The Armenians at Constantinople, with all those in Turkey in Europe, and in Asia Minor, and Armenia Proper, were formerly under the jurisdiction of the catholicos of Echmiadzin; but since that see has fallen within the possessions of Russia, the Armenians in those parts of Turkey mentioned, have been ostensibly without any spiritual head; although there is still a secret connection between them and Echmiadzin and several vartabeds have lately gone to the lat ter place to be ordained bishops.

There are two patriarchs, it is true, one at Constantinople and the other at Jerusalem; but both these offices were established by Mohammedan authorities for their own convenience, and as neither of them has the power of ordaining bishops, they may be considered as only themselves holding the rank of bishops, ecclesiastically, though clothed with high political authority by the Turks.

The Armenian patriarch at Constantinople has the power of imprisoning and scourging at pleasure, members of his own flock, and until recently he could easily procure their banishment, from the Turkish authorities, whenever he pleased. The late charter given by the Sultan to his subjects will, however, if carried into effect, prevent him from doing this except on a regular trial before the Turkish courts.

It will be understood from what has been said that the form of government of the Armenian church is Episcopal. There are nine different grades of the Armenian clergy, all of which are set apart to their respective offices by the laying on of hands. Four of these are below the order of deacon, and are called porters, readers, exorcists, and candle-lighters. After these come the subdeacons, the deacons,. then the priests, then the bishops, and last of all the catholicos. All below the bishop are ordained by the bishop, and he by the catholicos only. The catholicos is ordained by a council of bishops.

There is a class of ecclesiastics, called vartabeds, which may be considered as collateral with the order of priests. The difference between them is simply this: The priests are married, and in fact no man can be ordained priest, unless, at the time of his ordination, he has a wife. The vartabeds never marry, and have taken upon them the vow of perpetual celibacy. The priests always remain priests, and can never rise to the rank of bishop. The vartabeds may become bishops, and in fact, all the bishops are taken from that order, and are bound to celibacy. The vartabeds are the preachers,

(strictly speaking) but the priests never preach. The vartabeds live not among the people, but in convents where there are convents, or if not, they live by themselves within the church enclosures. The priests live in the midst of their flocks, and go in and out among them freely. In case the wife of a priest dies, he is not permitted to marry again, and he may then if he chooses become a vartabed.

There are also several subdivisions of grade among the vartabeds, each of which has its particular ordination service. One of these, called by way of distinction, The supreme order of Vartabed, is now practically unknown; though according to the rules of the church it should exist. The individual who fills this office, may be either a vartabed or a bishop. If the former, he may be ordained to it by a bishop; but if the latter, he must be set apart to this high dignity by the catholicos himself. He is considered by way of eminence as an apostolical preacher; and his labors are to be among the heathen alone. The spirit of missions is dead in the Armenian church; and therefore, they have no further employment for such a class of men.

3. Doctrines. The chief point of separation between the Armenians on the one side, and the Greeks and the papists on the other, is, that while the latter believe in two natures and one person of Christ, the former believe that the humanity and divinity of Christ were so united as to form but one nature; and hence, they are called Monophysites.

Another point on which they are charged with heresy by the papists, is, that they adhere to the notion that the Spirit proceeds from the Father only; and in this the Greeks join them, though the papists say, that He proceeds from the Father and the Son. In other respects, the Greeks and Armenians have very nearly the same religious opinions; though they differ somewhat in their forms and modes of worship. For instance, the Greeks make the sign of the cross with three fingers, in token of their belief in the doctrine of the Trinity-while the Armenians use two fingers, and the Jacobites one.

The Armenians hold to seven sacraments like the Latins, although baptism, confirmation, and extreme unction, are all performed at the same time-and the forms of prayer for confirmation and extreme unction are perfectly intermingled, which leads one to sup

pose, that in fact, the latter sacrament does not exist among them, except in name; and that this they have borrowed from the papists.

Infants are baptized both by triple immersion, and pouring water three times upon the head,-the former being done as their books assert,-in reference to Christ's having been three days in the grave, -and probably suggested by the phrase,- buried with him in baptism.

The latter ceremony they derive from the tradition that when Christ was baptized, he stood in the midst of Jordan, and John poured water from his hand three times, upon his head. In all their pictures of this scene, such is the representation of the mode of our Saviour's baptism. Converted Jews, or Mohammedans, though adults are baptized in the same manner.

The Armenians acknowledge sprinkling as a lawful mode of baptism, for they receive from other churches, those that have merely been sprinkled, without re-baptizing them.

They believe firmly in transubstantiation, and worship the consecrated elements as God.

Unleavened bread is used in the Sacrament, and the broken pieces of bread are dipped in undiluted wine, and thus given to the people.

