The Armenian Rite 9781463217020

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The Armenian Rite

Analecta Gorgiana

135 Series Editor George Kiraz

Analecta Gorgiana is a collection of long essays and short monographs which are consistently cited by modern scholars but previously difficult to find because of their original appearance in obscure publications. Carefully selected by a team of scholars based on their relevance to modern scholarship, these essays can now be fully utilized by scholars and proudly owned by libraries.

The Armenian Rite

Archdale King

1 gorgias press 2009

Gorgias Press LLC, 180 Centennial Ave., Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2009 by Gorgias Press LLC Originally published in 1948 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC. 2009

1 ISBN 978-1-60724-098-3

This is an extract from Archdale King's The Rites of Eastern Christendom, Vol. 2, Chapter X.

Printed in the United States of America

ARMENIAN RITE Armenia, known to the modern world for its massacred and unhappy people living in any and every country save their own, has the honour of being the first state officially to embrace Christianity. To-day, like the Jews, the Armenians are scattered over the face of the globe, and yet with astonishing vitality they tenaciously retain their national characteristics and distinctive religion. T h e whole race has only one liturgical rite, celebrated in classical Armenian. All European languages speak of "Armenia" and " A r menians," 1 but the natives themselves call the country "Hayastan" and the race "Haikh," claiming descent from Haik, grandson of Japheth, the son of Noe. This legend is further supported by identifying Mount Ararat (Urartu)— the head 3 and centre of the country—as the exact spot on which the ark rested after the Flood. Etchmiadzin claims to have preserved a relic of the ark, but the whole tradition is a foreign importation and unknown to the Armenian writer Moses of Khoren (ab. 458). T h e earliest name for the Armenians seems to have been the "House of Thorgom," 3 a title corroborated by the Arrne, " c h i e f s . " Lazarus of Pharpi, ab. 490. " " D e domo Thorgoma, equos, et equites, et mulos adduxerunt ad forum tuum." Ezech., X X V I I , 14. 1

a

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prophet Ezechiel, who emphasizes the merchant character of the people. The original country, with Greater Armenia east of the river Euphrates and Lesser Armenia to the west, lies southeast of the Black Sea, forming a quadrangle and bounded on the north by the Caucasus Mountains, the west by the Black Sea, the east by the Caspian Sea, and the south by the Taurus Mountains. The present stock is said to be an Ayran race from Phrygia, replacing the former inhabitants (Khaldians) about the end of the 7th or beginning of the 6th century before the Christian era, although there may well have been a fusion between the Phrygians and the people 4 of the Taurus Mountains.

History The "Golden Age" of Armenia is reckoned to be the reign of Dikran (Tigranes), who ruled the country from about 90 B. C. to 5$ B. C., but it was only after the battle of Magnesia (189 B. C.), which ended the supremacy of the Seleucides, that the history of the country emerges into the clear light of day. Armenia has always been a buffer state and the "cockpit of Asia," whose sovereignty has been disputed by Romans, Persians, Arabs, Crusaders, Turks and Russians. Christianity, according to Tertullian (ab. 160-ab. 220), flourished here in the 2nd century, in the reign of King Sanatrouc (166-193), and the same writer, 5 commenting upon the Acts 6 of the Apostles, gives Armenia, not Judea, as one of the countries which St. Luke speaks of as re* Kheti, Khati or Hati (Hittites). St. Augustine (f 430) gives a similar interpretation. * Acta Apost. II, 9. 5

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prophet Ezechiel, who emphasizes the merchant character of the people. The original country, with Greater Armenia east of the river Euphrates and Lesser Armenia to the west, lies southeast of the Black Sea, forming a quadrangle and bounded on the north by the Caucasus Mountains, the west by the Black Sea, the east by the Caspian Sea, and the south by the Taurus Mountains. The present stock is said to be an Ayran race from Phrygia, replacing the former inhabitants (Khaldians) about the end of the 7th or beginning of the 6th century before the Christian era, although there may well have been a fusion between the Phrygians and the people 4 of the Taurus Mountains.

History The "Golden Age" of Armenia is reckoned to be the reign of Dikran (Tigranes), who ruled the country from about 90 B. C. to 5$ B. C., but it was only after the battle of Magnesia (189 B. C.), which ended the supremacy of the Seleucides, that the history of the country emerges into the clear light of day. Armenia has always been a buffer state and the "cockpit of Asia," whose sovereignty has been disputed by Romans, Persians, Arabs, Crusaders, Turks and Russians. Christianity, according to Tertullian (ab. 160-ab. 220), flourished here in the 2nd century, in the reign of King Sanatrouc (166-193), and the same writer, 5 commenting upon the Acts 6 of the Apostles, gives Armenia, not Judea, as one of the countries which St. Luke speaks of as re* Kheti, Khati or Hati (Hittites). St. Augustine (f 430) gives a similar interpretation. * Acta Apost. II, 9. 5

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presented at Pentecost. Such an exegesis would indeed seem feasible, as Judea can hardly claim to be a "foreign" country to a Jew. The apostolates of St. Thaddeus (35-43) and St. Bartholomew (44-60), whose feast days are kept on July 20 and November 30 respectively, have little evidence in their favour, and are traceable to a Greek source, invented with the wish to ascribe apostolic beginnings to the church of Armenia. The "graves" of the two apostles, however, are shown at Ardaze (Magou) and Albac (Baschkalé); while the katholikos of Etchmiadzin claims to rule from the "Throne of St. Thaddeus." Eusebius (f 339-40) and the Syrian Chronicle (Leroupnia) have suggested that the Thaddeus of the legend is in reality Addeus, bishop of Edessa. The tradition also in regard to King Abgar the Black and the portrait of Christ (vera effigies) is spurious, although St. John Damascene 7 spoke of it as antiquitus tradita narratio, and the picture is alleged to be preserved in the church of St. Bartholomew of the Armenians at Genoa. A letter to Meruzanes, "bishop of the Armenians," from Dionysius of Alexandria (248-265) "about penitence" seems to show that Christianity was brought to the country from Syria (Edessa) at an early date. The apostle of Armenia is said to have been a scion of the royal stock of Arsacides, 8 claiming descent from Abraham. St. Gregory 9 the Illuminator, who had been converted in Caesarea of Cappodocia, began his work of ' Sermon on Holy Images, I. * This Armenian tradition is wholly unreliable. Arsacid was a generic title for the Parthian kings (cf. Egyption pharoahs and Persian shahs), and seems to have been an abbreviation of the Sanscrit word Kehajargha (Xerxes). * Grigor Lusavorich.

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evangelising Armenia 10 about the year 261, at a time when King Tiridates was persecuting the Christians. The stories connected with the life of St. Gregory, and in particular his vicissitudes in the pit are unsubstantiated by history, although three feasts 11 are observed in respect to them—the sufferings (February 4); going into the pit (February 28); coming out of the pit (October 19). Tiridates (f ab. 330) himself, who had put to death the holy virgins Gaiana and Rhipsime (October 5), 1 2 is said to have received baptism at Bagavan and to have taken a prominent part in the conversion of the country, for which a later generation rewarded him with canonisation. Mention has already been made of Armenia as the first Christian state, and Eusebius speaks of the war of 311, which the emperor Maximianus waged as a result of his recent conversion. In 302,. St. Gregory 13 returned to Caesarea for consecration at the hands of the metropolitan Leontius, thereby acknowledging the ecclesiastical supremacy of that see. There is no historical foundation for the tradition that St. Gregory received the pallium at the hands of Pope St. Sylvester. The Life of St. Gregory, attributed to Agathangelos, chamberlain or secretary of King Tiridates, and teeming with the most improbable miracles and marvels, is a com10 The earlier Christian church in the country had suffered heavily at the hands of the Persians. 11 It should be noted that feasts in the Armenian church vary according to the date of Easter, and also that they are never celebrated on a Wednesday or a Friday. 12 Armenian menology. The Roman martyrology gives September 29 as the date of the martyrdom of these protomartyrs of the Armenian church. 13 Attwater ( T h e Golden Book of Eastern Saints, p. 18) says that the consecration of St. Gregory took place " about the year 294."

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position taken from many sources, and written subsequent to 456. St. Gregory 14 is said to have appointed the sons of converted pagan priests to be his assistants, and that for their maintenance the king gave entire villages, which King Bab, later in the century, for the most part confiscated. Much uncertainty, however, surrounds the work of the saint, and even the date of his death (ab. 330) has been disputed. He seems to have sent his son Aristakes to the council of Nicea (325), and shortly after to have consecrated him as head of the Armenian church, while Gregory himself retired to a hermitage on Mount Manyea in the province of Taron. In the following year he was found dead by a shepherd and buried at Thortan, not far from Ashtishat. The "Confession 15 of Gregory the Illuminator," sometimes cited as the official creed of the Armenian church, and alleged to have been made at the reading of the acta of the council of Nicea, was probably composed at the end of the 5th century as a compendium of the belief of the church. The relics of St. Gregory are claimed by the Greeks to have been transported at the end of the 5th century to Constantinople, from whence some of them during the Iconoclastic controversy found their way to Naples. The Armenians observe his feast on several days in the year: August 5, February 4, February 28, October 19, and September 30; the Byzantines, Copts 16 (Babeh 3) and Syrians on September 30, the date of the translation of the relics; the Copts (Tout 19) and Abyssinians on September 16 " Disciplina Armena, II. Monachismo, P. GARABET-Dr. AMADUNI. Fonti. Serie II, fasc. XII, part II, tit. V, cap. I, pp. 210-211. 1S This Confession is repeated by the celebrant in the liturgy after the creed (q. v.). " A third feast of St. Gregory is observed by the Copts on December II (15 Kihak), which the Synaxarion claims to be the day of his death.

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(Maskarram 13); and the Latin church, 1 7 "pro aliquibus locis, on October 1, where St. Gregory is mistakenly called a "martyr." The Roman martyrology, however, commemorates the apostle of Armenia on September 30. St. Aristakes (325-333) was succeeded as primate of Armenia by his elder brother St. Vertanes (333-341), and it was not until after the 5th century that canon law forbade the elevation of a married priest to the episcopate. The early chronology 18 is obscure, but the primacy would seem to have been at first restricted to the family of St. Gregory. The title "patriarch" was only assumed after the break with Caesarea, and the early bishops were called katholikoi. Their first residence was at Ashtishat on the Euphrates in the province of Taron, but the seat of the civil government was, until the 5th century, at Vagharshapat, 19 although there does not appear to have been, as in later centuries, one fixed see city. The name katholikos 20 originated in the civil office of the imperial minister of finance. It was first used for the vicar 21 of a bishop, and later denoted an office even higher than that of patriarch, although circumstances have compelled the Gregorian Armenians to admit three katholikoi (Etchmiadzin, Aghthamar and Sis). As we have seen, Armenia was at first dependent upon Caesarea, which in its turn owed allegiance to the patriarch of Antioch, so that the canonical position was regular and normal.

" Inserted by Gregory XVI (1830-1846), September 1837. 18 St. Houssik (son of St. Vertanes, 341-347); St. Nerses (grandson of St. Houssik, 353-373); St. Sahak or Isaac (son of St. Nerses, 387-439), known as the " Illuminator of Knowledge." Known later as Etchmiadzin. " A tide used afterwards by the primate of Persia. 21 Cf. Syrian mafrian.

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Soon, however, there occurred a breach with the primatial see, originating in a conspiracy against the katholikos Nerses (353-373), who, at the instigation of St. Basil, had attempted to reform the irregularities in the Armenian church, and at the same time to curb the king in the excesses of his personal life. Faustus of Byzantium 2 2 (ab. 395-416) asserts that Nerses was consecrated by Eusebius, metropolitan of Caesarea, who held that see from 362-370, so that if the chronicler is correct the Armenian bishop could not have taken office before 363. Possibly the legend 23 that brought about the change of name from Vagharshapat to Etchmiadzin was used to show divine approval for the autonomy of the church of Armenia. T h e promulgator of the story may very well have been the katholikos Comitas I (615-628), who rebuilt the ruined primatial church and discovered the relics of St. Rhipsime. St. Basil (f 379) protested against the disloyalty towards his exarchate, although there does not seem to have been any breach between Caesarea and Armenia. T h e very nature of the complaint, however, shows that autonomy was a novel claim, although the one-time dissident patriarch of Constantinople, Ormanian, 24 in his anxiety to prove that the Armenian church was never subject to outside authority, has maintained that the Basilian letters related only to the bishoprics of Nicopolis and Satala, situated within the limits of the jurisdiction of Pontus. T h e great influence of St. Basil upon Armenia at this " Faustus wrote a history of the Church in Greek. " Etchmiadzin means " the only-begotten has descended," in commemoration of an alleged divine apparition to St. Gregory. The Turks call it Utch kilise, "Three churches" (St. Gregory, St. Gaiana and St. Rhipsime). "

The Church of Armenia, p. 16.

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time fostered the growth of monasticism 25 in the country, especially in regard to the coenobites. The council of Ashtishat26 (ab. 364) provided a better monastic organisation, but the poisoning of St. Nerses by King Pap (369-374) produced a schism with two conflicting parties. St. Isaac I (387-439), the son of the murdered prelate, contrived to heal the breach, although the separation from Caesarea continued. In the 5th century, through the efforts of St. Isaac and St. Mesrob, the country was filled with religious houses, all claiming to follow the Rule of St. Basil. Many reforms and developments were undertaken in the episcopate of St. Isaac, the "Illuminator of Knowledge" and the last of the direct line of St. Gregory. Chief among these developments were the invention of the Armenian alphabet, the translation of the Bible and the revision of the liturgy, for up to this time culture had been Greek with an admixture of Syriac. A leading part in these reforms was undertaken by St. Mesrob, a vartabed27 (doctor), and his disciple Ezkik of Kolb.28 Some time after 458 Moses of Khoren composed his famous, but none too reliable, History of Armenia, a work added to by anonymous contributors in the 7th and 8th centuries. The century, however, was momentous in shaping the course of the religious development in the country. Until the council of Chalcedon (451) Armenia had been foremost in upholding the Catholic faith. Gnosticism had made but little headway, while the council of Shahapivan (447) had condemned the Messalian and Paulician heresies, which 15

Monasticism was received in Armenia from Cappadocia in the 4th century, and probably there were solitaries before the advent of coenobites. " The council of Ashtishat introduced the AiSa Arkina (959-992), Ani (992-1072), and Zamintia near Amasia (1065-1105) have each in turn served as the seat of the patriarchate. The history of Armenia makes sad reading. Roman (Greek) and Persian domination was followed in 639 by that of the Arabs. T h e Middle A g e s The Armenians 37 did not set up bishops outside Armenia until near the end of the 10th century, but with the fall of the Bagratid dynasty (856-1071) Greater Armenia, the original home of the nation, ceased to exist as a political unit. The capture of Ani (1071) by the Seljuk Turks was greeted by the Greek orthodox as the manifestation of the will of Christ and his Mother in the discomfiture of the heresy-soiled Armenians! The diaspora had begun. Some of the exiles settled in recognised quarters of different cities, while others fled to Cappadocia, Cilicia and the Taurus mountains, where in 1085 they founded an independent principality—Cilician Armenia. As a result of the crusades, this state developed later into a kingdom subject to the Holy Roman Empire, with its capital at Sis. The Armenians were the only people who assimilated themselves with the crusaders, and the latinisms in the rite which date from this time are the clearest proof. The siege of Antioch (1098) by Godfrey de Buillon was greatly assisted by supplies from Armenian sources. "

ORMANIAN,

The Armenian

Church. (London,

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1912),

p.

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In the 7th century the question of union 38 with Rome was mooted, but it was not until the foundation of this new kingdom of Cilicia that anything was accomplished. The katholikos and his brother were present at the Latin council of Antioch (1141), and the former occupied a place of honour in the councils held at Jerusalem in 1136 and 1143, The council of Hromcla (1179), which met in 1179 to discuss the differences of the Greeks, was definitely antiMonophysite in tone. The first king in the new state, Leo II, the Great (1185-1219), received his crown, a present from Pope Celestine III (1191-1198), at the hands of Cardinal Conrad von Wittelsbach, archbishop of Mainz, in the church of the Holy Wisdom at Tarsus on the feast of the Nativity (January 6) 1199. The Armenian katholikos performed the anointing. Shortly afterwards, a formal return to unity was proclaimed, although this did not affect the Armenians living in other districts. In 1166, St. Nerses Schinorhali fixed his residence at Hromcla ("Fortress of the Romans"), which was transferred to Sis in 1293 by Gregory VIII of Anazarba. The see was overthrown by Egyptian Mamelukes in 1375. In the negotiations pending the formal union, Pop; Eugenius III (1145-1153) had called upon the katholikos Gregory III to comply with the practices of the Roman church, but although this necessitated a certain amount of latinising the Armenian rite was substantially unchanged. A council held at Sis (1204) promulgated eight canons, chiefly on liturgical matters, while another in the same place (1246), under King Hetun I and the katholikos Constantine I, passed twenty-five canons, several of which still have " T h e katholikos (patriarch) Gregory II (II Martirofilo) in 1065 asked to receive the pallium from St. Gregory VII. AGAGIANIAN, II beato Gomidas Keumurgian. Chap. I, p. 11.

