate on, and
continually read, the divine Scriptures; to
be an example of virtue to his flock in deed
and word; instructing them rightly in the
law of God, and feeding them with the holy
word; to be humble, chaste, pacific, gentle
and compassionate to the poor ; and to hate
covetousness and all dishonest interest.
The candidate answers:
— I will with all my heart execute your
commands.
The Pontiff adds :
— Will you be obedient and faithful to
the blessed Peter, who received from God
21
— 474 —
authority to bind and to loose; also to our
holy Illuminator Gregory, and to their pres-
ent and future successors ?
The candidate answers:
— I will.
The Pontiff then questions him respecting
his faith; naming the different articles of
the Creed, and all the books of the old and
new Testaments, separately asking him if he
believes in each of them.
The candidate answers:
- — I do truly believe and confess all, and
firmly promise to follow the holy Scrip-
tures, the old and new Testaments, and pro-
mise to learn, and teach always from them,
and to preach nothing but the truth.
The Pontiff being assured of the orthodox
faith of the candidate, orders him to anathe-
matize all heretics and their followers; he,
himself, successively naming the different
sects, and the principal among the heres-
iarchs; and the candidate at each, answers:
— Anathema
Then the Pontiff names several among the
Tathers and doctors of the Church, and asks
him if he is disposed to follow their ortho-
dox doctrine.
— 475 —
The candidate, together with all the con-
gregation answers :
— May the memory of all those just men
be eternally blessed.
The Pontiff makes him publicly declare
that he admits the eight Cecumenical coun-
cils held in the east, and promise to follow
their doctrine; which he obediently does.
Then the Pontiff makes him repeat his con-
fession of faith, which he does in the words
of the Creed.
The Pontiff then says:
— May that faith increase in you through
the truth and mercy of God, here and to the
life eternal.
All the congregation repeat:
— Amen.
The chief priest then says to the can-
didate:
— Ascend higher, when the candidate
approaches the throne, ascends the steps,
and kneels at the feet of the Pontiff, who
places his hands upon his head, uttering a
short prayer, and giving his benediction.
He puts upon his shoulders the episcopal
pallium, kisses him on the mouth, descends
with him from the throne, and, followed by
— 476 –
the other bishops, proceeds to the altar, and
begins the holy liturgy.
After the Introït and the usual prayers,
two bishops taking the elected by the hands
conduct him to the altar and make him kneel
down. The Pontiff meanwhile places the op-
en book of the gospels, — held by one of the
bishops, – on his shoulders, putting his
right hand upon his head.
They recite the 89th psalm, the proto-
deacon repeats some exhortations relative to
the consecration, then the other bishop reads
aloud the certificate of the canonical election,
examination, and confirmation of the bishop
elect, when the Pontiff says:
— The divine grace which always cures
the sick, and provides for all necessities, now
calls this pious priest N... to the episcopate
of N... the city protected by God; pray ye
all that the grace of the Holy Ghost may
descend upon him.
He then makes the sign of the cross thrice
upon him and, in a low voice, invokes the
Holy Ghost to descend upon him and to fill
him with grace, in order that he may worth-
ily bear the yoke of the gospel, and sanctify
the people intrusted to him.
The assistant bishops with special pray-
ers exhort the people to pray, first for the
Pontiff, that God may strengthen him in
— 477 –
the exercise of his ministry; then for the
bishop-elect, that he may receive the fulness
of the gifts of the Holy Ghost; then for the
vacant see that it may be worthy to receive
a holy pastor; and then for themselves, for
the people, and for any person afflicted or
distressed. Meanwhile the Pontiff again
places his hands upon the elect, imploring
the all merciful God to make him an imitator
of Jesus, the chief of all pastors, in order that,
like him, he may give his own life for his
flock, and be a guide to the wanderer, a
light to the blind, a teacher of the ignorant,
a support to the sick, a mirror of sanctity
and an indefatigable preacher of the gospel.
The clergy then say aloud :
— The divine and heavenly grace, which
ever provides for the holy necessities of the
apostolic Church, now calls N... from the
priesthood to the episcopate, for the service
of the holy Church; according to his own
testimony and to that of this congregation.
The people reply three times:
— He is worthy.
The Pontiff then says aloud :
— The divine and heavenly gift that ever
provides for the holy necessities of the apos-
tolic Church, now calls N... from the priest-
— 478 —
hood to the episcopate for the service of the
holy Church ; according to his own testi-
mony and that of the people. e
I lay my hands upon him; pray ye all
that he may be worthy to perform holily his
episcopal office in God’s sanctuary.
Here he addresses a long prayer to the
Saviour, imploring him to send his Holy
Spirit, which filled the Apostles, to the new
bishop; so that, being strengthened by it,
he may support all the burdens of his rank,
preaching indefatigably the orthodox doc-
trine, overcoming the incredulous, catechis—
ing the catechumens, preserving the faith-
ful in the true faith and in virtue, making
sinners repent, advising the doubtful, com—
forting the afflicted, curing the sick and be-
coming venerable to all through prudence,
charity, benignity, patience, prayer, chasti-
ty, etc.
The choir then repeat the 132d psalm ;
they read three lessons and a gospel, and
one of the bishops reads a long exhortation
in which they, in the name of the Church,
implore from Christ Jesus the Son of God,
life and health for the Pontiff, for all the or—
thodox bishops, priests, deacons, clerks, and
monks, throughout the world, for the new
pastor, for all the faithful, etc.
The Pontiff again prays with renewed
— 479 —
fervour that the Holy Spirit may descend
from on high with all his gifts, and the choir
having sung an appropriate hymn, he anoints
the head of the new bishop with the holy
Chrism in the form of a cross, saying:
— May thy head be anointed and blessed
through the holy unction, that thou mayest
be worthy of the episcopate. In the name of
the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
While he anoints with the holy chrism
the two thumbs of the new bishop he says:
— God the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who according to his will has exalted
thee to the episcopate, through his power
seals thee with this holy unction, and fills
thee abundantly with spiritual blessings, so
that those who are blessed by thee may be
blessed, and what is consecrated by thee
may be consecrated; and all that is sealed
by thee with hand and thumb may be sealed;
and may they upon whom thy hand be plac-
ed find mercy and be saved.
The people answer:
— So be it.
He then presents him with the episcopal
staff saying :
— 480 —
— Take this staff and episcopal crosier,
that thou mayest correct and punish the
wicked, govern and feed the obedient, ac-
cording to the laws and precepts of God.
Then he places a ring on his finger and
says:
— Accept the ring, pledge of fidelity, and
continue diligently, with true and right
faith, in thy divine state of bridegroom of
the holy Church.
Then he delivers into his hands the book
of the gospels and says:
— Take the gospels of the heavenly king-
dom, and go and preach to the people which
has been committed to thee by God : and
may almighty God increase thy people, and
- reign over them for ever.
The Pontiff kisses him, as do the other
bishops, while the priests and all the clergy
kiss his hands. He then places on his head
the mitre, repeating the latin formula; for
as we have mentioned before, the mitre was
introduced later, being a gift of the roman
Pontiff.
Gloves are not worn during the armenian
church service.
The episcopal garments being given, the
liturgy continues; and, when the time for
— 481 —
communion àrrives, the new bishop ascends
the altar and communicates, with his own
hands, in both kinds consecrated by the Pon-
tiff, with whose permission he communicates
also the other bishops, the rest of the cler-
gy, and those of the people who are worthy.
Mass ended, the Pontiff leaves the church,
accompanied by all the bishops and clergy,
excepting the newly-ordained bishop who
remains forty days constantly in the church,
to exercise himself in the duties of his rank.
21%
— 482 —
XIII
CONSECRATION OF THE CATHOLICOS OR HIGH
PONTIFF OF THE AIRMENIANS.
To complete the ceremonial of the ordina-
tion of the hierarchy of the armenian Church
we must briefly mention how the Armenians
consecrate their high Pontiffs.
The high Pontiff or Catholicos is always
elected from among the bishops. By the
general suffrage of the pastors, three of the
worthiest among the bishops are chosen as
candidates. All three undergo a severe exa-
mination, and the worthiest among them is
elected to occupy the pontifical chair. He is
required to be holy, orthodox, and learned.
On the day fixed for his appointment the
clergy assemble in the church, with the
Metropolitan, one of the inferior patriarchs,
and twelve bishops. Here, before all the
congregation, the Pontiff-elect is introduced,
and, as in the case of bishops, they enquire
into the purity of his life, his true faith,
wisdom, and doctrine. Being found lacking
— 483 –
in nothing, he is ordered publicly to make
his confession of faith. They recite the 89th
psalm, and read the epistles and gospels ap-
pointed for the ordination of bishops.
The proto-deacon reads an exhortation
when all together repeat, forty times:
— God have mercy upon us.
The metropolitan then repeats aloud the
following formula:
— The divine gift that ever provides for
the necessities of the sacred ministry of the
apostolical Church, calls this N... from the
episcopate to the pontificate, to the govern-
ment of the house of Torgomah ', to the
service and prelacy of the holy Church, ac-
cording to his own, and to all this people's
testimony.
And the people repeat three times:
— He is worthy.
The metropolitan continues:
— I lay my hands upon him; pray ye
all, that he may be worthy to administer
spotlessly the authority of the apostolic see.
His hands still placed upon the head of
4 The Armenian nation, which is also called the Torgo-
mian.
— lić4 —
the elected, he repeats a prayer imploring
the Saviour to send his Holy Spirit upon the
new Pontiff, that, filled with his holy gifts
he may worthily occupy the chair of St. Bar-
tholomew, St. Thaddeus and St. Gregory
the Illuminator, and govern the armenian
church according to the orthodox and holy
doctrine.
They then repeat the 1329 psalm, read
Several lessons from the epistles and gospels,
and two of the bishops read aloud some ex-
hortations, when the metropolitan repeats a
prayer imploring God that the new Pontiff
may worthily occupy the first rank in the
armenian hierarchy, and govern the people
with right and orthodox doctrine, and be
mild, patient, chaste, sober, wise, etc.
They clothe him with the pontifical robes,
which are like those of the Greek patri-
archs, and make him sit in the pontifical
chair, the clergy according to their rank,
advancing to do him reverence, and kiss
his hand.
