of the Protestants thus suddenly
found themselves deprived of business, and that remonstrances
availed nothing, unless they pledged themselves to withdraw from the
preaching of the missionaries. A more decisive measure was, ordering
the priests to hand in to the Patriarch the names of those who did
not come to confession, and partake of the communion, in their
respective churches. All such were threatened with excommunication
and all its dreaded consequences.

As two or three vartabeds and some of the priests continued to
attend the preaching of the missionaries, and others were known to
be friendly, something must be done to operate upon those spiritual
guides of the people. Bedros Vartabed was the first to be made an
example. He was ordered to perform a mass, but declined on
conscientious grounds. He was then instructed to proceed forthwith
to a town on the Russian frontier, ostensibly to take charge of a
diocese, but really to get him where he could easily be conveyed as
a prisoner to the monastery of Echmiadzin. He politely declined to
go, and the Patriarch was not then prepared to resort to force.
After some delay, it was arranged that Bedros should go to the
monastery at Jerusalem. He proceeded no farther, however, than
Beirut, and from thence went to Aleppo and Aintab. His usefulness at
the latter place, and his Christian death at Aleppo, have been
already stated.1

1 See chapter xxi.

The Patriarch's attention was next turned to Priest Vertanes, who
was already in his hands as a prisoner at the monastery of Armash,
whither he had been sent by his predecessor. It was found that he
had been preaching to the monks salvation through the blood of
Christ alone, without the deeds of the law. It was represented to
Matteos, that if the Protestant priest was not removed, the inmates
of the monastery would soon become corrupted. An imperial firman was
therefore procured for his banishment to Cesarea, whither Hohannes
had been sent, six years before, for a like offense. On his way
there, in charge of a Turkish officer, and indeed after his arrival,
he ceased not to preach the Gospel for which he was in bonds. In the
same year the Sultan gave orders, on occasion of a great feast, to
have all the exiles in the country set at liberty, and Vertanes
returned to Constantinople. Letters came to the Patriarch from
Cesarea, soon after, saying that he had seduced many, and that had
he remained there much longer, all would have