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the force of law in the Armenian church. A further synod 3 9 (Sis, 1251) required a formal profession of belief in the ;filioque. The katholikos James I refused for some reason to send delegates to the council of Lyons (1274), but the accession of Boniface VIII (1296-1303) to the pontifical throne was marked by greetings of filial attachment, sent by the katholikos Gregory VIII. Fifteen occupants of the see of Sis (1293-1441) maintained communion with the Apostolic See. Latin propaganda was carried on in the country by both Franciscans and Dominicans. King Hetun II in 1299 transformed his palace at Sis into a Franciscan friary and, having received the necessary dispensation from Pope Clement V (1305-1314), he himself, without resigning the government of the kingdom, took vows as Brother John (probably in 1306). In 1307 he was traitorously put to death, but his successor and brother received permission to have six Franciscans at the court to perform the necessary offices of religion (1311). A n interesting monastic experiment was tried in Cicilia, through the initiative of Pope John XXII (1316-1334), by the Bolognese Bartholomew the Small, 4 0 archbishop of Maragha. T h e foundation, at first called the Congregation of St. Gregory the Illuminator (1330), was primarily due to the vartabed John Qrnay (Kerni), assisted by several Dominicans, amongst whom was Peter of Aragon. Later, the so-called Rule of St. Augustine and the Dominican constitutions were adapted, and the name was changed to Fratres Unitores. 1 These Armenian friars were approved in 1356 by Pope Innocent V I (1352-1362), but in 1583 the " Synods were also held in the monastery of T z a k (1270) and at Adana (1298). 40 Later, bishop of Nachidjewan, t ab 1333. 11 Elbarq Miabanolq.

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congregation was finally absorbed in the Dominican Order— Provincia Naxivanensis,—as part of which it continued to exist until the end of the 18th century. The province 42 at one time had 50 houses and 700 religious, but continuous latinising proved its undoing. The Dominican liturgy was translated into Armenian, theology was taught in a western setting, and even the validity of non-Roman ordinations was called in question! In the 12th century, St. Nerses of Lampron, Armenian archbishop of Tarsus and abbot of the monastery of Sguevra, translated into Armenian, in collaboration with William, a Benedictine monk of St. Paul's Antioch, the Holy Rule and the constitutions observed in that monastery, in order to serve for the Armenians also, but it is not known what degree of influence this may have exerted on the monks of the time. Synods were held at Sis (1307) and Adana (1313). At the former, the creed drawn up by the katholikos Gregory VIII of Anazarba (1293-1307) was read and nine canons, chiefly concerning liturgical matters, were enacted, although they could only be enforced in the capital, owing to the continued opposition of the monks and vartabeds. The last great assembly43 of bishops in the independent kingdom of Lesser Armenia (Cilicia) was held in 1342 at Sis. No canons44 were enacted, but answers were given to the 117 accusations which certain Armenian and Latin " Disciplina Armena, II. Monachismo. P. G. AMADUNI. Serie II, fascic. XII. Introd. Stor., p. XXXV, n. I. " King Leo, the katholikos Mekhitar (" Consoler"), 6 archbishops, 15 diocesan bishops, 4 titular bishops (episcopi nullatenses), 4 bishops from the court of the katholikos, and 10 abbots assisted. " The history of the council shows the positive aspect of the teaching and practice of the Armenian church, and is of the highest value for canon law.

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missionaries had sent to Rome. One of these was the definition of the dogma in regard to the Assumption of our Lady, in which some Armenians had apparently forestalled the ultimate decision of Rome. Pope Benedict XII, (13341342) required an explanation. In 1351, Clement VI (13421352) sent a letter (Super quibusdam) to the katholikos, in which he asked for his views on the primacy of the Roman pontiff. The old Crusading kingdom in 1375 c a m e t o 311 e Q d with the invasion of the Mamelukes of Egypt, and the last king, Leo V 4 S (1374-1393), died an exile in Paris. In 1514, Armenia became a part of the Ottoman Empire. No further attempt was made to organize the Catholics of the country until the 18th century, but a faithful remnant always existed. The Armenians of the Crimea, under Genoese influence, were united to Rome after the council of Florence (1439). In 1433 the fathers of the council of Basle and Pope Eugenius IV were in touch with the Gregorian katholikos through two Armenian bishops (John and Isaias), both resident at Constantinople. Five years later the patriarch Constantine V agreed to send representatives to treat of union, and in the following year made a solemn declaration of submission. 46 Two Armenian bishops, probably John and Isaias, were already at the first session at Ferrara (April 9, 1438). Four vartabeds were present at the council " He was buried on the left side of the high altar in the church of the Celestines. " " T u che hai il potere delle chiavi, aprici la porta della vita eterna. Per l'autorità del nostro patriarca, dei nostri vescovi e di tutta la nostra nazione, noi siamo venuti alla tua santità, noi l'abbiamo vista e ce ne siamo rallegrati. Se c'è qualche difetto nella nostra fede e nel nostro simbolo. T u insegnaci. È il viaggio solo che ci ha ritardati. Noi siamo tuoi. Finis." Roma e l'Oriente Cristiano, pp. 108, n i .

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of Florence, and also a representative of the Armenian archbishop of Lviv (Lemberg), Gregory, who was interested in the union movement through the commercial relations existing between Poland and the Crimea. The bull of union (November 22, 1438; Exultate Deo) and the decree pro Armenis on the sacraments were taken almost verbatim from the work of St. Thomas Aquinas, De Articulis Fidei et Ecclesiae Sacramentis. The union, however, was shortlived, and the majority of the Armenians returned to schism. The council appears to have been accepted by the diaspora in the West and in Persia, but not in either India or China. In the succeeding centuries, several of the patriarchs of Etchmiadzin and Sis seem to have become Catholics, although the number is uncertain. The Gregorian church at one period had no less than five primatial sees. Etchmiadzin,47 which in 1438 had secured the right arm 48 ("holy citch") of St. Gregory the Illuminator, was erected by Ghiragos Virapense in 1441, after the council of Florence. The katholikos, whose authority extends to the Armenians in India, Netherlands East Indies, Russia, Western Europe and America, is the supreme ecclesiastical authority. He is the "servant of God, supreme patriarch and katholikos of all the Armenians." Sis, as we have seen, was Catholic for nearly 200 years, and the authority of the see was later restricted to Asiatic Turkey. In 1921, the katholikos went to live in Aleppo, 47 Etchmiadzin, now a large village, is the ancient Vagarshapat, and was renamed from an alleged appearance of our Lord to St. Gregory. The word means " the only-begotten has descended." " The relic, like the arm of St. Mark among the Copts, is laid upon the head in ordination.

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and Isaac II (1930-1939) established a residence at Antelias near Beirut. Aghthamar 4 9 was founded in 1 1 1 3 as the result of a local schism, with a jurisdiction which extended only to an island and the country round Lake Van. It came to an end during the first world war (1914-1918). T h e patriarchate of Jerusalem was created in 1311, as a result of the refusal of some of the monks 30 of the monastery of St. James to accept the decrees of the council of Sis (1307). A synod was held in 1651 in Jerusalem which brought agreement between the patriarchs of Etchmiadzin, Sis and Jerusalem. From the middle of the 18th century, the "apostolic see of the Armenians in Jerusalem" has had the right to consecrate the chrism, but faculties for conferring the episcopate, although they were once conceded, have been withdrawn. T h e patriarch of Jerusalem formerly had jurisdiction in the Lebanon, but this ceased after the patriarch of Constantinople had transferred his place of residence to Antelias (1922), and it now only extends to Palestine and Cyprus. T h e cathedral 51 of Jerusalem stands on the traditional site of the house of St. James, the first bishop, where the Armenians have worshipped since the 5th century, confirmed in their rights by the Moslem conqueror Omar (639), and protected by the Brotherhood of St. James.

49 The schism was healed in 1409, but the miniature patriarchate continued to eidst. The Gregorian church in Paris is a replica of the church at Aghthamar. s" The sultan of Egypt is said to have encouraged the schism. s l The Gregorian Armenians also have rights in the church of the Holy Sepulchre (upstairs chapel and underground church of St. Helena or Holy Cross); at the tomb of our Lady in Jerusalem; and in the basilica of the Nativity at Bethlehem. There are estimated to be 3167 dissident Armenians in Palestine. DE VRIES, Cattolicismo e Problemi Religioni nel Prossimo Oriente (Rome, 1944), III, p. 54.

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Constantinople had an archbishop as early as the council of Sis (1307), but it was not until 1461 that it became a patriarchate. Mohammed II called Bishop Joachim from Brusa to the capital, giving him civil authority over all the Armenians resident in the Ottoman empire. The patriarch, who was permitted to consecrate the chrism, in 1922 transferred his seat from Constantinople to Syria. Rumania in 1914 had its own archbishop from Etchmiadzin, and Bulgaria, also, in 1927.

Reunion w i t h R o m e During the 17th and 18th centuries the Capuchins (Fr. Hyacinth of Paris) and Jesuits (Fr. Brasonnier) worked strenuously for the return of the dissidents to the Catholic Church. At least one of the patriarchs, Thomas of Aleppo, made his submission, while in this same period Nahapiet,52 katholikos of Etchmiadzin, sent a profession of faith to Pope Innocent XII (1691-1700), in which he apostrophised the Supreme Pontiff as "most blessed and holy Father and supreme ( s u p e r e x a l t a t u m ) head of the whole Church of Christ." Conspicuous success attended the efforts of the missionaries, and for generations the term "Catholic" in Constantinople was synonymous with the faithful of the Armenian rite. This movement towards union seriously alarmed Ephrem, the dissident patriarch, who complained to the sultan Mustapha II that the political loyalty of the Catholic Armenians was being undermined by the French ambassador. Ephrem, however, was checked in his machinations by his

"

AGAGIANIAN, II Beato Gomidas Keumurgian,

[20]

chap.

IV,

p. 31, n. 1.

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CHRISTENDOM

Constantinople had an archbishop as early as the council of Sis (1307), but it was not until 1461 that it became a patriarchate. Mohammed II called Bishop Joachim from Brusa to the capital, giving him civil authority over all the Armenians resident in the Ottoman empire. The patriarch, who was permitted to consecrate the chrism, in 1922 transferred his seat from Constantinople to Syria. Rumania in 1914 had its own archbishop from Etchmiadzin, and Bulgaria, also, in 1927.

Reunion w i t h R o m e During the 17th and 18th centuries the Capuchins (Fr. Hyacinth of Paris) and Jesuits (Fr. Brasonnier) worked strenuously for the return of the dissidents to the Catholic Church. At least one of the patriarchs, Thomas of Aleppo, made his submission, while in this same period Nahapiet,52 katholikos of Etchmiadzin, sent a profession of faith to Pope Innocent XII (1691-1700), in which he apostrophised the Supreme Pontiff as "most blessed and holy Father and supreme ( s u p e r e x a l t a t u m ) head of the whole Church of Christ." Conspicuous success attended the efforts of the missionaries, and for generations the term "Catholic" in Constantinople was synonymous with the faithful of the Armenian rite. This movement towards union seriously alarmed Ephrem, the dissident patriarch, who complained to the sultan Mustapha II that the political loyalty of the Catholic Armenians was being undermined by the French ambassador. Ephrem, however, was checked in his machinations by his

"

AGAGIANIAN, II Beato Gomidas Keumurgian,

[20]

chap.

IV,

p. 31, n. 1.

ARMENIAN

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people driving him the patriarchal throne. Melkisadek, his successor, was a supporter of the union, but he made the fatal mistake of recalling Ephrem from exile, and giving him the see of Adrianople. Melkisadek in his turn was deposed in favour of a gentle old nonentity, although, by means of bribes, he soon regained his position. In the meanwhile, Ephrem had not been idle, and he once more became patriarch, denouncing Melkisadek to the Turkish authorities as a "Frank." Persecution now began in earnest throughout the empire, with confiscation of property and torture as inducements to apostatize. Among those who paid the supreme penalty was Blessed Gomidas Keumurgian (Cosma da Carboniano), a convert priest, himself the son of a Gregorian priest named Mardiros. Blessed Gomidas was attached to the church of St. George Sulu Monastir in Constantinople. Largely through the influence 53 of Khaciadur Vartapet Arakelian, an alumnus of the College of Propaganda Fide, he had become reconciled to the Catholic Church about the year 1697, but he had3 in accordance with the custom of the time, remained on in his parochial work. This practice was permitted by Rome, and Fr. Clement Galano, a Theatine, who in 1641 had reconciled the patriarch Kyriakos, speaks of the Armenians "praying all together in the same churches, though one does not assent in his heart to what another professes." In 1701, on the outbreak of the persecution, Gomidas went to Jerusalem, where the abbot of the monastery of St. James had recently become a Catholic. The majority of the community, however, remained in schism, and while in Jerusalem the beatus made a mortal enemy of another guest, John (Hovannes) of Smyrna. On the accession of "

AGAGIANIAN, op.

cit.,

chap. I V , p. 27.

[21]

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CHRISTENDOM

Avedik of Tokat as patriarch of Constantinople (August 8, 1702), Blessed Gomidas returned home, but his enemy became vicar-general, and the persecution was renewed. The succession of a new sultan, Ahmed III, and the deposition of Avedik brought about a period of peace, but it was not for long, and in 1704 Avedik returned as patriarch. Two years later, he was again exiled and at Tenedos he was kidnapped on the orders of M. de Ferreol, the French ambassador, and conveyed to France, where he seemingly died in the Bastille on July 11, 1711. John of Smyrna ascended the patriarchal throne, and reprisals soon followed for the misdoings of the French. Der Gomidas was one of the first to be arrested, and, although he was ransomed by his friends, he was soon rearrested by his dissident countrymen, and handed over to the Turks. Refusing to buy his life by denying Christ and the Church, Blessed Gomidas was beheaded on November 5, 1707 (October 25, Old Style). On June 23, 1929, this martyr of unity was beatified by Pope Pius XI. Until 1922 it was generally believed that the martyr's body was taken to France, and buried in the novitiate of the Jesuits at Lyons, where it disappeared during the revolution. Now, however, it is thought possible 54 that the body found in the Armenian cemetery of Balikli (Constantinople), which was taken to the cathedral church of S. Mary in Pera, is in truth that of Blessed Gomidas. In spite of the persecution, conversions continued, and the bishops of Mardin and Aleppo returned to Catholic unity. In 1701, the first beginnings of an Armenian Catholic congregation had been made by Peter Manuk (Mekhitar) "

AGAGIANIAN,

op.

cit.,

chap.

XXII,

St. Benedict.

[22]

pp.

168-171.

Cf.

body

of

ARMENIAN RITE

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in Constantinople, and monasticism received a further addition to its ranks in the Antonine monks of the Lebanon, founded in 1718 at Koraim, and basing its constitutions on those of the Maronites. In the troublous times that followed the publication of the bull Reversurus (1867) the monks returned to schism, and before the 2nd world war one Catholic religious lived in the monastery at Orta-Keuy on the Bosphorus, while the congregation of Bzommar in the Lebanon had two houses with 20 monks. Monasticism flourished in Armenia from the 9th to the 13th centuries, and many of the houses were governed by bishops, £0 that the episcopate sometimes became fused with the monastery— fiovacrT^pia dpovuca •55 After a period of decadence, due to the Mohammedan occupation of the country, a reform of discipline was established in many of the houses in the 15th century and again in the 17th, but the war of 1914-1918 destroyed the remaining Gregorian monasteries and convents. An unbroken line of Catholic patriarchs dates from 1740. Peter Abraham I was recognised by Rome two years later, setting up his residence in the monastery of Koraim, which in 1750 was changed to Bzommar. The civil head of the nation (patrik) remained the dissident patriarch of Constantinople, and the Catholics were subject to constant petty persecution. At the time of the Greek war of independence Catholic Armenians were denounced to the Turks as traitors by their own countrymen. As a result, Count de Guilleminot, the French ambassador, appealed to the Porte, and a civil head was appointed for the Catholics. In 1831, s

55 A somewhat similar type of monastery exists to-day in Cyprus among the Orthodox. D E MEESTER, De Monarchico Statu juxta disciplinam Byzantinam. II. Fontes Selecti et Monumenta, tit. II, p. 103.

[23]

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RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

layman assumed control, with the archbishop as spiritual head. The dual control brought conflict, and, despite opposition, Rome joined the two offices in the person of the archbishop. Lay interference in church matters has at times assumed serious proportions among the Armenians, even to the point of claiming the right to impose on the pope the actual choice between the three candidates for archbishop. Among the Gregorians, we find priests who have not even the keys of their own churches, and patriarchal elections where the bishops only have the final scrutiny. Mgr. Hassun in 1846 received the civil authority, which although relinquished two years later was reassumed in i860. A synod was held at Bzommar (1851) under the patriarch Gregory Peter VIII, but it failed to receive papal sanction, which since the bull Immense of Sixtus V (1587) has been necessary if a national council is to have the force of law. In 1867, a second synod at Bzommar nominated the Catholic patriarch to the katholikate of Cilicia, thus uniting the two lines. The publication of the bull Reversions (1867), designed to define the authority of the bishops and to curb the interference of the laity, brought the members of the Armenian church into serious conflict (1869-1879), and several bishops, the Antonine monks, and many of the laity returned to schism. In 1867, Pope Pius IX removed the patriarchate to Constantinople, where in July 1869 a synod was held, although it was soon suspended as the bishops had to leave for the Vatican council. The acta, however, served as a preparation for the council held in 1890 at Chalcedon.58 " 928 canons were passed, but the synod has never been ratified by Rome.