He then descends from his throne, and
surrounded by the other patriarchs, bishops,
priests and deacons, proceeds to the altar
and begins the liturgy. They repeat the
23" psalm and read some lessons from the
epistles and gospels; thus the ceremony
ends. The new Pontiff laying aside his sacred
Westments, invites the patriarchs, bishops,
— 485 —
and the principal of the clergy to accom—
pany him to a banquet.
Now having completed the description of
the different orders of the armenian hier-
archy, we must add a few words about the
Vartabieds or Doctors in theology, from
whose class all the high dignitaries are
chosen.
— 486 —
XIV
THE WARTABIEDS.
Division of the Order. — Duties of the Order of Vartabieds.
The Armenians, in order to make a dis-
tinction, between their secular and regular
clergy, give to the second the name of War-
tabieds. These are the doctors in theology of
the armenian Church and this class posses—
ses the knowledge of all holy science, all
that concerns the study of the divine Scrip-
tures, the Fathers, the Councils, the dogma-
tical, moral and disputative theology. In all
controversies of religion, rites, ecclesiastical
discipline, they are the first to be consulted,
so that in the national synods their opinion
is highly esteemed.
This order is conferred on them with great
Solemnity, and publicly, in the church, by
the bishop, or by the chief among the War-
tabieds, who repeating psalms, lessons from
the epistles and gospels, presents them with
the doctoral staff.
The order of the Vartabieds is divided into
two classes; the one is called minor Warta-
bieds and the other greater Vartabicds.
The first bear, as distinctive of their rank,
— 48? –
a staff which at the upper end terminates in.
the head of a serpent. The second carry the
same staff, but instead of one serpent, they
have two, having their heads turned towards
each other at some distance. These staffs are
richly worked and inlaid with mother of
pearl, gold, silver, etc.
On the minor Vartabieds only four deg-
rees are conferred; these candidates also
ought to be always unmarried priests; it is
not allowed to confer such titles on laymen,
or on such as have not been promoted to the
priesthood.
The duty of this high clergy is to preach
to the people, to hear their confession, to
combat the incredulous, convince heretics,
instruct the ignorant, correct the quarrel-
some and to advise the doubtful.
The doctoral staff is not however conſer-
red on such Wartabieds with as much cere—
mony as it is conferred on those of higher
rank, to whom the title is given with the
greatest pomp. The doctoral staff, loaded
with ornaments, is placed upon the altar and
a portion of the morning service being read
and all the clergy being robed, the candi-
date is presented by them to the bishop,
who interrogates him about his doctrine and
enquires into his conduct. Being assured by
the surrounding congregation that no obs—
tacle prevents him from being promoted, he
— 488 —
commands him to anathematize all heretics,
to accept the doctrine of the holy Fathers
and solemnly to pronounce his confession of
faith.
They then repeat psalms, lessons from the
epistles and gospels, and bring from the al-
tar the doctoral staff which the bishop pres–
ents to the candidate repeating ten different
times, ten different formulas, according to
the virtue intended to be conferred each time.
Such is the ceremonial they use in promot-
ing worthy priests to that rank, which is
the most honoured among the armenian
clergy. They bear the doctorial staff at all
ceremonies, and all titles or high charges,
are conferred on persons chosen from their
class.
— 489 —
XV
THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY.
*
Practices used in negotiations for matrimony. — The celebra-
tion of the marriage. — Ceremony in the husband's house.
– Ceremony for the matrimony of widows. – Days on
which matrimony is celebrated.
This sacrament the Armenians call the
4 Imposition of the Crown, n for among the
many ceremonies they use in the solemnisa-
tion of matrimony, they place a crown of
flowers upon the heads of the affianced pair.
Before we describe the ceremony, we will
enter into the negotiations for marriage, ac-
cording to the true national custom, not no-
ticing the differences introduced in latter
times by the influence of European contact.
It is usual for the parents to act for the
bride, or at least be the mediators; so that
the mother, and some persons of the young-
man’s family go to see her and contract with
her mother.
The qualities, moral and physical gifts of
the maiden being ascertained and approved
of they make the demand to her parents
and, if granted, immediately notify it to the
young girl, who, being persuaded that her
— 490 —
parents seek nothing but her welfare, con-
sents without difficulty. The young man
also as soon as he is acquainted, by his par-
ents, of the choice made for him, consents,
never having seen, known or treated with her.
Mutual consent being given, enquiries are
made by authorized persons, if there be any
obstacle to their marriage; the bonds of con-
sanguinity, according to the old canons,
reach to the seventh degree; and those of
affinity until the fourth.
It being ascertained that no obstacle pre-
vents their union, a wedding-pledge is sent
by the young man, with valuable gifts, ac-
cording to his condition, usually jewels or
money. The bride brings her dowry to her
husband, consisting of dress, jewels of gold,
silver, also the furniture of the nuptial room,
i.e. bed, sofa, chairs, tables, candlesticks
and other objects; for which rich ladies spend
a great deal of money.
The betrothed, from the time of their con-
sent to their marriage, have no intercourse
with each other, neither do they see each
other; their parents only are allowed to
correspond with them, and on this point the
national delicacy is very rigorous.
The day destined for the marriage, a little
before the hour appointed, a priest, accom—
panied by his deacon, proceeds to the houso
of the bride, and blesses the nuptial-pledge
— 491 —
or ring and robes, repeating prayers, and
imploring God to make the betrothed happy,
and bless her dowry, so that the outer or-
naments of the body may be a continual ex-
citement for her to adorn her soul with such
angelic virtues as are proper to the condition
of matrimony which she is about to enter.
The bridegroom comes to the same house
with great pomp, accompanied by a number
of his relations, dressed in rich robes and
wearing a scimitar by his side : he is imme-
diately introduced into the room where, at-
tended by her mother and several of her
nearest relations, the bride awaits him, co-
vered from head to feet with a red veil; she
immediately rises and advances a few steps
towards him, making a reverence.
The priest then recites the 89th psalm, and
taking the right hand of the girl places it
within the right hand of the man saying:
— When God presented Eve's hand to
Adam, the latter said : This is now bone of
my bone, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be
called woman, because she was taken out of
man : therefore shall a man leave his father
and his mother and shall cleave unto his
wife; and they shall be one flesh. What
therefore God hath joined together, let not
man put asunder ".
A Mat. 49-6.
— 492 —
The priest then approaching their heads
to one another until they touch, and placing
upon them a small cross, repeats the follow-
ing prayer :
— Eternal God our Lord, who by gather-
ing the dispersed, the disunited, and the un-
known, didst join them in matrimony, in
indissoluble unity through the bond of thy
testament ; thou who didst bless Isaac and
Rebecca his wife, and didst multiply their
race and didst make them possessors of thy
promises, bless these thy servants, directing
them in all good works, through the grace
and clemency of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, to whom belong glory, power and
honour, etc.
Then the betrothed, accompanied by all
their party, set out towards the church,
where arriving, and the doors being shut,
they kneel down three times while the 122d
psalm is repeated. They then make their pro-
fession of faith before the priest, and confess
their sins in order to partake afterwards of
the communion : they then twist two gar-
lands, repeating, while twisting that for the
young man the 21st psalm, and that for the
bride, the 45th.
The priest takes the cross, and turning
himself towards the betrothed explains to
them all the duties of holy matrimony, re-
— 493 —
minding them that it is one of the great
Sacraments of the Church of Jesus Christ;
that its bond is indissoluble; that the hus-
band shall love his wife as Christ did love
his Church; that the woman shall be subject
to the man; that they ought mutually to
love each other, forbear and help each other,
educate their children in the holy fear of
God and in the orthodox religion; then asks
them if they are ready to bear all the bur-
dens and fulfil all the duties connected with
matrimony; to which they both answer, that,
through the divine grace they are ready.
The priest take again the right hand of
the bride and placing it within that of the
young man says:
— According to the divine order which
God gave to our ancestors, I (N...) a priest,
give thee now this wife in subjection. Wilt
thou be her master ?
The bridegroom answers, holding the
hand of the bride :
— Through the help of God I will.
The priest then interrogates the woman
saying :
— Wilt thou be obedient to him P
She answers:
— I am obedient according to the order
of God.
— 494 —-
These interrogations are three times re-
peated by the priest and three times the be-
trothed answer as above; and the priest says:
— Now if you live thus with each other
in the love of God, God’s protection will keep
you in your going out and your coming in,
and he will bless the works of your hands,
and will enrich you with spiritual and tem-
poral goods; so that living here on earth
peaceably and piously, you may be worthy
to reach the promised glory in heaven
through the grace of Christ, to whom be-
long glory, power and honour, now etc.
Then he says:
— God is in the midst af these, and they
shall not be moved : God shall help them,
and that right early '.
They then recite the 118th psalm and
when they arrive at the 19th verse, the
church door is opened, and they enter with
all their train repeating the 100th psalm. The
betrothed are led by the priest near the al-
tar and begin the nuptial mass, which is a
very touching and devout one, and full of
beautiful prayers all relating to matrimony.
Many lessons from the old and new Tesfa-
ments are read, and after a lesson from the
Gospel of St. Mark the priest blesses the two
A Ps. xiv.1, 5.
— 495 —
twisted garlands and prays that the Lord
may bless the union of the new bride and
bridegroom as he did of old that of the pa-
triarchs, and of the just under both laws.
He then places the crowns on the heads
of the newly married couple, invoking for
them all spiritual and terrestrial blessings
and makes upon them the sign of the cross.
Many psalms and lessons from the old and
new Testaments are again repeated, and the
priest prays God to look down from his
throne and bless their marriage, giving them
all good things. The Lord's prayer is repea-
ted and the ceremony of the imposition of
the crown ended; the liturgy continues, how-
ever, and the newly married couple receive
the holy communion. !
The liturgy being finished, the couple
leave, the church, and followed by all their
friends, proceed to the husband’s house,
chanting hymns and other sacred songs.
On arrival, the husband seats himself on
a Sofa, expressly prepared, and makes his
wife sit on his right hand; they take a val-
uable cup and fill it with wine, while the
priest, blessing it, recites a prayer, in which
he commemorates the miracle wrought by
Christ at the marriage of Cana; the priest
presents it to the couple to drink. Mean-
while the company chants a hymn, in which,
in the name of the Church, they augur all
— 496 —
kinds of spiritual and earthly felicity to the
happy pair; the priest ends the ecclesiastical
, ceremonies of the day with the Lord's prayer,
and all the guests approach and kiss the
garlands.
The crowns are worn for eight or at least
for three days, and during all that time they
live separate.
