January 25th, the church was darkened by extinguishing the candles,
the great veil was drawn in front of the altar, and a bull of
anathema was solemnly read against Priest Vertanes; and, on the next
Sabbath, against all who were of his sentiments,--"followers," as
the instrument read, "of the corrupt new sect, who are accursed,
excommunicated, and anathematized." Vertanes was denounced in the
usual style of such documents, as "a contemptible wretch," "a
vagabond," "a seducer of the people," "a traitor and murderer of
Christ," "a child of the devil," "an offspring of Antichrist," and
"worse than an infidel or a heathen." "Wherefore," says the
Patriarch, "we expel him, and forbid him, as a devil and a child of
the devil, to enter into the company of our believers; we cut him
off from the priesthood, as an amputated member of the spiritual
body of Christ, and as a branch cut off from the vine, which is good
for nothing but to be cast into the fire. By this admonitory bull, I
therefore command and warn my beloved in every city far and near,
not to look upon his face, regarding it as the face of Belial, not
to receive him into your holy dwellings, for he is a house
destroying and ravening wolf; not to receive his salutation, but to
refuse it as a soul-destroying poison; and to beware, with all your
households, of the seducing and impious followers of the false
doctrine of modern sectarists, and to pray for them to the God who
remembereth not iniquity, if perchance, they may repent, and turn
from their wicked paths, and secure the salvation of their souls,
through the grace of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who is
blessed forever and ever. Amen."1

1 _Missionary Herald_, 1846, pp. 197, 198.

The Patriarch immediately issued orders to his clergy, to see that
the temporal penalties threatened in the anathema were all
inflicted. Most of the clergy obeyed these orders with good will,
but some reluctantly. The leading men in the different trade
corporations were required to deprive the persons anathematized, and
their families, of their employments and means of living, and they
evinced more pitiless zeal than did even the clergy. Many of the
brethren were forcibly driven from their houses and shops, and some
were expelled even from the paternal roof. A form of recantation was
drawn up, and a new creed, and these were sent throughout the
country for the signature of the Protestants. The evangelical
brethren were everywhere