[24]

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The patriarch, Mgr. Hassun, was banished in 1874 from Constantinople, and retired to Rome, where in 1880 he received the cardinal's hat 5 7 (f 1884). Mgr. Azarian (1884-1899) retrieved the ecclesiastical goods which had been stolen by the malcontents and condemned the constitution (1890) that gave to the Turks the final approval of a measure, although he accepted the national law of 1888 which permitted considerable church influence to laymen. The Armenians at Constantinople, however, continued to quarrel, and the election in 1910 of Paul XIII Terzian ( f 1931) as patriarch was opposed by the laity, who feared the desire of the new prelate to institute reforms. In the council 58 held.at Rome in 1911, which was attended by 18 bishops, 1009 canons were passed, dealing with liturgical matters, as well as with the position of the laity in church affairs. In June 1927 the Catholics were again divided into two camps, and the decisions confirmed by Rome in 1928 still further angered the lay element, with the result that several charitable institutions were seized by the rebels. On February 28, 1929, an agreement was reached which, although safeguarding the spiritual authority, still left some controversial points obscure. The civil and ecclesiastical powers, united for a century, were again separated, with the president of civil affairs and curator-general of the Turkish Armenian Catholics as the supervisor of temporal concerns. After the first world war, the patriarch resided for a " Cardinal Hassun conformed to the Latin rite both in his titular church and at papal functions, and this decision was confirmed by papal decree. " Ratified by Propaganda in 1913. T h e synod was summoned by Pope Pius X by the letter Vobis plane compertum est. 35 - A. A. KING, The Rites of Eastern Christendom - 2nd Vol.

[25]

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number of years in Rome, but the council of 1928 (Rome) transferred the patriarchate 59 to Bzommar near Beirut, and appointed an archbishop60 for Constantinople. The council was summoned by the brief Armenorum gens, and attended by Cardinal Sincero, secretary of the Sacred Congregation for the Oriental Church, and nine Armenian bishops. In 1930, a coadjutor bishop 61 for Constantinople was consecrated in Rome, the first consecration in this rite since 1911, when nine priests were raised to the episcopate. The present patriarch of Cilicia Armenorum, Gregory Peter XV Agagianian, was elected on November 30, 1937, at the synod of Beirut. He had previously been titular bishop of Comana and rector of the Armenian college, Rome. The patriarch is a consultor of the Congregation for the Oriental Church and of the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of the Eastern Code of Canon Law. On February 18, 1946, the pope conferred the red hat upon Mgr. Agagianian, with the title of San Bartolomeo all'lsola. As the first cardinal to be created by the reigning pontiff, the Armenian patriarch offered the Mass in the Sistine chapel on the seventh anniversary of the pope's coronation (March 12). At the express wish of the holy father and contrary to all precedent, 82 the new cardinal celebrated in his own rite, assisted by two bishops and eight deacons. The choir was formed from the Pontifical Armenian College

53 Brief Commissum nobis, October 15, 1928. The patriarch has Beirut for a diocese. The whole Catholic Armenian episcopate depends upon him, with the exception of the archbishop of Lviv. "" Brief Praedecessor nobis, October 15, 1928. 61 Mgr. Vahan Ktchourian. " Previous cardinals of the Eastern rite had always used the Latin, rite on public occasions in Rome.

[26]

ARMENIAN RITE

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(Rome) and a group of Venice Mekhitarists, assisted by Servites, students of the College of Propaganda Fide and some choristers of the Cappella Sistina. Persecution Mohammedan rule frequently brings to its Christian minorities murder, rape and theft, and the Armenians, with the Copts, have suffered more than most. In the 14th century, numbers of Armenians migrated to the banks of the Krim and the Moldau, their descendents continuing the journey to Transylvania in the first half of the 17th century, where they founded (ab. 1700) the town of Armenierstadt (Armenopolis, Szamos-Ujvar, Gherla). The emigrants left their country as dissidents, but the Catholic environment in which they found themselves caused many in course of time to seek for union. Others fled to Poland (Galicia), where they seem to have been resident as early as the n t h century. The dream of the Sultan Abdul Hamid had been to exterminate the whole Armenian race, and we find organised massacres in 1890, 1893, 1895 311(1 i 8 9 6 , while the Young Turks continued the butchery in 1909. Thousands emigrated to the United States and Brazil. Prior to 1914, the Armenian population was reckoned to be from three and a half to four millions, whereas when the Treaty of Versailles was signed their numbers had shrunk by one-third, with over a million exterminated by the "gentlemanly" Turk, including 7 Catholic 63 bishops, 126 priests and 47 nuns. " Many of the Gregorian clergy suffered a similer fate, and it has been estimated (DE VRIES, Cattolicismo e Problemi Religiosi nel Prossimo Oriente. Rome, 1944, VI, p. 143) that about 600.000 dissidents and 92.000 Catholics were slaughtered.

[27]

ARMENIAN RITE

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(Rome) and a group of Venice Mekhitarists, assisted by Servites, students of the College of Propaganda Fide and some choristers of the Cappella Sistina. Persecution Mohammedan rule frequently brings to its Christian minorities murder, rape and theft, and the Armenians, with the Copts, have suffered more than most. In the 14th century, numbers of Armenians migrated to the banks of the Krim and the Moldau, their descendents continuing the journey to Transylvania in the first half of the 17th century, where they founded (ab. 1700) the town of Armenierstadt (Armenopolis, Szamos-Ujvar, Gherla). The emigrants left their country as dissidents, but the Catholic environment in which they found themselves caused many in course of time to seek for union. Others fled to Poland (Galicia), where they seem to have been resident as early as the n t h century. The dream of the Sultan Abdul Hamid had been to exterminate the whole Armenian race, and we find organised massacres in 1890, 1893, 1895 311(1 i 8 9 6 , while the Young Turks continued the butchery in 1909. Thousands emigrated to the United States and Brazil. Prior to 1914, the Armenian population was reckoned to be from three and a half to four millions, whereas when the Treaty of Versailles was signed their numbers had shrunk by one-third, with over a million exterminated by the "gentlemanly" Turk, including 7 Catholic 63 bishops, 126 priests and 47 nuns. " Many of the Gregorian clergy suffered a similer fate, and it has been estimated (DE VRIES, Cattolicismo e Problemi Religiosi nel Prossimo Oriente. Rome, 1944, VI, p. 143) that about 600.000 dissidents and 92.000 Catholics were slaughtered.

[27]

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

Mgr. Andrew Tchelebian, bishop of Diarbekir, was burnt to death and Mgr. James Topusian, bishop of Mush, was buried alive. 20,000 Armenians had laid down their lives in the Allied cause, with the most solemn assurances that a national home would be given to them at the end of the war. Nothing was done, massacres and deportations had solved the Armenian question, and there was no need to consider national honour. Before the war (1914-18) there were 2 Catholic archdioceses, 13 dioceses and 6 patriarchal vicariates, 64 while at the conclusion of hostilities there were only 13 bishops instead of 25, and, although 3 out of 16 dioceses 65 nominally existed, no see functioned normally, since the bishops who had escaped with their lives were in exile. At the present time the hierarchy consists of the patriarchal diocese of Beirut; the archdioceses (without suffragans) of Aleppo, Constantinople and Mardin (with residence at Bagdad); 6 6 and the dioceses of Alexandria 6 7 and Ispahan; 68 while the few Catholics of the rite in Palestine are in charge of a vicar patriarchal. T h e patriarch has a titular archbishop as vicar general, and there is an " Baghdad, Beirut, Deir al-Zor, Ispahan, Jerusalem and Bzommar. 85 Sebaste (Sivas), Aleppo, Adana, Amida (Diarbekir), Ancyra (Angora), Caesarea of Pontus, Erzerum, Karputh, Marash, Mardin, Melitene, Mush, Brusa and Trebizond - all in Asia. " T h e Armenian Catholics in Irak number about 2.000, with a bishop and 5 priests, while the Gregorians in the same area have about 15.000 faithful, with a bishop and 8 priests. DE VRIES, op. cit., IV, p. 99. " T h e statistics for 1932 gave 8.000 faithful and 7 priests. De Vries (pp. cit., p. 128) estimates the Catholics in Egypt at 3.500, and the Gregorians at about 18.000. " In 1932, 1.000 faithful, with 2 priests. " In 1946, the number of Armenian Catholics, excluding those in the Soviet Socialist republics, was estimated to be about 150.000.

[28]

ARMENIAN RITE

549

ordaining prelate for the students of the Armenian college in Rome. Lviv (Lemberg) in the Ukraine before the war erf 19391944 had an archbishop, while Greece (1925) and Rumania (1930) have apostolic administrators. An exiled bishop supervises the Catholic Armenians in France and Belgium. In 1932, the total number 69 of Catholics of the rite was estimated at 99,274, with 113 priests—104 men religious and 184 women religious. Pope Pius IX in 1850 established a diocese at Artwin for the Armenians who lived in Russian territory, but it was abolished by Tsarist intolerance, and the Catholics of the rite were put under the jurisdiction of the Latin bishop of Tiraspol, as the majority came from Transcaucasia. In 1921, an apostolic administrator for the Armenians was established at Tiflis, the year in which the three Soviet republics of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan were created. Thus, Etchmiadzin, the ecclesiastical capital of the Gregorian Armenians, is now within Soviet territory. 70 In June 1945 an assembly of delegates from all over the world met there to elect a new katholikos of All the Armenians. At the council, the archbishop Gevork (George VI) Cherekgian was elected as katholikos, and ten new bishops were consecrated, six for the diaspora and the rest for Armenia. A se-

" T h e Catholic patriarch is unable to return to Soviet Armenia, " so as to preserve intact our Catholic faith." T h u s Cardinal Agagianian writes in 1946 in a pastoral letter referring to a return to the country of a group of Armenians. T h e Soviet authorities wish to force Catholic Armenian clergy desiring to return to sever connection with the Holy See. " T h i s , " says his Eminence, " m e a n s that they would have to abjure the Church, the Catholic religion and our Faith."

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minary and printing press were to be established in a few months. This was accomplished, and by the following year there were 37 students. In 1946, a new diocese for the Gregorian Armenians was erected at Teheran in Iran (Persia). The Diaspora N o news seems to have been received until 1947 about the situation of the Catholic Armenians of Lviv (Lwow) in the western Ukraine, which has passed from Polish to Russian hands. Here the Armenian immigrants rejected union until the 17th century, and the first attempts at healing the schism date from 1662, when the patriarch of Etchmiadzin, Melkisadek, who was a Catholic, visited Lviv. The bishop of Lviv (Lwov) had recently died, and a young monk named Nicholas Tharossowich promised the patriarch that he would become a Catholic and give a large sum of money if he was appointed bishop. Melkisadek consecrated Nicholas, but he was repudiated by the people, and the doors of the churches were shut against him, while Etchmiadzin sent the vartabed Gregory to launch a sentence of excommunication. Nicholas thereupon declared his adhesion to Rome in the presence of the Latin archbishop, and a representative of the burgomaster ordered the doors of the Armenian cathedral to be forced open. T h e Polish king, Ladislas IV, attempted to mediate, but the intransigeance of the new bishop, who had imprisoned several of his clergy, inflicted heavy fines and charged exorbitant fees for burial, made a settlement impossible. The dissidents in their turn appealed to Rome, although they did not at first give any indication of their doctrinal position. Tharossowich went in person

[30]

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

minary and printing press were to be established in a few months. This was accomplished, and by the following year there were 37 students. In 1946, a new diocese for the Gregorian Armenians was erected at Teheran in Iran (Persia). The Diaspora N o news seems to have been received until 1947 about the situation of the Catholic Armenians of Lviv (Lwow) in the western Ukraine, which has passed from Polish to Russian hands. Here the Armenian immigrants rejected union until the 17th century, and the first attempts at healing the schism date from 1662, when the patriarch of Etchmiadzin, Melkisadek, who was a Catholic, visited Lviv. The bishop of Lviv (Lwov) had recently died, and a young monk named Nicholas Tharossowich promised the patriarch that he would become a Catholic and give a large sum of money if he was appointed bishop. Melkisadek consecrated Nicholas, but he was repudiated by the people, and the doors of the churches were shut against him, while Etchmiadzin sent the vartabed Gregory to launch a sentence of excommunication. Nicholas thereupon declared his adhesion to Rome in the presence of the Latin archbishop, and a representative of the burgomaster ordered the doors of the Armenian cathedral to be forced open. T h e Polish king, Ladislas IV, attempted to mediate, but the intransigeance of the new bishop, who had imprisoned several of his clergy, inflicted heavy fines and charged exorbitant fees for burial, made a settlement impossible. The dissidents in their turn appealed to Rome, although they did not at first give any indication of their doctrinal position. Tharossowich went in person

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to the pope, but Boghos, an Armenian Dominican, had already given the holy father the case for the opposition, and the discredited bishop returned to Lviv and treated with the dissident patriarch. T h e removal of the excommunication was obtained in exchange for a secret repudiation of the papal claims, a promise to celebrate the liturgy after the old manner and an assurance that his successor would not be a Catholic. T h e nuncio, Pignatelli, proposed, with the apparent approval of the bishop, that the Theatines should assist in the formation of an educated Armenian Catholic clergy. Fr. Galanus was appointed superior of the college, which attained great success. T h e bishop was compelled to add water to the wine in the liturgy, and to instruct his clergy to pray for the pope. On the death of Fr. Galanus the bishop attempted to close the college, but Fr. Pidou, not only frustrated this, but continued the much needed work of reform, correcting the alleged errors in the liturgy, 7 1 removing the abuses in the religious houses, and threatening the bishop with a disciplinary commission. Nicholas Tharossowich " This work was undertaken by the Clerks Regular Theatines, and completed in 1666. The following alterations were made: 1) The removal from the confiteor of the words: " for I have sinned willingly and unwillingly, knowingly and unknowingly, and for all the sins which men commit." 2) "Christ" was inserted in the trisagion, according to a Catholic Armenian council: "Holy God, holy and strong, holy and immortal (Christ) who art crucified for us, have mercy on us." 3) The name of the pope must be inserted before that of the patriarch. 4) The removal of " that is" from the creed, which made the sense of " only-begotten of the essence of the Father" obscure. 5) Filioqus was inserted, and the removal of " this" before the notes of the Church was effected. 6) The chant of the choir: " T h e body of the Lord and the blood of the Saviour is before us" (and another of the deacon, "who stands

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

again set out for Rome (1668), where Fr. Pidou had preceded him. The pope ordered a coadjutor to be nominated. In the meanwhile, the dissident patriarch of Etchmiadzin had appointed a schismatic bishop, who coming to Lviv found a disgruntled party ready to receive him. The union hung in the balance, but Fr. Pidou, who was still at Rome, forbade his "dear Armenians" to turn Latin, and urged the importance of the Theatine college having recruits of "high science and good conduct." When, however, he finally returned to Lviv (1673) the college had been destroyed by the Turks and it was necessary to carry on the work elsewhere. The bishop, in accordance with the wishes of the pope, nominated Vardan Hounanian as coadjutor, but their oudook was so different that on their return to the Ukraine they agreed to part company. Nicholas Tharossowich died in 1681, and his coadjutor succeeded him. The union was at last sequre. The clergy were instructed, churches built, the liturgy emended ,and convents organized on the Benedictine model. In offset to these gains, however, latinising grew apace, and the people lost the use of their native language. Until 1808, the archbishop of Lviv had jurisdiction with fear" etc.) was added " after consecration," and it was forbidden for the priest to turn with the oblata and sign the people " on account of the danger of idolatry, as is done in the East." 7) In the chant of the pax: " Christ has appeared in the midst, and here has reclined," was changed to " in future will appear." 8) In the epiclesis: "Whereby thou wilt make the bread and wine when blessed truly the body and blood of our Lord" became " Whereby thou hast made the bread and wine truly the body and blood of our Lord." 9) T h e misleading prayer " for the rest of the holy fathers, prophets and apostles" was removed. 10) T h e names of heretics were expunged. T h e revised liturgy was published after the Roman edition of 1677 and before that of Venice, edited in 1686 by the dissidents. Explication de la Messe. Pierre L e B r u n , t. I l l , pp. 53-55.