The time expired the priest again comes,
accompanied by his deacon, to take off the
crowns. He approaches their heads near
enough to touch, and places an unsheathed
Sword, and a cross, upon" them repeating
prayers, in which he implores that God may
grant them unanimity, love, conjugal chast-
ity, fecundity, prosperity and eternal life,
and warns them of the divine wrath if either
should be unfaithful, the sword being the
type of divine wrath.
Finally, he fills a cup with wine, blesses
it, and presents it to both : then repeats the
Lord’s prayer, blesses them and leaves them
free, to live together.
The ceremony for the marriage of widows
is much shorter but special license from the
diocesan is also necessary. Such matrimony
is however generally celebrated privately at
home.
Matrimony is never celebrated on fast
days, or at feasts called dominical, nor dur-
— 497 —
ing the succeeding seven weeks after Easter.
Monday is the day usually chosen for this
ceremony.
The indissolubility of matrimony is a
dogmatical point among the Armenians, and
one of which the wives are often reminded
by the priest in the words of the gospel,
before, and after, the nuptial blessing ; so
that divorce, or separation is very rare.
They live together in great peace and har-
mony, and the death of either is generally
considered the greatest of misfortunes.
Newly married wives long maintain, great
modesty and maidenly behaviour; so that
for many years, they do not converse freely
with strangers or friends, only with their
father, their mothers in law and sisters in
law. They are an example of obedience and
respect towards their husbands, whom they
look upon more as masters than compa-
nions; so that in many things they serve
them like maids, performing the meanest of
fices, as they consider themselves in the
home of their husbands more like daughters
than mistresses.
22
—— 498 —
XVI
MORALITY AND RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS
OF THE AIRMENIANS.
Their political feeling. — Their devotion. — Ministry of the
clergy. — Tax for Masses. – Fasting of the priests during
their ministry. — Preservation of the Host. — Relics, In-
tercession of Saints.
I found the following description of the
morality of the Armenians in an old book and
give it as a true portrait of the national cha-
racter.
The principal features of the armenian
character are simplicity, frugality, austerity
and a peculiar affection and devotion to all
that concerns God, and religion. Their docil-
ity and obedience to all the maxims of the
gospel, and to all christian virtues are re-
nowned, but they especially excel in cha-
rity, continence, and faithful submission to
their lawful religious, or civil, superiors, and
by their gentle manners and benignity ob-
tain all, but never use force or rigour to
reach their end.
Though mild and very patient by nature,
they are capable of extreme fury if offended
by obscene allusions or lewd conduct. With
— 499 —
regard to female decorum, they are so deli-
cate and strict, that even the nearest rela-
tions behave with great reserve to women.
They carry their resentment to an ex-
treme pitch against persons who show con-
tempt for the rites of their Church. They
think that by so doing, shame is done to
God, to St. Gregory the Illuminator and to
the old Fathers, from whom they derive
their rites. They cannot tolerate especially
from their co-nationals, a line, a word nor
an expression intimating disapprobation, or
a wish for change.
The Armenians are most faithfully attach-
ed to the prince under whose dominion they
live; and this, not from a political point of
view, but from principle and conscience,
being convinced by the gospel maxims, that
it is right to render unto Caesar the things
which are Caesar's, and unto God the things
that are God’s, they think that it would be
acting contrary to christianity if, in any
thing, they should disobey such of the Sov-
ereign's laws, as do not violate either faith,
morality, or the practices of religion.
Vicious men are certainly to be found
among them, but not tolerated, and virtue
is so highly valued, that the wicked who
are quite deprived of it, if they would exact
respect, are forced to put on its appearance.
This picture is not an imaginary one, but
— 500 —
is the true impression made on many re-
nowned travellers, who also testify that,
among all the Christians of the East there
is no people so devoted to religion as the
Armenians. Their liberality to the Church
prompted by religious feeling is renowned;
according to their means, they offer tapers,
incense, oil, stuffs, gold, silver and all kinds
of precious plate.
Being eminently devout and inclined to
prayer, they go early to church, so that on
festival days, long before day-break, the
churches are crowded with people, who as-
sist at the sacred functions with great de-
votion and respect. Speaking, looking about,
vain compliments, and even spitting on the
floor, are reputed a profanation of God’s
house.
The divine services are long, and on days
of solemnity, last usually five, sometimes
six hours. All the clergy assist according to
their rank. The prayers, hymns, and sacred
lessons are arranged with admirable preci-
sion to the mysteries and feasts.
The people listen to the sacred lectures
with modesty and religious silence; appro-
priately standing, kneeling, or sitting.
Every Sunday and festival they all assist
at mass; but as the liturgy is rather long,
and always chanted — for according to the
armenian rite there is no low mass, except
— 501 —
in the churches of the romanist armenians —
they do not remain to the end, only during
part of it, and leaving, give place to others
whom the narrow limits of the church migh
have kept out side. *.
The priests do not celebrate mass every
day, but according to their number, are dis-
tributed to the different churches; each ce-
lebrates in his turn. The patriarchs, bishops
and other high dignitaries officiate at the
chief festivals.
When married priests celebrate mass they
retire into the rooms constructed on purpose
around the church, and there live chastely
during the time of their ministry, their wi-
ves ares not allowed on any account to ap-
proach that sacred place, and, if possible, do
not frequent the same church during that
time.
The day that a celebrant has to officiate,
he arrays himself in the sacred vestments,
proceeds to the choir and, imploring their
prayers, there asks pardon for his sims, and
for the bad example given by him to the
other priests.
During lent mass is never celebrated ex-
cept on saturday and Sunday. There is no
fixed tax for alms, but every one gives ac-
cording to his means, praying the priest to
make remembrance of him in the holy Sa-
crifice, according to his intention.
— 502 —
The priests fast not only before celebrat-
ing the holy mass, but also when they have
to administer any other Sacrament, except
in case of unforseen necessity.
The holy sacrament is kept constantly in
the tabernacle with great respect, and is
used as viaticum.
Relics and images of Saints, especially
that of the Virgin Mary, are honoured with
great devotion, but their greatest devotion
is for the blessed Virgin whose intercession
they continually pray for; and there is no
Service of the Church, in which the assist-
ance of the mother of God is not particular-
ly invoked.
They pray also for the intercession of the
Saints, which is a dogma of their faith. The
principal Saints to whom they continually
pray are St. John Baptist, St. Gregory the
Illuminator, St. Stephen, and many others,
–– 503 —
XVII
FASTS OF THE AIRMENIANS.
Division of the fasts : Bahk, Dzuom and Navagadik. —
Abstinence during lent. — Abstinence during the year.
In this point the Armenian discipline re-
sembles that of the first ages of the Church;
the utmost rigour is observed in all their fasts.
They divide their fasts into three classes:
Those are called Bahk, on which days
they eat, neither meat, eggs, milk-diet, nor
fish, only vegetables, and their abstinence
is so severe that they deprived themselves
even of oil and wine.
The second fast is called Dzuom and re-
sembles the Bahk, with this difference, that
only one meal a day is allowed to be taken
after Vespers.
The third fast is called Navagadik and
allows the use of any food except meat.
The Armenians are so faithful in the ob-
servance of these fasts that there is no dis–
pensation from them, and are greatly scandal-
ized on observing the slackness of European
£hristians who come in contact with thema.
Abstinence, during lent, belongs to the
first and second kind of fasting; this period
- 504 —
begins on monday, or two days before that
of the Latins, and lasts until Easter Eve,
when after the long service and the celebra-
tion of mass, they break their fast with milk-
diet only; but the Sundays in lent make an
exception to the general rule of abstinence
as food may be taken at any hour.
During the year they make frequent abs-
tinences for many days, also for many weeks.
Such as one week before Septuagesima Sun-
day, in remembrance of the fast of Nineveh,
and of the conversion of the Armenians to
Christianity, commanded by St. Gregory the
Illuminator. One week before Christmas and
One about a month before also. A week be-
fore the feast of St. Gregory the Illuminator,
the Assumption of the blessed Virgin, the
Exaltation of the holy Cross and before the
feast of the Transfiguration.
These are the principal fasts of the Ar-
menians, but besides these we must mention
the weekly fastings throughout the year
which are every wednesday and friday, on
which they abstain from meat, milk, butter,
eggs and oil; except in the week after the
nativity, Easter-tide, and the Assumption.
The clergy, principally those dedicated
to monastic life, live very austerely , and
pass a good half of the year in rigorous
abstinence.
– 505 —
XVIII
FUNERAL CEREMONIES OF LAYMEN.
Ceremonies in the church. — Ceremonies at the grave. —
Pious customs observed by the familiar of the departed
OIl C.
When a death occurs, the priest, accom-
panied by his assistants and other persons,
proceeds to the house where the body lies:
thence, after having repeated psalms, hymns
and prayers, and having incensed it, he cau-
ses it to be carried to the church.
On the way, the procession being increas—
ed by the friends and relations of the de-
ceased, hymns and mournful songs are sung;
at the church, the body – dressed in its
best clothes and covered with ſlowers — is
received by other clergy, whose number, ac-
cording to the condition of the deceased, is
more or less, and who pray for his soul re-
peating many lessons from the old and new
Testaments, particularly from the gospels.
The ceremony of the obscquies is long,
but very touching, canticles and hymns are
exchanged in form of dialogue, between the
soul and body of the deceased, and between
the latter and the surrounding people and
22*
— 506 —
excite much emotion. The last farewell that,
in the funeral of clergy, the departed makes
to the church, to the altar, to the priests,
relatives, friends, and to all the congrega-
tion, expressing the most beautiful senti-
ments of true faith in God, who rewards the
good, punishes the wicked and revives the
dead, is extremely solemn.
The service in the church being over, the
procession proceeds with the body to the
cemetery, usually situated out side the city,
away from the dwellings of men. On the
road psalms and hymns are sung, and some
prayers are recited.
On arriving at the cemetery, the priest
takes three handfuls of earth and having
blessed it thrice sprinkles some of it, in the
form of a cross, into the grave, saying :
— May this earth descend, with the di-
vine blessing, into the grave of this servant
of God. In the name of the Father, etc.
This done, the body is placed in the grave
and the priest thrice sprinkles the remainder
of the holy earth upon it, saying:
— Remember, o Lord, thy servant, and
bless through thy mercy his grave; for earth
he was, and according to thy will, to earth
he has returned.
