mplanted, that his fifth successor is said to have built
two thousand convents.

"Of the rites and dogmas subsequently adopted by other bodies of
Christians, there was a free importation for the two centuries that
the Armenians formed a regular branch of the General Church. A
special messenger was sent to Jerusalem for the ceremonies observed
in that church, and brought thence eight canons regulating the
sacraments and other rites. For a similar object, a correspondence
was carried on with the Bishop of Nisibis. One Catholicos, who had
been educated at Constantinople in the influence of all the secular
ideas and regulations introduced into the Church under the patronage
of Constantine and his successors, brought from thence 'various
observances, which, like precious stones, he inlaid into the old.'
And several who followed him distinguished themselves by their
_improvements_ in the services and laws of the Church. So that when,
by rejecting the Council of Chalcedon, A. D. 491, the Armenians cut
themselves off from the communion of the great body of Christians,
they were doubtless in possession of all the legendary dogmas and
observances which had then been adopted by the Christian world."1

1 _Researches in Armenia_, Amer. Edition, vol. ii. pp. 290-292.

CHAPTER VII.

THE ARMENIANS.

1827-1835.

Mr. King's "Farewell Letter to his Friends in Syria and Palestine"
was translated into the Armenian language by Bishop Dionysius, and a
manuscript copy was sent by him, in the year 1827, to some of the
more influential Armenians in Constantinople. Its effect was
extraordinary. A meeting was called in the Armenian patriarchal
church, at which the letter was read, and the marginal references to
Scripture were verified. It was then agreed, by common consent, that
the Church needed reform. The famous school of Peshtimaljian grew
out of this meeting, at which it was decided, that no person should
be ordained in the capital to the priest's office, who had not
completed a regular course of study at this school. In the year
1833, the missionaries were invited to be present at the ordination
of fifteen Armenian priests in the patriarchal church; and they were
then informed, that no one had received ordination in the metropolis
since the adoption of the rule above stated, and that only such as
had received a regular education at that school were regarded as
eligible for ordination. As the result of this, nearly all the