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ARMENIAN RITE

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over the faithful of his rite in White Russia, Lithuania, Podolia and Volhynia, but since that time it has been confined to Galicia and Bukowina. The concordat, made in 1853 with Austria, agreed that the archbishop should be appointed by the emperor from a list of three candidates chosen by the Armenian clergy of the town. In the concordat with Poland after the war of 1914-1918, Rome nominated after consultation with the government of Warsaw. To-day, Lviv, standing east of the "Curzon Line", is in Soviet hands, and as the Armenian community showed a strong preponderence among the educated classes the result is not difficult to imagine. The Osservatore Romano for April 28-29, i947J says that the diocese has been practically liquidated (praticamente liquidata). In 1932, the diocese had about 5,000 Catholics of the rite, with 16 priests and 20 churches and chapels. The Armenian cathedral at Lviv, built in the 14th century, is modelled upon that of Ani. 72 Since the death of Mgr. Joseph Teodorowicz, there has been no bishop. As we have seen, Armenians settled in Transylvania, and founded the town of Armenierstadt (Gherla) in 1700, where the imposing Catholic church was built in 1792. This group of exiles seems to have been united to Rome in the second half of the 17th century, and to have been the work of Bishop Auxentius Verzereskul. In 1 9 1 1 , there were four groups, subject to a Latin bishop. "Uniatism" has worked havoc with the rite in Transylvania: Latin furnishings in the churches, Latin vestments, and, strangest of all, the Dominican use translated into old Armenian! The missal is that published in Armenia in 1728 by the " The ecclesiastical metropolis of Armenia, 992-1072. The cathedral (992), in the Armeno-Byzantine style, was erected by Queen Contramida, consort of King Gaghik

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Fratres Unitores. This Dominican province has ceased to exist for generations, and in any case never reached Europe. The calendar, which was approved by Bishop Ignatius Szepesy in the diocesan synod of 1824, borrows largely from that of the Latin rite, and includes such feasts as St. Aloysius (June 21), Holy Name of Mary (Sunday after the Nativity of our Lady) and Rosary Sunday (first Sunday in October). The proper of the calendar for the diocese observes the feast of Corpus Christi with an octave from the second to the third Sunday after Pentecost. The commemoration 73 of the council of Chalcedon was ordered in 1858 by Archbishop Samuel Cyril Stefanowicz (ac Sabbato octavo sectionis sive quinquagenariae exdtationis S. Crucis assignavit). Four moveable feasts have been taken from the Latin church: St. Joseph (March 19) in 1870; St. Cyril and St. Methodius (July 5) in 1880; St. Cajetan (August 7); and the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed (November 2). The massacres of Armenians during the first world war (1914-1918) brought a large number of exiles to Rumania, and the concordat between that country and the Holy See (1927-1929) authorised the head of the Catholic Armenians in Rumania to fix his seat at Gherla. The constitution Solemni conventione (1930) gave a separate ecclesiastical administration to the Armenians in Rumania, placing it immediately under the Holy See. In 1932, the faithful of the rite numbered 36,000, with 6 churches and 8 chapels. It is to be hoped that the new immigrants will not be required to give up their own rite in favour of the Dominican! " Nicolaus N I L L E S , Kalendarium Manuale XJtriusque Ecclesias Orientàlis et Occidentalis, lib., II, p. 631.

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About 50,000 Armenians now live in Bulgaria, but only 100 families (8 centres) are Catholic, and the Mekhitarist father who looked after them (1922-1927) went to Athens,74 where the numbers would better justify his residence. In 1927, the Gregorians were supervised by the former archbishop of Nicomedia (Ismidt), although the locum tenens at Constantinople had opposed his election, and the patriarch of Etchmiadzin declined to answer any letters on the subject. In 1932, the Armenian Catholics in Greece were under Fr. Cyril of Erzerum, a Capuchin, who had 10 priests and 3,000 faithful. The Armenian missions in France and Belgium depend immediately from the local ordinaries. The first district, 71 embracing the dioceses of Paris, Versailles and Malines, is supervised by Mgr. Gregory Bahaban, former bishop of Angora, and contains about 5,000 faithful of the rite. The second district,76 in the dioceses of Lyons, Grenoble and Marseilles, has nearly 4,000 faithful with two priests. In 1932, Catholic Armenians in the United States numbered 2,739, with a handful of priests, and no churches, while in 1946 there were about 3,000 faithful and 4 priests. There is no longer a Mekhitarist mission in Greece. Paris: chapel of the Holy Cross (1930), rue Thovin, iobis, V ; Collège Moorat, Sevres (6 Mekhitarists). Versailles: chapel at Arnouvillelez-Gonesse (1929); orphanage and chapel at Villiers le Bel (1928). Brussels: missionary centre, with the liturgy in Latin churches. 71

75

" Lyons: without a proper chapel; Vienne: visited from Décines. Décines : liturgy in the Latin church. Marseilles (ab. 1924) : liturgy at first in the crypt of the church of the Riformati, and now in the church of St. Gregory the Illuminator, which has been given to the Armenian colony.

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Brasil also has a small Armenian population of the Catholic rite. The church of St. Gregory the Illuminator, founded for the Armenians at Leghorn in 1714, was destroyed in the second world war (1939-1945). Rome has two churches of the rite, S. Biagio (Blaise) and S. Nicolò da Tolentino. The church of San Gregorio degli Armeni (near Porta Cavalleggeri) was mentioned at the end of the 14th century, but it was already demolished by the end of the 16th. At the same time and in the same district there was the church of San Giacomo degli Armeni, with a monastery attached. Another, Santa Maria degli Armeni, existed between 1355 and 1452. The house of the Armenian procurator was at 165 del Borgo Vecchio in the ancient Palazzo Cesi, but after the Armenian neo-schism (1870) the procura was suppressed. St. Pius V is said to have given the little church of Santa Maria Egiziaca (Via Bocca della Verità) in 1567 in exchange for the hospice of San Lorenzo in the ghetto. This San Lorenzo was probably the San Lorenzo de Mondezariis referred to in mediaeval lists. In 1642, a hospice for refugees from Asia Minor was conceded, together with the church of San Biagio, Via Giulia. The church is still of the Armenian rite, and the adjoining house is the residence of the ordaining bishop for the Armenians in Rome, Mgr. Sergius Der Abrahamian, titular archbishop of Chalcedon for the Armenians. Pope Gregory XIII (1575-1585) in 1584 by the bull Romana Ecclesia decided upon the foundation of a college in Rome, but the project never materialised, and it was left to Leo XIII (1878-1903) to carry out the design of his predecessor. Foundations for burses for Armenian students in the Urban College of Propaganda Fide had been made by the briefs

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Altitudo divinae (1638) and Onerosa Pastoralis (1639). The first of these was intended for students of the rite in Poland. Then for those in Constantinople, and finally for the other districts where there were Armenians. In 1883, Cardinal Hassun was given the church of S. Nicolo da Tolentino for the Armenian rite, and the church of S. Maria Egiziaca came to be abandoned. The Armenian tombstones were moved to the new church, and in 1925 S. Maria was skilfully restored to its original form as the temple of For tuna Virilis.77 St. Nicholas has not been fully adapted to the rite, and, although the liturgical curtains have been erected, the altar stands in the apse against the wall. A picture of the new beatus, Gomidas Keumurgian, has been placed in the north transept. The college adjoining the church was erected shortly before the second world war (i939 -I 945)- There is a chapel in the house, but it is proposed to have a new chapel in the traditional style. Pope Leo XIII founded the college in the brief Benigna hominum parens (1883). In 1935 there were 32 alumni. London (Iverna Gardens) and Manchester have Gregorian churches. Theology Many non-Catholic Armenian writers have acknowledged the primacy of Peter, and the patriarch John I (478490) referred "those who have made shipwreck of the faith" to "the door-keeper and key-bearer of heaven, " T h e temple probably dates from the closing years of the republic, and was possibly dedicated to the Mater Matuta, goddess of dawn, or to the harbour-god Portunus. It appears in the 9th century as the church of S . Maria de Gradellis, and from the end of the 1 5 t h century as S . M a ria Egiziaca.

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Altitudo divinae (1638) and Onerosa Pastoralis (1639). The first of these was intended for students of the rite in Poland. Then for those in Constantinople, and finally for the other districts where there were Armenians. In 1883, Cardinal Hassun was given the church of S. Nicolo da Tolentino for the Armenian rite, and the church of S. Maria Egiziaca came to be abandoned. The Armenian tombstones were moved to the new church, and in 1925 S. Maria was skilfully restored to its original form as the temple of For tuna Virilis.77 St. Nicholas has not been fully adapted to the rite, and, although the liturgical curtains have been erected, the altar stands in the apse against the wall. A picture of the new beatus, Gomidas Keumurgian, has been placed in the north transept. The college adjoining the church was erected shortly before the second world war (i939 -I 945)- There is a chapel in the house, but it is proposed to have a new chapel in the traditional style. Pope Leo XIII founded the college in the brief Benigna hominum parens (1883). In 1935 there were 32 alumni. London (Iverna Gardens) and Manchester have Gregorian churches. Theology Many non-Catholic Armenian writers have acknowledged the primacy of Peter, and the patriarch John I (478490) referred "those who have made shipwreck of the faith" to "the door-keeper and key-bearer of heaven, " T h e temple probably dates from the closing years of the republic, and was possibly dedicated to the Mater Matuta, goddess of dawn, or to the harbour-god Portunus. It appears in the 9th century as the church of S . Maria de Gradellis, and from the end of the 1 5 t h century as S . M a ria Egiziaca.

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Peter." The Synaxary 78 for December 27 says: "Great Peter, Rock of faith... placed as the foundation of the Church... who received strength from the Lord that the very gates of hell should in no wise prevail... was made the foundation of the Church, received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, was constituted head of the holy apostles, that he might give his commands to them in place of Christ." Many also, 79 as Gregory of Narek (ab. 951), Chosroes the Great (ab. 972), St. Nerses Glaietzi (f 1173) and Nerses of Lampron (f 1198), wrote concerning the privileges of the Roman see. Unity is invoked no less than nine times in the liturgy, and the hymns speak of the prerogatives of St. Peter and the foundation of the Church upon him. The Christology of the Armenians has been already discussed. In effect, the Gregorians maintained the doctrine 80 involved in the filioque until at least the 13 th century, and there has been no official denial, although the Greek opinion 81 tends to gain ground. Gregory of Narek 82 (ab. 951) in the book Of Divine Prayers says: "We bless, together with the Father and the Son, him who is indivisible and proceeding from both, the Spirit equal in glory (congloriosum). " S. AZARIAN, Ecclesiae Armenae traditio de Romani Pontificis Primatu iurisdictionis et inenarrabili magisterio (Rome, 1870), p. 39. ™ GORDILLO, Compendium Theologiae Orientalis, chap. IX, art. I I I . p. 251. 80 Manuel du Catéchiste en Orient. Les Eglises Orientales. II, art. I l l , p. 28. Cairo, 1939. 81 e. g. Nerses Glaietzi to Manuel Comnenus (.confession 0} faith, 1165), Vartan the Great, etc. GORDILLO, Compendium Theologiae Orientalis, chap. I V , art. I l l , pp. 250-251. 82 GORDILLO, ibid., pp. 249-250.

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The Byzantine teaching in regard to the epiclesis 83 was put forward by Vartan the Great in opposition to the old and orthodox opinion of Chosroes the Great. "The all-holy Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary" is described in the liturgy for December 9 as "immaculate", "very pure and without stain" and "without corruption," although the definition of the dogma by Rome has led many Gregorian Armenians to deny the Immaculate Conception! The very existence of purgatory 84 has been called in question by such authors as Vartan the Great and Gregory of Datev, although prayers for the dead are universal, and five days in the year are devoted to their commemoration. Several personal confessions of faith are held in esteem as evidence of belief: St. Gregory of Narek (ab. 951), three of Nerses V (ab. 1170), St. Nerses of Lampron in the council of Tarsus (1177), and the encyclical ( i n d a n r a k a n ) of Nerses IV Schinorhali (1166). Hierarchy The Catholic patriarch 85 or katholikos 86 has been elected since the council of 1928 by the bishops exclusively, although the council 87 of 1911 had admitted lay participation, when the choice was made from a list drawn up " Ibid., p. 252. " Ibid., p. 252. *5 Hayrapet, hayrik, "little father." " " General." Armenia was outside the area of Pontus, of which the capital was Caesarea, and its bishops therefore received at their consecration a general, that is "catholic," authority over the A r m e n i a n Christians. 17 Canon 170.

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559

The Byzantine teaching in regard to the epiclesis 83 was put forward by Vartan the Great in opposition to the old and orthodox opinion of Chosroes the Great. "The all-holy Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary" is described in the liturgy for December 9 as "immaculate", "very pure and without stain" and "without corruption," although the definition of the dogma by Rome has led many Gregorian Armenians to deny the Immaculate Conception! The very existence of purgatory 84 has been called in question by such authors as Vartan the Great and Gregory of Datev, although prayers for the dead are universal, and five days in the year are devoted to their commemoration. Several personal confessions of faith are held in esteem as evidence of belief: St. Gregory of Narek (ab. 951), three of Nerses V (ab. 1170), St. Nerses of Lampron in the council of Tarsus (1177), and the encyclical ( i n d a n r a k a n ) of Nerses IV Schinorhali (1166). Hierarchy The Catholic patriarch 85 or katholikos 86 has been elected since the council of 1928 by the bishops exclusively, although the council 87 of 1911 had admitted lay participation, when the choice was made from a list drawn up " Ibid., p. 252. " Ibid., p. 252. *5 Hayrapet, hayrik, "little father." " " General." Armenia was outside the area of Pontus, of which the capital was Caesarea, and its bishops therefore received at their consecration a general, that is "catholic," authority over the A r m e n i a n Christians. 17 Canon 170.

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by the clergy and notables of the nation. The normal right of the patriarch to consecrate all the bishops, with the other bishops acting as co-consecrators, was recognised by the council of 1911. The patriarch-elect is always a bishop, but the dissidents confer a further ordination with the imposition of hands and the "holy atch" (arm of St. Gregory). The synod of 1911 enacted several canons in regard to chorepiscopi, and it calls them "regional inspectors" of the clergy and the churches. They have wider powers than our vicars forane, but the canons make no mention of the right to confer orders. As early as the time of St. Gregory the Illuminator, one of his associates, Daniel of Taron, bore the title of chorepiscopus. 88 St. Isaac the Great (387439) demanded that they should be able to instruct the people in the faith during the annual visitation of country parishes; reprimand and correct the ill behaved; and examine priests and deacons as to the performance of their several duties. The vartabed or "doctor" is a specifically Armenian office which according to the ritual is divided into 10 different ranks 89 (4 lower and 6 higher), each one having its own form of ordination. The Catholic council of 1 9 1 1 9 0 recognised 3 ranks—minor (masnavor), major (dzairakouyn) and mitred (aradchenord)—with no special jurisdiction 91 "

na, t.

" Missionary bishop." 7, n. 8. 1930.

Professor Markwart.

Orientdia Christia-

"* T h e dissidents have 14 grades - 4 "special" (massnavor) and 10 "highest" (zajrakoujn). T h e benedictional of vartabeds, printed at Constantinople in 1752, gives 11 grades; that of the patriarch Terzian, for the "private use of the liturgical commission" of the Catholic patriarchate (edit. Constant., 1917), has 4, of which the first 3 would be "lesser" and the 4th "greater.'' 90 Can. 361. " Can. 365.

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beyond that of instructing the faithful in church. The 92 term "vartabed" is of unknown derivation. The office is said to have been instituted by St. Gregory to defend the faithful against pagan influence, but the first more precise notice comes from the biographers of St. Mesrob (f 440), who said that he was promoted to the grade of the doctorate (vartabedoutioun). A vartabed became a hieromonk of distinction, the assistant of a bishop on apostolic visitations, and there are many cases of his launching excommunications. The monasteries were the seminaries and universities of the time, and the vartabeds were the professors. The council of Partev 93 (Datev) enjoined bishops to appoint these monastic doctors in their dioceses, and they came to resemble a western chapter of canons. In all grades, 94 there is the conferring of the power of the magisterium for preaching and judicial jurisdiction, both foro interno and foro extemo. The insignia proper to a vartabed are a staff of office (gavazan) with a double serpent's head 95 and a little cross, and, if of the greater order, the cross is set above a globe, indicating authority to preach the gospel in all the world. The higher order 96 also has a veil attached to the staff, and the vartabed formerly had the right to a throne 97 in church. The catechism of the Gregorians, through Latin influence, admits seven orders of the ministry, but they are "

Disciplina

Armena

I I . Monachismo.

P. G .

AMADUNI. S e r i e

II,

fascic. XII, tit. II, chap. 2, p. 77, n. 1. " Can. 6. " The rights of vartabeds were extended in the 9th century. " The lower grade has a single head on the staff. " These insignia were prior to the 14th century, when Gregory of Datev gave a symbolical interpretation. " The use of a throne by a vartabed was abolished in the 19th century. 36 - A . A . KING, The Rites of Eastern Christendom

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seldom found except in monasteries, where there is also a permanent diaconate. In secular churches the deacon98 in the liturgy, as in the west, is normally a priest." Married priests or derders live apart from their wives for the 8 days (3 days according to the canons of St. Thaddeus) preceding the celebration of the liturgy, and, according to an ancient canon, regularly assist in church morning and evening for a week before they officiate, and at the latter time for a week afterwards. Ecclesiastical duties are taken in turn, and, where practicable, wives never attend the church in which their husbands are officiating. Since 1896, the number of Catholic married priests has diminished, and those educated in Rome are required to be celibate. Catholic priests also are bound to the divine office. The Gregorians, if possible, keep the fast before administering any of the sacraments. Catholic students receive their education at Rome, Bzommar, Beirut,100 Constantinople (St. Louis) and Lviv. The subdiaconate 101 is not always considered a major order in the Gregorian church. Both Catholics and Gregorians have borrowed from the Roman pontifical the tonsure, four minor orders and a large part of the ceremonial of the major orders. In the rite of giving the tonsure, the Gregorians have introduced a "tradition of instruments," and the new cleric receives a broom from the bishop with the words: "Receive power of sweeping in the house of the Lord, and of cleaning the church of God!