— 507 —
Then signing it thrice with the sign of
the cross, he says:
— May the divine blessing descend upon
the ashes of this our departed one, and raise
him up at the last day. In the name of the
Father, of the Son, etc.
He coucludes this touching ceremony by
reciting several prayers, when the grave is
filled with earth, then all kneel down, and
with hymns and prayers, pray that the de-
Ceased may enjoy eternal peace.
The priest blesses the grave with the gos-
pels, recites the Lord’s prayer, and blesses
the people present, who all approach and
kiss the gospel; the ceremony ended, all
depart in peace.
For eight successive days the priest, to-
wards evening, goes to the house of the de-
parted, prays for the peace of his soul, and
consoles the afflicted family.
On the day of death, the family of the de-
ceased, according to its wealth, invites all
those who are to accompany the body to the
Cemetery, to dine.
The saturday after the week of the funeral
the family of the deceased distributes to the
relations, friends and acquaintances, certain
cakes, that they may pray for his soul's re-
pose. For the same purpose the next Sunday,
— 508 —
they distribute alms and food to the poor;
this they continue for forty days. During
which period masses are celebrated to the
same intent. --
Many other particulars are noted in the
armenian Ritual, for funeral ceremonies,
Such as that regarding the ministers, who
are directed to go to the grave on the se–
cond, seventh, fifteenth, and anniversary
day in order to repeat the ceremony. So
much is the national piety interested in
Seeking the repose of the departed soul.
— 509 —
XIX
FUNERAL OF THE CLERGY.
Preparatory ceremonies. – Ceremonies at the house of the
deceased. — Clothing of the body. — Carrying the body to
the church. — Ceremonies in the church. — Anointing of
the body. — The farewell. — Ceremonies at the porch of
the church. — On the road to the cemetery.
The rites for the interment of priests and
other holy ministers are much more solemn
according to the rank held by the departed
OIl62.
The bishop or other titled ecclesiastic, ac-
companied by the clergy and people, pro-
ceeds to the place of interment. There, after
having repeated psalms, hymns and prayers,
he takes a spade, signs the ground in four
places in the form of a cross, moving the
earth a little, and orders the grave to be dug
on that spot, then, followed by all present,
proceeds in procession to the dwelling of the
deceased.
There the priests wash the body of their
brother, robe him in a white tunic, fastened
round the waist with a girdle, white trow-
sers, gaiters and shoes. On the head they
place a white hood, and bind his forehead,
— 510 —
with a white band making the ends fall be-
hind the shoulders: finally they cover his
body with a white mantle, and on the right
hand place, Some incense wrapped in white
linen, and a parchment, upon which the
first and last words of the gospels are
Written.
If the deceased is a monk, he is dressed
by his brethren in the habit of his order.
While occupied in dressing the body, the
choir of the clergy repeats psalms, prayers,
hymns and lessons from the old and new
Testaments, they place the departed on his
bed, the head towards the East and the eyes
raised towards heaven. They then surround
him and begin a long and very touching
ceremony, during which , by repeating
psalms, hymns, prayers, and lessons, all the
priests present sign him with the sign of
the cross.
They place the dead upon the bier, which
the clergy themselves raise upon their shoul-
ders and carry to the church, chanting
hymns and other canticles on the way.
If the deceased be a bishop they carry his
throne and pastoral staff before the bier.
If the way to the church be long they
frequently stop, read lessons from the gos-
pels over the bier, and when they arrive at
the church stay in the porch to repeat some
lessons and psalms alluding to the mystical
entrance into the heavenly dwellings.
— 511 —
They enter the church and placing the
bier in the choir begin to recite a long psal-
mody, interrupted by lessons, incensings and
blessings upon the departed. The funeral
mass is celebrated the bier brought before
the altar and the forehead, head and right
hand of the deceased anointed with the
holy oil. -
They place a cross and the gospels on his
breast, then all the priests, in the name of
the deceased, proceed, by order, to kiss the
altar and the sacred vessels, then the cross
and the gospels placed on his breast; rhean-
while they sing mournfully, in the name of
the dead, the last farewell.
One of the priests, representing the de-
ceased, says:
— Farewell to thce, holy church; fare-
well to thee holy altar; farewell to you
choirs of priests: I have departed to my
Creator.
The choir immediately repeat, alternate-
ly, the 122d psalm and the bier is transfer-
red from the choir to the middle of the nave:
then all the priests go round and kiss the
walls of the church, the altar, then mutually
kiss each other, proceed to the bier, bow
before the dead, kiss the cross and the gos-
pels placed on his breast, and then his
hand.
— 512 —
A priest who represents the dead, again
sings in mournful voice :
— Farewell to you sons of the church;
farewell to you my faithful brethren in
Christ ; farewell to you, oh congregation! I
have departed to Christ, the hope of all.
The choir answers by repeating the 87th
psalm , when the priest representing the
dead, again sings :
— I salute thee, holy Church ; I leave
you, my dear brethren, summoned by the
Redeemer Christ our God.
The choir answers with the 139th psalm
to the 30" verse : « For thou hast possessed
my reins: Thou hast covered me in my mo-
ther's womb. ,
The representative replies:
— Pray for me, O ye my fathers, my bro-
thers and sons, and may Christ our Saviour
bless you; may he preserve you in his faith
until the time established for his coming;
and may the peace of the Lord be with you
for ever and ever. So be it. -
The choir continues the same psalm to
the end ; in the interim the people advance,
kiss the cross, the gospels, and the hand of
— '513 —
the defunct, and the priest his representent
repeats for the last time :
— Departing from the life of this world
what answer shall I give to thee, o God, for
my actions, at thy future judgment P But
thou, O Lord, who art immensely merciful and
benign, pardon and have mercy upon me.
- To this succeed long prayers, imploring
divine mercy, pardon and peace for the Soul
of the deceased : they then take the bier to
the porch of the church and recite many
psalms, prayers, lessons from the gospels
and from the twelve prophets. Meanwhile
the bier is turned to the east, west, north
and south, while prayers full of mystical
meaning are recited.
Finally they leave for the cemetery. If the
departed be a bishop, they leave the chair
and pastoral staff in the church to his suc-
CeSSOT.
On the road to the cemetery they sing the
119th psalm and hymns, and sometimes
stopping, recite lessons from the gospels and
chant solemn allelujahs On arriving at the
grave they repeat the ordinary lay-ceremo-
ny; the bishop or priest takes three hand-
fuls of earth and blesses it ; sprinkles some
into the grave, and some over the corpse.
With ecclesiastics, however, this last cere-
— 514 –
mony is done with much solemnity of pray -
ers, incensings, blessings, and other ceremo-
nies until the body is covered in the grave,
then the clergy go to the house of the de-
ceased to console his family.
For eight consecutive days the clergy go
to the grave early in the morning and repeat
the sacred obsequies, though briefly. The
same is done on the fifteenth, the fortieth
and finally on the anniversary-day.
Such are the funeral ceremonies of the
Armenians; so touching are they that no
body can be present at them without being
filled with a solemn and religious awe, rais-
ing his heart and mind to him on whom all
human destiny depends.
— 515 —
XX
THE ARMIENIAN CALENDAR.
Names of the Armenian months. – Correction of the
armenian Calendar.
According to early armenian history we
find that the Armenians, like the Babylon-
ians, Persians and Egyptians, used the solar
year which was composed of 365 days.
These were divided into twelve months, each
of which contained 30 days. These amount-
ing to 360, the remaining 5 were added at
the end of the year to fill the void between
the last and first day of the new year; there-
fore they were called Aveliałz or days added.
The months had peculiar names and did
not proceed in the same order as those of the
Vulgar Era. The Armenians began their
year on the 11th of August and ended it on
the fifth of the same month adding five days.
The armenian months are thus named
corresponding to the latin as follows:
1.*Navassart begins 11." August.
2.d Hory >}} 10.th September.
3.d Sahmy }) 10.th October.
4.tl. Dré 7) 9.0 November.
— 516 — -
5.th Kaghotz begins 9.th December.
6.th Aratz 7) 8.th January.
7.th Mehegan 7) 7.0 February.
8.th Areck 7) 9.th March.
9.!h Ahegan 7) 8.th April.
10.th Maréry 7) 8.th May.
11..th Markatz 7) 7.th June.
12.th Hroditz 7) 7.th July.
Aveliatz }) 5 days.
This system of measuring the year was
modified under the Armenian king Ardashes
the II about 122 years B. C. He adopted the
Julian year and modelled the armenian Ca-
lendar according to that of the Romans:
the days and months however continued as
before.
In the year 551 however, Easter fell out
of its turn. The paschal period of 200 years
established by Andrew of Byzance in the
year 351, by which the day of the month
on which Easter should fall every year, was
fixed, completed just in the above cited
year, its full cycle. A natural confusion in
all the feasts depending on Easter, ensued,
the necessity therefore of remedying this
inconvenience was highly felt.
The armenian Calendar, which as we have
related in the history of the armenian
Church, was corrected by the pontiff Moses
— 517 —
the Second, in the same year 551, with
the concurrence of the most learned men of
the nation.
This event was the cause of the new Era
of the Armenians; they began to date their
civil year from that time; the 5520 year of
the Vulgar Era becoming the first of the
Ile W One.
The names and order of the old style how-
ever remained, and according to it they con-
tinue to date their Church events; though
the use of the Latin months prevails in the
nation, yet they follow the old Julian Ca-
lendar like all other Eastern nations who
have not yet admitted the new, or Grego- .
T18, Il,
— 518 —
XXI
FESTIVALS.
Sixth of January blessing of the waters and houses. – Feasts
observed on the days they happen to fall. — Other feasts.
~ Distribution of Saint's days.
The Armenians regularly observe their
festivals or feasts upon each day of the a-
bove-cited months.
The chief solemnity they celebrate is the
6" of January, when according to establish-
ed custom, they celebrate three feasts toge-
ther : the Nativity, the Epiphany and the
Baptism of Our Lord : this custom has al-
ways furnished matter for controversy bet-
ween the Greeks and the Armenians, the
former wishing to force the latter to com-
memorate the Nativity of our Lord on the
25% of december, according to general usage.
The Romanist-Armenians, however, differ
on this point from the others, as they ob-
serve the feast of the Nativity, with the La-
tins, on the 25th of december, and the Epi-
phany, separately.
On the 6th of January, besides commemo-
rating the Baptism of our Lord, they pro-
ceed in procession, followed by the people,
— 519 —
to the nearest river, and bless the waters.