The latter however do not handle it, but receive it into their mouths from the hands of the priest. They suppose it has in itself a sanctifying and saving power. The Greeks in this sacrament use leavened bread, and wine mixed with water.

The Armenians discard the popish doctrine of purgatory, but yet most inconsistently they pray for the dead.

They hold to confession of sins to the priests, who impose penances and grant absolution, though without money, and they give no indulgences.

They pray through the mediation of the Virgin Mary, and other saints. The belief that Mary was always a virgin, is a point of very high importance with them; and they consider the thought of her having given birth to children after the birth of Christ, as in the highest degree derogatory to her character, and impious.

They regard baptism and regeneration as the same thing, and have no conception of any spiritual change; and they know little of any other terms of salvation than penance, the Lord's supper, fasting, and good works in general.

The Armenians are strictly Trinitarians in their views, holding firmly to the supreme divinity of Christ, and the doctrine of atonement for sin; though their views on the latter subject, as well as in regard to faith and repentance, are somewhat obscure. They say that Christ died to atone for original sin, and that actual sin is to be washed away by penances,-which in their view is repentance. Penances are prescribed by the priests, and sometimes consist in an offering of money to the church, a pilgrimage, or more commonly in repeating certain prayers, or reading the whole book of Psalms, a specified number of times. Faith in Christ seems to mean but little more than believing in the mystery of transubstantiation.

4. Forms of worship, festivals, etc. The Armenian churches are opened regularly twice every day morning and evening for prayers, and mass is performed every day in all the city churches, though in the country less frequently, according to the size of the church and the number of priests. It occupies sometimes six hours and more, for its completion. It consists in chanting, and reading prayers and portions of the Scriptures and responses by the people. The officiating priest or bishop is richly dressed, as are the deacons and singers. Small bells are rung and incense is burned, and various other ceremonies are perfornied which contribute to please and awe the people. At the ordinary morning and evening prayers the people kneel and cross themselves in rapid succession a number of times while the priests are chanting the prayers. These prostrations are made frequently before a picture of the Virgin or other saint. In the more recently constructed Armenian churches, however, pictures are almost wholly excluded. In some parts of the country also, instead of repeating the ceremony of prostrating themselves as above described, they simply kneel and thus remain quietly until the prayer is finished. This seems to have been the ancient custom of the Armenian church, and a change has taken place in the churches around the Levant, probably through the influence of the Greeks.

The scriptures and prayers are read in the ancient Armenian tongue, which is understood but by very few among the peopleand if understood, would hardly be intelligible, the tones of voice are so drawling and unnatural. Preaching is rare among the Armeni. ans, and is only performed by the bishops and vartabeds, and generally only on particular feast days. The priests are never expected to preach, their business being to read prayers and say mass.

Though the apocryphal books are bound up with the others in the Armenian Bible, yet they are considered as uncanonical, and are never read in the churches.

There are at least fourteen great feast days in the course of the year on which all ordinary labor is suspended, and the day is observed more strictly than the sabbath. Besides these there are numerous other feasts and fasts, more numerous even than the days of the year; so that, in some instances, several are appointed to the same day. Besides the occasional fasts, such as a fast of forty days before Easter, and another of six days before Christmas, etc., they have two weekly fasts, the one on Wednesday and the other on Friday. The Armenians have 165 days in the year appointed for fasting. They do not properly fast, however, since they are permitted to eat plentifully of all kinds of vegetable food except the vegetable oils and a fast with them is merely abstaining from animal food.

Among the Armenians, girls are often married at the age of twelve or thirteen, the other sex rarely until they are from twentyfive to thirty. The marriage contract is made by the parents or guardians, and the parties are not expected to see one another until after they are husband and wife. The ceremonies of marriage occupy three days-during which time there are constant festivities either at the house of the bridegroom or bride, or both. The bride is last carried to the house of the bridegroom in procession of carriages or carts drawn by oxen, the ceremony of marriage being performed sometimes at the house and sometimes at church. The expenses of the dowry and the marriage festivities come upon the bridegroom, and they are usually quite large. Marriage is considered as one of the sacraments, and there is properly no divorce after the tie is once made. The laws of the Armenians are more strict than those of Moses in regard to the degrees of consanguinity within which persons may marry.

When a person dies, several of the female friends of the family are usually present, who make a loud outcry, so as to be heard at some distance from the house. The funeral takes place on the same day. The body is dressed as when alive, and placed in an open bier which is ornamented with flowers, natural or artificial, and thus carried to the grave-yard. An irregular procession of the friends is formed, headed by priests and singers, with lighted candles if the wind will permit, and a plaintive funeral dirge is chanted