" Sarkavak. " Kahana; yeretz. 100

The

Gregorian katholikos of

Sis, who lives at Antelias

near

Beirut, has 10 students (1945) in the Jesuit University of St. Joseph in Beirut. 101

Kisarkavag, " subdeacon."

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R e l i g i o u s Orders " T h e Mekhitarist congregation, 102 or rather order, was founded by an Armenian for the Armenians, and is best described as a grafting of the western type of religious life, with its twofold ideal of prayer and organised activities, on to the traditional eastern monachism, in which the life of prayer is not usually accompanied by any serious methodical work; and that not in order to supplant but in order to enrich the essentially Eastern character of Armenian Catholicism." The founder of the Mekhitarists, Peter Manuk of Sivas 103 (Sebaste), surnamed Mekhitar (Comforter"), started the congregation in 1701 at Constantinople. T w o years later, the first monastery was established at Modor in the Morea, 1 0 4 with twelve priests and three aspirants. Common life was at once begun, and religious vows were taken according to the Rule of St. Antony with a vow to undertake missionary work added to the usual three. The Holy See in 1711 gave its approval of the new congregation, but on condition that its monastic life was based on one of three rules, Basil's, Benedict's, or Augustine's. The Holy Rule of St. Benedict was adopted "as being known to us Armenians for many centuries." Mekhitar was nominated abbot for life. The congregation was from the first a firm upholder of the Armenian mentality, and therefore disputes were inevitable with those who had the erroneous idea that only Latin theologians could be really orthodox and only Latin obser102 Dom Romanus Rios, Eastern Churches Quarterly. April 1940, Ho. 2, vol. IV. 103 Manugh, "child." 101 Since 1687, the Morea peninsula in Greece had been under the rule of the Venetian republic.

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vances fully Catholic. 105 Catholics of Eastern rites have always to be on their guard against latinising innovators, and in the description of other rites we have had cause to refer to this mischevious interference. Mgr. Coressi, Latin v' "r apostolic at Constantinople, wrote to the Holy See iu J 1 6 : "All these differences between (the Mekhitarists) and the secular clergy arise from the fact that the first wish to be Catholic and Armenian too, while the second want to be Catholic and Latin—or pseudo-Latin .... The truth is that the methods of the Mekhitarists greatly help in the conversion of schismatical and heretical Armenians, while the methods of the others only serve to flatter us, the Latin bishop and clergy. It is surely just to prefer the unalloyed good of the conversion of souls rather than the less pure good of our own interests and utility." In 1715 the Morea was captured by the Turks, and the Mekhitarists, who had foreseen the disaster, settled in Venice. Two years later, they were granted the island of San Lazzaro. The opponents of the congregation, however, continued their attacks, and Mekhitar in 1718 went to Rome to answer the charges that had been made against his monks. The several charges were dismissed, and the question of alleged "intercommunion" between the Catholic and dissident Armenians was put off for futher enquiry. In 1721, Mekhitar sent a letter to the Holy See, in which he reconciled the current practice with orthodox Catholic teaching, but eight years later, when conditions had changed, Rome forbade Catholic Armenians any longer to frequent schismatic churches. Meanwhile, missionaries were sent to Poland, Transylvania and the Ottoman Empire, while "the intellectual work Donald ATTWATER, Golden

Book of Eastern Saints, p. 128.

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of the monks was leading to nothing less than a literary renaissance among the whole Armenian people." 106 Books were published from 1719 onwards. Abbot Mekhitar died on April 27, 1749, and his cause for beatification, opened in 1844, although allowed to lapse, was resumed in 1901. The Mekhitarist press at San Lazzaro has recently published a catalogue of all the books produced since 1716, containing 112 closely printed foolscap 8vo pages. In 1773, a house was established at Trieste, which was transferred to Vienna in 1811. This foundation, under the influence of the "sacristan" emperor, Joseph II (17651790), was made an independent congregation. A cross of red cloth is worn under the cloak as a symbol of readiness to die for the faith. Since 1915, four religious of the congregation of Venice have been martyred by the Turks. Venice has five other college-residences—College of Moorat-Raphael, Venice; Constantinople; Paris; Aleppo (1936) and Alexandria (1938); with two permanent missions —Baylan near Alexandretta and Alexandria. After the first world war (1914-1918), a house of studies was opened in Rome, 1 0 7 with an intern chapel of the Holy Family. The abbot-general of the congregation of Vienna is elected for life, and is normally a bishop, but this is no longer the case with the abbot-general of Venice. The constitutions of the congregation of Venice were approved in 1712, 1762, 1909 (Propaganda) and 1928 (Oriental Congregation); those of Vienna in 1852 and 1885. Vienna has had an abbot-general since 1903. This congregation has a parish and college at Constantinople. Donald ATTWATER, Golden Book of Eastern Saints, p. 131. Via Anselmo 10.

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1 H £ RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

The mission at Bukharest, where the apostolic administrator for the Armenians in Rumania was formerly a Mekhitarist, has been given up, as also has the mission at Kavalla in Greece. There is, however, a mission with progymnasium and elementary school at Cairo, and a mission at Novisad in Jugoslavia. In 1932, the congregation of Venice had 57 religious: Vienna 47. With good reason, the Mekhitarists are called the "Saviours of the Armenian race," and the saintly founder, the "Light of Armenia." Armenian nuns, 108 living under the Benedictine rule, were established at Lviv in 1680, but as a result of Russian occupation of the town the order no longer exists. In 1847, Mgr. Hassun founded the congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception at Constantinople to provide educational establishments for girls. There were 16 houses in 1932, with 145 religious. Similar congregations had existed at Angora, Marash and Trebizond (Sisters of the Assumption), but they were almost entirely destroyed 109 in the war of 1 9 1 4 - 1 9 1 8 , and what remained was fused with the Sisters of Constantinople.

Architecture Armenian church architecture claims to be the prototype for the mother churches 1 1 0 of Rome and Byzantium, as well as for the first mosque at Constantinople. The original model is said to have been the church of St. Rhipsime at Etchmiadzin. One house and 15 religious in 1939. " 45 of the sisters were either murdered or carried away during the war. 110 The title "mother church" (mater et caput omnium ecclesiarum) should strictly be applied to the Cathedral of St. John Lateran, not to the basilica of St. Peter. 10

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The mission at Bukharest, where the apostolic administrator for the Armenians in Rumania was formerly a Mekhitarist, has been given up, as also has the mission at Kavalla in Greece. There is, however, a mission with progymnasium and elementary school at Cairo, and a mission at Novisad in Jugoslavia. In 1932, the congregation of Venice had 57 religious: Vienna 47. With good reason, the Mekhitarists are called the "Saviours of the Armenian race," and the saintly founder, the "Light of Armenia." Armenian nuns, 108 living under the Benedictine rule, were established at Lviv in 1680, but as a result of Russian occupation of the town the order no longer exists. In 1847, Mgr. Hassun founded the congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception at Constantinople to provide educational establishments for girls. There were 16 houses in 1932, with 145 religious. Similar congregations had existed at Angora, Marash and Trebizond (Sisters of the Assumption), but they were almost entirely destroyed 109 in the war of 1 9 1 4 - 1 9 1 8 , and what remained was fused with the Sisters of Constantinople.

Architecture Armenian church architecture claims to be the prototype for the mother churches 1 1 0 of Rome and Byzantium, as well as for the first mosque at Constantinople. The original model is said to have been the church of St. Rhipsime at Etchmiadzin. One house and 15 religious in 1939. " 45 of the sisters were either murdered or carried away during the war. 110 The title "mother church" (mater et caput omnium ecclesiarum) should strictly be applied to the Cathedral of St. John Lateran, not to the basilica of St. Peter. 10

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ARMENIAN RITE

The fundamental style consists of a square with large piers at the four corners, which, with small assisting niches over the corners, supports a central dome, 1 1 1 covered with a conical or pyramidal roof, with which are connected the semi-domes above the semicircular apses at the sides. Thus inspiration came to Anthemius of Tralles in the church of the Holy Wisdom, to Bramante faced with the new basilica of St. Peter, and to Christodulus engaged on a mosque 112 (1471-1473) for the conqueror Mohammed II. "Bizantium," says Arnott Hamilton, 113 "was no little affected by the culture of this versatile and skilful race whose genius and initiative carried its influence far beyond the narrow confines of its own mountain-land." Some of the most powerful emperors were of Armenian descent, and from the 9th century many Armenians came to Constantinople as merchants, monks and students. Among the architects employed to repair St. Sophia after the earthquake of 989 was Tiridates, the architect of the cathedral of Ani. The Armeno-Byzantine style, 114 dating probably from the 8th century, seems to have been an amalgam of the Byzantine, Persian and Arab. The ruins 115 still extant in Armenia date from the 10th and n t h centuries, and the only existing earlier remains are those of the church of Zwarthnots near Etchmiadzin, erected ' 11 T h e dome has been fancifully compared to the hat ipakegh) worn by Armenian priests. 112 T h e mosque of the Conqueror, Mohammed II, was built on the site of the church of the Holy Apostles. 113 Byzantine Architecture and Decoration, chap. V, p. 77. 114 A standard work on Armenian architecture is Die Baukunst der Armenier und Europa by J. STRZVGOWSKI. , , s e. g. Ani.

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by the katholikos Nerses III (641-661). Contrary to the prevailing Byzantine practice, the cruciform churches of the period have unequal arms. The Catholic (Annunciation) and Gregorian churches in Cairo are good modern examples of the Armenian style. Some Croat whiters 1 1 6 have maintained that the 12th century ornamentation in some of the churches of Dalmatia was influenced by 7th century Armenian decoration.

Interior Arrangement of Churches The churches are divided into porch, nave, choir (bem) and raised 1 1 7 sanctuary (srbaran). A reminder of the truth — " I n the midst of life we are in death"—is found under the floor of one of the apses of the cathedral at Etchmiadzin, where a cistern 1 1 8 has been inserted, large enough to hold sufficient water for the religious of the adjoining monastery, if they should be attacked. The altar (surb seghan, khoran), as in the west, is oblong, and recessed into a screen across the apse, so that it may be said to stand in front of the "iconostasis," while a door on either side leads to a space behind, which may serve as a sacristy (sarkavaganoths, avandatoun). Catholic churches, which are always very latinised, have many altars,119 but even

"* Croazia Sacra, VII, 157-158. Rome, 1943. Seven steps often lead up to the altar. Cf. Bvzantine church of our Lady of the Hundred Gates (Hekatonpyliani) in the Aegean island of Paros; some Coptic churches in Old Cairo. 119 e. g. Our Lady of the Spasm, Jerusalem; Cathedral of the Annunciation, Cairo. 117

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

by the katholikos Nerses III (641-661). Contrary to the prevailing Byzantine practice, the cruciform churches of the period have unequal arms. The Catholic (Annunciation) and Gregorian churches in Cairo are good modern examples of the Armenian style. Some Croat whiters 1 1 6 have maintained that the 12th century ornamentation in some of the churches of Dalmatia was influenced by 7th century Armenian decoration.

Interior Arrangement of Churches The churches are divided into porch, nave, choir (bem) and raised 1 1 7 sanctuary (srbaran). A reminder of the truth — " I n the midst of life we are in death"—is found under the floor of one of the apses of the cathedral at Etchmiadzin, where a cistern 1 1 8 has been inserted, large enough to hold sufficient water for the religious of the adjoining monastery, if they should be attacked. The altar (surb seghan, khoran), as in the west, is oblong, and recessed into a screen across the apse, so that it may be said to stand in front of the "iconostasis," while a door on either side leads to a space behind, which may serve as a sacristy (sarkavaganoths, avandatoun). Catholic churches, which are always very latinised, have many altars,119 but even

"* Croazia Sacra, VII, 157-158. Rome, 1943. Seven steps often lead up to the altar. Cf. Bvzantine church of our Lady of the Hundred Gates (Hekatonpyliani) in the Aegean island of Paros; some Coptic churches in Old Cairo. 119 e. g. Our Lady of the Spasm, Jerusalem; Cathedral of the Annunciation, Cairo. 117

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the Gregorians do not seem to have any objection to a multiplicity. Thus, the cathedral at Etchmiadzin has four, a church in Alexandria three, while the church of the monastery of Nor-Kedigh, 120 which was completed in 1242, had no less than seven. A genuine iconostasis,121 in imitation of the Greeks, is occasionally found in Armenian churches, an arrangement which some archaelogists from a study of extant ruins have considered primitive. Be that as it may, the normal Armenian practice is to have two curtains (waraguir) stretched on wires across the sanctuary, placed one in front of the other. Tradition ascribes the origin of the custom to a canon (8), of which Macarius, bishop of Jerusalem, in 340 informed Vertanes: "The altar shall be furnished with a curtain; a curtain shall likewise hang down before the sanctuary, within which only the ministers officiating may enter: the other ministers present shall take their station outside it, each according to his rank." Dr. Brightman 122 sees in these curtains a relic of those which once hung on rods between the columns of the ciborium of the altar. The large double curtain, hanging before the entrance of the sanctuary, conceals the altar, celebrant and deacons at various times during the liturgy. It is also drawn during Lent, 1 2 3 except on Palm Sunday and the Annunciation, to symbolise the expulsion of our first parents from the garden of Eden. The second curtain hides the priest from the deacon at the communion of the former, and is drawn after the liturgy. 120 Disciplina Armena. II, Monachismo. P. G. AMADUNI. Serie II, fascic. XII, part II, tit. ILL, chap. I, p. 134. 131 e. g. Etchmiadzin. Liturgies Eastern and Western. Vol. I. Glossary, pp. 590-591Cf. Lenten veil in some churches of western Sicily.

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In some Gregorian churches the sanctuary is approached by a little staircase on either side of a low screen or balustrade. 124 The stone altar ("throne") resembles a Latin one furnished in bad taste, with three, four or even five gradines, stacked with a miscellaneous collection of objects—a cross with figure in low relief, many candles, books with ornamental bindings, relics, fans (peculiar to the rite), chalice veil, and sometimes altar vessels, tabernacle or even a mitre. The blessed sacrament is reserved in Catholic churches in a tabernacle, and in those of the dissidents either on the altar or in an aumbry 125 in the north wall. A credence table stands on either side of the sanctuary, that on the north serving as the table of the prothesis (entsaiaran, matouthsaran) for the preparation of the oblations. Lamps burn before the holy table, and occasionally ostrich eggs 126 are suspended here as well as elsewhere in the church, symbolising a belief in the resurrection. The Armenians pay especial reverence to the cross, and their churches have but few pictures ('nkar), which may be due in part to their historic antipathy to the Greeks, although they are introduced when there is an iconostasis. In the Gregorian church at Alexandria a silver shrine 127 is erected during Eastertide on the north side of the sanctuary, in which there stands a figure of the risen Christ, surrounded with candles and flowers. e. g. Alexandria, Paris, London. e. g. Gregorian church in Alexandria. 123 e. g. Gregorian cathedral of St. James, Jerusalem. The custom of suspending ostrich eggs in churches is found also amongst the Copts (q. v.). 127 Cf. Paschal candle in the Latin church. 125

[50]

ARMENIAN RITE

571

T h e Armenian mistrust of pictures seems to have affected the Iconoclastic controversy at Constantinople, which began in 717 with the accession of the emperor Leo III, who was by descent an Armenian. A century later, after a temporary victory for the Orthodox had been won under the empress Irene, a fresh perseution of the Iconodules was ordered by the emperor Leo V , "the Armenian" (815). The Gregorian Vartabed Tiran Nersoyan, 128 writing of the heretical sect of the Paulicians, says: "Some staunch Monophysites regarded eikon-worship as the thin end of the wedge of the Chalcedonian doctrine. One of the Armenian patriarchs of the second half of the 10th century has been blamed by a writer of the same period as "introducing pictures into the Church in order to renew the Chalcedonian doctrine." Another Armenian patriarch, at a much earlier period, about the end of the 6th century, has identified the veneration of eikons with the doctrine of two natures. Still another patriarch at the end of the 10th century did the same." Other Monophysite churches have at various times shown a similar mistrust of the use of pictures. In Catholic churches, the bishop's throne is to the left of the entrance to the choir facing east, but in those of the Gregorians, except at Jerusalem where there is the vacant throne of St. James, the episcopal seat is set up only when required, as in the case of abbots in the Roman rite. T h e traditional practice is to sit cross-legged upon the floor, but seats are now provided in town churches. T h e choir forms a semicircle before the altar. Screened galleries 131 Eastern Churches Quarterly. Tiran Nersoyan, Vardapet. Paulicians, p. 410. October-December, 1944.