This is a day also piously waited for, for the
administration of baptism to children.
On this occasion, also, the people's houses
are blessed, a priest with his deacon incen-
ses and sprinkles them with holy water,
singing hymns, psalms and lessons from
the gospels.
Six other feasts follow kept on fixed days,
viz:
13." of January : the Circumcision.
14.” February : the Presentation in the
Temple.
7.th April : the Annunciation of the B.
W. Mary.
8.ſh September : the birth of the B. W.
Mary. **
21.st November : the Presentation of the
B. V. Mary.
9.th December : the Immaculate Concep-
tion of the B. W. Mary.
The remaining feasts, Dominical, as well
as feasts of the Saints, are movable, there-
fore do not fall every year on the same day
of the month being regulated by Easter-day.
Saint's days therefore have no relation to the
days of the month, as is the case among
western nations, but are fixed by the days
of the week, according to the following rule.
— 520 —
During lent no feast of Saints is observed
except on Saturday, and throughout the
year, in fast-weeks on Saturday only, are
feasts observed.
During the fifty days between Easter and
Pentecost no feast is observed, even on sa-
turday, that period being dedicated to the
commemoration of our Lord’s resurrection.
During the octave that follows any Do-
minical feast, no Saint’s day is observed.
In the other weeks during the year, sun-
day is always dedicated to commemorate
the Resurrection of our Lord, or to some Do-
minical feast, which, falling on a week-day
is transferred to the Sunday following,
Wednesdays and fridays are fast-days,
dedicated to penance; the latter is also dedi-
cated to commemorate the dead.
All feasts of Saint's—days are distributed
among the remaining four days of the week.
So there are only about 120 or 130 days a
year on which feasts of Saints can be ob-
served; the armenian Church, though she
keeps the feasts of the principal Saints se-
parately, generally celebrates several on one
day, principally those of martyrs, the twelve
minor Prophets, the Patriarchs of the old
Testament, the Egyptian hermits, etc.
— 521 —
XXII
THE AIRMENIAN BIBLE,
St. Isaac's undertaking to translate the Bible. — Scholars sent
to Constantinople. — St. Mesrob on a mission and the
Greek manuscript of the Bible. — Merit of the armenian
translation. — Collaborators in the armenian translation. —
Editions of the armenian Bible.
We have already remarked, in the history
of the armenian Church, that the Armenians,
in the earlier period of their conversion to
Christianity, possessing no national alpha-
bet, the holy Scriptures were read in the
armenian churches in the Syriac and Greek
tongues.
St. Mesrob invented the armenian alpha-
bet in 406, which gave such an impetus to
acquire knowledge that the fifth century be-
came the golden age of armenian literature.
The principal work of this epoch is the
translation of the Bible into armenian, the
chief author being the then reigning pontiff
St. Isaac.
Such a task as the translation of the holy
Scriptures was not easy; no one dared to
undertake it; yet the want of, and the wish
for, the Bible in the national langnage was
23
— 522 —
greatly felt. All expectation therefore turned
towards the holy pontiff Isaac, who in piety,
learning, and especially in the knowledge
of the Greek language had no equal. St. I-
saac, in order to comply with the general
wish, expressed principally by king Wram-
shabuh, began translating the Bible, aided
by St. Mesrob, who was hindered by the
severity of the winter from returning from
Mesopotamia where he was studying his
invention of the armenian alphabet, on ac-
count of its being winter, occupied himself
in translating the book of Proverbs and the
new Testament from the original greek into
armenian.
St. Isaac however finding it impôssible to
obtain a good greek manuscript of the old
Testament throughout Armenia — for Meru-
jan the apostate had burnt all the greek
books found there, with the object of alienat—
ing the spirit of the Armenians from the
greeks, – began his undertaking with an
old Syriac translation from the Hebrew.
Meanwhile several among the most ta-
lented scholars were sent to Edessa and Con-
stantinople for education, and principally to
perfect themselves in the knowledge of
greek, in order to aid the translators of the
Bible : these young men being constantly
A See Hist. of Arm, p. 129.
— 523 —
devoted to literary occupations, translated,
while at Constantinople, many valuable
Greek works into Armenian.
St. Isaac sometime after sent St. Mesrob
on a mission to Constantinople, where the
latter being presented to Atticus the patri-
arch of the city, narrated to him the litera-
ry events of his country, and besought the
patriarch to grant him a faithful Greek
translation of the Bible, to be used in cor-
recting their own translation from the Sy-
riac. The holy patriarch promised to make
researches, and sometime after a faithful
copy of the Septuagint was found in the Im-
perial library, one of those fifty copies which,
according to Eusebius, in his life of the Em-
peror Constantine, were, by his order, trans-
cribed from a very faithful one of the Sep-
tuagint found in his time. This copy, after
the Council of Ephesus, was given to the
scholars who were occupied at Constanti-
nople, and who, without delay, brought it
to St. Isaac.
On receiving such a treasure the two
saints were overjoyed, and immediately com-
menced the correction of their Syriac trans-
lation or rather, as our historians say, they
translated it anew from the Greek.
No words can enhance the value of such
a work; enough, that it is the glory of the
Armenians and the admiration of the Savants,
— 524 —
Le Brun, La Croz, St. Martin, Villefroy and
several other, English and German as well
as Italian Scholars, give the highest praise
to this admirable translation, some saying
that it is the queen of all existing transla-
tions, others, that it may be used to correct
the many errors which have, with time,
crept into the Greek version, as it is only
, the Armenian which accords with the true
Septuagint.
This was also Lord Byron's opinion, and
he had determined on publishing a transla-
tion of the armenian Bible, but want of time
prevented him from completing more than
an apocryphal epistle of St. Paul to the Co-
rinthians, found only in the armenian Bible.
The principal, or rather the entire, merit
of the armenian translation of the Bible, is
generally given to St. Isaac, he having as-
sumed the direction, but we have already
shewn that St. Mesrob claims no small share
of our gratitude, he having translated, not
only the Book of Proverbs, but the entire.
new Testament. Their scholars too helped
in the translation from the Greek; during
its completion the necessity of a better know-
ledge of the Greek language was felt. Some
were again sent to Alexandria with the view
of perfecting themselves, and afterwards re-
turned to their country, when the armenian
translation of the Bible was again revised,
corrected and perfected,
— 52) —
Such is the treasure which was transmit-
ted to posterity. A priceless treasure, not
only as it contains all that regards Divine
revelation, but the chief treasures of the ar-
menian language, being the basis on which
all the beauties of armenian literature are
founded.
The armenian Bible was several times
printed in different places; the first edition
at Amsterdam in the year 1666, published by
Vartabied Osgan sent on purpose from Etch-
miadzin. He is reproached however with hav-
ing introduced changes in the armenian or—
iginal, wishing to make it correspond with
the latin Vulgata. An other edition was is-
sued at Constantinople in the year 1705, and
three others at Venice by the Mekhitarians,
the last of which was published in the year
1860 by the celebrated D' Arsenius Pakra-
duni of the Order.
— 526 —
XXIII
CANONICAL BOOKS.
In the history of the armenian Church,
p. 127, we have given the note of the canon-
ical Books of the old Testament according
to the decree of the national Synod held at
Bardav in the year 767. We here give the
order of the books of both Testaments as we
find them published in the last venetian
edition.
OLD TESTAMENT.
The armenian Church accepts as canon-
ical Books of the old Testament the follow-
ing :
Genesis.
Exodus.
Leviticus.
. Numbers.
Deuteronomy.
Joshua.
. Judges.
Ruth.
. First kings — Samuel.
. Second kings — Samuel.
. III. kings.
. IV. kings.
1
}
;
— 527 —
i8. I. Chronicles.
14. II. Chronicles.
15. I. Ezra | Correspond to the first Ezra
16. II. Ezra of the latin Bible.
17. Nehemiah or III. Ezra.
18. Esther.
19. Judith.
20. Tobias.
21. I. Maccabees.
22. II. Maccabees.
23. III. Maccabecs.
24. The Psalms of David.
25. The Proverbs.
26. Tºcclesiastes.
27. The Song of Solomon.
28. The Wisdom of Solomon '.
29. Sirach 3.
30. Job.
31. Isaiah.
32. Hosea.
33. Amos.
34. Micah. |
35. Joel.
36. Obadiah.
37. Jonah.
A Of this book St. Nerses Lampronensis of the XII cen-
tury says that at first it was accepted as a supposed sacred
book, but now it is honoured like the other sacred Books of
the Scripture. St. Nerses Glajensis states the same.
2 The Fathers of the armenian Church, Gregory of Nareg,
Moses of Khoren, etc., quote from it as from a sacred Book of
the Scriptures. We ſind it also in the canons of the Synod at
#ardav. IIist. of the Arm. Chur., p. 127.
— 528 —
38. Nahum.
39. Habakkuk.
40. Zephaniah.
41. Haggai,
42. Zachariah.
43. Malachi.
44. Jeremiah.
l, 5. Baruch. 1.
46. Lamentations.
47. Daniel.
48. Ezekiel,
-**** NEW TESTAMENT.
The following are accepted as canonical :
*.
1. Matthew 3.
2. Mark 5.
3. Luke *.
4. St. John ”.
5. The Acts.
4 In the armenian manuscripts these three books follow
each other without division, as if forming one only.
2 St. Matth. Ch. 28, 18.th verse. The armenian has : « All
power is... in earth: As my Father has sent me, so I also
send Jºe. Go etc.
5 The last chapter of St. Mark beginning from the 9.th
verse : « Now when Jesus was risen, w to the end, in the ar-
menian manuscripts is found written, separately, at the end,
with the new inscription : « The gospel according to St.
Mark. In some manuscripts no trace is to be found of it.
However some of the old Fathers of the armenian Church
quote from that chapter.
l, Some of the armenian Fathers in order to silence their
antagonists, quote from the books of the Greek Fathers in
order to prove the real occurrence of the Bloody sweat during
the agony in the garden of Gethsemane. Luke 22, ſiſ.
5 The story .# the adultress found in the V111. chap. of
— 529 —
6. The epistle of St. James.
7. I. Peter.
8. II. Peter.
9. I. John 4.
10, II, John.
11. III. John.
12, Jude.
13. Epistle to the Romans.
14, I. Corinthians.