[51]

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THE RITES OF EASTERN

CHRISTENDOM

with special doors are provided in some places for the women, and in country districts it is customary for men to remove their shoes 129 before entering the church. Music and Musical Instruments T w o musical instruments are employed in the rite, but irom a dictionary published by Mekhitar in 1749 it is clear that others were at one time in use. The ecclesiastical melodies, sung according to eight modes, are said to date from the 5th century, when they were adapted from the Greek by St. Isaac and St. Mesrob. T h e chant 130 has now been harmonized, without however changing its ancient character. The zinzgha, which is used in Turkey, consists of two bronze plates, struck against each other, as cymbals in a military band, and giving an inspiriting sound. The liturgical fans, known as keshotz, are surrounded with small bells. These fans are shaken during the liturgy. Under Turkish rule, the faithful were summoned to worship by the striking of pieces of iron or wood, 1 3 1 since bells were prohibited. Calendar Time in Armenia was originally reckoned from Haik, the great-grandson of Noe (2492 B. C.), while the church followed the Dionysian era. Both these calendars were later discarded in favour of the Julian, which in rece-c 129

C f . Exodus I I I , 5.

1,0

Ekmalian and Gomidas Vartabed were among the Armenian:;

connected with the harmonisation. 131

A semantron, as the Greeks call the instrument, may be s e e n

outside the cathedral of St. James, Jerusalem.

[52]

572

THE RITES OF EASTERN

CHRISTENDOM

with special doors are provided in some places for the women, and in country districts it is customary for men to remove their shoes 129 before entering the church. Music and Musical Instruments T w o musical instruments are employed in the rite, but irom a dictionary published by Mekhitar in 1749 it is clear that others were at one time in use. The ecclesiastical melodies, sung according to eight modes, are said to date from the 5th century, when they were adapted from the Greek by St. Isaac and St. Mesrob. T h e chant 130 has now been harmonized, without however changing its ancient character. The zinzgha, which is used in Turkey, consists of two bronze plates, struck against each other, as cymbals in a military band, and giving an inspiriting sound. The liturgical fans, known as keshotz, are surrounded with small bells. These fans are shaken during the liturgy. Under Turkish rule, the faithful were summoned to worship by the striking of pieces of iron or wood, 1 3 1 since bells were prohibited. Calendar Time in Armenia was originally reckoned from Haik, the great-grandson of Noe (2492 B. C.), while the church followed the Dionysian era. Both these calendars were later discarded in favour of the Julian, which in rece-c 129

C f . Exodus I I I , 5.

1,0

Ekmalian and Gomidas Vartabed were among the Armenian:;

connected with the harmonisation. 131

A semantron, as the Greeks call the instrument, may be s e e n

outside the cathedral of St. James, Jerusalem.

[52]

572

THE RITES OF EASTERN

CHRISTENDOM

with special doors are provided in some places for the women, and in country districts it is customary for men to remove their shoes 129 before entering the church. Music and Musical Instruments T w o musical instruments are employed in the rite, but irom a dictionary published by Mekhitar in 1749 it is clear that others were at one time in use. The ecclesiastical melodies, sung according to eight modes, are said to date from the 5th century, when they were adapted from the Greek by St. Isaac and St. Mesrob. T h e chant 130 has now been harmonized, without however changing its ancient character. The zinzgha, which is used in Turkey, consists of two bronze plates, struck against each other, as cymbals in a military band, and giving an inspiriting sound. The liturgical fans, known as keshotz, are surrounded with small bells. These fans are shaken during the liturgy. Under Turkish rule, the faithful were summoned to worship by the striking of pieces of iron or wood, 1 3 1 since bells were prohibited. Calendar Time in Armenia was originally reckoned from Haik, the great-grandson of Noe (2492 B. C.), while the church followed the Dionysian era. Both these calendars were later discarded in favour of the Julian, which in rece-c 129

C f . Exodus I I I , 5.

1,0

Ekmalian and Gomidas Vartabed were among the Armenian:;

connected with the harmonisation. 131

A semantron, as the Greeks call the instrument, may be s e e n

outside the cathedral of St. James, Jerusalem.

[52]

ARMENIAN RITE

573

times has been superseded by the Gregorian. According to the earliest computation, the year began on August n , but a Julian modification was made by King Ardashes II {ab. 122 B. C.), although the days and months were continued as before. In 551, a correction of the date of Easter was made by Moses II, 132 whereby the year 552 of the vulgar era became the first year of the new cycle. The names and order of the old style were retained, and church feasts were dated by it, but the titles of the Latin months were used. Through the discrepancy between the epacts of the Alexandrine calendar of Eas (Armenian) and the Byzantine calendar of Irion, the Armenian and Byzantine Easters would have fallen in different weeks, but for the adoption of the Gregorian calendar. This change was first effected in 1892, when all the Catholic dioceses except four adopted it. The others followed in 1912. 1 3 3 The year, as with the Chaldeans, begins on December 1, and the feasts are fixed, not by a day of the month, but by a day of the week, after a certain Sunday dependent upon Easter. Thus, this queen of feasts affects no fewer than twenty-four weeks of the Armenian year. There are five classes of feasts: a) Easter; b) those which fall on Sundays, such as Palm Sunday and Pentecost; c) those kept on their own days—Christmas (by the Catholics only), Epiphany (Haitnuthiun), Circumcision (January 13; Catholics, January 1), Presentation of our Lord (February 14; Catholics, February 2), and Annunciation (April 7; Catholics, March 2$); d) those transferred to the following Sunday—Transfiguration (seventh Sunday after Pen-

2nd council of Dvin. In 1925, the dissident Armenians of Constantinople adopted the Gregorian calendar. 1.2 1.3

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THE

KITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

tecost), Immaculate Conception (December 9), Nativity of our Lady, (Sunday nearest to September 8), Assumption (Sunday nearest to August 15), Holy Cross (Sunday nearest to September 15), 1 3 4 and the Feast of the Apostles; and e) those which are unobserved unless they can be conveniently moved to a Sunday. The Gregorian church of Armenia is the only church in the world still to celebrate Christmas 135 and the Epiphany on a single day (January 6), although there is evidence that December 25 was kept in the early 5th century, and, in opposition to the Greeks, abrogated by the council of Dvin (535). T h e second Sunday after Easter is known as "Green Sunday," as the spring is now, at latest, bursting forth; while the third Sunday after Easter is called "Beautiful Sunday." T h e Catholic Armenians observe many feasts on the days customary in the West, and some purely Latin commemorations have been added to the calendar. 136 T h e festival of Christ the King is kept, and at Matins of the feast, for the ceremony known as antasdan, a gospel 1 3 7 is read at each of the four cardinal points, with a fifth from the ambo. T h e Gregorians have sixteen days of obligation, but the council at Rome (1911) has reduced the number for The Apparition of the Holy Cross is commemorated on April 28. The observance of Christmas on December 25 was at first peculiar to the Apostolic See, which wished to counteract the Mithraic feast of Natdis Invicti (the sun). It was introduced at Antioch, ab. 375; Constantinople, ab. 379; Jerusalem, 424-458; and Alexandria, ab. 430. 1,3 The calendars of the Armenian groups in Lviv and Transylvania have been completely latinised. 13" Luke I, 26-33; Matt. II, 1-12; Luke XIX, 11-28; Mark XI, 1-10; John XIX, 1-16. 134

135

[54]

ARMENIAN RITE

575

Catholics to ten, five of which (of the same rank) are always transferred to the Sunday. Some days of obligation are peculiar to certain provinces. The Transfiguration or "festival of roses" (Vartavar) seems to have been instituted by St. Gregory the Illuminator as a Christian substitute for the pagan feast of the queen goddess Anahit (Anaitis), the "glory and protectress of the nation." The popularity of the cult of the holy Cross accounts for no less than four feasts in its honour—Exaltation (Chatsveratz, Sunday between September n and September 17, with an octave), Invention (7th Sunday after Easter), Apparition at Jerusalem in 351 (5th Sunday after Easter), and Apparition at Varak near Van in 653 (3rd Sunday after Easter). The sign of the cross is made twenty times during the liturgy.

The Presentation of our L o r d 1 3 8 in the Temple is observed by the Gregorian Armenians on February 14, and the Annunciation 139 on April 7, as the dissidents do not keep Christmas on December 25. T h e Catholics, however, have altered the dates in conformity with the rest of the Church. The Armenians keep the Assumption (Varapochumn) on the Sunday nearest to August 15, and it is interesting to note that the earliest document relating to the feast is an T h e feast seems to observed on February 14. Presentation of our L o r d in of the 4th century on the ruary 14). In the 6th and Christendom.

have originated in Jerusalem, where it was Etheria records that the gospel of the the Temple was read in that city at the end fortieth day after the Epiphany (i. e. Feb7th centuries the festival spread throughout

" 9 T h e Annunciation was observed in Jerusalem a little after theyear 400.

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

Armenian-Jerusalem lectionary 140 of the end of the 5th century, in which the festival is called the "Day of Mary the Mother of God." The life of St. Theodosius the Coenobarch 141 (f ab. 536) shows also that it was already the custom in the 5th century for the monasteries of Palestine to celebrate a solemn feast in honour of the blessed Virgin. In the Armenian church, the Assumption, Presentation of our Lord and Annunciation have been observed as feasts from the 5th or 6th century, the Nativity from the 13th, the Presentation of our Lady and the Immaculate Conception from the 17th; while the Finding of the Veil of the Virgin (6th Sunday after Pentecost) and the Finding of her Girdle (3rd Sunday after the Assumption) date from the 18th. Saturday is kept as a commemoration of the Old Law and the creation of man. The isolation of the Armenian church and its intensely national character have given a preponderance of Armenian names to the calendar, 142 although before the time of the katholikos Comitas I (615-628) the martyrology included a number of Greeks and Syrians. The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste who suffered death in 320 under the emperor Licinius were Armenians, as were also many victims of the Mazdean persecution 143 (455), the katholikos St. Hovsep (Joseph), the priest St. Ghevond (Leontius) and their companions. There are also CONYBEARE, The Armenian Ritual, pp. 510-5x1, 526. The identification of this feast with the Assumption is considered by many scholars to be unjustifiable. They maintain that a commemoration of either the death or the assumption was improbable so early as the 5th century. 141

MIGNE, Pat.

Graec.,

t. C X I V , col. 500.

The Gregorian calendar was revised in the patriarchate of Simeon of Erivan (1763-1780). A persecution by the Persians, who were for the most part Mazdeists or fire worshippers. 142

[56]

Armenian

Armenian deacon and assistants, Gregorian church, Cairo

Mekhitarist monks students, Rome

and

MR n •s

_mm ^.Mmmmmsmrn'mmmsmm: mBKÊÊÊÊÊÊÊKÊÊÊm •m Armenian Catholic bishop and priests Rome

Armenian Catholic vartabed with deacon and subdeacon

[57]

His Beatitude M g r . Avedis Peter X I V Arpiarían, Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians, after the imposition of the sacred pallium March 20, 1933

[58]

ARMENIAN RITE

577

St. Atom Gnuni, St. Manadjir Rishtuni and St. Vartan Mamikonian, who perished in battle against the Persians shortly before. In the 12th century, St. Nerses the Gracious (Glaietsi) and his nephew, St. Nerses of Lambron, worked for the reunion with Rome among Armenians of the kingdom of Little Armenia. Dissidents 144 also are among those who gave their lives for Christ, and in the 14th century we find the katholikos Zachary, the laymen Khosrov of Kanzag and Vartan of Pagesh, and the laywoman Elizabeth the Jewel; while in the 15th we have Bishop Stephen of Sebaste, the priest Gregory of Klath, and a woman of Van called Himar. In weeks of fasting, 145 no saint's day may be observed except on a Saturday; while from Easter to Pentecost and on the octave of dominical festivals this day is ruled out, so that in the whole year not more than 120 to 130 days are available, which accounts for the grouping of so many names together. The prophets Job and Zachariah, whose relics are said to have been taken to Armenia, are commemorated in the calendar, and also King David (December 25, by the Gregorians). The feast of Thirteen Apostles, includes St. Paul with the twelve. St. John Baptist is honoured in four months of the year—January, April, June and September. St. Blaise, once popular in England, 146 is commemorated in January. The Gregorians make no apparent distinction in the liturgy between the saints and the faithful departed, saying: "Rembember Lord, and have mercy" in response to the genDonald ATTWATER, The Golden Book of Eastern Saints, p. n o . As we have seen also, there is no commemoration of a saint on a Wednesday or a Friday. "* T h e council of Oxford (1222) forbade servile work on his feast (February 3). 1,!

37

- A. A.

KING,

The Rites of Eastern Christendom - 2nd Vol.

[59]

578

THE RITES OF EASTERK CHRISTENDOM

eral commemoration. In regard to the saints therefore, the Catholics have added: "Remember them (i. e. their intercessions for us) and have mercy on us." A curious pagan survival of sacrificial slaughter (madagh), followed by agapi exsequiales, existed, despite the protests of bishops, at any rate until recently in out-of-the-way country districts. A bull, sheep or fowl was brought to the church in procession, where the Bible was read, salt put into the animal's mouth and the victim killed. Later, the offering was eaten over the grave of someone lately dead. The canons of St. Isaac the Great, renewed by the council of Partav (Datev, 767) and again in the 12th century, prohibited the slaughter of animals in the neighbourhood of a monastery, as monks were forbidden to eat meat. Of the 365 days in the year no less than 277 are either fasts (160) or days of abstinence (117), as against the Latin 92, but present Catholic custom has mitigated the observance. Great Lent (Karasnorth) has abstinence every day (with fasting except on the first two weekdays), exclusive of Sundays, Saturdays and the Annunciation. There are also fasts of St. Gregory the Illuminator (5 days); Assumption (5 days); and Christmas (6 days). In addition to the 48 days of Lent, the Armenians observe the 10th week before Easter (Aratshavoratz) in memory of the injunctions of Jonah to the people of Nineveh and also of St. Gregory before the conversion of the nation. This fast was stigmatized by St. Theodore of Studium (f826) as the "unbelieving domna of the heretical Peter, bishop of the Armenians." The foolish rubric in the Byzantine triodion, condemning the observance of the fast, has been already referred to. All V 4r>esdays and Fridays in the year, except those which frsl'T' great festivals, are days of abstinence (pahk), when the observance of saints' days is forbidden.

[60]

ARMENIAN

RITE

579

On fasts, no food is permitted until 3 p. m., and on the vigils of the Epiphany and Easter, when the liturgy is celebrated in the afternoon, the rite begins with psalms and prophecies chanted outside the closed curtains.

Vestments The vestments in use among the Armenians, Gregorian as well as Catholic, show signs of latinisation at a time when east and west had stereotyped their respective styles. An amice (varkas) is worn over the alb, which takes the form of a high collar, 147 often of repoussé metal, a vestment which some dissidents compare with the humeral veil rather than with the Latin amice. Deacons and minor clerics in modern times have worn a short cape embroidered with crosses instead of the varkas, but Ormanian 148 has described this as a "contravention of regulations." The long alb (shapik), a little less full than that of the Latins, has no fixed colour and may be of either silk, velvet, cloth or linen. Catholic Armenians of course have a predilection for laced albs! The stole 149 (porurar) of the celebrant is similar to the Byzantine epitrachelion, and is kept in place by the golden buckle of the cincture or belt igott). The diaconal stole (ourar), about ten feet long and from four to five inches wide, is ornamented with three crosses, and carried either 141 Cf. mediaeval broad apparel. " " Ormanian (The Church of Armenia. Chap. XXXIV, the Ministers of Worship, p. 169) says: "the humeral veil should properly be fitted on to the shapik, but in contravention of regulations it has become the custom in these days to wear it as a kind of cape." "* Mekhitar Gosch (ab. 1180) called the stole a phakeghm.

[61]

ARMENIAN

RITE

579

On fasts, no food is permitted until 3 p. m., and on the vigils of the Epiphany and Easter, when the liturgy is celebrated in the afternoon, the rite begins with psalms and prophecies chanted outside the closed curtains.

Vestments The vestments in use among the Armenians, Gregorian as well as Catholic, show signs of latinisation at a time when east and west had stereotyped their respective styles. An amice (varkas) is worn over the alb, which takes the form of a high collar, 147 often of repoussé metal, a vestment which some dissidents compare with the humeral veil rather than with the Latin amice. Deacons and minor clerics in modern times have worn a short cape embroidered with crosses instead of the varkas, but Ormanian 148 has described this as a "contravention of regulations." The long alb (shapik), a little less full than that of the Latins, has no fixed colour and may be of either silk, velvet, cloth or linen. Catholic Armenians of course have a predilection for laced albs! The stole 149 (porurar) of the celebrant is similar to the Byzantine epitrachelion, and is kept in place by the golden buckle of the cincture or belt igott). The diaconal stole (ourar), about ten feet long and from four to five inches wide, is ornamented with three crosses, and carried either 141 Cf. mediaeval broad apparel. " " Ormanian (The Church of Armenia. Chap. XXXIV, the Ministers of Worship, p. 169) says: "the humeral veil should properly be fitted on to the shapik, but in contravention of regulations it has become the custom in these days to wear it as a kind of cape." "* Mekhitar Gosch (ab. 1180) called the stole a phakeghm.