15. II. Corinthians.
16. Galatians.
17. Ephésians.
18. Philippians.
19. Colossians.
20. I. Thessalonians.
21. II. Thessalonians.
22. Hebrews.
23. I. Timothy.
24. II. Timothy.
25. Titus.
26. Philemon.
27. Revelation”.
St. John, in the armenian manuscripts, is found at the end of
that gospel, written separately with the inscription : « The
fact .. the adulteress Chap. §. ». However Gregor of Nareg
of the X. century, quotes from that chapter as from holy
Scripture.
A The 7.th verse of chap. v : « There are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost, p
is not to be found in the armenian manuscripts. It was how-
ever introduced from the latin text by Vartabied Osgan in
his first edition of the armenian Bible published at Amster-
dam. In the venitian edition it was expunged.
2 The first translation of this book was made by some un-
23*
— 530 —
THE APOCRY PIHA.
Some other books found in the armenian
Bible, and published at the end of it, but
considered as apocryphal, are the following:
1. Prayer of Manasses 4.
2. The letter of Jeremiah 3.
3. The epistle of the Corinthians to St.
Paul and his reply 3.
4. The death of St. John the Evangelist.
5. Prayer of Evthagee.
In some manuscripts the history of Joseph
and Assanath, an addition to the book of
Genesis, is also found. *
The Fourth book of Ezras and the Fourth
book of Maccabees, were not translated by
the armenian fathers.
known disciple of the first translators, (St. Isaac and his com-
panions), who did not add it at the end of the gospel, its au-
thenticity and author being disputed. However the question
being resolved, St. Nerses Lampronensis in the XII. centu-
ry, again translated it from the Greek, testifying it as belong-
ing to the new Testament, the author being St. John, the E-
vangelist himself.
A This prayer is inserted in the armenian Breviary and
makes part of the daily service during lent; is repeated kneel-
ing and is held by the armenians as holy Scripture.
2 This is not to be found in the armenian manuscripts, but
was added by vartabied Osgan to his edition of the Bible at
Amsterdam, he himself translating it from the latin.
3 These were translated into English by Lord Byron, du-
ring his armenian studies at St. Lazaro at Wenice, and were
printed and published in the monastery.
sº
— 531 —
XXIV
DIVISION OF THE SCRIPTURES BY SERGIUS
THE GRACEFUL .
Sergius the Graceful, a doctor of the ar-
menian Church in the XII century, in his
preface to his commentaries on the second
epistle general of St. Peter, divides the books
of the holy Scriptures into three classes:
First, those which are undoubtedly au-
thentic.
Second, those which the old Fathers
held as doubtful,
Third, those which are spurious.
From the old Testament there are two
which he places in the second division, na-
mely:
1. The Wisdom of Sirach.
2. The Fourth of Ezras, which has not
been translated into armenian by the ancient
Fathers 4.
From the new Testament he places in the
second class :
A Under the name of Ezra the Fathers of the armenian
Church mean the three canonical books, together with Nehe-
miah.
— 532 —
The second epistle of St. Peter.
The II, and III. epistles of St John.
The epistle of Jude.
. The Revelation of St. John.
He says: “ These too, concerning whose
authenticity some doubts were raised, hav-
ing been diligently examined and compar-
ed, and found to contain nothing but scrip-
tural truths, were accepted by the Church,
inserted among the canonical Books, and
must, therefore, be accepted by us.
& The epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews
is one of those which are called doubtful,
Some saying that it was written by Clement,
and others by Luke the evangelist, However
the author of the epistle is none other than
St. Paul himself...
* The same may be said of the second
epistle of St. Peter, which some think was
not written by that Apostle. I however hav-
ing read and compared it attentively, find
nothing to support such an opinion, there-
fore believe it to be really his... )
Such are the words with which Sergius
the Graceful, giving the order of the canon-
ical Books of the Scriptures according to
the armenian Church, supports the authen-
ticity of the II. epistle of Peter, on which
he makes a long commentary.
i
— 533 —
FIRST AND SDG ON D CENTURY.
I. — Origin of Christianity in Armenia. — Abgar's
Messengers to Marinus.— Abgar's letter to
Jesus Christ. — Our Lord’s answer. — His
portrait. —Thaddeus the Apostle.— Prince
Sanadrug. . . . . . & #
II. — King Anané. — Martyrdom of the bishop
Addé. — King Sanadrug. — Queen Helena.
— Return of St. Thaddeus to Armenia. —
Chrysos and his followers. — Martyrdom
of St. Thaddeus. . . . . . • *
III. — The Apostle Bartholomew and the portrait of
the Virgin. — He erects a Nunnery. — Sev-
eral conversions effected by him. — He is
martyred. — The nuns. – Jude the Apos-
tle.— Relics of the Apostle St. Thomas. –
Some of the Seventy two disciples. – Chry-
sos and Sukias. – The martyrdom of Chry-
sos and his followers. . . . . . . . . . 49
T III RD CENTURY.
I. — Christians in Armenia during the time of king
Chosroes. —Amag. — Gregory the Illumi-
nator and his sons. – Tiridates. . . . 25
FOURT II CENTURY.
I. — The Ripsimians.— A divine punishment in-
ſlicted upon the king Tiridates and his peo-
ple.—Chosroviſukht receives a divine reve-
lation. — St. Gregory is released from the
pit. — The relics of the Ripsimians. – The
healing of the king and his people. . . , 30
— 534 —
H. — St. Gregory is elected to be spiritual head of
the Armenians. – His journey to Cesarea
and his consecration. — The relics of St.
John. — St. Gregory returns to Armenia.
— King Tiridates and his Court are baptiz-
ed. — Etchmiadzin is built. — Festivities.
— Arisdagues appointed vicar. — St. Gre-
gory and Tiridates go to Rome. — St. Gre-
gory is appointed by Pope St. Silvester
High Pontiff of the Armenians. . . .
III. — The Council of Nice. — The First National
Council. — The addition made by St. Gre-
gory to the Nicean Creed. — Death of St.
Gregory. — IIis remains. – Arisdagues.—
Vortanes. – St. Jacob of Nisibis. – St.
Gregoris Pontiff of the Aghuans. – Death
of king Tiridates. – Queen Ashkhen and
Khosrovitukht. — Death of the Pontiſſ Wer-
tanes. . . . . . . . . . . . .
• IV. – Hussig. — Julian the Apostate. — Daniel. —
The two sons of Hussig. — Parnerseh. —
Nierses. – The Council of Ashdishad and
the improvements introduced by St. Nierses
in the government of the Church. — IIe is
consecrated by the Armenian bishops High
Pontiff of the Armenians . . . . . .
W. — St. Nierses mediator of peace between king
Arshag and Theodosius. – He anathemat-
izes king Arshag.— St. Nierses proceeds to
Constantinople. — His banishment and re-
lease. — Assistance granted by the Greeks
to the Armenians.— The Council of Wagh-
arshabad. — Death of St. Nierses. .
VI. — Shahag. — Zaven. — Asburagues. – Isaac
the Parthean. — The Urn containing the
relics of the Ripsimians. – St. Mesrob.
FIFT II CENTURY.
I. — Invention of the armenian alphabet.—Trans-
lation of the Bible. — Confusion in Arme-
nia. — St. Isaac and Mesrob take refuge in
the Greek division of Armenia. . . . .
If, - Return of St. Isaac to the Persian division of
Armenia. — Regulation of the Church cere-
monies and of the Ritual. — The Council of
Wagharshabad and its canons.
Canons of the Synod of Wagharshabad. .
II. — Deposition of St. Isaac from his authority.—
É.;; Purkishow , Shemuel. — The
Council of Ephesus. – The letter of the
Fathers of the Council. — The Syrian he-
retics. –The assembly of Ashdishad. .
IV. — Death of Shemuel, of St. Isaac and St. Mes-
rob. — Joseph of Hoghotzim. — The as-
sembly of Shahabivan. — Consequence of
the Vartanian religious war. — Melidé is
elected Pontiſt. — Martyrdom of the St.
Levontians. – Suſſerings of the chiefs and
their return to Armenia. o
W. — Moses the First. — Kewd. — Christopher the
Ardzerunian. — John the Mantagunian. —
Papguen of Othmus. – The relics of St.
Gregoris and St. Elishë. . . . . . .
WI. — The Council of Chalcedonia. – Zeno's letter.
— The synod of Vagharshabad where the
Council of Chalcedon is rejected.—The doc-
trine of the armenian Church on this point.
VII. — Samuel of Ardzgué. — Religious persecution.
SIXTII CENTURY.
I. — The Synod of Duin. — Succession of the Pon-
tiſſs. – The sacred Likeness of our Lord.
Persecution against the Christians. – Mo-
ses the Second and the reform of the Ar-
menian Calendar. — Heresies of Julian of
IIalicarnassus. – Hizdipuzd. — The Geor-
gian pontiſt and the Council of Chalcedon. .
II. — The pontiſt Abraham and Gurion. . .
8EVENTH CENTURY.
I. — Division of the pontifical jurisdiction. — The
pontiff Gomidas and Ripsima's relics. -
69
84
87
90
99
. 40l.
– 536 —
II. — Nierses the Builder and the relics of St. Gre-
III.
Christopher the Third. – Yezer. — The
Council of Chalcedon is accepted by the Ar-
menians. – John Mayrakometzi. — The
Armenians of the Greek division introduce
changes in their ecclesiastical ceremonies.
gory. — The synod of Duin. — Disputes
between the Greeks and the Armenians.—
John Digorensis. – The Cross of Warak. .
— Succession of the Pontiffs. – The Saracens
in Duin. — David Duinensis. . *
EY GHT II CENTURY.
I.
I
I
III.
NINTIL
I.
II.
T ENTII
I.
— Death of Isaac the Pontiff. — Eliab his suc-
cessor. — The martyrs Wahan of Koghthen
and Susan. . . . . . . . .
vid the First. — Tiridates the First and the
Second. — Sion and the synod held in Bar-
dav. — Canons. . . . . . . . . .
Canons of the synod of Bardav. . . . .
— Isaiah and other Pontiffs.
CENTURY.
— Joseph the Pontiſſ and Khuzima the Govern-
or. — David the Second. — Martyrs. —
John the Fifth. — Bugha the Tyrant. . .
— Zachariah the Pontiff. — Photius and the
Council of Chalcedon. — The synod of Shi-
ragavan. — George the Second. — A shod
the Pakradunian is crowned king of the
Armenians. – Mashdotz the Second. —
John the Sixth. . . . . . . .
Canons of the synod of Shiragavan.
cENTURY.
— Enmity of Yussuf. — John the Pontiſt a pris-
oner. — Sumpad is tortured on account of
his religion. — The feast of the third of.
. H3
. A5
406
A H 1
*
A 15
. . 4.48
. — John the Fourth. — A synod in Duin.— Da-
{29
H
5
— 537 — * .
June. — Stephen the Second. — Theodore
the First. . . . . . . . . . . , 458
II. – Eghishé. — Ananias Mogatzy, and Jacob bi-
shop of Sewnies. – Enmity of the Greeks
and persecution caused by them. — Vahan
and the troubles on account of the Council
of Chalcedon. . . . . . . . . . . 144
III. — Stephen the Third. — He is imprisoned. —
Khatchig. — Death of Wallan the exiled
Pontiff. — Gregor of Nareg. — A synod in
Ani.—Enmity of the Greeks. – Sarkis the
First. — The Seat of the spiritual govern-
ment is fixed in Ani. . . . . . . . 144
ELEY ENT II CENTURY.
I. — The Sect of the Thontraguians. – Sumpad
the Thontraguian. — Peter the Kedatartz.
— Deoskoros. – A synod in Ani. — Kha-
tehig the Second. — The Greeks endeavour
to force the Armenians to conform to the
rites of the Greek Church. — Gregory We-
gayasser. — George Lorensis. – Communi-
cations between the Armenian Pontiſſ and
Pope Gregory the Seventh. — Parsegh is
elected Pontiff in Ani. — Four Pontiffs a
once. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
TW. ELFTII CENTURY.
I. — The Zerazadig or wrong Easter. — Parsegh
succeeds to Gregory Vegayasser. — Gre-
- gory the Third. — The origin of the pontifi-
cate of Aghthamar. — Gregory and the as-
sembly at Jerusalem. — The pontificate at
Hrom gla. — Nierses the Graceſul. — The
union of the Armenian and Greek Churches
is proposed. – Gregory the Fourth. — As-
sembly. — Dudeorty a rebel. — Correspon-
dance between the pontiff Gregory and Pope."
Lucius. – The latin mitre is adopted by
the Armenian bishops. – The convent of
St. James at Jerusalem. — Gregory the
Fifth. — Gregory the Sixth, – Nierses
- - w .”
- Lampronensis. -- Conrad archbishop of
• Magunzia and his three conditions. .
Thiſ TEENTH CENTURY.
I. — John the Seventh. — Illegal elections of Pon-
. 462
tiſſs. – David the Third. — Zacharia’s re-
quest to have divine service performed in
his camp. — John restored. — The latin
clergy driven from Cylicia by king Leo. —
Constantine the First. — The assembly of
Sis and the canon for Extreine Unction. .
Canons of the assembly of Sis. . . .
A 75
. 480
iI. — A Roman Nuncio sent to Cylicia. — Doctrine
of the Holy Ghost. — Jacob the First. —
Relics of St. Nierses. – Constantine the
Second. — Stephen the Fourth. — Zeraza-
dig. — The Egyptians and St. Gregory's
- hand. — Gregory the Seventh. — Pontiſ-
ical residence in Sis. – Anathema against
the See of Aghthamar annulled. — Ar-
* menian liturgy. . . . . . . .
FOURTEENTII CENTURY.
I. — The synod held in Sis.- Constantine restor-
ed. —- Attempts to reform the Ritual. ---0-
rigin of the patriarchate of Jerusalem. --
Constantine the Third. . . . .
II. — Jacob the Second.—Origin of the Unionists.
--- Mekhilhar the Pontiſſ — Two impostor
bishops. – The 4 17 heresies of the Armen-
ians.--- A deputy sent by the Armenians to .
Pope Benedict. — Jacob Sisensis restored.
--- His successor. —- The question of adding
water to the wine. --- Other Pontiffs and
miserable condition of Armenia. . . . . .
F# E TEENT II CENTURY.
I. --- Troubles caused by the Unionists. --- Gregory
Datevensis. -- Intrigues for the pontifical
dignity. ---Succession of Pontiffs. --- Arme-
njan Wartabic.d6 in the Council of Florence.
. 488
492.
— 539 —
§
-- The pontifical see removed to Etchmiad-
zin. te & e o ſº te * w 42 & §
II. --- Guiragos Virabensis. -- Troubles. -- Guir-
agos is deposed. --- The Pontiſts of Sis con-
tinue to succeed. -- Origin of the patriarch-
ate of Constantinople. --- Appointment of
Vicars to the pontificate. — Troubles. .
SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
I. --- Succession of Pontiffs. -- Stephen the Fifth
and Michael his Vicar. --- He undertakes a
pilgrimage to Rome. — Michael of Sebas-
tia. --- Abgar is sent a deputy to Rome. —
The intention of Pope Gregory. -- Other
Pontiſts and the miseries they suſſered from
their oppressors. --Melchizedech the Pon-
tiſſ in Constantinople. . . . . .
Abgar's brief exposition of the creed and ce-
remonies of the armenian Church.
SEVENTEENT II CENTURY.
I. — Melchizedek returns to Etchmiadzin. — Sc-
II.
HI.
rapion the bishop of Amid. – He is proclaim-
ed Pontiſſ. – Shah Abas in Armenia and
the debt of Etchmiadzin. —- Sufferings and
death of the Pontiſſ Serapion. —- Bishop
Sarkis. --- The two Latin friars and the re-
lics of St. Ripsima. . .
tº - * g e e *
--- Melchizedek accused to the Pontiff David. —-
IIe resigns the pontifical authority to Isaac
his nephew. --- Jsaac ſlees to Van. --- Mo-
ses the Third. --- Isaac's attempt. -- Death
of Moses the Third. --- Philip of Eringan.--
His journey to Constantinople. -- Ile re-
turns to Etchmiadzin where he dies. .
tantinople and Jerusalem. --- St. Jacob's
convent. --- Eleazar's attempts.--- Jacob the
Pontiſſ goes to Constantinople.-- His death.
--- Eleazar is proclaimed Pontiſſ of the Armen-
ians, -— Troubles in the patriarchates of
499
20/;
2
d
2
. 252
--- Jacob the Fourth. --The patriarchates of Cons-
259
— 540 — . .
Constantinople and Jerusalem. --- Eleazar's
death. — Nahabied of Edessa. — His cor-
respondence with Pope Innocent the
Twelfth. --- Ephraim the Patriarch. . . 245
EIGHT E CNT H CENTURY.
I. --- A summary glance at the spirit of this epoch.
--- Galanus and the preachers of latinism.
--- Two divisions. – Mekhithar of Sebaste. 2'.9 .
II. —- Melchizedek intrigues for the patriarchal au-
thority. — The misfortune of some of the
- priests of Adrianople. --- Melchizedek's
disgrace. --- Ephraim becomes Patriarch. —
Troubles and persecution. — Danger of
Mekhithar of Sebaste. -- Ephraim is de-
posed. --- Avedik bishop of Ezenga. --- The
three priests and Mekhithar. — Avedik's
disgrace. . . . . . . . . . . . 235
III. — Mekhithar in Modone. --- He escapes to Ve-
nice where he settles his Community. —
He founds a printing office. — Charges
against Avedik – IIe is imprisoned.— Ka-
lusd Gaydzaguen proclaimed Patriarch. —
Troubles on account of Avedik. -- He is
sent into banishment. — Wartabied Nierses.
--- Avedik is restored -- He is again ban-
ished. . . . . tº . 262
IV. --- Death of Nahabied the Pontiff. — Alexander
of Julpha his successor. --- Matthew of Ce-
sarea and other Patriarchs. – John of
Smyrna and his aversion to the Roman ca-
tholics. --- Der Gomidas. --- John is depos-
ed. --- Isaac reinstaled. --- John of Kan-
tzag. -- Death of the Pontiſſ Alexander. ---
Asdvadzadur of Hamadan his successor. . 274
W. -- Condition of St. Jacob's convent in Jerusa- .
lem. -- John Golod and Gregory Rector of
St. Garabied. — The Latin Vicar's edict.---
-- * & Rigors against the catholic Armenians. . 277
VI. —- Death of Asdvadzadur the Pontiff. --- Gara-
bied of Ulni his successor and other Pon-
**. tiſſs. --- Severities against the catholic Ar-
— 541 —
menians. --- The convent of St. Jacob. ---
Death of Abraham the Third. —- Lazarus
bishop of Smyrna elected Pontiſt. --- IIis
danger. ---He ſlees to Persia. -- Sufferings
of bishop Isaac. --- He excoinmunicates La-
zarus. -- Lazarus anointed Pontiſſ. --- La-
zarus and the Persian chiefs. --- His punish-
ment. — Death of the patriarch John Golod.
— Jacob Nalian. . . . . . . . . 282
VII. --- New armenian catholic pontificate on Mount
Libanon. . . . . . . . . . . . 290
WIII. -- Cruellies of Lazarus. --- Complaints of the
clergy of Etchmiadzin. — Punishment in-
flicted upon Lazarus by the Persian Mon-
arch. — Tyranny exercised by Lazarus up-
on the clergy of Etchmiadzin. -- Deputies
sent by the Armenians of Constantinople to
Etchmiadzin. --- Lazarus is deposed. --- Pe-
ter Kew.thur anointed Pontiff. -- Lazarus
restored. --- Peter Kew.thur imprisoned and
his death. . . . . . . . . . . . 296
iX. — Prochoron and the troubles of Constantinople.
--- Minas of Aguen. --- Death of the Pontiff
Lazarus. --- Miinas of Aguen anointed Pon-
tiſſ. --George appointed Patriarch. --- Na-
lian restored to the patriarchate of Cons-
tantinople. — Isaac Ahakin elected Pon-
tiff. --- He is deposed and Jacob of Sha-
makhi appointed in his stead. -- Simon of
Erevan. — II is enmity against the Roman
persuasion and the alteration entroduced in
the Armenian Calendar. — Manuel of Balu.
---The Patriarchs Gregóry and Zachariah.
--- Lucas of Erzeroum appointed Pontiff. .
2
9
S
X. —- The Mekhitarian institution. — Death of Me- .
khithar. --- Stephen Mclkonian his succes-
sor. — Troubles in the Institution. — The
Patriarch of Venice interferes. – The prin-
cipal rioters expelled from the Institution.