[61]

58o

THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

over the left shoulder 150 with the ends falling to the feet back and front, or hanging down over the two sides from the left shoulder, wound once under the armpit. Cuffs 1 5 1 (bazpan) are worn as in the Byzantine rite, which the missal of 1642 (Rome) translated as brachiale, and the missal of 1677 (Rome) as manipuli. The vestment 152 (shurtshar, schurchar) resembles a Latin cope without its hood. The crown (saghavart), used by Greek bishops, has since 1181 been worn by priests 153 of the Armenian rite. This often takes the form of a modest bonnet of silk ornamented with gold braid, and even deacons, when in attendance on the bishop, have adopted it. The more elaborate crowns are adorned with gold and pearls, and surmounted by an orb and small cross, set with precious stones. The western mitre and pallium were sent by Pope Lucius II (11811185) as a present to the Armenian katholikos, and the mitre is worn to this day by Gregorian and Catholic prelates alike. For some reason, the taste in mitres is that of Italian bishops since the 18th century. Episcopal insignia include the pectoral cross, a privilege granted to some priests and vartabeds, emiphoron (eastern pallium), Latin crozier, ring, panague (iravayia) or enkolpion, and hand-cross. A Gregorian bishop 154 wears his ring on the little finger 150 A coffer of the katholikos Constantine II (1286-1289, deposed), preserved in the museum at Leyden and dating from 1293, has a sculpture of the deacon St. Stephen, in which the ourar is worn over the right shoulder. 151 Butler (Ancient Coptic Churches, vol. II, chap. IV, p. 169) says that the Armenians still wear a napkin for wiping the hands, as well as " sleeves." "Le relèvement du phélonion byzantine par devant a donné naissance à la chasuble arménienne." Liturgia, p. 893. Paris, 1930. 1SJ Archdeacons wear the crown in solemn patriarchal liturgies.

[62]

ARMENIAN RITE

58I

of the right hand, and it is reserved to the katholikos to use the ring finger. Catholic bishops, however, have adopted the western practice. The hand-cross, which has been consecrated with chrism, bears no figure, but it usually contains a relic. The Catholic patriarch has the papal pallium. Senior bishops, such as katholikoi, add a metal rationale, attached to the varkas and worn on the breast, as well as the konker or epigonation, formerly a pouch and now a lozenge-shaped piece of embroidery, hanging from the girdle and symbolising the napkin of the mandatum (humility). The great veil (kogh), used at the consecration of the supreme katholikos of the Gregorians, is carried before him on great feasts. A prelate of an Eastern rite elevated to the sacred purple raises the question of vesture, especially in these days when great care is being taken to guard against any latinisation. In the case of Cardinal Hassun, the papal master of ceremonies 155 proposed that the Armenian cardinal should wear a broad-sleeved cloak when walking abroad, but that otherwise he was to dress like other cardinals. In fact, he was never to be distinguished from a Latin cardinal. Nov/, with the elevation of Patriarch Peter XV Agagianian, there has been, at the express wish of the pope, a departure from the precedents set by the previous six oriental cardinals. A cylindrical head-dress is worn with a veil falling back on the shoulders—the whole being made specially in cardinal's "purple." In place of the short cape and flowing cloak, the new Armenian porporatus has an eastern widesleeved cloak of the same colour—penitential purple or , M In solemn functions, a vartabed may wear a ring. "* T h e master of ceremonies sought a precedent from the case of Cardinal Bessarion (15th century).

[63]

582

THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

black with purple edgings in the appropriate seasons. Finally, instead of the cappa magna, he wears, when assisting in choir, a sleeveless cloak, called a pilon, also of normal "purple" or penitential purple according to the season. Katholikoi, patriarchs and archbishops have four standards borne in procession before them—cross, diocesan heraldic emblem, crozier and gavazan. As we have seen, the gavazan 156 is the distinctive badge of office given to a vartabed. It carries many symbolical meanings,—prudence, a virtue important for preachers; the rescue of sinners from Satan; the pastoral duty of comforting the sick and sorrowful; and our salvation (a cross) triumphing over the serpents who raise their heads in fury against the cross. The ordinary habit of the married priests (derders) is a blue cassock, black mantle (verarkou) and blue turban; while religious and vartabeds 157 have black robes with black hoods. There is an ecclesiastical hat bordered with fur, which Turks and Armenians call a calpas. Choir dress consists of a black wool mantle (pilon) and conical hat (pakegh),158 which in the case of religious is often violet in colour and furnished with a veil (veghar). Catholic Armenians increasingly adopt the Latin cassok and douillette, and the outdoor dress of a bishop is practically indistinguishable from that of his western brother. In addition to the borrowings 159 from the Roman rite which are common to Gregorians and Catholics alike, the latter have adopted holy water, scapulars, rosary, stations of the cross, benediction, statues, confessional boxes, as well as the quasi-liturgical blessing of candles, ashes and 157 158

Cf. Byzantine paterissa. Vartabeds sometimes wear a blue turban with the black hood. This is said to call to mind Mount Ararat. e. g. Azyme bread; sign of the cross made from left to right.

[64]

ARMENIAN RITE

583

palms. The council 160 held at Rome in 1911 maintained that devotions form no supplementary cult in the oriental rites, but that they are a part of the liturgy, and ought to conform in spirit as well as in form. Liturgical Books Western associations have produced a set of liturgical books published with exactitude. The directory 161 or calendar (Tzutzak Donatzuitz, "indicator of feasts") is a perpetual ordo divini officii; "Manual of Mysteries of the Sacred Oblation" 162 (Badarakamaduitz or Korhrtadedr, "book of the Sacrament"), containing the priest's part of the liturgy; Giaschotz (Tschaschotz) or the "Book of Noon," with the epistles, gospels, and other portions sung by the sacred ministers at Mass and the office; Terbroutiun 163 or "Book of the choir-boys"; Book of Ordinations, which is frequently bound up with the manual; Lectionary (Djachotz); Hymn Book (Sharakan), containing the variable hymns of the liturgy and the canticles and hymns not in the Jamakirk; Haysmavurk 164 or "This very day," the abridged lives of saints and homilies, which on dominical feasts are to be read to the congregation before vespers; Jareundir, "Choice of Discourses" or book of Canon 612. Cf. Typikon. 1 . 2 Mgr. Hassun published a Catholic edition for " L o w Mass," in imitation of our missal. A book of canticles with office hymns. 164 Cf. Greek synaxaries or menologies, and Roman lessons of the 2nd and 3rd nocturns. T h e greater part is a translation from Greek by the katholikos Gregory Vgayasser, " the friend of the martyrs." It is less used by the Catholics than the Gregorians. 1.0

1.1

[65]

ARMENIAN RITE

583

palms. The council 160 held at Rome in 1911 maintained that devotions form no supplementary cult in the oriental rites, but that they are a part of the liturgy, and ought to conform in spirit as well as in form. Liturgical Books Western associations have produced a set of liturgical books published with exactitude. The directory 161 or calendar (Tzutzak Donatzuitz, "indicator of feasts") is a perpetual ordo divini officii; "Manual of Mysteries of the Sacred Oblation" 162 (Badarakamaduitz or Korhrtadedr, "book of the Sacrament"), containing the priest's part of the liturgy; Giaschotz (Tschaschotz) or the "Book of Noon," with the epistles, gospels, and other portions sung by the sacred ministers at Mass and the office; Terbroutiun 163 or "Book of the choir-boys"; Book of Ordinations, which is frequently bound up with the manual; Lectionary (Djachotz); Hymn Book (Sharakan), containing the variable hymns of the liturgy and the canticles and hymns not in the Jamakirk; Haysmavurk 164 or "This very day," the abridged lives of saints and homilies, which on dominical feasts are to be read to the congregation before vespers; Jareundir, "Choice of Discourses" or book of Canon 612. Cf. Typikon. 1 . 2 Mgr. Hassun published a Catholic edition for " L o w Mass," in imitation of our missal. A book of canticles with office hymns. 164 Cf. Greek synaxaries or menologies, and Roman lessons of the 2nd and 3rd nocturns. T h e greater part is a translation from Greek by the katholikos Gregory Vgayasser, " the friend of the martyrs." It is less used by the Catholics than the Gregorians. 1.0

1.1

[65]

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

homilies; Jamakirk 165 or book of hours; Jarnagarkutiun ie6 or "Arrangement in order of the hours," an Armenian anthologion, first produced by the Mekhitarists of Vienna in 1842, and later by the Congregation of Venice (1889); Mashdotz, which is the equivalent of the Latin Ritual. The name is derived from St. Mesrob (f 440), the reputed compiler, but it is more probably the work of the 9th century patriarch of the same name. Liturgical Language and Bible The compilation of the Armenian liturgy in the 5th century was made possible by the invention of the national alphabet (ab. 400). The 36 letters were derived from the Greek, although the two final letters (0 and f) were only added at the beginning of the 13th century. The Persians are said to have encouraged this development as a means of further dividing the Armenians from the Greeks and Syrians. Armenian books were printed less than a century (Venice, 1512) after the invention of printing, and in the 18 th century, thanks to the work of the Mekhitarists and two Gregorian patriarchs167 of Constantinople, the language was saved from degenerating into merely a hieratic tongue, like Coptic and Gheez, unintelligible to the nation at large. The Armenian Bible (410) quickly followed the invention of the alphabet, and, as St. Mesrob is said to have been given a Greek Bible by Atticus, patriarch of Constantinople, 1,5 There is the ordinary Jamakirk and the great Jamakirk. A Latin translation of the Jamakirk was published in 1908 by the Mekhitarists of Venice. 1,11 A book intended to make the private recitation of the office easier by gathering up into one volume all the requisite prayers. John Colot (f 1741); James Naslian (1749).

[66]

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THE RITES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

homilies; Jamakirk 165 or book of hours; Jarnagarkutiun ie6 or "Arrangement in order of the hours," an Armenian anthologion, first produced by the Mekhitarists of Vienna in 1842, and later by the Congregation of Venice (1889); Mashdotz, which is the equivalent of the Latin Ritual. The name is derived from St. Mesrob (f 440), the reputed compiler, but it is more probably the work of the 9th century patriarch of the same name. Liturgical Language and Bible The compilation of the Armenian liturgy in the 5th century was made possible by the invention of the national alphabet (ab. 400). The 36 letters were derived from the Greek, although the two final letters (0 and f) were only added at the beginning of the 13th century. The Persians are said to have encouraged this development as a means of further dividing the Armenians from the Greeks and Syrians. Armenian books were printed less than a century (Venice, 1512) after the invention of printing, and in the 18 th century, thanks to the work of the Mekhitarists and two Gregorian patriarchs167 of Constantinople, the language was saved from degenerating into merely a hieratic tongue, like Coptic and Gheez, unintelligible to the nation at large. The Armenian Bible (410) quickly followed the invention of the alphabet, and, as St. Mesrob is said to have been given a Greek Bible by Atticus, patriarch of Constantinople, 1,5 There is the ordinary Jamakirk and the great Jamakirk. A Latin translation of the Jamakirk was published in 1908 by the Mekhitarists of Venice. 1,11 A book intended to make the private recitation of the office easier by gathering up into one volume all the requisite prayers. John Colot (f 1741); James Naslian (1749).

[66]

ARMENIAN

RITE

585

to help him in his work, many scholars have maintained that the Armenian version 168 is the most accurate rendering of the Septuagint. Up to this time the liturgy had been celebrated in Greek 169 or Syriac, and it was only in the 5th century 1 7 0 that it came to be written in Armenian, through the efforts of St. Isaac and St. Mesrob,—"The Liturgy of our blessed Father Saint Gregory the Illuminator, revised and augmented by the holy Patriarchs and Doctors Sahag (Isaac), Mesrob, Kud and John Mandakuni." Eucharistic Bread and Wine The synod of Partav 1 7 1 (767) directed that the bread and wine for the liturgy should be prepared by priests, and as far as possible on the actual day, while prayers were ordered to be said as the offering was being made ready. This practice has been discarded by the Catholic Armenians. Gregorians as well as Catholics use unleavened bread (:neshkhar, surb khaths), a legacy of hate for the Greeks and Syrians. The tradition that St. Gregory the Illuminator 172 adopted the custom either from the church of 1 " T h e present order of canonical books was fixed by the synod of Partav (767; canon 24). T h e last 12 verses of St. Mark's gospel do not seem to have been read publicly before the 10th century, and in some manuscripts they are not inserted before the 13th, and then not as an integral part of the original text. T h e deutero-canomcal books are never read as lessons in church.

"* N.B. Retention of Greek words and formulas in the liturgy. Before the end of the 5th century the psalms were sung in Armenian in the Palestinian monasteries of St. Sabbas and St. Theodosius, although the liturgy was celebrated in Greek. SALAVILLE, Introduction to the Study of Eastern Liturgies, chap. I I , pp. 39-40. 1 , 1 Canon 22. PITZIPIOS, L'Eglise Orientde, part. I , p. 125.

[67]

ARMENIAN

RITE

585

to help him in his work, many scholars have maintained that the Armenian version 168 is the most accurate rendering of the Septuagint. Up to this time the liturgy had been celebrated in Greek 169 or Syriac, and it was only in the 5th century 1 7 0 that it came to be written in Armenian, through the efforts of St. Isaac and St. Mesrob,—"The Liturgy of our blessed Father Saint Gregory the Illuminator, revised and augmented by the holy Patriarchs and Doctors Sahag (Isaac), Mesrob, Kud and John Mandakuni." Eucharistic Bread and Wine The synod of Partav 1 7 1 (767) directed that the bread and wine for the liturgy should be prepared by priests, and as far as possible on the actual day, while prayers were ordered to be said as the offering was being made ready. This practice has been discarded by the Catholic Armenians. Gregorians as well as Catholics use unleavened bread (:neshkhar, surb khaths), a legacy of hate for the Greeks and Syrians. The tradition that St. Gregory the Illuminator 172 adopted the custom either from the church of 1 " T h e present order of canonical books was fixed by the synod of Partav (767; canon 24). T h e last 12 verses of St. Mark's gospel do not seem to have been read publicly before the 10th century, and in some manuscripts they are not inserted before the 13th, and then not as an integral part of the original text. T h e deutero-canomcal books are never read as lessons in church.

"* N.B. Retention of Greek words and formulas in the liturgy. Before the end of the 5th century the psalms were sung in Armenian in the Palestinian monasteries of St. Sabbas and St. Theodosius, although the liturgy was celebrated in Greek. SALAVILLE, Introduction to the Study of Eastern Liturgies, chap. I I , pp. 39-40. 1 , 1 Canon 22. PITZIPIOS, L'Eglise Orientde, part. I , p. 125.

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CHRISTENDOM

Caesarea or from Pope St. Sylvester is without foundation. The national council of the Armenians 173 (Rome, 1911) said that the practice had existed from the "most remote times," and ordered priests strictly to adhere to the custom. T h e katholikos Moses II (574-604), a litde time after 590, was invited to a conference by the emperor Maurice (582602), but he was unwilling to attend, as he would not eat "bread cooked in an oven." A decree 1 7 4 of the synod of Manazkert (726), held under John III Oznetzi (717-728), was directed against the use of fermented bread. The Jacobite James of Edessa 175 (f 708) condemned the Armenians because they followed the Jews in using azymes and pure wine (i. e. without water). Armenian altar breads are flat round cakes about 3 by 1 Vs inches, stamped with an ornamental border, a crucifix or lamb and the sacred monogram. Neither asterisk nor spoon are used in the rite, and water 176 is not added to the chalice either at the offertory or before the communion (zeon). As regards the latter practice, the katholikos Moses declined to attend a synod, which the emperor Heraclius (610-641) had proposed with a view to promoting union with the Greeks, saying: " I am unwilling to cross the river Aza 177 to be compelled by the Byzantines to eat leavened bread and to drink hot water." It is possible that the adding of water to the wine at the

Tit. I l l , c. 4, n. 407. Canon 8. I 7 i F. Neve. Les Canons et les Resolutions canoniques, pp. 68-69. Paris, 1906. 178 The Catholics have supplied the deficiency and add water at the offertory. I7r Then in Persian territory. 1,4

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offertory was given up as a protest against the Enkratites 178 (Ebionites, Aquarii), who used water only. Later, it seems to have symbolised the single nature in the person of our Lord. The 2nd council in Trullo 179 (Quinisextum, 692) condemned the absence of water, and the 227 fathers, in reference to the liturgy of St. James, said: "James, the brother (according to the flesh) of Christ our God, to whom the church of Jerusalem was first committed, and Basil, archbishop of the church of Caesarea, whose fame extended throughout the whole Church, have appointed/' etc. There was, however, no condemnation of azyme bread at this council. The councils of Sis (1307) and Adana (1313) ordered the addition of water, although a synod held at Sis (1359) under the katholikos Mesrob again prohibited it. Pope Eugenius IV in the Decretum pro Armenis 180 (1439), which proclaimed the union of the church of Armenia with Rome, after a resumé of historical and mystical reasons for the mixed chalice, ordered Armenian priests henceforward to mix a litde water with the wine in the chalice of the oblation. It seems, however, that this injunction was not always complied with by Catholics, as in 1833 a decree of Propaganda once more insisted upon a little water being added to the wine. Pace Cardinal Bona. T h e dissidents, since the 6th century, have cited a homily of St. John Chrysostom on St. Matthew as an authority for omitting water. LE BRUN, op. át., t. I, p. 306, n. 17. 179 A bishop or priest who did not add water was to be deposed. Canon 32. 180 " Decernimus igitur, ut etiam ipsi Armeni se cum universo orbe christiano conforment, eorumque sacerdotes in calicis oblatione paululum aquae, prout dictum est, admisceant vino." Enchiridion Symbolorum, p. 257. H. Denzinger. Friburgi Brisgoviae, 1937.