--Origin of the Institution of the Mekhitha-
rians of Vienna. . . . . . . . . . 504
XI. --- Persecution against the Romanizing Arme-
nians. --- Changes in the patriarchal au-
#
— 542 —
thority. — Zachariah attempts to cause a
union between the two divisions of the Ar-
menians. --- Six conditions.--- Opposition of
the Roman catholic clergy. --- Death of
Zachariah. --- Daniel his successor. —
Death of Lucas the Pontiſſ. . . . . . . .
2NINETEENTII CENTURY.
sº
I. —- Daniel of Ashdarag elected Pontiſſ. -- John
of Balad sends Daniel to banishment. —
Archbishop Joseph. —David's intrigues and
appointment to the pontificate. — His ty-
rannical sway. — John the Patriarch is de-
posed. — Gregory. — Daniel anointed Pon-
tiſſ of the Armenians. – Gregory deposed
and sent to exile. — John restored to the
patriarchate. — Daniel the Pontiſſ and Gre-
gory the ex-patriarch ſall into the hands of
David. — Daniel's danger. — The Russian -
stipulation by which David is deposed and
Daniel appointed Pontiſſ. . . . . . .
II. — The Greek claims to the convent of St. Jacob
in Jerusalem. —Daniel’s death. —Ephraim
of Ashdarag elected Pontiff. — Attempt at
union between the two divisions of Arme-
nians. - Five theological points, – Result
fºr
of the attempt. . . . e e º e
III. — John the Patriarch resigns his dignity. — Ab-
raham appointed Patriarch. — He is desti-
tuted. — Bishop Paul his successor. — He
sinvites the Romanist clergy to a theological
conference. — The Romanist clergy. –
Persecution againts the Romanizing Ar-
menians. – The four members of the Du-
zian family. — The order of the Propa-
ganda. — Furious persecution against the
Romanist clergy. . . . . . . . .
5.
{
5
524
IV. — The three Romanizing Armenians and ſour
of the Mekhitharians. – The Mekbitharian
Fathers enter upon a controversy with the
other Armenians. – The five points. - En-
thusiasm of the Armenians in hopes of a
union. — The conclusion of the controver-
- *
sy, - The document entitled « Invitation to
Christian lové. » . . . . . . . . . .
- An invitation to Christian love. . . . .
W. — Consequence of the attempt for union. —
Commotion among the lower orders. — The
four Mekhitharians excommunicated. —
They are absolved by the Pope. — Etch-
miadzin conquered by the Russians. . .
VI. — The last persecution against the Romanizing
Armenians. - º e & & e º & & ©
VII. — Emancipation of the Catholic Armenians. .
The Armenians of Etchmiadzin.
VIII. — The Armenians of Etchmiadzin. — Bishop
John succeeds Ephraim in the pontificate.
— Stephen Aghavni is appointed Patriarch
at Constantinoplc. — The Protestant Mis-
sionaries and their proceedings. -- Change
of Patriarchs.--An execution for the Christ-
ian faith. — A general assembly at Etch-
miadzin by which Nierses the Fifth is ap-
pointed Pontiff of the Armenians. – Pro-
position of the Emperor Nicolas. – Ho-
nours conferred by the Emperor upon the
Pontiff Nierses. . . . . . . . . .
IX. — Bishop Matthew appointed Patriarch in Cons-
tantinople. — His measures against the
Protestant Armenians. – Lord Canning's
proceedings, – The Protestant Armenians
are reckoned a separate branch. — Esta-
blishment of two Councils. -Cardinal Fer-
rieri Nuncio in Constantinople. — Conſer-
ence between him and the Armenian Pa-
triarch. — Matthew is deposed and Jacob
restored to the patriarchal dignity. —Death
of Nierses the Pontiſt. — Matthew is elect-
ed his successor. — Change of Patriarchs.
— The burial of a Protestant. . . . . 3
The Roman Catholic Armenians.
X. — Nurigian. — Chukhurian. — The Counsel of
Ten. — The ſirst church of the catholics.-
Succession of Patriarchs, - The catholic
2
— 544 —
clergy. – The colleges of the Mekhithar-
ians.— The Patriarch Garabied Essayan.
— Hassun. — Death of Nurigian. — The
Primate Marush. — IIassun appointed at
first Vicar, then a bishop coadjutor. — The
Patriarch Garabied resigns his authority
and Hassun assumes the same. — Hassun
is proclaimed Primate of the catholic Ar-
amenians. . . . . . . . . . . . 368
— 545 —
THE SACRED RITES OF THE ARM ENIANS.
H. — The armenian Ritual. . . .
. 584
II. — Churches. – The Sanctuary. — The Sacris-
ty. — The use of curtains. – The Niche for
the offerings. – Objects placed upon the
altar. — NoTA. Respect to Saints and to
relics. – The Church, Choir and Nave.
g 38'ſ
III. — The holy sacrament of baptism according to
the armenian rite. — Ceremonies at the
porch of the church. — They
enter the
church. — The blessing of the water. — .
Respect of the Armenians for the holy
chrysm. — The act of baptizing. .
J.W. — Sacrament of Confirmation. — The real Con-
- firmation. — Conclusion of the Confirma-
tion. — Communion of the new baptized
child. — Ceremony at the fortieth day of
the child’s baptism. . . .
590
- liſ)0
W. — The Sacrament of Penance. — The penitent’s
form of confession. — The formula of ab-
solution. — Times of confession in the
*. year. sº tº e sº wº tº e & º º l;05
VI. — The sacrament of Communion. . . . . l;08
THE AIRMENIAN LITURGY,
National customs and rites which the officiat-
ing priests are bound to observe in the ce-
lebration of the mass. – Days for the ce-
lebration of mass. – Discipline concerning
the celebrating priest. — Preparation of
the wafer for the holy Eucharist. — Bless-
ed bread for distribution at
sion of the mass. . . . .
Church vestments. . . . . .
Introduction to the holy mass. .
Beginning of the Liturgy. .
Preparation. . . . . . .
The Canon. . . . . . .
Communion. . . . . .
the conclu-
• . . 409
. . . . 415
. . . . 419
. . . . . 420
tº gº . (125
. . . lºſ)
2
4
— 546 —.
Communion of the people... . . . . . . 454
Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . (152
Distribution of the blessed bread. . . . . lºſt
VII. — The sacrament of Extreme Unction. . . . (156
VIII. — The holy Orders. — Conditions required in
a candidate for holy orders. — Ceremony
on the day before that appointed for the
ordination. — The ordination. . . . . (140
Psalmists and cleaners. . . . . . . . 4/12
First order. — Doorkeeper. . . . . . liſt3
Second order. — The Reader. . . . . lºſſ
Third order. — The Exorcist. . . . . līlīš
Fourth order. — The Acolyte. . . . . —
Rules for the matrimony of the armenian
clergy. º e º e - - º º e t º º - t!!!?
IX. — Conferring of superior orders. . . . . . lºſſ!)
Fifth order. — Subdiaconate. . . . . . —
Sixth order. — The Diaconate. . . . . (150
. — The Priesthood. — Seventh order. . . . ii.55
Ceremony of the ordination. . . . . . . lºš6
XI. — Consecration of Bishops. – Examination of
the proposed bishop. — The Pontiſſ's exa-
mination of the proposed bishop. . . . 1.6l.
XII. — The ceremony of the consecration of Bishops.
— Introduction to the ceremony. — The
symbolical figures. – Respect paid to the
Pontiſt. — Presentation of the candidate.
— Interrogation of the candidate. — The
Promotion. — The Anointing. . . . . 467
XIII. — Consecration of the Catholicos or high Pon-
tiſſ of the Armenians. . . . . . . . . (182
XIV. — The Wartabieds. – Division of the Order.
— Duties of the Order of Wartabieds. . (186
XV. — The sacrament of Matrimony. — Practices
used in negotiations for matrimony. — The
celebration of the marriage. — Ceremony
in the husband's house. — Ceremony for
the matrimony of widows. – Days on
which matrimony is celebrated. . . . . (189
XVI. — Morality and religious sentiments of the Ar-
menians. – Their political feeling.—Their
devotion, — Ministry of the clergy. — Tax
X
— 547 —
XVII.
- XVIII. —
XIX. —
, XXII.
*-*
for masses. – Fasting of the priests during
their ministry. — Preservation of the Host.
— Relics, Intercession of Saints.
fasts : Bahk, Dzuom and Navagadik. —
Abstinence during lent. — Abstinence du-
ring the year . . .
Funeral ceremonies of Laymen. — Ceremo-
nies in the church. — Ceremonies at the
grave. — Pious customs observed by the
familiar of the departed one. . .
Funeral of the Clergy. — Preparatory cer.
emonies. – Ceremonies at the house of
the deceased. — Clothing of the body. —
Carrying the body to the church. — Cer-
emonies in the church. — Anointing of the
body. — The farewell. — Ceremonies at
the porch of the church. — On the road to
the cemetery. . . . .
The armenian Calendar. — Names of the
Armenian months. – Correction of the ar-,
menian Calendar. . . . . . . . .
Festivals. – Sixth of January blessing of
the waters and houses. – Feasts observed
on the days they happen to fall. — Other
feasts — Distribution of Saints’ days. .
taking to translate the Bible. — Scholars
sent to Constantinople. — St. Mesrob on a
mission and the Greek manuscript of the
Bible. — Merit of the armenian transla-
tion. — Collaborators in the armenian
translation. — Editions of the armenian
Bible. . . . . . . . . . .
XXIII. — Canonical Books. . . . . . . . . .
XXIV. — Division of the scriptures by Sergius the
Graceful. . . . e is
... liSS
Fasts of the Armenians. – Division of the
. 548
The armenian Bible. — St. Isaac’s under-
T}OOKS PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH
BY THE AUTHOR.
1. Armenia and the Armenians.
1. Part. — Geography • {
2. Part. — History : price
3. Part. — Ecclesiastical History. .
4. Part. — In the Press Literature
2. Armenian Ritual.
1. Part. — Liturgy . . . . .
2. Part. — The divine ordinances,
or the Sacraments of Baptism
and Confirmation . . . .
3. Part. — The Armenian Ordinal,
Containing the offices for the
-ordination of Priests, deacoms,
etc. .
fr.
3

- º
*** * * *
. …' . . .
. . . . . .
Tº s
º -º- gº
* * : * * **, *, *
sº sº
º
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3.
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:
:
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