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History of the Rite There is only one liturgy (Patarag) celebrated in the Armenian rite, and there is no concelebration. In ancient times there were at least ten anaphoras,181 and also the rite of the Presanctified (nakhasrbeal). Some monasteries 182 appear to have had liturgical privileges, and we read of Teleneatz-Vank, 183 where a somewhat different liturgy and ceremonial prevailed, the monks priding themselves on their purity of rite and exactitude in detail. The liturgy is a local modification of St. Basil 184 with Latin interpolations, and the responsiones in the council of Sis (1342) speak of St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom as the prototypes. The codex of Lyons (1314) says Missale Sancti Athanasii, but this may well only refer to an anaphora. In any case, most of the names in the document are corrupt, and Osauri is almost certainly derived from Oskeberan, "golden-mouthed." The earliest liturgical references have been ascribed to St Gregory the Illuminator (ab. 325) and Macarius, bishop of Jerusalem (ab. 340), but it is not until the 5th century that we can claim the authorities as authentic. In addition to the translators and compilers, John Mandakuni (ab. 490) wrote several prayers, and Moses of Khoren (ab. 458) some hymns. 1,1 e. g. St. Gregory the Illuminator; St. Isaac the Great. "J Disciplina Armena. II. Monachismo. P. G. AMADUNI. Serie II, fascic. XII, part I chap. VI, pp. 65-66. 1.3 Prov. Nik, Ararat. St. Nerses Glaietzi (12th century), in reorming the Armenian rite in Cilicia, had recourse to this monastery— especially for vespers. 1.4 Salaville (Introduction to the Study of Eastern Liturgies, chap. I, p. 16) calls the Armenian liturgy a " compilation made from the Greek Mass of St. James and that of St. John Chrysostom."

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589

The rite was also affected by the council of Dvin under the katholikos Nerses II (ab. 524); enactments of John of Manazkert (ab. 650) and Isaac (ab. 702); council of Dvin under John IV Oznetsi (719); council of Partav (Datev) under Sion I (767); synods of Sis (1203; 1204); and the responsiones on the council which was held in the same town in 1342. The two outstanding commentators of the Armenian rite were Chosroes the Great, bishop of Andzevatsentz (ab. 972) and St. Nerses of Lampron, archbishop of Tarsus (1198), whose commentary on the "Mysteries of the Oblation" speaks of the rite as that of St. John Chrysostom. Gregory of Narek, the "Pindar of Armenia" (ab. 951), composed a collection of prayers and elegies, which are still popularly called "Narek." In the 12th century there flourished the celebrated poet and hymn-writer Nerses IV Glaietzi, surnamed the Graceful (Schinorhdi), who was katholikos from 1166-1173. In 1671, the Catholic liturgy was corrected by Basil Barsegh and John Agop, two Armenian priests who had received a Latin education and who consequently acted more from zeal than knowledge in introducing modifications foreign to the rite. Other " uniatising" followed, but happily, at the beginning of the 19th century, a reaction set in, largely through the efforts of the Mekhitarist Gabriel Avedikian (1750-1827). At the present time, Latinisation 185 is mainly concerned with the furnishing of churches, wearing of laced albs and genuflections. Western interest in the Armenian liturgy seems to have originated in the 18th century, when Abbé Bignon, at the request of the Duke of Orléans, asked the Marquis de BonCilicia.

The reference is to latinisation since the fall of the kingdom of

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nac, French ambassador to the Porte (1720), to obtain a copy of the service book with explanations from the Catholic archbishop at Constantinople. Editions of the Gregorian liturgy have been published at Venice (1686), Constantinople (1706, 1823, 1844), Jerusalem (1841, 1873, 1884) and Etchmiadzin (1873). The Catholic liturgy, at Rome (1642, 1677, etc.), Venice (1808, 1874, 1895); Trieste (1808); and Vienna (1858, 1884). T h e Roman canon was introduced into at least one missal published by Propaganda, but such a patent absurdity was never accepted by the Armenians. T h e Armenian canons of Nicea forbid the celebration of the liturgy from Monday to Friday (inclusive) in Lent and during the the fast of Aratshavoratz, but, under Franciscan influence, Mass was said every day in the royal palace at Sis in the 14th century. T h e Gregorians, following St. Nerses of Ashtarak and the council of Dvin (719), still celebrate the liturgy 186 only on Saturdays and Sundays, with the addition of feasts in large churches. T h e laity often remain for only a part of the service, so that others may take their places, but L e Brun, 1 8 7 in writing of the Armenians, says: "There are always many people in church an hour before Mass. A visitor to their churches, Chevalier Ricaut, has admired their zeal a n i piety." On the aliturgical days the only office is that of mid-day, when lessons and psalms are recited. Catholic Armenians have adopted the service of "low Mass" and also Missa cantata, when the elements are prepared at the altar and the great entrance is omitted. " a n d T h u r s d a y , if it is not a f a s t . " p. 65. 1,7

Op.

cit.,

t. I l l , p. 6 7 .

[72]

L E BRUN, op.

cit., t. ILL,

ARMENIAN RITE

591

The Liturgy The number of assistant deacons may vary with the rank of the feast, and at a pontifical liturgy there are sometimes as many as six. During the vesting of the priest in the sacristy 188 (avantadoun), the choir sings the hymn 189 of the vartabed Khatchandour (1205): " O mystery, deep, unsearchable, eternal. Who hast set up thy dwelling in light, which no man can approach unto, in splendid glory of brilliant heavenly spirits : With wonderful power didst thou create Adam a lordly figure, and didst clothe him in glorious attire in the garden of Eden, the abode of delights; Through the suffering of thine only begotten, thou hast received all creatures, and again hast made man immortal, clad in a garment which no one can take from him. O chalice of rain of fire, that fell on the apostles in the holy upper chamber; O God, pour thy Holy Spirit on us also, together with the garment of thy wisdom. Holiness becometh thy house, who art clothed in majesty. As thou art surrounded with the beauty of holiness, so also gird us about with truth. Thou didst spread thy creating arms to the stars, strengthen our arms with power, to intercede when we lift up our hands unto thee. Bind our thoughts and our senses as the crown binds our head, and this crosswise stole embroidered with golden flowers, like that of Aaron, be for the honour of the sancT h e bishop sometimes vests at the throne in church. " " In the solemn liturgy sung by Cardinal Agagianian (March

12,

1946), the h y m n was sung while the celebrant washed his hands at the foot of the altar.

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tuary. Supreme, divine sovereign of countless multitudes, clothe us in the tunic of love, in order to fit us for the due ministration of thy mysteries. Heavenly King, keep thy Church immoveable, and maintain in peace the worshippers of thy holy name." In the meanwhile, the celebrant, having recited the antiphon: "Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness, and let thy saints sing with joyfulness" and the psalm "Lord, remember David ( M e m e n t o , Domine, Devoid, psl. CXXXI), is vested by the deacon. The deacon has previously said: "Let us pray to the Lord in peace. Let us with faith make our supplications unto the Lord that he may bestow upon us his merciful grace; may the all powerful God save us and show us his mercy. O Lord, have mercy upon us according to the greatness of thy clemency; and let us all say together (12 times) Lord, have mercy on us" (Ter oghormia). 190 Before the vesting, the priest says silently: " O Lord Jesus Christ, who art clothed with light as with a bright garment," etc. The celebrant is first invested with the crown, before which the deacon says: "Let us pray to the Lord in peace. Receive us, save us, and have mercy on us" ( ' 0 Lord'), and the priest answers: "Blessing and glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, now and ever, world without end. Amen." Prayers are said for each vestment. During the prayer, the priest sometimes removes his shoes, and receives white stockings and slippers. The introduction to the Italian translation of the Mass (p. 7), produced for the solemn liturgy in ihe Sixtine Chapel (March 12, 1946), speaks of the sctnddi ricamati (embroidered slippers), worn by bishops.

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593

RITE

At a Pontifical liturgy sung in the Epiphany octave (1928) at S. Andrea della Valle, Rome, by the patriarch Paul XIII Terzian, in the presence of another bishop, the sacred vessels were placed on the credence before the Mass, with the corporal 191 spread on the altar. The gospel-book stood on a veil 1 9 2 at the north end of the altar, while the missal, which was not moved from side to side, was to the right of the celebrant. The solemn entry 1 , 3 included a crucifer, two taperers, choristers, a deacon with the assistant bishop, ministers carrying a Latin crozier, the gavazan, and the patriarchal cross respectively, and finally the Catholic patriarch, holding a staff surmounted by an orb with a cross. The patriarch was assisted by two priests in schurchars, two clerks with fans, and a deacon who walked backwards as he censed him. The patriarch had a temporary throne erected on the south side of the sanctuary, with the bishop in a corresponding seat on the north. The rubrics of the liturgy indicate that the deacon 194 enters the church carrying a lighted taper in his left hand, and a censer in his right. At a "low Mass" in S. Nicola da Tolentino, Rome (1946), Latin vessels and a chalice veil were placed on the altar before the liturgy. Before the beginning of the liturgy, the celebrant washes 1,1

Marmnakal,

gorphourah,

schouschphah.

" * T h e deacon never touches the gospel-book with his hands. " * During the entry at the solemn liturgy in the Sixtine Chapel (March

12, 1946), the following hymn, taken from the Mass of

Church, was sung:

" T o - d a y G o d is pleased to renew the earth.

the The

angelic choirs glorify (the Lord)." 1,4

C f . Ambrosian rite, in which the subdeacon

m's right hand, and the censer in his

carries the taper in

left.

5S - A . A . KING, The Rites of Eastern Christendom - 2nd VoL

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T H E

RITES

0F

EASTERN CHRISTENDOM

his hands in piano, as he says antiphonally 195 psalm XXV (Lavabo). Then, turning to the people, the priest 196 blesses them with the hand-cross. The choir in the meanwhile sings: " O heavenly King, keep thy Church steadfast, and preserve in peace those who worship thy name." The liturgy begins with the priest extending his arms and saying: "In the name of the Father" etc and an invocation 197 to the blessed Virgin: "Through the intercession of the holy Mother of God (Astouadzadzine), accept, O Lord, our prayers and save us." The deacon replies: "May the holy Mother of God and all the saints be our intercessors with the heavenly Father, that he may deign to be merciful to us, and in pity save us and have mercy upon us." The priest continues: "Through the intercession of the holy Mother of God, immaculate mother of thine only Son, and through the prayers of all the saints, receive, O Lord, our prayers; hear us, Lord, and have mercy on us: pardon us, be favourable to us, and blot out our sins, and make us worthy to glorify thee together with thy Son and the Holy Ghost, now and for ever." This preparation was added from a Latin source later Refrain of the antiphon (ktzord): " I will wash ... to thine altar," and antiphon ( p h o k h ) : " Be thou my judge, O Lord, for I have walked innocently," with the rest of the psalm (saghmos). "* In the solemn liturgy in tha Sistine Chapel, the celebrant, after the lavabo, made a profound inclination, together with his assistants, to the Holy Father. Liturgia della Messa Armena (Tip. Pol. Vat., 1946), p. 10. 117

C f . Mozarabic and Braga rites, which begin with the

Mary."

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"Hail

ARMENIAN RITE

595

than the 12th century, and St. Nerses of Lampron in his commentary makes no mention of it. A pontifical liturgy begins with the two prayers to the Holy Ghost, otherwise with the proskomide. T h e confiteor is said by the celebrant in a clear voice, facing 1 9 8 the assistant clergy or people: " I confess in the presence of God and of the holy Mother of God, before all the saints, and before you fathers and brethren, of all the sins I have committed; for I have sinned in thought, in word and in deed, and in whatever way men generally sin; I have sinned. I have sinned, and I pray you to ask pardon of God for me." T h e deacon or, if he is present, a senior priest or assistant bishop then asks absolution: " M a y the almighty God have mercy on you, and grant you the pardon of all your sins, past and present, and preserve you from them in future: may he confirm you in every good work, and lead you to the repose of a future life." T h e priest, raising the hand-cross, gives a blessing: "May God the lover of men free you, and grant you the remission of all your sins: may the all-powerful and all-merciful God guide your future life by the grace of his Holy Spirit. And to him be glory throughout all ages. Amen." A senior priest 1 9 9 adds: "Remember us before the immortal lamb of God," and the celebrant, still turned to the assistants, continues: " Y o u shall be remembered before the immortal lamb of God. A t a solemn liturgy two clerks

" E d inchinatosi verso i Sacerdoti assistenti e poi verso i fedeli." Liturgia delta Messa Armena nella Cappella Papale del 12 Marzo 1946, p. 12. " " " A cleric," La Messa solenne in rtto Armeno, p. 13. " Uno del Coro" Liturgia della Messa Armena nella Cappella Papale del 12 Marzo IQ46, p. 12.

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now sing psalm XCIX 200 (Jubilate Deo, omnis terra) antiphonally, and the deacon, who has been censing the priest, says: "In the name of this holy church let us pray God that he may deliver us from sin and save us by his merciful grace. Almighty Lord, our God, save us and have mercy upen us." The priest, extending his arms, replies: "Within the precincts of this temple, and in the presence of these sacred and divine emblems, bowing in the holy place, we adore with trembling, and we glorify thy, holy, admirable and with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and in endless victorious resurrection (or nativity etc, according to the feast), and we offer thee benediction and glory, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and in endless ages. Amen." The ascent to the altar is made as the priest and deacon recite psalm XLII 2 0 1 antiphonally, mounting a step at every two verses. At the end, the deacon sings: "Let us praise the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has made us worthy to present ourselves in this place of praise, and to sing spiritual songs. O almighty Lord, our God, save us and have mercy on us." Then the priest, with arms extended, approaches the altar and says audibly: "In this tabernacle of holiness and in this place of praise, the dwelling of angels and (sanctuary) of expiation and propitiation for men, in the presence of these divine and bright holy signs and holy place, bowing down in fear we worship, we bless and glorify thy holy mar200 In the liturgy in the Sixtine Chapel, the cardinals here offered their obedience to the pope. Ibid., p. 12. "" Ktzord, " I will go... joy and gladness;" phokh, " Give sentence ... ungodly people," with the rest of the psalm.

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ARMENIAN RITE

597

vellous and triumphant resurrection (etc.), and unto thee with the Father and the Holy Ghost we with the host of heaven offer blessing and glory, now and ever and world without end. Amen." If the celebrant is a priest, the curtain is now closed, and the sacred elements are prepared. In a pontifical liturgy, the bishop removes his mitre and, drawing his emiphoron over his breast, he kneels 202 before the altar, with an apron (korhrtadedr) spread before his knees and the mitre held over his head by two deacons. The bishop 203 extends his arms and silently recites two long prayers addressed to the Holy Spirit, the agent and dispenser of the work, which were composed in the ioth century by St. Gregory of Narek: 204 "O almighty beneficent lover of men, God of all things visible and invisible, saviour and preserver, provider and peacemaker, mighty Spirit of the Father, we entreat thee with open arms," etc. The second prayer begins thus: "We entreat and beseech with sighs and tears from all our souls thy glorious creatorship, O incorruptible, uncreated, timeless, merciful Spirit, who art our advocate with the Father of mercies with groanings unutterable," etc. The ekphonesis (i dsain) of the second prayer is preceded by a diaconal monition: "Sir, give a blessing" (orhnia der). Ekphonesis: "For to thee belong clemency, power, love, virtue, and glory throughout all ages. Amen." In the meanwhile the choir, which is also kneeling, sing: Unusual posture in the liturgy. Cf. Chaldean rite. The rubric in the Gregorian liturgy says: " falling on his knees with copious flow of tears, he shall say, silently and without whispering." 304 The first prayer is taken from the Book of Prayer, chap. XXXIII.

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"O thou holy and renowned priest, elect of God, likened to Aaron and Moses the prophet, when thou enterest into the holy tabernacle, remember our dead and us sinners in the sacrifice of the Mass." Then the great curtain is drawn across the sanctuary for the offertory ( m a t o u t h s a r a n ) ceremonies which follow. The choir sings a variable hymn 205 (meghedi). 206 The offertory in the Armenian rite has preserved its original simplicity, which is favoured by the use of unleavened bread. The priest 207 and deacon go to the prothesis, which the former kisses. Then the deacon brings the bread to the celebrant, who places it on the paten (maghzmah), as he says: "In remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ, who sits resting on a throne not made with hands. He gave himself up to the death upon the cross for mankind: Praise him and bless him and extol him, for ever and ever." Pouring wine crosswise into the chalice (ski, bashak), he continues: "In memory of the salutary Incarnation of the Lord our God and Redeemer Jesus Christ, through the fountain of whose blood, flowing from his side, his 2 5 " e. g. Annunciation: " The sound of joyful news is heard (repeated), announced by Gabriel to the all-holy. I am sent to thee, O immaculate one (repeated), to prepare a room for the Lord." Assumption: "To-day the angel Gabriel brought the palm and the crown to the triumphant Virgin. To-day he introduced to the Lord of all, her, Who was the temple of the most high, and the dwelling of the Holy Spirit." Holy Cross: " From the beginning of time the cross appeared in parad implanted by the hand of God, as a sign of consolation to Seth, and a ga^e of hope to Adam, the first father. In the wood to which our Saviour Jesus was nailed, we put all our confidence, and prostrate, and adcrthe sacred sign which has borne our God." ,J * /ie\